Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Judging pronghorn trophy (1 photo)

Troops: Just a FYI thing. I snapped a couple of photos of some pronghorn yesterday and thought they might be a good illustration of 1 aspect of trophy quality. Both are looking a little rough as they have not completely slicked off yet. One feature I search for while hunting is a buck whose prongs exit the main stem well above the ears. And these guys seem to be a good example.

I would guess the two animals below exhibit about the same horn length (each being about 2 x ear length) The left animal's prongs are well above the tips of his ears. Measures from the base, first, and second quarters will likely capture more mass and score much better than the right most buck.

The right animal will score well at the base and 2nd quarters, but not have much mass contribution at the 3rd quarter. Again, his prongs exit the main stems well below the tips of his ears.


Take care and good luck in the coming draws and seasons, 1Minute

Left one is a shooter in my book. I always struggle with the length, I am guessing that left one at close to 15" and the right one at 14"?

Nice photos. The buck on the right sure is a pretty one. I think they are roughly the same length, 14". It's really a crap shoot to attempt to judge score on a pronghorn from one angle, as estimating mass takes more of a look, and mass is what makes them score more than anything else. If I had to make a guess, I'd give the rightmost buck a little higher score in the 74" range. The one on the left might be better if he's got pipes on the bottom, but typically the lower horn on a goat is oval and you are likely looking at his most massive dimension, which isn't that big. The buck on the right wins everywhere, from the looks of it, with exception to the top 2 circumference measurements and they aren't that far in difference. I can't wait to get out and start looking at antelope..

Check this one out.

That is one of the perks of living in Boz Angelas. I'd be in a truck for 3 hours before I even started to see goats...

But then I see far fewer BMWs than you

Ooooohh.

I'd shoot him and not even think twice

Here's another one to judge, but to make it easier, 2 photos of him. Don't mind his weenie.

Dude, thats gotta be photoshopped... NO WAY is his weiner that small

I'd have to say that one's about 17", 82" gross. Great buck for sure.

I think the top two would barely make 14" if they do. This last picture is likely 16-16.5". I have been disapointed a few times by drastically over judging horn length on these buggers.

Greehorn: I'd still lean toward putting a higher score on the leftmost of the two due mostly to the measure of the second and 3rd quarters. Here is a second almost profile image of the right side animal. The second and third quarters on this animal add little to his score. The second quarter is probably just above the prong. Actually I don't think either of these critters would make book, I just posted the images as an example.

Several years ago a local harvested a 17 inch length pronghorn that couldn't make book. All his mass was beneath the ears even though he had extremely tall horns.

With things like pronghorn and sheep, one garners more points from mass (circumference)than horn length. Broomed bighorn can score way up the chart compared to a non broomed animal with more length.

Greenhorn that is one hell of a buck. I would take an animal like that all day long. I have a thing for the bucks with the spreads.

I'm going to downgrade my score guess on the top 2 bucks based on that last profile. I still think they score about the same, but will be closer to 70. Both being just short of 14" the left most has slightly better mass above the prong, but a slightly weaker prong. Just my guess.

here's another live one.. had pipes (heavy circular horns instead of oval) and scored much higher than I expected it would.

Couple quick ways to calibrate the overall size of a pronghorn is to compare the spread of the eyeball to the breadth of the horn. It's a great way to get a feel for how massive a buck's horn is. Another quick check is to compare the length of horn to the length of the muzzle. Of course it's easy when their horns lay straight down along the front of the head..

This one has a horn shape similar to the one on the top left, but notice the difference in how the eyeball to horn breadth and the overall length of horn compared to muzzle is. They are tough to judge, no doubt and I've seen ground shrinkage a lot.

I've seen that before, really tall bucks that lack mass and prong. Pretty good example of what you are talking about is the stubby looking thing I posted all the live shots of above. 14 inches at best and a very high scoring boone and crockett pronghorn. It's one of the coolest bucks I've seen. Give him 14 length, 7.5 on the bottom two, 4.25 and 3.25 above the prong, and a 6 on the prong. Those ain't gifts either.. add em up.

This one goes 13 7/8" on both sides and is 70 6/8" just for reference.

I'm feeling the need to go look at some antelope..

Here's 2 16" bucks that didn't quite squeak into the B&C awards book..

Here's a 14 incher


That grew the following year into a 16 incher but lost some amazing bottom mass and didn't squeak in.. nobody was complaining though..