2009 Pronghorn Antelope Hunt

[Cooper Varmint Man]

I flew in from Saint Petersburg, FL to meet up with my good friends and hunting partners Ken and Vern Lunde. We drove from the Rapid City, SD airport straight to Moorcroft, WY.

The morning of the hunt (10/1) was below freezing temperatures, 40 mph wind and snow flurries. This Florida boy was a tad chilly.

I took this pronghorn antelope at 7:30 AM. It was a 140 yard shot. I was using a Cooper M52 Excalibur chambered in .25-06. The bullet was a Sierra 100 gr Pro-Hunter Spitzer.




Ken took his at 8:05 AM. It was a 210 yard shot. It dropped like a stone. Ken was using his Cooper M22 chambered in 6.5 x 55 Swede. The bullet was a Sierra 120gr Spitzer Boat Tail.




The pronghorns were gutted using Ken's Busse Satin + Snakeskin SJTAC.

We celebrated with pronghorn chilli for lunch, elk tenderloins for dinner (from Vern's freezer). The toasting was done with Booker's bourbon.

Cooper rifles...close friends...a successful hunt...great food..high end bourbon...life is good.

Currently working on a Euro mount.

[Cooper Varmint Man]

Once we filled the 2nd tag we stopped by the hotel...picked up our stuff...and drove straight to Hot Springs, SD to process the meat.

Hit a much warmer Wind Cave Park the next day......

A beautiful, wide open space.




Lots of wildlife today.

A large red 'yote:


An older pronghorn buck and a young buck:




Lots of mule deer:




The highlight is always the American bison:

[Cooper Varmint Man]

Vern scored his on opening day for pronghorn antelope hunting in South Dakota. He harvested it about 15 to 20 miles NW of greater-metropolitan Edgemont.

[Hotshot]

NICE PICTURES!

Congrats on your success.

[acloco]

Excellent story and pictures. Congrats!

[bullfrog]

Nice shootin. Speed goats are a lot of fun, and they always look good in a euro mount.

[Song Dog]

Just awesome! enjoyed the pics.

In Christ,

Song Dog

[Rick in Oregon]

Nice rifles, good friends, wide open spaces, fresh air and lots of game. Does it get any better?

Great photos of the adventure, glad it all worked well for you guys. Thanks for sharing the fun.

[dannybracy]

Good looking pics. Thanks for sharing. Did Vern shoot his because it was sticking it's tongue out at him???!!!! LOL -Dan

[Guy M]

Great photos! Congratulations! I've got to hunt pronghorn someday.

Guy