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Traveled to the eastern part of the state last week for a combination pronghorn/upland bird safari. Shot pheasants, huns, sharptails, and the subject of the current post, the featured prong buck. I used my 1903 Mannlicher-Schoenauer with 140-grain Hornady softpoints.

My buddy John and I spotted several telltale white dots through binos on DNRC land at a distance of maybe three miles, which we were able to cut roughly in half by driving. We made an hour-long stalk through the sagebrush, approached downwind of the animals, had to back off twice to reposition ourselves, and finally belly-crawled to the top of the rise in the background (about 160 yards away).

My buck, two lesser bucks, and two does were grazing just out of the wash you see in the photo. I shot it from a prone position as soon as it quartered to a generally broadside position. The bullet entered the ribcage, destroyed one lung, and exited through the right shoulder. The buck humped up once and then rolled into the draw without taking a voluntary step--I'm pleased to report that it appeared to expire in under two seconds.

John shot one of the lesser bucks immediately after, using a 1950-vintage BRNO 21 in 7x57, with original factory mount and Meopta 3x scope. Also a one-shot, lightning-fast kill.

To corroborate another Montana antelope report in the "Hunting in the Americas" column, we saw very few pronghorn in the 700 district of the state, and a biologist at the BLM office in Miles City told us that numbers did indeed seem down. I know blue-tongue killed a bunch off in other areas last year, and would not be surprised if the problem extended into the 700 region as well (although its admittedly a huge chunk of ground). If they are down, here's hoping for a fast rebound.

Edited by CptCurl (25/10/09 11:46 PM)

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