Being a novice at judging Pronghorn I am curious what people think this buck would score? Any Insight would be appreciated.

Depends where your at , what the genetic potential of the area is. He is a nice mature buck, most places that' s 13'-14" at 3.5 years old. If the terrain is easy and access good he won't get any older. In this situation he won't make it thru hunting season at 4.5 - 5.5 years old his hooks will be deeper, prongs longer, base mass and circumference increases yearly with good feed. Height , length will increase yearly with more ivory tip showing. In places or states if you will, that have highly controlled access and he is left to reach his potential he could go to 15.5-16+" and make a really nice looking buck. Right now he is just a nice young buck 70-75 bc. The best bucks come from areas that are mostly inaccessible to Joe a public and weekend hunters who only have 1 to 2 days to hunt and need to be back at their job, they shoot 1 like this in a heartbeat and he don't get any older. I been hunting antelope for 48 years on public access and the one thing that hits home everytime you see a really great buck and that is Can I get access? The answer is usually no and that is why he got that old. MB

Not very experienced at this, but here's what I see, height seems short (try to visually "flip up" the ears, they are about 6 inches). Mass is high.

You want 14+ (depending on area) in length, including the curl, then have the prongs be more than 1/2 way up

I agree, if your looking for a B&C buck. But he has mass and good prongs, I would shoot him in a heartbeat and be very happy. Make a great euro mount.

Let him walk. He's maybe 12 inches . Yes he may be mature buck but you can find much better.
We call his caliber of buck non resident specials, NR will shoot him in a heartbeat but residents know that type are a dime a dozen. 12 inch heart shaped bucks are everywhere in Wyoming, maybe not where he is but I would give him a pass.

Interesting. When I saw his pic, I called him a 12 incher as well.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Any other pictures?

Just to toss out another angle. His body is solid, looks healthy, in other words: TASTY. If you're not into horn mass, there is a decent body/meat on that guy

I have taken 12 inch bucks that ended up being very mature, 4+ years. Conditions and genetics come into play.
He just looks 12 inches to me and they are not hard to find. Good mass and ok prongs but no length.Prongs might be 5 inches but I would guess 4 1/2 inches or so. You measure from the back of the horn to the prongs tip.
Look for a buck with horns longer than twice the ears to get over 12 inches.

B&C score on that one is likely to be in the 50 range. Hard to guess any closer because of the angle and the inability to judge his horn girth, but he's no where near a "book head".

Still he's a real nice looking buck.

I shot one last year that scored over 78. As a disclaimer, I personally don't care much about trophies, but my friend Kris is totally into trophy hunting and insisted in scoring my buck, and found it to go 78-1/4 aged score. I got one in Nevada years ago that scored 89 5/8. It was so "important" to me I sold the horns to a taxidermist who offered me $500 for them because the kill was nothing special. About 300 yards broadside and the buck never saw me, and I used a super accurate 270 from a prone position. easy and rather uneventful.

My buck from 2019 has horns of almost 15" over the curves, and he is a nice buck, but to my eyes the one in your picture is prettier. That buck's horns would look better on the wall then my horns from last year do.

I think "scores" on pronghorns are largely BS.

The shape is more important then the size. Kind of like a woman's bust. Some big ones are not as good looking as smaller ones that are shaped better. Big and shapely are great, but of the 2, shape is better then size.
My buck last year was fairly plane. A bit on the large side, but plane. To me he is a "trophy" not because of the size of the horns, but because of how I hunted him. Iron sights, and a shot at about 35 yards. Another one I was even more proud of from last year was also with iron sights on a doe, but at only about 12 yards. and yes, I stalked that groups of antelope on my belly for several hundred yards, so it was not just luck. I did that hunting as I planed, and that is what I find to be most satisfying in my hunts and in my memories. That is far more important to me then the size of the horns.

The hunter doesn't grow the horns, but he does (or doesn't) do the hunting.

If the hunt was good I'd feel proud of the buck in the pic. If anyone else doesn't that's OK too. My hunts don't have to please anyone else. Just as their hunts don't have to please me. If you like the look of a buck ignore the "book" and take him. Make hunting pure and quit thinking it's a competition of hunters against other hunters, instead of a competition of nature and nature's ways. For me, I think real HUNTING was God's plan for how we were supposed to hunt. Pride and arrogance are what led to scores and the cheapening of the way it should be.

Am I nuts?
Maybe.

But I feel no joy when I look at large sets of horns I harvested by lucking onto animals or shooting them at ranges that showed a high degree of shooting skill, but nearly no degree of hunting skill. Others disagree, and can do so with my blessing. I don't care if they "snipe' their game. If that's what fulfills them, good.

But the idea of not shooting because of some stupid score in some book somewhere is ridiculous to me. A "score" on a "head" is less important then who won the world series in 1919 or 1927, and who won those games is less important then what I ate for breakfast yesterday. Just like those ball games, your "score" doesn't matter to ANYONE other then you ( and some some fools who ascribe virtue to horns that grew on an animal somewhere else, at another time, which have nothing to do with them, and nothing to do with anyone other then the one person that shot it)

Hunting should be about the game and the hunter. Not the "scores" of other hunters.

My opinion. Others may differ.

I totally agree

That buck will go closer to 60ish than 50 any day. He would be close to P&Y, but not make it, could if his mass and length are misleading in that pic.

Depending on the area he may well be very mature and conditions dictated his horn growth for this year.
A better angle of pic would also be helpful with getting a better look at his curl. If the curl goes in as well as back he may be a little longer than first look. Horns that curl back need to be seen from the side as well as front to judge them . The bases can be seen and compared to the eye in that pic though.

My main consideration is if a buck is mature or not, he looks mature but no pot belly or long nose. I would let him walk based on that and opt for a nice mature doe instead, one with neat little horns.
Whatever you decide it's your decision and he would be a fine harvest.

Some folks actually get their animals scored as a homage to it , not themselves. Your paint brush is way too large szihn. Funny how you got God and boobs into your reply.

Very well said, szihn.

Been on about a dozen antelope hunt, that's a 12 incher with good mass. No where near a B&C buck, however. In my part of the country, I'd pass him up.

Pretty but small. Prolly 65-68 inches

Quite short, right around 12”

A decent buck and snow on the ground. 1st day, maybe not but I am a meat hunter and he looks pretty tasty. These days I am more concerned w/ pack out distance than I am w/ horns. Drawing a tag is the hard part, hunting Antelope country is pure fun. Next year I will pay for access, packing and shipping just to be able to hunt and eat Antelope. I may do the same for a cow Elk, money is easy, time is hard.


mike r

He doesn’t appear to be thin, and his prongs look like the curl in. Another angle would be good.

I’ve seen sub 13” bucks crack 80. Not that one, especially from what I can see but he might be better score wise than some are giving credit for.

I said 70-75 I stick with that. Bucks got great body condition means a good feed year and that means he had as good a horn growth. 3.5 years is my bet around 13", has good heavier bases and mass thru out, well developed prongs but could be longer. Allways around here I figure horns need to be 2.5 x taller than the ears to make 14 this one is short of that and has shorter hooks to boot. Be better next year and really great in 2 years. If he is only a 50 some I'd sure go to hell for a shot at 1 30-40 "higher. MB

2 more years and that buck will be a dandy right now in that picture + or - 13 inches this buck does have nice curl and cutters. hope he makes it longer for you,Pete53

That buck is as pretty of an antelope as you will see and I most likely would shoot him. I like szihn don't give a damn about score and have never had anything with horns scored. Don't care!

I judge a hunt not only if I kill an animal, but also the friends and/or family there to enjoy the time with. My score for that buck is not inches, it's 35-40 lbs of some of the best meat I can put in my freezer and a great story of a long stalk or fooling an animals senses! We have stories for just about every animal we have taken and MOST of them aren't bucks or bulls, but we had a blast doing it and that's how we score hunts, not animals.

Am I an old fart in my early 50's for thinking this way, maybe but it's our way.

Elk Country

Looks tasty to me. I'd shoot him on our local archery hunts. If you want a P&Y or B&C book buck then keep looking.

Here is one my wife got --- and truly hunted. Shot was about 140 yards after a good long belly crawl and the hit was perfect. 30-06, 165 grain Hornady Flat Base Inner-Lock
Anna's Antelope 2 by .com/photos/156296479@N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep]
Never scored it, but he's pretty large

I'd pull the trigger on him for sure. But I'm one of those out of state hunters.

-Jake

Flat out one of the hardest animals to judge period! Between me and my buddies we have prolly taken over 80 bucks and only a couple were no doubters. All the rest had to be looked at a bit to even get close.

If you are into field judging antelope, I would suggest the video "Size is Everything' by Tony Grimmett / Pronghorn Guide Service. There are many good photos on his website also.