Antilocapra Americana - what an amazing animal to hunt!

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“The best advice is to find a good looker that has mass, prongs, decent length and shoot him!”


For many years I have been fascinated by pronghorn antelope and finally now in October 2026, it came together and my wife and I journeyed to the States to hunt a brace of speed goats!

We have hunted Africa many, many times and we have hunted all over Europe for roe, red deer, European boar, chamois, mouflon and more.

We have, however, only hunted in the States once so far and that was some ten years ago with my wife chasing mountain lion out of Grand Junction, as a birthday present. The lion won but we came away with a bucket full of experiences and memories and a deep desire to return and hunt some more.

Fast forward a decade and this time it was to be a couple of pronghorn over a 3 day hunt based out of Trinidad, Colorado.

Now, I am not going to attempt to try and tell you all here on Africa Hunting about pronghorn. The majority of members and readers are, after all, from the US and it would be tantamount to trying to explain to you how to suck eggs. And I am not going to do that for one minute.

But let me throw out there a number of the phrases, comments and one liners that I picked up whilst doing my research and homework on this hunt, here goes -

• American pronghorn is the most underrated species in North American
• Fastest land mammal in the America’s with speeds of 88 km/h or 55 mph
• Conservation status LC (Least Concern) in the IUCN Conservation listings
• Unique North American mammal
• Closest living relatives are actually giraffe
• They are the only surviving member of the Antilocapridae family
• Antilocapra Americana - me American goat antelope
• 320 degree vision
• They have a gallbladder
• Social hunt, glassing, talking, chewing the fat
• As cool as cool gets
• Lonely prairies & sage foothills
• Hollow hair, prone to breakage
• some of the best wild game meat that you will ever eat
• Secondary option for big game hunters
• Black horned buck
• Mass is king on antelope
• Horns not antlers but sheds outer horn each year and regrows it over winter
• Flat out fun
• A signature Western hunt
• Cool Roman noses
• Prongs, diggers & cutters

That adds up, in my book, to a big bag of what sounds like absolute fun, but where to start?


Marks Exclusive Adventures

I went on-line and began by looking at outfitters and agencies that were offering antelope hunts and there are a lot out there. One agency was super helpful, quick with responses and could pretty much guarantee a B&C trophy with all the bells and whistles albeit at around USD 15.000,- per person per antelope! Somewhat rich in my opinion for an antelope hunt and we were not after guaranteed Boone & Crockett pronghorn.

Then I remembered Mark, whom I have known on-line for some years and who contributes on here. He runs a hunting agency under the name ‘Mark’s Exclusive Adventures’ out in Nevada covering Africa, parts of Europe and the US. I reached out to him saying that my wife and I wanted to travel to the States and get in an antelope hunt for two representative bucks, that we could bring back home to Germany and hang on the wall.

A couple of days later, Mark came back with Vision Quest in Trinidad Colorado and Chris Furia. After some research, some mails and WhatsApps back and forth, I booked up.

Mark’s office sent over a contract and a payment plan - 25%, 25% and then 50% some 30 days before the hunt. I am not a great fan of lengthy contracts and payment plans but hey, that’s the way he works it and his house, his rules. All signed up and first instalment paid and we were away!

Two pronghorn antelope based out of a fully catered farmhouse AirBnB just outside of Trinidad, Colorado, guided 2 on 1 by Chris Furia, owner of Vision Quest Outfitters, and his team, a loaner rifle and three days early October 2026, to make it happen!


Travel Plans

We decided to make a vacation out of this trip throwing in Vegas and a visit with some great friends of ours in Wisconsin. Say ‘cheese’!

Most people we speak to cringe when I mention Vegas, but me, coming from Europe / Africa, I just love it. The buzz, bright lights, Harra’s Piano Bar, the gaming tables, great shows and some good restaurants! Europe does not have anything like that and we love it! It’s an adult playground and good for 48 hours of fun!

Lufthansa from Dusseldorf to Vegas direct, two days in Vegas and then South Western to Denver, a rental car to Trinidad via Colorado Springs, three days of hunting, then back to Denver and fly to Chicago, another rental to Wisconsin, three days with friends and then Chicago via Zurich back to Germany and home. ESTA travel approvals were done on-line and approved within 24 hours. All zipped together, booked and confirmed within a week!! Nevada, Colorado and Wisconsin here we come!

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Tags & Things



Hunting in Germany, where we live most of the time when we are not in RSA, is pretty complicated and regulated when it comes to getting a ‘Jagdschein’ (hunting license) - a load of learning material, a written exam, a practical rifle and shotgun shooting exam and a 30 minute oral Q&A with a 3 person exam board. Once you have passed you can then go out and buy as many rifles and shotguns as you want and up to 2 handguns (you can own more if you are a sport shooter but here we are talking hunting) and then you can hunt - either through invites or purchased hunting. After 3 years you can then lease a hunting concession and hunt your own deer, pigs, predators et cetera when they are in season. You set your own limits and quotas and you hunt in your concession.

Now for our antelope hunt my wife and I were introduced to the American way and how things are done in Colorado!

Welcome to Colorado Parks & Wildlife! Proper Identification - yes, tick that box, Proof of Residency - yes, Hunter Education - a phone call, an email copy of our Germany Jagdscheine plus our gun ownership docs (as an extra FYI)(they asked for it) and we were waived / respectively accredited with the Hunter Education, then it was a Colorado State Wildlife Area Access Privilege, a $ 12,76 Habitat Stamp, a Non resident Small Game Annual License at $ 104,86 and then we could enter the 2026 Pronghorn Antelope Draw with the P05 Nonresident Pronghorn License & Annual Fishing license at $ 506,92.

Thanks to Chis Fourie’s guidance and help on the phone, we applied in the Draw for 2 buck tags and then we waited. The deal was if we did not draw, Chris could get us Landowner Tags so we would be good to hunt either way.

Late June we received two emails advising that we had ‘Drawn’ the Tags that we had applied for and that the documents would be mailed to us in July. For some reason, that news made me feel like I had just won a prize in the lottery. I was smiling the rest of that day!

Whilst the process seems super complicated to non-Americans and the concept of having to Draw for Tags to hunt on private or public lands seems very peculiar at best, a couple of AH members explained the ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’ to me and whilst that did make it clearer, I am still not 100% sold on the Tags & Draw system in the US. Yet clearly the system works in the States and that’s what counts. Plus we had our Tags! And I must say that the people at CO Parks & Wildlife were all super helpful and polite and went out of their way to accommodate us even returning calls to Germany! Hats off !

Our licenses arrived in the mail mid July and we were all good to go !

The older you get the faster time seems to pass by and before we knew it end of September was upon us and we were packing bags and getting ready for the off.


Frankfurt - Las Vegas



It was Discover (a Lufthansa subsidiary) from Dusseldorf to Vegas with a plane change in Frankfurt and then 72 hours of bright lights, card tables, good food, a great show, the Piano Bar at Harrahs, lots of walking and all around good and friendly service. All in all good fun and we came out USD 325/- up after 3 days plus a few free Coronas and Mimosas at the tables! I do like Vegas and will do it again!









One of the many highlights was the Pinball Museum. A huge hall full of pinball and other arcade machines that you can play for quarters. Everything goes to charity. No entry charge and a couple hours of pinball fun ! Machines from the 1960s to modern machines like Jaws, Jurassic Park and The Simpsons! A must if you enjoy playing pinball machines!








The only criticism would be the 2 h 30 minute waiting in line at passport control on arrival in Vegas, 24 service desks and only 6 were manned. It was painfully slow. I have only experienced one other airport with painfully slow lines like and that was Marakesh, Morocco.


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And then it was Southwest to Denver and a rental car south heading towards Trinidad via Colorado Springs, with a stop at Cabelas and a visit to Pikes Peak.





Cabelas for almost all European hunters I imagine, is just mind blowing! A store the size of multiple football fields dedicated to hunting and fishing! It was like Christmas in October!

The Garden of the Gods was also a great visit with beautiful Fall colours! Super.

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Trinidad & Vision Quest Outfitters

We got down to Trinidad spotting a few interstate pronghorn on the way. The weather was wet and windy but the forecast for the next 4 days was dry and warm. We checked in to La Quinta Wyndham and enjoyed a nice Mexican dinner just up the road. The hotel had a really cool collection of (unrestored) 1940s and 1950s cars and trucks outside - a kind of graveyard of US auto history. It reminded me of Stephen King’s 1983 ‘Christine’!




Friday 2nd October, we checked into the AirBnB where we and the other hunters would stay during the hunt and then we met up with Chris Furia, owner of Vision Quest, at his house plus Jake, who would be our guide over the three day antelope hunt.




After initial greets and the lay of the land, we shot and sighted the loaner rifle that we would be using - a Kimber .260 REM made in Yonkers NY. We were both good on paper and went back to Chris’s house where he checked the licenses and paperwork.





It was then back to the BnB, referred to as ‘the cabin’, where we met the other hunters, land owners, ranchers and their wives and girl friends over an easy and happy pasta dinner, with almost a family atmosphere. Life is good!

The following morning we were up early and ready to go at 06.30 and enjoyed coffees and breakfast burritos. Bagged lunches with lots of snacks and fruit were handed out along with plenty of water and off we went. Opening Day for pronghorn rifle! To say I was excited would be an understatement!





As we drove down a county road to the ranch, the local Parks Game Warden greeted us on the road and Jake exchanged pleasantries with him. Adam, the Game Warden, told us he had seen some elk and antelope a ways down the road. We even took the liberty of a photo opportunity! A nice guy.





We were hunting a large property and it was not long before we spied pronghorn - small groups of three and four does with one buck, up to larger groups of ten to twelve with more than one buck. After a couple of hours of driving and glassing, we spotted a good buck on his own at the base of a rise. The hunt was on!

Over an hour we stalked a large semi circle at the top of the rise to get above him and as we came into position on the ridge we learned just how good antelope can see! There he was at 800 to 900 yards out staring straight at us! We tried to keep to the shadows of the cedars but he busted us time and time again and then like Houdini he was gone! We stalked and glassed and stalked and glassed some more, covering 2 - 3 miles on foot but with no luck. He was nowhere to be seen.

Later in the day we drove up a mesa named the “Look out” and eating our packed lunches, we glassed for antelope. On the flat below we spied an elk bull that then started bugeling ! That was a bonus!

We drove some more, stopping to glass antelope and also spotted mule deer, turkey and a couple of coyotes, but no more shooter pronghorn.

As the sun started to fall we headed back to the cabin where we enjoyed a great steak BBQ and some great red wine that the one hunter had brought with him from California! His own vintage production. A nice touch.



The Californian had got his buck early in the day on a neighbouring ranch. We toasted him at dinner and I was introduced to American bourbon! All good fun.





Day 2 was pretty much a copy / paste of the previous day. We again spotted ‘Houdini’ and put in a long and slow stalk but he evaded us again. As the saying goes ‘you dont get that big by being dumb’ and dumb he was not!

Around noon Chris called Jake, telling him that his hunter (85 years old and from Alaska) had shot a good buck but it was in a swampy, marsh area and could we help with the recovery. Sure we could and I hope that if I am 85 and still able to hunt and chase antelope that someone would help me with the recovery!

We drove to the area where they were and Jake helped to carry to buck to the truck. A very decent, old buck! Congratulations were offered and we helped on the photographs.

Driving the County Road back towards where we were hunting, Jake spotted 4 antelope bedded down by an old barb fenced cemetery out on the prairie. Using a slight rise the three of us were able to stalk to the corner or the cemetery, where we hunkered down to glass the antelope.

After a few moments Jake’s phone started vibrating in his pocket and although he killed it a couple of times the calls continued. Then a couple of text messages came through so Jake pulled out his phone and read the message.

‘Look to the left!’

We looked left (behind us) and there, 165 yards out, was a good buck, standing and eyeing us.

‘Do not move’, whispered Jake. We froze.

As the buck relaxed and started feeding, Jake hissed ‘Move!’ And we shuffled around on our bums in the direction of the still feeding antelope. Jake set the tripod up at knee height over my lap and I placed the Kimber rifle into the grip at the top and sighted onto the buck.

The goat started walking diagonally away from us and I followed him in the Leupold glass.

‘Whistle’, I whispered to Jake, which he did and the buck stopped and turned straight on to us. Easing the safety off, I took the straight-on chest shot and the buck dropped on the spot!

After a day and a half of driving, glassing, walking and stalking, we had a shooter of a pronghorn walk in on us whilst we were glassing another group, bedded down 200 yards out! Lady Luck had been more than kind to us!

I was thrilled! I had my pronghorn, having been keen on this hunt for over a decade it had finally come together! Walking up to the downed buck in the Colorado sunshine, I was smiling from ear to ear!





We took lots of pictures and were then joined by Chris and his hunter who had watched everything play out from the County Road and had been calling and texting to tell Jake about the buck on the other side! Chris commented that with the wind as it was he saw the buck drop before he heard the shot! Thank you Chris for calling him in to us!

Jake field dressed and tagged the buck which Chris then took with the second antelope back to his house to cape and dress out, whilst we continued hunting for a second antelope.

From the ‘Look Out’ we spied a group of 6 does and a solid buck but they were just the other side of the low fence boundary line by a dozen yards or so. We drove and then carefully stalked into the area and began watching them from 100 or so yards away. The does wanted to cross but every time one approached the border fence the buck herded her back. This went on for an hour or so and so we called it a day, hoping that they may cross in the night and give us a chance in the morning.

That evening we had a good Mexican dinner with talk of the pronghorn taken and other events around ranching, hunting and hauling cattle. Educational.

The final day, Day 3, we were up early and in the truck as the sun rose. We saw a single large whitetail buck at the side of the road near the ranch. Not what we were hunting but deemed a good omen all the same!

From the ‘Look Out’ we glassed the same group of antelope as the evening before and they had not moved more than 20 feet!

We drove on and continued searching and glassing. As a side note, I was the one doing the gates. I have often thought that I should put together a photo-book of gate latches. They are all different the world over and this ranch had quite a few unique ones!



Driving a farm track Jake spotted three pronghorn a long way away and put the scope on them.

“He’s worth looking at,” he declared and we drove closer. Glassing the three antelope Jake announced that we needed to put in a stalk, the only issue being that between us and the antelope was some 1.000 yards of open prarie.

Stalking in to the edge of the last bit of cover, we all glassed the antelope. Three small dots on the other side of a wide open flat space!

“What if we put up a decoy and walk straight at them?” And so the plan was hatched.

With Jake holding a 2D flat cut out of a pronghorn, followed by Anja with the rifle on safe and then myself carrying the sticks, we quick walked straight towards the antelope stopping at 500 yards. The small group of 6 eyes had seen us well before we stopped and inquisitively started walking in, the does first and the buck at the rear.

“450 yards,” whispered Jake.

Anja was on the sticks, slightly to the right of the decoy, with me sitting on the ground behind Jake.

“400” was next and then “350 yards” as the antelope continue to come in. At 300 yards they stopped, the buck at the back by some 20 yards.

Allowing for the bullet drop, Anja settled in the buck’s spine and fired. We heard an impact from the bullet, yet the buck ran with the does to the right, clearly not hit hard. He then stood, looking back at us and shook his head a few times as if agitated. Then as one they ran some more.

With the decoy up we gave chase and again got to within 300 yards. Again up went the sticks and Anja dropped the buck with a solid hit behind the shoulder from the .260 Rem! She too had her pronghorn antelope!

As we got to the antelope, we saw where the first shot had gone - straight through the right hand prong! That was the reason why the buck had been shaking his head!











We took pictures and Jake did the tag paperwork and then we loaded the goat and drove back to the ranch to skin and cape the animal.



Two totally different hunts for our two pronghorn. On mine the goat walked in on us and on Anja’s we speed walked at the antelope! Recounting the two tales made us all smile later that evening.



The land owner, Bill, then gave us as tour of the area, driving across the State border into New Mexico and up to his summer grazing pastures. Simply beautiful countryside with the aspens a beautiful fall golden yellow! Thank you Bill for the tour!

The following morning we loaded up, said our thanks and goodbyes and headed up the interstate to Denver, for our United flight to Chicago.

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Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

It was then a rental car and a night drive up to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, where we stayed a couple of days with great friends from our Nigeria years.

We boated and fished on Lake Michigan, we fired various guns and pistols at targets on their farm, we sat in a blind with a whitetail crossbow tag and a turkey tag (but nothing came in) and we just had a great and relaxing time with close friends! Wisconsin, another beautiful part of the States!










My first ever shot with any type of bow!






Too quickly our vacation was at an end, with a drive to Chicago and a return flight with Swiss Air via Zurich to Germany and home.

It was a fantastic trip! We did and saw so much, built around three days of hunting antelope! And we both got our antelope! I was and am thrilled to have taken a solid pronghorn, my first American animal!

Again thank you to Chris and Jake of Vision Quest, plus Mark Young of MEA who put the hunt together, thanks to our friends in Wisconsin too and thanks to all AH readers that came along through this report.

Forgive me if I rambled on a bit too much, but what may be an everyday game animal to an American hunter is very much a unique, almost exotic game animal, to most Europeans that have never hunted American pronghorn antelope!

Something I can now wholeheartedly recommend!

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Take Aways -

And these are through a visitor to the USA eyes, so please don`t misunderstand or take this wrong they are simple thoughts and observations ...

- It’s ok to eat bacon with your fingers.

- America has service pretty much ‘down to a T’ compared to Europe - airport curbside check-ins, restaurants, supermarkets et cetera, 100 %

- Food portions are huge ! We started sharing one order between us !

- Fresh vegetables seem to be a secondary thought in most diners and restaurants (I know these are mostly fast food places but a heap of people eat there)

- Every second ad on the TV or radio was some health related product or service, even down to health risk ads on the weather channel - mosquitos, pollen, dehydration, flu and head colds!

- Nobody walks! Every journey, no matter how short is by car & at $ 5/- plus per gallon plus for fuel people need to start walking more!

- Walmart is simply amazing - they have everything, even down to 12 ltr bottles of pure oxygen for those folks that don’t walk !




- Colorado had some beautiful countryside, awesome views and the aspens were beautiful!

- It’s ok to shoot guns on your own property!

- Wisconsin fall colours were spectacular and Lake Michigan is huge !

- It’s true - everything is bigger, the cars, the highways, the stores, the pizza section at Walmart and so much more! We even saw American flags on the highways that were bigger than the German flags outside the German parliament in Berlin! Simply huge!








Next up I think needs to be an elk hunt!


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And if anyone is interested, Chris measured my antelope and came out with a wet score of 75 6/8ths. I took my own measurements of the buck (girth, neck length, mid horns to nose & more) for the taxidermist back home to work with. Chris filled out a B&C measurement form for his records & gave me a copy for my information.

Me not knowing volumes about pronghorn, but both Chris & Jake said that a 75 6/8 buck - as a first ever buck to hunt & take - set me off to a great start!

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Excellent adventure mate! Looked like a lot of fun all round and some beautiful antelope to boot.

Reminds me that I need to buy my points for WY before months end.

Thanks for sharing

Congratulations! Thank You for sharing

Congratulations on the antelope!! Glad you both had a great time on the trip.

You mentioned elk in the future? What about black bear over hounds? You can do those in New Mexico for fairly reasonable as well. However, if you and Anja both want a bear you might need to book individual hunts back to back - getting 2 bears in a week's time frame can be iffy. Just some food for thought.

Once again, congratulations!

Awesome report! Pronghorn are a neat animal. I’ve only hunted them a couple times, but they are fun for sure.

I love reading your impressions about our country. I enjoyed reading about all the world cup visitors impressions too. We are indeed fortunate in many ways in the US. A lot of conveniences that we take for granted, for sure.

I’m glad you had a great trip. Come back and hunt elk someday!

Congratulations.

That sounds like a fantastic hunt and experience! Congratulations, and I am happy to hear that you found Americans to be friendly, hospitable and welcoming.

Glad you and your wife had a good trip-antelope one of my favorites for sure. Thanks for a solid report!

Awesome report!

Very nice report. Congrats on your antelope!

Fantastic report. I really like your European perspective. You made a few comments that caught my attention:

Regarding the "draw" system... You said "the system works in the States, and that's what counts." Well, the system is completely different in each state. It works, I suppose....... barely. In many states, the rules are almost incomprehensible, and for most areas there is WAY more demand than supply.

You said hunting pronghorn is commonplace in the US. Perhaps in Wyoming it is somewhat commonplace. I've hunted maybe 10 of them. None of my hunting friends have hunted more than 2 or 3. Getting the tags is difficult in many states. In Idaho, most draw applications have a 2% or 3% chance of being drawn each year. There are places with more readily available tags, but most of those areas are on private ground..... meaning more $$ to hunt. Archery permits are easier to obtain, but that almost always means hunting waterholes from within a blind.

I'm am thrilled you had a successful trip. Pronghorn are incredible creatures. Seeing them run at maximum speed is unforgettable. Their eyesight is amazing. Only their natural curiosity is sometimes a weakness for them.

For the area you hunted, those are very nice animals. Bigger can be found sometimes in Wyoming and New Mexico, but they're never easy. Congrats!

BryceM said:

Fantastic report. I really like your European perspective. You made a few comments that caught my attention:

Regarding the "draw" system... You said "the system works in the States, and that's what counts." Well, the system is completely different in each state. It works, I suppose....... barely. In many states, the rules are almost incomprehensible, and for most areas there is WAY more demand than supply.

You said hunting pronghorn is commonplace in the US. Perhaps in Wyoming it is somewhat commonplace. I've hunted maybe 10 of them. None of my hunting friends have hunted more than 2 or 3. Getting the tags is difficult in many states. In Idaho, most draw applications have a 2% or 3% chance of being drawn each year. There are places with more readily available tags, but most of those areas are on private ground..... meaning more $$ to hunt. Archery permits are easier to obtain, but that almost always means hunting waterholes from within a blind.

I'm am thrilled you had a successful trip. Pronghorn are incredible creatures. Seeing them run at maximum speed is unforgettable. Their eyesight is amazing. Only their natural curiosity is sometimes a weakness for them.

For the area you hunted, those are very nice animals. Bigger can be found sometimes in Wyoming and New Mexico, but they're never easy. Congrats!

Click to expand...

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Appreciate your feedback & comments BryceM. Clearly in Europe we have easier access to hunting than in the US with longer seasons & often larger bags (especially on wildfowl). I have started looking at the various draw systems in various States as it has now got my interest. Maybe we were just super lucky to both draw but I understand that a quota of CO tags are allocated to non-residents, so perhaps somewhat easier ?

If my research is near accurate some 85.000 to 90.000 pronghorn are hunted every year in the US, quite a few but not nearly the numbers like roe or other deer in Europe.

It was an awesome hunt for a unique & incredible animal & as I said we are both really grateful & proud to have been able to do this hunt & take two solid antelope!

Cheers

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Most areas with large amounts of public land are very difficult to draw for non residents. There are some states that offer land owner tags or outfitters tag that make it a little easier.
But straight high public land for non residents is extremely difficult

Thanks for the report. I'm actually leaving tonight on my drive to Trinidad to hunt elk with Chris and Jake, booked through Mark. This was an excellent preview and we are excited to get on the road.