Texas’ Forgotten Game Animal

Feature Story by CHESTER MOORE

LISTEN: (2 minutes, 42 seconds)

“I had no idea Texas had pronghorns.”

THAT EMAIL ARRIVED in my inbox after an edition of my Higher Calling Wildlife podcast dropped last summer.

Focusing on the biodiversity of the Trans-Pecos, I mentioned pronghorns along with bighorn sheep as Texas’ least known game animals.

According to officials with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) pronghorns are animals of the prairie and once roamed the plains along with the American bison.

“Now found in Texas only in the deserts of the Trans-Pecos and the high plains of the Panhandle, the pronghorn is a unique animal in many ways.”

“The pronghorn is considered the fastest land mammal in North America, clocked at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and can maintain a relatively high speed for hours. They have excellent vision which helps them to see vast distances of wide-open prairie. Though they run very fast, and can jump small obstacles, they tend to resist jumping even low fences, preferring to climb between or under them.”

Pronghorns may be the most under appreciated game animal in Texas. Very few Texans see them so they’re out of sight out of mind. Texas does however have a population that has struggled.
(Photo: CHESTER MOORE)

This habit has contributed to reductions in their numbers although drought is by far their biggest challenge.

On several occasions, pronghorns have found themselves victims of egregious poaching activity such as the one that occurred in September 2021 when five pronghorns were killed, and only their horns and skulls were taken. The bodies were discovered one mile north of Interstate Highway 40, just east of Adrian. The carcasses were dumped on private land with the skulls and horns missing.

Pronghorn were once widely distributed in Texas but a variety of factors including development of their habitat and chiefly drought have greatly harmed their numbers. In 2011 the population had dipped down to about 3,000 but has since increased.

Pronghorn recruitment rates can vary greatly with drought and predation having a big impact.
(Photo: CHESTER MOORE)

Part of the increase comes from TPWD restocking efforts.

Pronghorns captured from public and private lands around Dalhart have been transplanted to a restoration site south of Valentine, Texas. Since 2011, about 780 pronghorns have been translocated from the Texas Panhandle to supplement populations around Marfa and Marathon.

Permits are issued for landowners after careful surveys are conducted to best manage the available herd.