Tomorrow afternoon at 12:00pm, the gun (pun intended) goes off on the 2008 North Dakota pronghorn rifle season. Approximately 5,000 hopeful hunters will enter the field in search for that trophy buck for which they’ve waited so long.
I’ll be in that group for the first time ever. After applying for years, I was finally drawn for my first “any pronghorn” tag in the states tight lottery.
And it’s the most excited I’ve been for a hunt in years. I still get anxious for the deer opener, and my dog Tucker and I shake uncontrollably on the morning of the pheasant opener, but this is different.
I’ve been doing more scouting, sighting in of the rifle, research on the internet, and dreaming of antelope hunting than I’ve ever done for deer or pheasant. I’m absolutely positive, at least in my mind, that I won’t shoot at anything short of a 13” pronghorn, even though I know “ground shrinkage” is very common with pronghorns.
So I’m making last-minute preperations for my gear and buying the food for tomorrow’s start. And I’m not expecting to get much sleep tonight as I dream about sneaking across the prairie towards that monster buck, still ½ mile across open grassland.
So stay tuned Blast & Casters. I plan on documenting as much of the hunt as possible on Twitter, in part to laugh at my thoughts as I look back, but also to provide some insight into an eager first-timer out seeking that trophy pronghorn.
