Free Range American’s executive editor Michael R. Shea heads to the high plains of Colorado to hunt pronghorn antelope with the guide and hunter Miles Fedinec. Shea’s mission is to grab his bow and chase down the fastest and the most underrated game species in North America: the pronghorn.
These animals go by many names all over Western and Central North America: pronghorn antelope, speed goat, American antelope, prong buck, prairie antelope, and sometimes just “antelope.” The truth is, they’re neither goat nor antelope. The giraffe is the closest living relative to the pronghorn on Earth, and the relationship is distant.
Pronghorn are indigenous to the regions they still occupy today. They only resemble antelopes from other parts of the world because of parallel evolution. These ancient animals are the only remaining species left of the family Antilocapridae. There were 11 species at one time, but only three ever coexisted with humans. All but the pronghorn are extinct.
When you break down their stats, it’s easy to see why they have survived. They’re called speed goats because they can cross the open plains at up to 55 mph, making them the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere. Their remarkable eyes give them incredible binocular vision; they can see 4 miles away and view the world in 320 degrees at all times - they can literally see behind themselves. (Factcheck: Shea gets this wrong and says “270” in the video, but trust us, it’s 320 degrees.)
Despite their attributes, pronghorn get a bad rap among a lot of hunters, many of whom say they aren’t good eating. Miles is here to tell you that it just ain’t so.
“Even the locals don't give them credit. They think that they're inedible, call them ‘land maggots,’ ‘just another goat,’” Miles says. “The problem is, they haven't taken the time to really learn the species and understand how unique they are. They're the only horned game that sheds their horns every year. They're the only one that has a forked horn.”
As for the taste of pronghorn meat - Miles says there’s nothing like it.
“They’re my favorite North American game animals to eat,” he says, adding that the split among people who love and hate pronghorn meat is 50/50.
“I mean, there are people that flat out tell you you can't eat [pronghorn], and it's just not true. They're absolutely delicious,” Miles says. “I think the biggest thing is how you kill it. If you chase them around all day long and get their blood flowing and adrenaline and lactic acid buildup in their muscles - it's usually hot - so now you’ve got an antelope that’s full of lactic acid and is marinating and its own sweat, that's sitting under the 90-degree sun, and you finally get it to town. And then it tastes bad, and you wonder why.”
- Contents of this video ------
00:00 - Intro
00:43 - Pronhorn hunt day 1
03:09 - Start of the hunt
06:24 - the watering hole
07:47 - Inside look of the hunting blind
08:15 - The shot
09:09 - Outro
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15 авг 2022
