I found a landowner tag for a ranch in Deaf Smith county near the New Mexico line. I’m excited to go. I haven’t hunted a pronghorn buck since 2005. The landowner I got the tag from said there are some great goats on the ranch, I’m going to find out.

Anyone else hunting Texas antelope this year?

Not this year, but MANY years ago I got a land owners tag near Vega, TX.

My first (and only) pronghorn.

I’ve taken one Texas pronghorn before in 2004 near Marfa, this will be my second Texas goat.

Congrats LBP!!!!

Was out around Marfa last June. Saw a really nice goat on Ft. Davis hwy.

Good luck on your hunt!!!

Thanks Woodie

I hope you get a nice one!

Now comes the hard part: You are required to get 24hourcampfire approval for the weapon, cartridge and bullet that you plan to use!!

.338 Lapua is the minimum rifle for those 400 yard shots! Good luck with your hunt. I’ve killed nice ones in that area before.

Killed my first TX Speed Goat around there too.
Also hunted and had great success many times just across the NM state line in the Nara Visa area.
Great antelope country all through that area, including Deaf Smith county too.

6mm Remington and a .264 Win Mag both worked just fine for me. As also the .556 or .223 Remington did too.
Antelope aren’t hard to kill.

Waiting on the second draw for Rita Blanca. Anyone ever hunted that area through the draw system ?

I’ve killed lots of antelope before, this is just my second Texas goat.

Let’s see I’ve used 6.5x55, 308, 243, 260, 250 Savage, 22-250, 25-06, 270, 280 and .223. Longest shot yet was 309 yards. I’d say my average shot has probably been, 200 yards.

For this hunt I’m taking a Rifles Inc Strata in .223. I’m shooting 75 gr Speer Gold Dots at 2925 fps, I’m getting 1/2”-5/8” groups. I just got the rifle built and this will be my first hunt with it.

I’ve varmint hunted there but not antelope. I did see a ton of goats though.

Most guys that I know that have taken Pronghorn, have used 243s, all in WY

300wsm for all my pronghorn and the spouse's too.

I killed my one and only pronghorn near Marfa back about 2004. It scored 78-2/8 if I remember correctly. They were rutting hard and I saw more bucks than I could shake a stick at. I watch two bucks fighting through a goat fence. We found my buck shortly before noon and the 7MM SAUM finished the job.

I could see the Border Patrol checkpoint from where I shot him.

I have shot pronghorn in Texas and New Mexico. 220 Swift and 25-06 do the job very well.

I’ve heard many people describe the meat off an Antelope as awful. I personally think it’s better then deer, and possibly even better then elk, tho I would Take either, and thankful for it. Antelope hunting here in WY is my favorite hunt. Good luck.
Buck

Pronghorn meat makes good chili because it does not have a strong flavor and can easily be seasoned to the desired taste.

I agree I love pronghorn meat, I’ve never had a bad one.

As a simple Arkie who has only hunted deer, ducks, and smaller critters around my home state, I’ve always wanted to go on an antelope hunt. How does a fellow go about getting set up to go on a Texas pronghorn hunt?

The easiest way is finding a landowner permit and that’s not necessary easy lol, but it’s doable.

Thanks for the tip. Do these landowner permits get issued through the Texas Game and Fish? I guess they are drawn out in the summer through a lottery system?

Pronghorn meat is very good. You just have to get it on ice quickly.

Your best bet is to google pronghorn huts in the states you would hunt in. Then ask for references and choose one. I am going to CO in early Oct. Two man hunt with guide, lodging and meals a little over $8,000, we will have to buy a non res hunting license when we get there the outfitter provided the landowner antelope tags.

I'll be heading over to Dalhart TX in October for the 3rd time. Booked through Jeremy of Sagebrush hunts who is a member here. The bucks I have taken in the past were some of the best eating game we have ever had.

No Sir, landowners get permits based upon how much land they own and the annual antelope census done by Texas Parks and Wildlife. The landowners can use the permits, sell them, whatever they decide to do with them.

A few years ago I deer hunted just North of Dalhart, Rita Blanca on the Oklahoma side. You couldn't hardly see a deer through the clouds of dust kicked up by herds of antelope. They were thicker than ticks.

How was the deer hunting? I’ve heard of people hunting deer there I’ve just not seen many personally.

Got lucky and found two more permits, looks like my oldest son and daughter-in-law are going goat hunting too. Now if I could just find one more for my youngest son everyone would get to hunt. I’m gonna keep looking.

Hey, man, sorry, just saw this. I saw enough deer to keep it interesting (quite a few mule deer does), but not enough to keep me there. Seriously, I couldn't glass in any direction, at any time, without seeing antelope.

After 2.5 days I packed up and moved further east to Optima. Saw lot of deer there, passed up a number of smallish whitetail bucks but never saw one I wanted to shoot.

No worries Skeen, was all of the area you hunted public land?

Yes, but, it's quite a patchwork of federal and private lands. Really nice to have onX, some other app, or a good map to navigate it.

My dad owned a section just south of there a couple of miles from the state line for a while. The state would offer some landowner tags every two or three years. I kept meaning to get one of the tags, but never did before he sold that place. My dad didn't seem to like them when he owned that place. Evidently antelope love bindweed and would poop the seeds out into his wheat pasture.

Every once in awhile, someone will see an elk or a black bear in that country coming off the caprock to the west of there in New Mexico. When it happens, that gives the farmers at the coffee shop something to talk about for a few months.

Thanks, I might give deer a try too.

Last year. Far north Texas. Land owner tag and hunt.

Nice one Ed!

That’s a great buck!

Good looking Buck!

Ed, next time out you can use the BSA 270...it'll be there shortly :-)

The 3 I've taken were with a 257 Wby...NM, WY, MT.

That's a good one Ed. Nice length, good high cutters, you did good.

Very nice buck. Congratulations. My cousin is headed to Wyoming in about a week for his first Antelope hunt.

Does Texas have preference points that you must earn?

mine is a little weak in the prong department....

Hate to piss him off.

No Sir.

Thanks, my cousin had to earn preference points that took 3 years.

Yes Sir. Texas and New Mexico have guaranteed land owner tags, all you have to do is find one.

The public draw does issue preference points.I'm in for 12 and just received my notice of non selection.

Theres a wheat field halfway between Vega and Adrian on the north side of I40 that has a herd of pronghorn in it RIGHT now. They've been in that small chunk of dirt for atleast 15 years and have never once moved.

I didn’t know that, thanks for the information.

Hunted Pronghorn on the XIT ranch a few years ago. It was fun. Much prefer Axis whacking.

I’ll be real close to the xit. We ended up finding three landowner tags all on different ranches in different countries. I’ll be hunting with my oldest son, and daughter in law. This will be her first pronghorn. She’s also 16 weeks pregnant so my second grandchild will be there 😂. We’re all looking forward to the hunts.

We actually exited the XIT for my hunt. Don’t know where we were specifically. But, it was not on the ranch.

I’m looking forward to the hunt.