Pronghorn's Status Across the West

406life

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 29, 2021
Messages
255
Location
Bitterroot Valley, MT
The 30th Pronghorn Workshop was this past week and highlighted some great research being done on the species. It also showed some very real concerns about their declining numbers. Virtually every state is reporting dropping numbers, some very quickly. The hardest hit areas are the core states and ranges. Disease and environment are definitely having an impact but in many places they simply don't know why the numbers are declining. Road avoidance studies are showing stark segregation of herds, which might be leading to loss of collective migration knowledge and genetic diversity. Another study shows that there may be susceptibility of pronghorn to contract CWD, sharing 6 of 6 of the alleles that make WT susceptible.

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All this makes me very concerned about our current conservation of antelope. They can bounce back with a few good years, but they aren't showing that response, especially in Montana. Beyond the winter kill in WY 2022, there is significant pressure on a species that generally is last on priority sheets (heck, I wonder if sage grouse work is probably benefiting pronghorn more than pronghorn work).

The proceedings of the workshop will be published this summer, if anyone's interested in reading more. Maybe it's time for pronghorn enthusiasts to form the North American Pronghorn Foundation or something.
 

Pro953

WKR
Joined
Sep 27, 2016
Messages
615
Location
California
I would love to know more about Pronghorn and how we can support the population of hopefully grow them in some places. Here in California we have a tiny population and I have always wondered what we could do to support and grow that herd, but like you said, they receive very little attention and even less funding compared the the more “prestigious” ungulates.

I assume the story likely follows very similar to Mule deer, the continued development of winter range to housing, solar etc… along with fencing and roads breaking up migration corridors. Like you said, the herds are segmented off and they lose genetic diversity, then a few hardship winters in a row knock the herd size down and that weakens the gendered diversity even more. Less of a rapid decline and more of a long term erosion.

At the end of the day it’s not shoulder seasons, doe harvest, method of take etc… it’s habitat, habitat, habitat.


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Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
1,975
Location
Kalispell
Interesting report - my field time hunting them the last 6-7 years (admittedly this is just hunting in a few units) supports this in that the observed #s hunting the last 2-3 years is less than it was 5-6 years back.

I'm curious to see this year's numbers - areas I have hunted just seem like their traditional ranges are overcrowded and housing/roads/fences seem to be impacting them. Opening day of antelope in some areas resembles a firing squad. A lot of that is just due to the nature of open country, smaller herds, block management "hot spots" etc. Have started seeing antelope in higher/more timbered country the last few years - which makes me wonder if resources are short and pressure is increasing which is pushing them into non-optimal habitat.

I love antelope and love antelope hunting and hope we start to see some better numbers soon.
 
Joined
Jan 25, 2018
Messages
987
Location
Wyoming
The nice thing with pronghorn is, if we can keep their good habitat intact and without major barriers, usually they just need water to grow pretty quickly. That's in the short term that's being talked about here (the last 5 years).

I think that's why you're seeing such good numbers increase in Nevada, because they've had a couple of good moisture years. Whereas here in Wyoming, we had that gnarly drought knock em back in the eastern portion from '20-'22, then the winter hit em in the West. So the one-two punch got us down here. Looking like the east side is headed back for drought this summer, too. Which isn't gonna help.

Good invasive species mitigation (plant and animal), wildlife crossings, and removing crappy ol fences (especially woven wire) are real good ways to make a difference.
 
OP
406life

406life

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 29, 2021
Messages
255
Location
Bitterroot Valley, MT
Good invasive species mitigation (plant and animal), wildlife crossings, and removing crappy ol fences (especially woven wire) are real good ways to make a difference
There were a couple of reports on fences and invasive weeds. Woven wire are essentially a death knell to them and barbed strands have issues too. Both can be fixed with time, money, and cooperation. And there seems to be something of a silver bullet herbicide to treat cheat grass and effectively remove it. That would very huge for habitat remediation. I'm watching that one close.
 
Joined
Jun 23, 2022
Messages
23
The 30th Pronghorn Workshop was this past week and highlighted some great research being done on the species. It also showed some very real concerns about their declining numbers. Virtually every state is reporting dropping numbers, some very quickly. The hardest hit areas are the core states and ranges. Disease and environment are definitely having an impact but in many places they simply don't know why the numbers are declining. Road avoidance studies are showing stark segregation of herds, which might be leading to loss of collective migration knowledge and genetic diversity. Another study shows that there may be susceptibility of pronghorn to contract CWD, sharing 6 of 6 of the alleles that make WT susceptible.

View attachment 729744

View attachment 729748

All this makes me very concerned about our current conservation of antelope. They can bounce back with a few good years, but they aren't showing that response, especially in Montana. Beyond the winter kill in WY 2022, there is significant pressure on a species that generally is last on priority sheets (heck, I wonder if sage grouse work is probably benefiting pronghorn more than pronghorn work).

The proceedings of the workshop will be published this summer, if anyone's interested in reading more. Maybe it's time for pronghorn enthusiasts to form the North American Pronghorn Foundation or something.
Do you know what resources to keep up to date with? Websites, or names of journals that the proceedings will be published with? Thanks
 
Joined
May 2, 2016
Messages
633
Location
Reno, NV
The nice thing with pronghorn is, if we can keep their good habitat intact and without major barriers, usually they just need water to grow pretty quickly. That's in the short term that's being talked about here (the last 5 years).

I think that's why you're seeing such good numbers increase in Nevada, because they've had a couple of good moisture years. Whereas here in Wyoming, we had that gnarly drought knock em back in the eastern portion from '20-'22, then the winter hit em in the West. So the one-two punch got us down here. Looking like the east side is headed back for drought this summer, too. Which isn't gonna help.

Good invasive species mitigation (plant and animal), wildlife crossings, and removing crappy ol fences (especially woven wire) are real good ways to make a difference.
Feral horses and pronghorn go hand in hand in Nevada, yet the population grows while mule deer dwindle.

Part of me wonders how hunting drives the population too. We have limited HSTE hunts and manage most of our units for trophy potential. Even the units where there are lots of buck tags the trophy quality can still be high.
 
Joined
Jan 25, 2018
Messages
987
Location
Wyoming
I don’t understand why they keep issuing so many do tags in a declining population.
Many answers can be found here:

Oftentimes they aren’t giving out doe tags in places below objective. If they (like the type 7 tag by Lander) it’s because the herd is under objective but you still get a couple hundred goats parked underneath pivots. So you could say hay field herds are overpopulated. And I don’t blame those goats for not leaving to repopulate other parts of the unit. lol. They’re my favorite for the freezer!
 

deertrout

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 29, 2017
Messages
154
Location
MI
Maybe it's time for pronghorn enthusiasts to form the North American Pronghorn Foundation or something.
Until you said that, it never occurred to me there wasn't one. Googled up the North American Pronghorn Association. Would love to support em, but am leery after experiences with a couple other conservation orgs not walking the talk. Anyone know if they're worth supporting? Website looks like it was made in 1995.

 

dwils233

FNG
Joined
May 17, 2018
Messages
74
Location
E Wa
One theory I've always been interested in involves species with huge herds/flocks (like bison, pronghorn, passenger pigeon) that are designed to absorb massive die-offs and can successfully recover in short order, but once you dip below certain thresholds they can't bounce back as well.

Like if a herd can recover from a 30% dieoff in a couple years, but then you hit it with 20%, 20%, 30%, 10%, 40% in back to back years they simply can't recover and start circling the drain. Hope that's not the case for pronghorns...
 

JFK

WKR
Joined
Sep 13, 2016
Messages
841
One theory I've always been interested in involves species with huge herds/flocks (like bison, pronghorn, passenger pigeon) that are designed to absorb massive die-offs and can successfully recover in short order, but once you dip below certain thresholds they can't bounce back as well.

Like if a herd can recover from a 30% dieoff in a couple years, but then you hit it with 20%, 20%, 30%, 10%, 40% in back to back years they simply can't recover and start circling the drain. Hope that's not the case for pronghorns...
I think you are absolutely right in your assessment. I don’t think antelope are at that point yet, but it’s definitely worth being aware of. I think people take them for granted. You hear people call them rats, liken them to rabbits and other pests. I think they are one of the coolest animals in North America and hope they can catch a break soon.
 
Joined
May 2, 2016
Messages
633
Location
Reno, NV
Until you said that, it never occurred to me there wasn't one. Googled up the North American Pronghorn Association. Would love to support em, but am leery after experiences with a couple other conservation orgs not walking the talk. Anyone know if they're worth supporting? Website looks like it was made in 1995.

I would also like to know. Looked at this website a handful of times.
 
Joined
May 2, 2016
Messages
633
Location
Reno, NV
The 30th Pronghorn Workshop was this past week and highlighted some great research being done on the species. It also showed some very real concerns about their declining numbers. Virtually every state is reporting dropping numbers, some very quickly. The hardest hit areas are the core states and ranges. Disease and environment are definitely having an impact but in many places they simply don't know why the numbers are declining. Road avoidance studies are showing stark segregation of herds, which might be leading to loss of collective migration knowledge and genetic diversity. Another study shows that there may be susceptibility of pronghorn to contract CWD, sharing 6 of 6 of the alleles that make WT susceptible.

View attachment 729744

View attachment 729748

All this makes me very concerned about our current conservation of antelope. They can bounce back with a few good years, but they aren't showing that response, especially in Montana. Beyond the winter kill in WY 2022, there is significant pressure on a species that generally is last on priority sheets (heck, I wonder if sage grouse work is probably benefiting pronghorn more than pronghorn work).

The proceedings of the workshop will be published this summer, if anyone's interested in reading more. Maybe it's time for pronghorn enthusiasts to form the North American Pronghorn Foundation or something.
I stole your pictures to have a similar discussion on another forum. Realized I should have asked ahead of time. Hope you don't mind.
 
Joined
May 2, 2016
Messages
633
Location
Reno, NV
There is a new 501(c)(3) forming to address the declining pronghorn population. Please PM me if you are interested in being involved.
 
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