Here's how the pronghorns are looking!
Pronghorn
As winter fades, and spring begins on the high prairies , where the antelope live, things are starting to chance with the antelope. There horns are doing pretty well and they are beginning to loose their winter coats. Here are few photos I took just yesterday.
Have a great bow hunt. BB
BB - Have they shed their horn sheaths yet, if so would you happen to have one of the core freshly shed. I've never seen a picture on one.... Thanx
I'm not BB, but I found this one in Idaho last year. Only one I've ever come across.
"Have they shed their horn sheaths yet, if so would you happen to have a phone of the core freshly shed. I've never seen a picture on one"
Pronghorns lose their outer sheath very early compared to deer and elk and it usually happens well before Christmas and sometimes as early as the middle of November. The shealth is hair and basicly hollow and just wraps around the bone that keeps growing from above their eye socket.
Sorry the wife pulled me away, as we are having a party here tonight and we a BOTH doing the house cleaning and I got side tracked for a moment. Hopefully I can finish this.
As some have stated, antelope loose their horns very early. I have seen it as early as late Oct but into and by the end of Nov. most have shed their outer horn.
Here's a photo I took in Nov of this past year which show a buck who had just recently shed. This photo was taken during the first week of Nov.
Wow, thanx BB... No prongs on the core... Hmmm, very interesting...
Zbone, my friend Jeff Dumas has a dog that while we are putting in the blinds, will run around the area sniffing and he always comes back with a lot of old sheds. I have a number of them but since Nick was nice enough to post one, I won't bore you.
I will get back to my original posting of this thread, but since it took a bit of a detour, its a good time for many to learn and see what most never get to. Here's a group of antelope (photo taken in Jan of this year) and if you look close, you can see some bucks and they already have quite a bit of horn growth since they dropped their horns just several month previous to this.
Here's a photo I took just a little over a week ago. This buck will be a pretty nice buck.
Another thing to note too, is that antelope shed their winter coats much later than do elk or deer. Most bucks by mid summer have their new summer coats, but many does carry a good part of their winter coats into August and in some cases almost to the beginning of Sept.
This is a photo I took a couple years back of a doe antelope that most likely had twins within days from when this photo was taken.
This photo was taken late May a few years back. Notice how rough her coat still is and it will be for at least a month or two more.
In just a little over six weeks many of the does will begin to drop their calves. I caught this one not long after birth.
And here's one more Jan photo for those interested in horn growth.
Now getting back to how they looked yesterday, these next few photos show them mid day on April 18th.
This is the other from about a week ago.
And here's a pretty lady during the rut. She has got her self together pretty good for when the boys chase the girls. See pronghorns aren't much different than people. Ha Ha
Have a great bow hunt. BB
Thanks for sharing Bill. I love your pics.
Very nice! I too enjoy your photos. I'm sure you have been asked, but what type of camera/lenses do you typically use and is it portable enough for backpacking?
Do antelope have calves or kids?
They sure are a unique animal. We are so lucky to have them. Great pics as always, Bill!
Thanks BB, always interested in your photos. I love pronghorns ! Love to hunt 'em., love to eat 'em !
While walking this morning I found this one that didn't make it. The sheaths where about 4' from the skull.
Dakota they are called fawns. I'm have no doubt BB knows this but when you type with a dust rag in one hand and a vacuum in the other??
So glad you are "out and about"!! C
BB, you said "this will be a pretty good buck". Do you think they are still growing? That one looked done to me. Just wondering. They are definitely not like whitetails where people get trail cam pics of the same buck at the same feeder every day for years. That's what makes them interesting. I see them all the time and really enjoy chasing them. They are my favorite. But I profess to know next to nothing about them.
Cool photos as usual Bill! Very interesting to those of us who normally only get to see these beautiful animals during fall trips.
On some of those pics the prongs seem to be pretty close to the bases. As horns grow do they add length below the prongs or are they more like branches on a tree and added length only goes above?
First I am sorry I said calf, I meant to say fawn, as I do know the difference.
The pronghorns are still growing their horns. Length and mass will still be growing for quite sometime. The longer it goes the slower the growth before it quits which, depending on the size of buck, is around mid summer to early August.
Here's a pretty good close up of a buck to show most of its winter hair. Notice on this buck, the long mane on the back of his neck. I watched him rubbing off hair now that things are warming up. By mid summer he will have his new coat, but the does will be over a month or two later before they loose all their winter hair.
And here's a photo of the same buck as he was rubbing off some of last winter's coat.
Have a great bow hunt. BB
Not to change the subject but if you guys want to read a great book about Pronghorns get "Built for Speed" by John A. Byers it is one of the best books I have read about the American Pronghorn.
Craig
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Awesome photos BB by the way. Really enjoy your posts
Craig
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Great photos as always Bill. Thanks for sharing!
Great photos BB. Thanks for sharing. Very interesting thread.
earlyriser, sorry I meant to answer your question before, but forgot. All the photos I posted on this thread were taken with a big lens, most off a tripod and a big heavy camera. But nowadays there are a number of good little cameras that would be great for taking photos that are packable.
These next three photos I will post will be of pronghorns I took with a point and shoot camera. This first one I took a few years back while hunting. I took this bucks photo, then set the camera down and picked up my bow and shot the buck. Again this photo is with the type of camera you were asking about. It was taken with a Pansonic FZ-100. Panasonic among others make some great, small point and shoot cameras. They also take great video for a small, light camera.
This photo was taken with an FZ-35. Its my friend Jeff Dumas, with his little dog who just finds all kinds of antelope buck sheds when we place the blinds. Jeff is holding some sheds, and you can see a few on top of the blind.
These were taken during the summer a few years back. Those cameras have a very powerful zoom and yet you can take a scenic shot like this.
Or you can zoom in like this.
What you won't be able to do with a point and shoot, is to shoot ugly guys like this with one of them. This almost broke my best camera. Its none other than Bowfreak. Ha Ha
Have a great bow hunt. BB
But you can get shots like this.
Have a great bow hunt. BB
Thanks for the great pics BB
Business is picking up in this thread now!
Beautiful pics (as always) BB!
What causes some bucks to have polished white tips on their horns? Does it have anything to do with the age of the goat or just from them polishing them on something or something else altogether?
Again, thanks for sharing your very special talent with all of us!
t-roy, this it truly speculation, but I don't think the white tips are caused by rubbing, but rather by genetics. There are not many bucks really that have white tips, but I see a few each year. I would think if it was caused by rubbing, far more bucks would have white tips.
Most bucks don't really get into rubbing all that much until late August or early Sept. The buck in the photo of this post was taken in the spring, long before they really begin to rub and he has white tips. Its for that reason, I think it might be a genetic thing. But again that is just a guess.
Have a great bow hunt. BB
Thanks BB! I've only killed 2 pronghorns & one had white tips.
Have you seen younger bucks with white tips or only mature bucks? From your previous posts I know you have photographed some of the same bucks from year to year. Curious to know if you have seen if the white tips show up on the same bucks from one year to the next.
t-roy, here's a small and younger buck I saw over a two year period of time I he had white tips both years. I haven't seen him for a couple years now, so he most likely isn't around anymore.
Have a great bow hunt. BB
Beautiful photos Bill. Thanks for sharing.
I took a picture of this young buck with my point and shoot Olympus while in Wyoming. It was only August but I am pretty sure he was already in full rut. :)
I guess a guy should never throw stones when he lives in a glass house.
Mid summer photo. Look how rough her coat still is at mid summer when compared to elk, moose, deer etc.
Have a great bow hunt. BB
Bowfreak, It looks like that young buck is starting to grow his winter coat!
One of my favorite animals. They're a true icon of the west.
Thanks for sharing the pictures!
I'm a huge fan of your photo threads.
MattyB thanks I am glad you enjoy them. For so many years the only photos I took were of dead animals. But since I got into taking photos before they are shot, it been a huge pleasure to me and renders immense rewards and satisfactions.
I understand a site like this likes trophy photos more than they do live photos, but I hope there are enough of you who enjoy both.
Since I started this thread, I got out a time or two more and got a few more photos of how the antelope are looking at this time of year.
Here are a few of my most recent photos, taken last weekend.
Have a great bow hunt. BB
You can see they are looking pretty rough right now. One of the reasons I chose this buck is because he is going to have some mild white tips to his horns if you look close. I cropped this pretty close so its a bit easier to see.
Here's one more to get an idea. You can notice the really loose their leg hair first, as it comes into so much contact with the brush. Then it seems to come off where there skin seems to rub against itself as their legs move. There is always a place behind their front shoulder that looks awful this time of year but by mid summer they are looking pretty good. Not so much with the does which are at least a month or six weeks later before they look really good.
Bill, these pictures are making it really hard for me to wait till Aug........
Great pics, I enjoyed looking at them. Thanks for posting them up
Sivart, really, really hard ! Love the pics BB !
great photos thanks for posting,
Here is one looking like a heck of a freak. I understand it was picked up in AZ
AZ-Rich, wow what a pronghorn horn! That has to be, by far, the most far out antelope horn I have ever seen. It that really real? Its just so far from being normal, it hard to believe.
Thanks for posting and have a great bow hunt BB
I took these next three photos today, May 7 and this is how they looked at this point in time. It was raining hard, and so their coats were soaked and that makes them look a bit different.
This buck was laying down but just as I was going to take his photo, he got up and shook off, much like a dog, and then I snapped this photo. That's why his hair is like it is!
Have a great bow hunt. BB
AZ-Rich that thing is crazy, like offspring from a pronghorn and a whitetail!
He was the "Freddy Krueger" of Arizona!
Here are a couple photos I took today of some antelope just to show how their looking.
I saw my first fawn of the year. I took this from a far distance, and didn't want to disturb, but the youngster was on its feet and trying to learn to run. It still has a couple days before it can really go move fast enough, but it was doing pretty well!
Have a great bow hunt. BB
Love the pics Bill. Thanks for sharing so many great photos!!
Scott
BB,
That closeup of the buck with the wet fuzzed our neck hair is awesome. What a cool animal these pronghorns are. Their uniqueness fascinates me to say the least.
Mark, I thought you had seen them that wet before, because it rained so much when you were up there. But then I recalled, that this is what you saw. Ha Ha
Have a great bow hunt.. BB
Honestly...you would think I would have seen them that wet. You sure do have a knack for capturing some awesome photos Bill.
Hey Bill, love the photos.
Here is an interesting horn configuration. Have you seen others like this on your travels? Picture taken from NW Colorado.
My best, Paul
Paul I haven't seen any just like that, but through the years I have seen some pretty weird bucks.
Just over a week ago I was up in Yellowstone taking photos and ran into this buck. I seldom take photos of bucks in Yellowstone as I have so many already. But it was really green and so I was tempted and started to shoot away.
He dropped his head and started to rake his horns in an old dead looking piece of brush. All of a sudden his horns got stuck in the brush and he got pretty excited and and pushed back to get them out, and when he did the base of the brush broke and here's what happened. I can tell you he did not like this one bit. It took him about 10 minutes to get the brush out of his horns. I did feel sorry for him, but it was interesting to watch and he tried to get bush or of his horns.
Have a great bow hunt. BB
