{"id":18565,"date":"2015-01-13T06:46:44","date_gmt":"2015-01-13T12:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=18565"},"modified":"2026-03-01T10:33:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T16:33:55","slug":"a-pronghorn-buck-in-rut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/13\/a-pronghorn-buck-in-rut\/","title":{"rendered":"Pronghorn Buck In Rut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PronghornPronghorn buck in Rut – Nikon D200, f5.6, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR at 360mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I came across this Pronghorn buck in rut image yesterday that I had taken in 2010 on Antelope Island State Park and thought I would post it. Watching this Pronghorn sniffing the ground and chasing another buck in the area was fascinating to me.<\/p>\n

I have written before about how we almost lost American Bison but that also could have happened to Pronghorn because due to over hunting, fencing and habitat reduction by the 1920’s the estimated population of Pronghorn was only about 13,000.<\/p>\n

At that time the Boone and Crockett Club Chairman wrote to the Secretary of the Interior about their concerns of diminishing pronghorn populations.<\/p>\n

Early attempts to save the pronghorn were doomed though because the pronghorn were kept in fenced areas.<\/p>\n

In 1927 George Bird Grinnell<\/a><\/span>, Boone and Crockett Club chairman, and T. Gilbert Pearson<\/a><\/span> of Grinnell’s National Audubon Society to create the Charles Sheldon Antelope Refuge in northern Nevada which started as a 2900 acre pronghorn refuge in Nevada and in 1929 President Hoover included an additional 30,000 acres.<\/p>\n

In 1931 Hoover signed an executive order designating the refuge and then in 1936 another executive order was signed so the tract became 549,000 acres. The Pronghorn then had the habitat they needed to rebound.<\/p>\n

The Pronghorn were able to recover and population estimates today number between 500,000 and 1,000,000 except for the Sonoran subspecies which is endangered due to habitat destruction, poaching, roads and fences that prevent them from getting to their historical foraging grounds. And today there are still concerns about pronghorn migration corridors because of fencing but there are groups working on that problem which gives me hope.<\/p>\n

Because people cared we are able to see and photograph these graceful Pronghorn in the wild today.<\/p>\n

Conservation does work.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Pronghorn photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching this Pronghorn sniffing the ground and chasing another buck in the area was fascinating to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":170849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,1022,183,26],"tags":[4335,9036,9034,9035,9037,519,4035,9033,9032,185,4249,102,4032],"class_list":["post-18565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-davis-county-utah","category-pronghorn","category-utah","tag-antelope","tag-charles-sheldon-antelope-refuge","tag-fencing","tag-habitat-reduction","tag-migration-corridors","tag-nature","tag-nature-photography","tag-over-hunting","tag-population","tag-pronghorn","tag-rut","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pronghorn-buck-rut-mia-mcpherson-1339.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4Pr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101005,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/24\/spring-pronghorn-buck-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":18565,"position":0},"title":"Spring 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pronghorn-buck-mia-mcpherson-2619.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pronghorn-buck-mia-mcpherson-2619.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pronghorn-buck-mia-mcpherson-2619.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pronghorn-buck-mia-mcpherson-2619.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3277,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/10\/08\/a-buck-pronghorn-with-oddly-misshapened-horns\/","url_meta":{"origin":18565,"position":3},"title":"Buck Pronghorn with Oddly Misshapened Horns","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This October 3rd I spotted this pronghorn for the third or fourth time in this past year only this time I had good light, the buck wasn't far away and because it is rut season he was only paying attention to the does and other bucks in the area.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Atypical Pronghorn buck with sunflowers, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pronghorn-buck-bent-horn-mia-mcpherson-2467.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pronghorn-buck-bent-horn-mia-mcpherson-2467.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34079,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/12\/10\/horn-sheath-growth-in-pronghorns\/","url_meta":{"origin":18565,"position":5},"title":"Horn Sheath Growth In Pronghorns","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Pronghorns' unique horns shed the sheath yearly, making their horn sheath growth an interesting subject as they are the only ungulate with this characteristic.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pronghorn buck during horn sheath growth, Antelope Island State Park in Davis County, 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