The author, a South Dakotan, used his trusty blackpowder rifle to take this good-sized antelope during rifle season. The coyote made the mistake of showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time! Photo by Mark Kayser.

Pronghorn antelope continue to rank among the big-game animals most fickle to manage. What’s the evidence? From the Dakotas to southern Kansas, pronghorn population densities vary more than do grass varieties.

Regardless of those fluctuating numbers, pronghorn opportunities are plentiful for hunters in the Great Plains, residents and non-residents alike, and the crystal-ball outlook for 2006 is clear and bright.

As for climate issues, North and South Dakota have recovered fully from the effects of the devastating winter of 1996-97. And one important category of access is expanding. Although most states limit firearm hunting for out-of-staters, South Dakota offers a percentage of non-resident firearm tags that continues to increase, and archery opportunities in both Dakotas and Nebraska are unlimited. Kansas is even considering added unlimited bowhunting licenses for 2006. By studying state license application procedures and the pronghorn outlook, you can easily find a pronghorn adventure in the grassland alley of mid-America.

Last winter most of the region posted record-high temperatures and low snowfall -- a combination putting little or no stress on pronghorns, thus allowing them to cruise smoothly into the 2006 seasons. You have only to review the devastating effects of a severe winter like 1996-97, when many Dakota regions experienced a loss of more than 50 percent of the herd, to realize the coldest season’s potential impact.

Barring any unforeseen weather, and with continuing hope for relief from regional drought, pronghorn hunters can reasonably anticipate a solid if not unbelievable season in 2006. Here are the state-by-state breakdowns for this year’s hunts.

NORTH DAKOTA
In 2005, North Dakota decided to do something about a burgeoning surplus of pronghorns before Mother Nature stepped in. Last season, every management unit crashed through the carrying-capacity ceiling, so the North Dakota Game and Fish Department increased the number of doe and fawn tags dramatically.

“Our population objectives are based on how many pronghorns we can sustain in an average winter, and on landowner tolerance,” explained big-game biologist Bruce Stillings, a six-year veteran of the NDGFD. “We hit the does and fawns pretty hard, so I wouldn’t expect to see more hunting opportunities in 2006. But hunters can expect more of the same, and 2005 was a good season.”

Stillings estimates North Dakota’s pronghorn herd at approximately 15,000 animals. The population has taken a jump that can be traced directly to the series of extremely mild winters experienced for nearly a decade in the upper Great Plains.

“In the last two or three years, the pronghorns have responded particularly well with the extremely mild winters,” Stillings said, “and there’s no doubt we’ve finally reached and recovered fully from the 1996-97 winter die-off. This year we have had a nonexistent, mild winter, with little or no snow. We are going to be in good shape for the 2006 fall.”

Boasting one of the most comprehensive survey programs in the Great Plains, North Dakota takes stock of its population through aerial flights in early July. In 2005 department officials covered 19,000 square miles to document the population on its range.