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Old October 9, 2018, 10:27 AM   #1
taylorce1
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Colorado Pronghorn

I'm posting this for my good buddy tedthorn, he and his wife were out hunting my families property for a pronghorn buck for Ted's wife. I wasn't able to make it out due to work, but they managed to find a great buck. I've not seen many bucks of this caliber in my lifetime.

Quote:
Originally posted by ted thorn:
Special thanks to our good friends in Colorado.

Chad Taylor for letting us hunt on his family's farm and Cody Gray for helping Tricia kill a Pronghorn that most of us could only dream of.

16 x 16 1/4" with a base measurement of 6 1/2"

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Old October 9, 2018, 10:30 AM   #2
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Exceptional!! Very nice! Thanks.
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Old October 9, 2018, 11:08 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Centuriator
How do they taste?
Like pronghorn! I really don't know how to explain it, not like deer or elk. Very, very lean and need fat when cooking and never ever cook past medium rare or it'll be exceptionally dry piece of meat. I enjoy eating the properly cooked steaks, but I pretty much turn everything else into jerky and grind, and usually make mild and hot Italian sausage out of the grind adding in 10-15% pork fat.
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Old October 9, 2018, 11:54 AM   #4
Oliver Sudden
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Prone Horn is a mild delicate flowered meat. Less gamey then deer if the animal is taken cleanly and the meat cooled quickly. By far and away my favorite big game meat.
Great buck! What’s the details on the hunt, range, caliber, wind, and such?
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Old October 9, 2018, 11:57 AM   #5
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Nice Speed Goat!
Also does well if you marinade and cook quickly as in a wok or deep fry in a fondue pot.
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Old October 9, 2018, 06:30 PM   #6
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Very cool.
Nice buck.
The cheek patch looks unusually small, but it could just be the angle and lighting. ...Not that it matters.

Quote:
Quote:
How do they taste?
Prone Horn is a mild delicate flowered meat. Less gamey then deer if the animal is taken cleanly and the meat cooled quickly. By far and away my favorite big game meat.
Great buck! What’s the details on the hunt, range, caliber, wind, and such?
Taken cleanly and quickly is always important, but I think environmental stress and life-cycle can influence taste, as well.

My family tries very hard to make sure the carcasses and meat are handled as well as possible, but we still get a lot of variation in flavor - even with animals from exactly the same area (sometimes even with animals from the same herd, and taken at the same time).

Generally, I'd say Prairie Maggots taste somewhere between really gamey mule deer, with extra iron, and something like ... deer heart or elk liver? (Not as gamey, but very distinctive. -- If you've never tried heart, liver, tongue, cheeks, etc.; each of them tastes different than the rest of the animal.)

I don't know how else to try to put it into words... It's difficult to explain.

Antelope just don't taste like anything else. It has a very distinct flavor - which can vary depending upon environment, age, and sex, in my opinion.
The different taste isn't very surprising, though. Their diet is different than cervids, and they are very dependent upon sagebrush.

Most people don't like it. But, most people are given meat that wasn't properly handled in the field, or in transport. (Most seasons being open in August and September doesn't help people that don't realize they really need to get the meat cooled and can't hang it on a fence for 4-5 days...)

My family, almost universally, considers Speed Goats to be the best big game meat. But you won't catch us turning down some cow elk, either.
One of my favorite preparations is actually 1/4" thick slices, a light dusting in seasoned flour, an egg wash, a bath in the seasoned flour, and a quick trip through the deep fryer. There are plenty of excellent ways to use the meat (it's a big player in scratch-made stroganoff, in my house), but that is one of my favorites.
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Old October 9, 2018, 07:10 PM   #7
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The cheek patch isn't very large. Here are a couple more pictures.



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Old October 9, 2018, 10:04 PM   #8
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My wife loves antelope. We got a few in south central Wyoming that tasted like Frankenmauser described, kinda like liver, slightly gamey, and had a distinct smell when cooking. Fast forward to the last few years. I have exclusively hunted on the eastern side of the Pawnee Grasslands. Not much sage, lots of wheat and lots of buffalo grass and side oats gamma grass. This results in antelope that we look forward to every year. I get'em cleaned and skinned asap, put ice in the body cavity, and take them to a game processing place. They hang in a cooler for a few days, and believe me, the meat is delicious. Going hunting tomorrow.
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Old October 10, 2018, 12:06 AM   #9
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He put all of his energy into horns, rather than a cheek patch.
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Old October 10, 2018, 12:14 AM   #10
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I started eating pronghorn in 1969,as a high school kid finding his own way.
Nobody taught me,and of my own doing,I've had antelope that lived up(or down) to its reputation for being gamy,livery,etc.

I also,at that time,had some vague notion the game was supposed to hang in the garage a week with the hide on.Where I got that,I don't know,but I promise it will get you gamy,livery,unpleasant antelope.Especially since late Sept season is usually pretty warm.

Once I learned what works for me,I've had nothing but good antelope. Its no more gamy than anything you buy in a store,and I can feed it to folks who don't eat game meat,and they just want more.

I start before opening day by getting my refridgerator essentially empty.I clean it.
I get some of that plastic barricade construction fence.
What for? I put it under the quarters/chunks when I refrigerate it for air circulation.

I've hunted the same ground a long time.Private land,I know the herd.Not bragging,its just not that hard.(Don't get me wrong,I'm not saying a Monster Buck like the OP's is easy! I'm just saying I know this ranch and herd) I get one shot,one kill on standing animals.
They may be on the move,but not when I shoot.

I get them field dressed immediately.I take my time. I am meticulous at extracting the full bladder without losing any urine to the body cavity.Little nylon tie-wraps are your friend

Many folks cannot even identify the bladder and pay no attention.They tend to marinate the meat in antelope urine for a bit.I don't recommend it.

I transport it back to the ranch.I don't use an ATV to hunt,but we save some time using one for that.
Sure,a short time for "Ohhh,AAAhhh,the story...maybe something cold and a snack..but then it gets hung up and skinned out.I find little vise grips helpful skinning.
All traumatized flesh is trimmed out.No trace of windpipe is in the carcass. Care is taken to minimize hair on the meat.

From here,the meat must get cooled out,it must be kept dry,to skin over,and it must be protected from flies.The gauze game bags are pretty good.

I generally load it up,make the hour drive to my house,use the bleach cleaned counter tops to break it down to quarters or chunks that will fit in the fridge,
And I put it on top of a few layers of that plastic fencing in the fridge.

Now,my meat is getting cold,fly free,the same day it was killed.

I drive back to the ranch.The sky is big. The coyotes sing,I am among friends.

I camp.

When I get home,I process and freeze.

Legs and neck,etc with membranes,etc,require low/slow cooking to break down collagen.Maybe a Ragu.

Tenderloins,inside,I medallion in some garlic butter. Back straps,are chops.

I don't do roasts.They are easy for ME to ruin. You may enjoy yours.

Everything else that will make a frying pan steak gets cut that way.

At least one hindquarter,maybe both,get sliced to thin,lean "roundsteaks" for jerky. I put a Morton Tenderquick cure on mine,then smoke it till its leathery. Finish in the food dryer.If you want to eat any of it yourself,don't tell the kids about it.

I don't make burger or sausage.All the rest gets made into stew meat size pieces.

My favorite way to cook it is season,flour,brown in hot garlic butter.Leav some pink.Put it on a couple of plates.Hand one to a friend and open two beers.

If you should spill some beer on the browning floured meat in the pan,it will gravy up. I hope you boiled some pasta.
You can keep going,mushrooms,peas,stroghanof,etc. These pieces of meat are both simple and versatile.

Good stuff.

Last edited by HiBC; October 10, 2018 at 10:49 PM.
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Old October 10, 2018, 05:25 AM   #11
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That's a Super nice Buck.
What rifle and loading did she use?
I don't think that info has been posted yet.......but I'm betting a Kimber in some form or fashion....
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Old October 10, 2018, 06:33 AM   #12
taylorce1
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Kimber Select, 7mm-08, and 120 grain Nosler.
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Old October 10, 2018, 06:42 AM   #13
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Nice goat!
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Old October 10, 2018, 11:56 AM   #14
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Nice!
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Old October 10, 2018, 05:06 PM   #15
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Quote:
How do they taste?
They taste like goat meat. If you've never tasted goat meat, well, uh, never mind.
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Old October 10, 2018, 06:20 PM   #16
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Nice rack.
Where in Co did that beastie get taken?
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Old October 10, 2018, 10:08 PM   #17
taylorce1
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Quote:
Where in Co did that beastie get taken?
Lincoln County
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Old October 11, 2018, 06:04 PM   #18
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Never hunted one is it way up in the mountains like Alaska goats
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Old October 11, 2018, 07:29 PM   #19
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Never hunted one is it way up in the mountains like Alaska goats
Nope. Plains animal.
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Old October 11, 2018, 08:32 PM   #20
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Thank you
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Old October 11, 2018, 08:38 PM   #21
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Pronghorn do inhabit some high mountain plains. South Park, North Park in Colorado are high elevation flats. But the majority of their range is the plains at lower elevations.
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Old October 12, 2018, 10:38 AM   #22
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We used to have a pretty big herd between me and Grand Junction (~5500 feet elevation). Saw big groups from the hwy. now its a rare occurrence to see a couple animals.
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Old October 12, 2018, 11:40 AM   #23
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Antelope is my Wife's favorite animal to hunt. She just loves to stalk and antelope are "all eyes and legs" and if you don't do it right you don't get a shot. If they do a "quick run" you find the go over 1000 yards in just 1 minute. They have eyes like a raptor, but do not spook from smells and sounds as readily as deer or elk do. However if you make a noise they don't like, or if the smell you, all their eyes turn to you, and that can be a real problem in getting closer.
Here she is with last years antelope.
Anna's Antelope 2 by Steve Zihn, on Flickr

She got one a few weeks ago too.
Picture0922180833_1 by Steve Zihn, on Flickr

She also loves the meat. The strong gammy flavor of antelope is misunderstood by most hunters, especially those that don't live around them and learn about them. The bad flavor is not in the meat folks. It's in the Blood!
Take you meat and drop it into very cold water with a handful of rock salt and let it stand 24 hours. Do this before you butcher it and wrap it. It pulls out most of the blood. Throw out the 1st "bath" and do it again a 2nd day. Add ice to keep the meat cold. After that the meat is as good and probably better then most White tail deer you will eat.
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Old October 12, 2018, 01:58 PM   #24
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Nicely done. One of my favorite animals to hunt is the Pronghorn. I make all of mine (except the Ribeyes which we fondue) into a breakfast sausage which we eat a few times a week.

I skin (carefully) and then bone it out and get the meat into a large ice chest ASAP. When I hunted up near Nunn, we would skin and rinse with cold water at my Wife's Uncles place and then pack in ice for the trip home. I drain out the water and repack with ice on the 2nd day then freeze it on the 3rd day. It is usually April or May when I make sausage, so I thaw, drain and rinse.
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