Interesting PODCAST on Pronghorn

[Robinhood21]

I was on the road yesterday for work so I took the opportunity to listen to some hunting podcasts.

I was listening to an older EPIC podcast that had Tony Grimmett as a guest and was talking pronghorn hunting.

The one thing that stuck out to me the most, and kind of had me baffled honestly, was that he said their drought years is when they shoot the largest Antelope. It seems backwards from what I've heard in the past but he stated that in drought years the pronghorn are forced to eat a less desirable food source that is very high in protein content which then translates to larger horn. Makes sense to me.

Thinking back, I'm not sure if he said that was only in Arizona and New Mexico. Not sure about Wyoming.

 

[EliAGrimmett]

That's what we've been told by New Mexico ranchers as they've watched their herds move around the ranch during drought years. They explained to us the different feed in different parts of the ranch and how the antelope eat much higher protein feed during the droughts.

And when we look at what we've actually killed - the World's Record in 2002 in AZ (one of the worst droughts ever) and the World's Record in 2013 in NM (also a bad drought year) it seemed to make sense.

This could possibly be confined to just certain areas or ranches or states.

On the other side of the coin in AZ this year it was a horrible drought year for the most part. What happened was a lot of antelope died. Big bucks and fawns and does alike. Which is obviously bad.

I've also talked with David E. Brown (antelope biologist) and he had a theory that bucks grow longer and possibly bigger because of heat. The hotter it is, the longer they got. The theory was that their horns worked as a sort of heat dispersion device. Kind of like a rifle barrel.

But then if we go back into the 1980's, we had some of the wettest years ever and some giant pronghorn were taken in those years.

I still think that drought or no drought the bucks get the biggest when they've had the most stress free life possible. Stress in all forms - coyotes, water, feed, people, fences, weather, etc. You eliminate stress, you grow big bucks. And the most important time to eliminate the stress, I think, is in the early years of their lives.

 

[Robinhood21]

That's what we've been told by New Mexico ranchers as they've watched their herds move around the ranch during drought years. They explained to us the different feed in different parts of the ranch and how the antelope eat much higher protein feed during the droughts.

And when we look at what we've actually killed - the World's Record in 2002 in AZ (one of the worst droughts ever) and the World's Record in 2013 in NM (also a bad drought year) it seemed to make sense.

This could possibly be confined to just certain areas or ranches or states.

On the other side of the coin in AZ this year it was a horrible drought year for the most part. What happened was a lot of antelope died. Big bucks and fawns and does alike. Which is obviously bad.

I've also talked with David E. Brown (antelope biologist) and he had a theory that bucks grow longer and possibly bigger because of heat. The hotter it is, the longer they got. The theory was that their horns worked as a sort of heat dispersion device. Kind of like a rifle barrel.

But then if we go back into the 1980's, we had some of the wettest years ever and some giant pronghorn were taken in those years.

I still think that drought or no drought the bucks get the biggest when they've had the most stress free life possible. Stress in all forms - coyotes, water, feed, people, fences, weather, etc. You eliminate stress, you grow big bucks. And the most important time to eliminate the stress, I think, is in the early years of their lives.

Good stuff, thanks Eli! I really enjoyed that podcast. You guys really know your stuff. Good luck this year!

 

[Rackmastr]

Was that a Hunt Talk Radio podcast that I've somehow missed? Or a different podcast?

 

[Robinhood21]

Was that a Hunt Talk Radio podcast that I've somehow missed? Or a different podcast?

EPIC Outdoors Podcast

 

[Rackmastr]

Ahh 10-4 sorry missed that in the original post. Thanks!

Not enough good pronghorn podcasts out there!

 

[Robinhood21]

Ahh 10-4 sorry missed that in the original post. Thanks!

Not enough good pronghorn podcasts out there!

agreed