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As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days in the field. This show is about translating my hard-won experiences into tips and tactics that'll get you closer to your ultimate goal, success in the field. I'm Remy Warren. This is Cutting the Distance.
Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. This week, we're going to focus on tactics for one of the first hunts to kick off out West. And in my opinion, probably the funnest hunt around is the pronghorn antelope. Now, pronghorn hunting is really fun because you see a lot of animals and you get a lot of opportunities. This is a great first Western big game hunt, but it's just one of my favorite hunts to just go out and have a good time. I think pronghorn though can be very difficult because
They're the fastest land mammal and they have such incredible eyesight, but that open country they live in makes getting close tricky. So I'm going to break down my top spot and stalk tactics by first understanding pronghorn behavior and then turning that into how to trick their defenses. Before we go there, I want to share a story of one speed goat that just didn't see me coming. Now, when it comes to pronghorn hunting, I think that if you trick their eyes, you've pretty much got it in the bag.
They use their eyes as a main defense and they can see for a very, very, very long ways. So a few years back, I just had this idea. I was actually doing this show called Apex Predator. Maybe you've seen it, maybe you haven't, but I'll just kind of give you the synopsis of this particular episode because it ties in really well with pronghorn hunting. So
On the show, we kind of like saw the way that animals specialize in something. This one's particular episode was about the octopus, the way it can camouflage itself and change its shape. And then I translate that into like a hunting tactic or the way that we could exploit that skill set. And so by doing that, kind of came to the conclusion, okay, we're going to build a ghillie suit and then I'm going to stock an animal that has the best eyesight.
The purpose of a ghillie suit, it's one to camouflage you, but also to break up your outline and then used in combination with stalking real slow, moving real slow. You kind of go under this level of perception where whatever's out there doesn't see you because you look like a bush. You're blending in perfectly and you aren't making big movements. You're moving slow and just melding into the surrounding habitat. So I decided to test this out and go to Wyoming with this ghillie suit. So I had a friend of mine,
There was an army sniper that actually borrowed his ghillie suit and then, you know, brushed up with local herbage from wherever I was hunting. So I went to Wyoming and started brushing up, tying things into the suit and just really making it look like the surrounding habitat. And while I was out there, kind of part of the hunt, but I just really wanted to see how close I could get to some antelopes. So there was some pronghorn laying out in a cut alfalfa field.
like sweet. So I brushed up with just like putting alfalfa, tying it on it, getting really green looking, and then just crawling up to this doe in this fawn. I actually left my bow behind because I knew I wasn't going to shoot one. I had a buck tag, but I just wanted to kind of give it, give it a run, see if I could try to how close I could get. And in this open field on these antelope, I literally crawled within feet of these two antelope.
Why I hadn't hunted with a ghillie suit before, I don't know, and actually haven't hunted with one since. But we go out and we start hunting. We're seeing a lot of antelope, but I needed that right scenario where I wanted to test the suit. I didn't want to just go shoot an antelope. Like if it's broken terrain or whatever, I wanted to use the suit to blend in, to kind of test that aspect of it. So-
Finally got a good scenario where there was a pronghorn out on this bench that came up, started crawling in and needed it to be stationary long enough to actually give it a good try. So crawled in, ended up getting within range. The buck started feeding, drew back, anchored, put my pin where I needed to release the arrow. Boom, perfect shot. Buck ran down in the bottom and quickly expired. And it really, uh,
I mean, I thought it was pretty cool because there have been so many times before where I chased antelope and been blown out or they see me within range or something like that, getting that shot. But it was really cool to be able to trick their eyes kind of in plain sight, kind of in the open and kind of hunt those antelope that previously seemed very, very unhuntable.
I think one of the things that makes hunting pronghorns so cool, aside from just how unique they look, is just how different they are and kind of their habits from many of the other animals that we chase. Now, a lot of animals use a lot of cover, whereas a pronghorn is kind of the exact opposite. Its main defense is its eyes. Its eyesight is so good that
I mean, I've heard it referred to like looking through a pair of eight or 10 power binoculars. Now, when you think about that, you can be miles off and really see some stuff pretty well through a pair of 10 power binoculars. So if you think about these pronghorn have that kind of capability, that kind of eyesight, then it kind of lets you understand why they choose that open country, that open terrain, because they can see so far.
and it makes it very difficult for things to sneak up on them. And if you've never spot and stalk archery hunted antelope, you can learn really fast how hard it is to sneak up on them and how good their eyesight really is. Now, that doesn't mean that some pronghorn, whether they're, if they're spooked up or on edge, they'll see you a mile or whatever away and they just start running. Other ones, maybe they haven't been chased, maybe they haven't been hunted,
They have a certain range where they don't want things, predators, anything to get within that range. So they might not care about that person walking a mile out. But when you get within 400 or 500 yards, that's when they're real keyed in and really spook off and run. Another defense of the pronghorn is their speed. I mean, they're the fastest land mammal outside of a cheetah. So I guess they're the fastest animal.
non-predatory land mammal i mean i don't know i've been driving through the desert and you can they love to race your vehicle sometimes and you can you can get up to some pretty high speeds and
And they're just booking it across the desert, across the flats. I've even seen little young antelope just hauling across the desert. So they move really fast. They use their eyes and they love that open country. Another thing is their eyes are kind of positioned on their head where they're pretty high up on their head where you think about
deer or whatever, they're a little bit more forward than a pronghorn, they can almost see, they technically can see behind their head. There's a small area behind their head that they can't see. So they've got a very good field of view and they've got really good eyesight and they're really fast. So that makes them extremely tricky to sneak up on because they prefer that open country, that open habitat. So the nice thing about it is
It makes them very predictable and easy to find. You can look for, if you've never hunted pronghorn, you go, well, how do I find pronghorn? You just say, look for the most open, flat country you can find. And that's probably where you're going to find the majority of the antelopes.
It's because that's the best habitat, the preferred habitat where they can use those defenses to protect themselves. Now, they aren't particularly sensitive to wind as much as other animals. Like if the wind swirls or something like that, they don't like to smell predators. If they smell you, they will run away. But you can get away with a little bit more because they're using their eyesight more than anything. And sound, not necessarily too keen in on sound if you break a stick or whatever, but
a long ways off. It's not like a mule deer where their ears perk up and they whip their head over and they're really worried about it. They're mainly using their eyes as a defense. That's not to say that they won't use the other ears and smell because you can definitely get winded by a pronghorn.
You have to keep the wind right. But I think that they're just a little bit less sensitive than something like an elk or a mule deer, where if that wind swirls for a quick second, they might just snort, blow their nose and look around. So if you factor in how a pronghorn uses sight as its defense, then you can say, okay, well, the logical way to harvest one is to trick its eyes.
Hence the me doing, trying and hunting with a ghillie suit or, you know, a lot of guys hunt water holes and blinds because they can't necessarily see through the blind. So you're, if you can trick an antelope's eyes, I always say this every time I go out is like, if I can trick their eyes, if I can figure out a way to trick their eyes, get past that, that major defense, I'm going to be successful.
And over the years, I've actually found a lot of success spot and stalk antelope hunting. Last year, I was talking with some friends about it. And I was like, man, over the last five years, I've antelope hunted spot and stalk one day for each tag and been successful. My thing was like, I'll give myself one day to go out. I chase every antelope buck I can see.
and on just like over the counter general area antelope tags. And I, and I'm successful. I'm like, that's pretty good for something that seems pretty difficult. And then last year, I mean, I said that and they just gave the school and I've been schooled many years, but I was just on like a hot streak five years in a row, um, just kind of fitting it in between some other hunts. But last year, you know, it was just, it went to prove man, um,
I kept having to say over and over, if I can just trick their eyes, I'll be successful. And that's really the key. So what I like to do is I like to break down successful antelope pronghorn hunting, especially spot and stock hunting on ways that I can trick the eyes. So I have five main ways that I like to think about tricking their eyes. So the first is topography. Then we've got crawling, we've got obstructions, and then we've got a decoy or a silhouette.
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This is Brent Reeves from This Country Life. What makes South Dakota the greatest for pheasant hunting? With over 1.2 million pheasants harvested last year, South Dakota boasts the highest population of pheasants in the nation. In fact, you'd have to add up the total harvest from neighboring states just to get that many birds.
There's also millions of wide open acres chock full of different landscapes, meaning the hunt in one county is often completely different from just a few counties over. But what really makes South Dakota the greatest goes way beyond just hunting a colorful bird. It's the pursuit of something more like the camaraderie that awaits all kinds of hunters from all walks of life and partaking in South Dakota tradition over 100 years in the making.
It's about taking the greatest shots and watching your dog work the greatest fields in the greatest lands, carrying on the greatest heritage and making the greatest memories. So what are you waiting for? From the rush of the flush to the stories at the end of the day, experience a thrill like no other. Learn how at huntthegreatest.com. So let's start with topography. You might see a billion antelope out in really open country.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that you can get close enough to shoot one with a bow or even with a rifle sometimes. Oftentimes, if I am having trouble, let's say, closing the gap, closing the distance on a pronghorn, and I'm seeing a lot of them, I will generally go and kind of switch up my tactics and look for better country with less animals, but
that better broken country where I can get some topography, maybe up in the hills a little bit, maybe somewhere where there's a little bit more brush or a little bit more cover. I know I won't see as many antelope, but I kind of have this idea of if I do see some pronghorn, then I have a higher likelihood of getting close and making a shot, whether it's with a rifle, whether it's with a bow. I try to hunt for the country as much as I am the animals. Now, it's really hard to get away from those areas where you're seeing pronghorn all the time. You're seeing lots of big bucks,
Those definitely draw me in like a magnet as well. So if I can, or if I'm having trouble where I'm seeing a lot of antelopes, like this just is not conducive to getting close. Then I try to focus on finding areas with more broken topography where the antelope are going to make a mistake and I can capitalize on that mistake. They're going to drop down into a little creek. They're going to go over a rise. They're going to be behind a bush or near a tree. And that's when I can capitalize. I can move in quick and
make my stock, make my play and get a shot. But that's not the only way. So there's other ways. Even in that flat open country, you just have to think about tricking their eyes. Well, one of the easiest ways to trick their eyes is by going slow, by getting low and by crawling where you're kind of below that threshold of, oh, that's not a predator. That might be some movement, but they might not actually see the movement. You can move slow, you can crawl and
And you can get below that plane of, oh, there's a big predator coming at me. I have made crawls and successful stocks on antelope that are bedded out in the flat open. Maybe I wouldn't even say three or four inches of grass. I camoed up.
actually like a ghillie suit, one thing that I did learn is just the idea of breaking up that outline really works. So I think that, especially if I'm crawling, I don't necessarily have to be fully brushed up, but sometimes I will take some grass and some other things and stick it in my hat to kind of my head. That's going to be up, try to break up that outline of that round head, you know, maybe even a different kind of hat. I'll flip my hat one way and I'll
stuff some stuff in there. I've actually had like this hat that's the dorkiest kind of hat you could ever have. It's like a round brimmed hat, but it's got some spots in the top where I could stuff grass and other things. And I found that it actually works really well, especially for crawling because it breaks up that outline of just this head popping up, looking all the time. Then I start from a long ways away. I don't want them to see me at any point of the stocking.
It doesn't matter how far out. I know that they can see a long ways. So I like to get out of their sight for as long as possible. If I see an antelope one or two miles away, my whole thought is I'm not going to get within sight of it. So if it's a long way, I mean, if it's really flat, whatever, I'll go to that point where, okay, I can get out of sight or I know that I'm coming in from behind it. It's not going to be looking.
Then I'll get down and I'll make that crawl. I've made some really, really long crawls, but as long as that antelope has stayed bedded there, I can generally get in, crawl in and get a shot. It's just going really slow, barely moving and, you know, being under that level of perception. Now, the next thing is looking for obstruction.
I was thinking, you know, well, last year, one of the best antelope bucks that I got to stock. And this is just a heartbreaker. But he was bedded out in the open, but there was this, like, willow bush out in the middle. And it was just because – this was, like, the only antelope I saw. It was this giant buck by himself. Like, sweet. Yeah.
And there just happened to be like this cluster of willows. Now, I wish I would have planned a little bit different route because there was actually a creek that ran past him that I could have used that I didn't know about till later on. But having those obstructions, having something to block their eyesight makes it really easy. Now, when I do have an obstruction, when I'm moving in on antelope,
I kind of think of antelope hunting as like two speeds. It's that super slow crawling or just flat out running. There's very little in between. And the reason is, is because when they're in an area that gives you an advantage, when their eyes are blocked, when they go over that rise, when they're behind that bush,
I like to cover ground. I don't want to get caught out in the open. So when they give me an advantageous chance, I want to be as close as I can, as fast as I can. So a lot of times, once they've dropped over that rise, once they've gone out of sight, I just haul. I just
I just start moving. And that's a really good way to close the gap, close in. And then as soon as things start to change, boom, the game changes and it might go back to that crawling or using that topography, going really slow, getting low and being out of their eyesight. Now, the fourth method is just...
kind of tricking their eyes by not necessarily being hidden, but being seen. I've done this a couple different ways. One way is using an antelope decoy. Another way is using some other form of silhouette, like a cow decoy, an elk decoy. I guess it's not a decoy, but like a cow silhouette, like a beef cow, an elk decoy, or something else. I've had varying successes with the decoy tactics. So
during the rut, it seems to work the best. I know that they can run in, they see that decoy, they get all fired up. A lot of the areas I hunt, they're just so pressured that it doesn't really work that well. I think that they know something's up. Like I haven't had a lot of success in certain areas with it. And then other areas where maybe they don't get as much pressure. It's like, man, you can't, you can't shake them off of it. So I
The reason that I use the, I still carry the decoys or the silhouettes a couple of reasons. The first is mainly for me to be able to trick their eyes. So if I have to cross out in the open or I've got to close the distance between me and a pronghorn that's out and it's like the only way to get to a spot where I can get out of sight is to cross this open and I don't have the time to crawl and be real slow or, you know, I've just been crawling all day and my neck and body is just
aching and I just need to get into a place where I can then take my time and crawl in. I'll use that decoy or that silhouette to just break up my outline where it's like they see it and it's actually like, hey, you can notice me, but I'm not a threat. And so the way that I use them, I've also used like a cow silhouette where it's like a beef cow, especially in areas where there's a lot of cattle.
One thing I found with those is more often than not, you'll get like the whole herd. If you're actually in a paddock with cattle, you might get the whole herd of cows like running towards you. And it creates a big scene that the antelope kind of don't really like. So they might move them off.
But if you don't have cattle right in your vicinity, it can be a really good way to get close. Now, what I don't do with the silhouettes, I've tried this, you know, I haven't had good success with like just putting it up and walking toward them. But I have had a little bit of success where if they're moving one way, I kind of angle toward them in that general direction, but never go directly toward them. Like I'm like this idea that I'm going to walk past them. I've never been able to hold a silhouette and get within range or get a shot.
Maybe there's people that have, it just hasn't worked like that for me, but I have used it successfully to get into a place out of sight where I can make a stock. Now, I had a buddy of mine that borrowed my cow silhouette. Him and his wife were walking across this open just so they could get to a place where they can sneak. The buck saw the cow silhouette and just charged in and ran and she shot it like point blank. It was actually a rifle hunt and I think she shot it with about 20, 30 yards, something like that. I can't remember, but
that buck just ran from about a mile or a half a mile away straight to them. So it does happen like that. But for the most part, I use those decoys and silhouettes to trick their eyes to get into a place where I can either use another obstruction, crawl, or use the topography to get close to make my shot. I definitely would suggest if you were to go on your first Western big game hunt, or you're just looking for a really fun hunt,
spawn stock pronghorn antelope hunting with a bow is a lot of fun. Pronghorn hunting with any, with a rifle, with a muzzler, whatever, it's all a lot of fun. And it's a lot of fun because there's a lot of action. You see a lot of animals where deer hunting, you know, they hide in the middle of the day. Pronghorn hunting is from sunup till dark, you're in the action. They're moving around all day, even on hot days, you know,
there's always something to do. There's always something to chase and it makes it really fun. And I think it's probably one of the hunts where there's a higher chance of success, especially if you've got a rifle. Now, when you've got a bow, it's kind of the great equalizer because they can see so well, it's hard to get really close to them. But I would say that there's a lot of opportunity. So you get a lot of stocks in, you get a lot of practice and hey, if you blow it on one, go find another. That's what makes it so great.
But while spot and stalk bow hunting or even just rifle hunting can be a lot of fun, there's a lot of other tactics that are really effective for pronghorn. And hunting over water can be probably the most efficient way to target a certain buck or a big buck or even just to get close and have a higher percentage chance of success.
Now waterhole hunting can also be effective for a lot of different species from mule deer, white tails, elk, I mean sheep, pretty much any western big game animal. You can find ways to effectively hunt water. So next week I'm going to cover some waterhole strategies for successful pronghorn hunting as well as other species. So until next week, stay stealthy.
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