How to Hunt Pronghorn on Your Own in South Dakota

Use optics to locate pronghorn and then plan a stalk.

Pronghorn antelope season in South Dakota opens the first Saturday in October and runs for two weeks. South Dakota pronghorn licenses are on an application and drawing basis only. The state has approximately 5 million acres of land that is public or leased for public use; however. However, the majority of the state is in private ownership. Permission to hunt on private property is mandatory and can limit a hunter's access to pronghorn hunting areas. Pronghorn are a difficult species to hunt, but can be hunted without a guide by experienced hunters.

Things You'll Need

• Rifle with mounted scope
• Ammunition
• Binoculars
• Spotting scope

Instructions

1. Hunt for pronghorn by sitting and looking. Due to the wide areas of flat country they inhabit, pronghorn cannot be found by continuously walking in search of them. Pronghorn must be first seen from distances beyond rifle range and then stalked.

2. Locate a high point of ground that overlooks a wide area of land. Sit on the spot and slowly search the areas under 100 yards with binoculars. Search all areas beyond 100 yards with a spotting scope.

3. Plan a stalk once a buck has been located and decided on for the taking. Study the terrain between the buck and you. Stalk toward the buck by walking in dips and low spots in the land and keeping as much high ground between you and it as possible.

4. Work to within 300 yards or closer if possible to the buck. Keep the wind in your face or blowing across you, but never blowing from you to the buck. Once you are in range shoot for the area in the center of the rib cage just behind the shoulder.

5. Take a stand overlooking an area your scouting has previously found pronghorns frequenting. Arrive before dawn and lie down on a high spot 200 to 300 yards away from the area. Watch for the pronghorn as the morning light reveals them already in the area or moving into it and shoot from your stand position.

Tips & Warnings

• A flat shooting rifle is necessary for antelope, as the shots are often out to 300 yards. Rifle calibers such as the .270 and 25/06 are good choices.

• A variable scope mounted on the rifle is necessary to accurately place the shot at long distances.

• Begin early in the year to seek out land owners who will give you permission to hunt on their property. If permissible scout out the hunting area as often as possible prior to the season to find out where the bucks are on the land.

• A stalk should be accomplished on your feet by keeping higher ground between you and the buck. A hunter cannot crawl very far through sage, cacti, prickly pear, and rocks. Careful planning of the stalk is how to close the range on the buck.

• Do not chase pronghorns in an all-terrain vehicle or shoot from them. It is illegal and in violation of the Fair Chase policy established by the Boone and Crockett Club when considering big game trophies.

• A large number of hunters will congregate in the public hunting areas. Do not shoot in a direction that may have other hunters in it. A rifle bullet on flat prairie can carry for miles and hit someone you can't see.

• Pronghorn country has rattlesnakes. Be vigilant when walking, and especially sitting or lying on the ground.

References

• South Dakota Game, Fish, Parks: Antelope
• "Hunting North America's Big Game"; Bob Hagel; 1986