Trickery For Trophy Pronghorns

Typically, the best method for hunting antelope is over a water hole, but the author decided to change tactics.

This unit, situated in far northwest corner of the state, is well known for producing better than average antelope. The only drawback is drawing a license. With very few tags and hundreds of applicants, the odds are stacked against all but the persistent applicant. But fortunately Colorado has a preference point system that rewards regular applicants by giving them one preference point for each year they are unsuccessful in the draw. These points are for a particular species. The weapon, unit and season applied for can be changed. I had 4 points when my permit finally came through.

 With one exception, all my previous antelope were taken by spotting and stalking. The exception was a nice buck I took from a blind near a waterhole, the preferred method of most archers. This hunt would be a little different. I wanted it all, take an exceptional buck, but in a unique and exciting way. Although waterhole hunting is far and away the most effective method for taking pronghorn, it can also be the least exciting, in fact downright boring method. At least that’s this writers opinion.

Stalking, on the other hand, is very exciting, but can be a very frustrating and not so often successful method. Even though this is my favorite, and I’d taken several nice bucks this way, I just wasn’t able to score on the real big guys.

Another method, which is growing in popularity, is decoying. Although I had never tried it, it seemed like a super exciting way to hunt antelope with a bow. Just locate the territory of a good buck, set up the decoy, blow on an antelope call and watch out. The drawback here, is that it is most effective during the rut which was still a couple weeks away. Oh what to do.

The Ultimate Strategy 

Here a bowhunter hides behind a decoy. The author has found that hiding about 40 yards to the side of the decoy is the best plan of attack.

Then a light came on. Why not incorporate the use of a decoy into stalking and see what happens. Although I was definitely entering into uncharted territory, the challenge was intriguing. I had to give it a shot. My game plan would be to locate an exceptional buck one day and just watch him and learn his territory. Then in the pre-dawn darkness the nest morning, set the decoy in an area suitable to stalking, getting back a couple hundred yards and wait. If and when the buck would see the decoy, hopefully his curiosity would bring him in to the decoy. As his attention was focused on the decoy, I could stalk him. Sounds good on paper, but would it work in the real world. I couldn’t wait to find out.

That summer I acquired a Flambeau antelope decoy and read up on how to use it. A scouting trip in late July familiarized me with the area. During my scouting I was able to locate several exceptional bucks. One buck in particular, was the largest antelope I’d ever seen. His horns were an easy 16 inches with incredibly heavy bases and prongs that made him look like a forkhorn mule deer. The basin he resided in was also home to several other very good bucks. Guess where I decided to concentrate my hunting efforts?

Late August saw my Toyota 4×4 pickup heading for the high deserts of northwest Colorado, bow and decoy in hand. After a five hour drive I finally arrived at my predetermined campsite. Out in the middle of a sagebrush desert, it wasn’t very scenic, but it was adequate.

The season was already 2 weeks old, so that afternoon I donned my camo, grabbed bow and decoy and headed down the dusty two track road into what I nicknamed the “valley of the pronghorn”. The search was a short one. Withing minutes my Swarovski AT-80 spotting scope was filled with antelope. This place was really target rich. Half a mile east was a herd of twenty to thirty does and fawns, flanked by not one, not two, but four nice bucks, all 14 to 15 inchers. A great way to start, but none of these bucks held a candle to the big boys I saw in July. The best one would probably score in the mid 70′s. Maybe later.

A few miles of bouncing along the dry, dusty track, they call a road in those parts, my excitement hit cardiac levels. Not 100 yards off the road was big boy. He was working his way along a deep draw, choked with 3 foot high sagebrush, totally unaware he was being observed by a drooling hunter in a dusty truck. Not to mention the fact that a 15 mile an hour wind was blowing from him to me. I carefully backed the truck over a small rise until I was out of sight, parked and the stalk was on.

Even though a straight stalk wasn’t what I had planned on, this was to good to pass up. By the time I worked myself into the draw, the buck was about 300 yards away, but still within 20 yards of the draw and unaware. All I had to do is slip up the wash the 300 yards or so to the buck, find an opening through the sage and my tag would be filled with an easy 20 yard shot. Ya right! Old Murphy was working that hot August afternoon. When I got to where the buck should be, he was no where to be found. As hard as I tried, all my 10×42’s could find was miles of sagebrush. Frustrated that a big buck gave me the slip again, I stood up out of cover of the sage, only to have the surprise of my life. The old black faced trophy blew out of a shallow depression where he had bedded, not 15 yards away. Boy, did I feel like the “great white hunter” at that moment. I’m sure glad there weren’t any witnesses, I felt stupid enough. Make a perfect stalk on the buck of a lifetime and then blow it just as perfectly.

The Great Fake Out

A decoy lured this 80+ Antelope right to the author.