Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Pronghorn hunters..what is your avg. shot?

That's pretty impressive. I'd need to add a column or two for "ass shots", "clean misses", and "hail mary's".

Really I've only killed two myself. One at 85 yards, the other at 160. I guess I'm pretty stealthy you could say.

I've only got one so far and I reached out for it at about 400 yds using a 30-06 180 grain NP and a 4 power scope. Shot it from prone using my sling. Had plenty of time to squeeze off the shot carefully and little wind to worry about, it was also laying down and not moving. I was above this group of antelope and crawled through sage brush to get as "close" as I did. If I draw another tag I suppose I might try to get closer next time but I was happy to get my first.

Average shot under 200 for sure.....a handful I had to reach past 300 to 400 or so.

I just went through my hunting notes for the past 40 years and came up with the following statistics:

My shots on pronghorn have ranged from 50 on up, and have averaged just over 250 yards. That said, I'm often strictly hunting trophy bucks, sometimes in states other than Montana that have very short seasons. I'm not going to pass up a big New Mexico buck at 300 yards when the season is only two days long.

My two longest shots were 401 and 430 yards, both on exceptional bucks that were pretty shy. In fact the 401-yard shot was on a 16" Wyoming buck taken late in the season that had been seen a few times before by other hunters. Nobody had been able to get a reasonable shot at him, but I got lucky, spotting him at about 900 yards and making a long sneak just to get within 400.

On the other hand, I last hunted in Wyoming two years ago, with a rifle all dialed in out to 600 yards--and killed a very old buck at 160-some yards.

The average for the pronghorn I've seen other hunters (except my wife) take was aound 240 yards. Again, these were mostly trophy hunters, some of them guided by me, in several states.

My wife's pronghorn shots have averaged less than 200 yards, partly because she shoots quite a few does. But she also stretched it out to 400+ on one Montana buck.

I should also note that for a number of years in the 1980's she and I hunted an area of badlands in eastern Montana, until illegal ATV use ruined it for everybody. Our shots there, including big bucks, averaged 130 yards, and often were well under 100.

Avg is about 225-250yds which is what I shot my Ca. antelope at north of Susanville. HARD tag to draw, but worth it. He measured 15-7/8" right, 16" left. If I can figure out how to scan and post a photograph of him, I will.

Welcome back JB; how was Africa?

Some very nice pix have been posted on this thread. Way to go, guys!

My average succesful shots on pronghorns have been about 170 yards. Longest was 310, shortest was 40.

rifletom,

Africa was great, per usual, but the non-hunting stuff was at least as interesting as the excellent hunting on this trip! Got a good buffalo and also some excellent plains game, but even more valuable was seeing a classic part of East Africa.

That sounds like a GREAT buck. Would love to see a photo of him!

Longest shot for pronghorn was 350 yards. Most are 250 or less, in my experience.

Been pronghorn hunting twice. First hunt, the shot on my buck pronghorn was around 25 to 30 yards from a prone position (I was belly crawling). Not sure of the exact yardage because I didn't need my range finder at that distance with a rifle (and the lead cow and much of the rest of the herd was looking straight at me anyway).

The second hunt we couldn't get within a half mile of them except for a small herd that startled us at the crest of a small hill we and the pronghorns were walking up from opposite sides, and those were probably thirty yards away, but they turned and ran immediately, so we didn't get a shot.

I don't want to skew the curve so I had better stay out.

"Practice" doesn't count... (grin)

around 150yds

Data reinforces my opinion/guess that 99% of long range shots are taken because the shooter wants to shoot long range, not because the hunting required it.

I've only killed two antelope: 125 and 246 (the latter because I missed him moving at 60 yards).

Shortest shot, 200 yds.
Longest one, 378 yds.

Gun is a 6.5-284 shooting 140 SST's at 2,950 fps. Swaro turret scope calibrated to 600 yds. One thing to shoot a 4 1/2" group at 600 on a bench, quite another thing to repeat that performance out in the field. I try to get as close as possible.

IMHO,

DF

Recently returned from the 2011 hunt. Got one at about 70 yards after a long sneak. I missed a standing shot at about 40 yards while peaking over tall grass on the hill using a whippy tree branch as a rest. My newly replaced knees just couldn't hold the crouched position. The wobbly rest got in my way much more than it helped. I stood up and got it on the second shot offhand running about 60 mph. The second was taken at 500 yards using a mildot scope for accurate ranging using a hay bale as a rest. I've shot lots of them and the average is about 150 yards. I just wanted to take a longer shot this year for a change of pace. You can usually get within a couple hundred yards without worry. I am going to get a tall rest for next year. The tall prairie grass usually makes even a sitting shot tough with a bipod.

I've shot 17 antelope from 125 yards to 300 yards. 3 bucks the rest does. Depending on the terrain, it is not always the case that you can get closer. This year my kids and I were hunting a ranch in Wyoming and it was the second week of the season. The antelope figure out they can get in the large flat areas and are impossible to sneak closer. The last two antelope I shot I had my son sit right behind me so I can have a back rest to help steady the shot.

Thanks for the great photos some of you have posted.

Answer: - You used a swift.

My Swift has worked well also..most of my kills have been between 125-250 yds with the Swift, 6mm and 264.