Pronghorn Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: The fastest draw in the West isn't a gunslinger, it's the Pronghorn, a unique, incredible animal of the grasslands that's not only capable of great bursts of speed, but are capable of running long-distance marathons. The vast majority of Pronghorns are west of the Missouri River in South Dakota, so for a guy near the intersection of South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota, it's a few hour drive to get into an area where I could reasonable expect to find one. However, there are parts of western South Dakota where they're pretty common and easy to find. I often see them when I'm birding on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands or Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. Pronghorn there aren't as skittish as some animals, but they're generally not in the mood to stick around for photos. Therefore despite all the Pronghorn I've seen on the National Grasslands over the years, I don't have all that many photos of them there.

Most of the "good" photos of Pronghorn below are from two places, one in state, and one outside of South Dakota. The commonality between both of those locations...it's protected land where Pronghorn aren't hunted, and as a result, the animals there are generally much, much more tolerant of human beings. Yellowstone National Park is one place where we often see Pronghorn, mostly in the northern part of the park near Mammoth Hot Springs, and particularly in the northeastern part of the park in the Lamar Valley. There they have much more important things to worry about than human beings (e.g., wolves that might want to make a meal out of one). I thus have some photos of Pronghorn from Yellowstone.

However, it's the Pronghorn of Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota that are the camera hogs. They can sometimes be VERY tame there, foraging alongside a road with no care of the passing traffic. They're a bit more shy when you're out hiking in the park, but they're still much more cooperative for photographs than Pronghorn elsewhere in South Dakota. My favorite photo of the species comes from Custer State Park, and catches one in very nice warm evening light, with some terrific vegetation and flowers as a backdrop. I'm also really fond of some of the closeup portraits below. A beautiful, wonderful part of the South Dakota landscape!!

Pronghorn - Antilocapra americana


Pronghorn 1	Pronghorn 2	Pronghorn 3	Pronghorn 4
August 23rd, 2004	September 2nd, 2020	September 2nd, 2020	July 4th, 2008
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Fort Pierre National Grasslands, South Dakota
Adult in sagebrush habitat in the Lamar Valley	Pronghorn foraging in the late evening sun	Head-on closeup of Pronghorn buck	Herd of Pronghorn running from camera, showing fluffy white behinds

Pronghorn 5	Pronghorn 6	Pronghorn 7	Pronghorn 8
September 2009	May 2008	May 2008	September 2007
Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Female pronghorn foraging in dry grasslands	Scruffy looking buck foraging in wet conditions	Head on closeup of Pronghorn buck head, bit bedraggled and wet	Pronghorn foraging in dry scrub near Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming

Pronghorn 9	Pronghorn 10	Pronghorn 11	Pronghorn 12
September 2007	August 2007	August 2007	August 2007
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming	Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming	Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming	Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Pronghorn moving through dry scrub in Yellowstone	Young first-of-year Pronghorn in the Lamar Valley	Young first-year Pronghorn foraging in dry grassland	Pair of young Pronghorns pondering a game of king-of-the-hill

Pronghorn 13	Pronghorn 14	Pronghorn 15	Pronghorn 16
July 2011	April 26th, 2019	April 26th, 2019	September 2nd, 2020
Harding County, South Dakota	Fort Pierre National Grasslands, South Dakota	Fort Pierre National Grasslands, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota
Pronghorn buck with typical grassland habitat	Group of female and first-year Pronghorn moving through the prairie	Pair of curious Pronghorn pausing for a look	Closeup profile of buck Pronghorn with great detail of the face

Pronghorn 17	Pronghorn 18	Pronghorn 19	Pronghorn 20
September 2nd, 2020	September 2nd, 2020	September 2nd, 2020	June 27th, 2020
Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota
Pronghorn foraging alongside a gravel road in Custer State Park	Male Pronghorn foraging in relatively lush grassland and flowers	Close head-on view of an inquisitive Pronghorn	Male and three females in grassland habitat