Not easy to find

ya i have one are they rare? i found one out while prairie dog hunting

hey anyone know the scoop behind this? I know my dad has briefly told me their there own species cause they are the only horned animal who accualy isnt really horned cause they can shed.

but do they all shed every year? certain time of year? what causes it? what makes them so hard to find (color I would assume, right? or do they decay any faster than a normal antler?)

Just a few questions i thought id throw out if anyone knows the answers or even dares guess that'd be awesome - im a pretty curious kid when it comes to this stuff :)

cool pic though! and congrats on that! I've heard there extremely hard and rare to find!

hound_hunter, You dad was right on a couple things:

The "sheath" on the horn of the Pronghorn is different from the antlers of deer or the true "horns" on such animals as cattle, sheep, etc. As you know, antlers are shed every year and are made of bone. True horns are never shed and are made of compressed hair called keratin. They grow around a boney core growning from the skull plate. The horn sheath of a Pronghorn is a good mix of both. It is made of keratin growing on a bony core AND it is shed every year.

Also, true horns are never branched like the pronghorn (It would be rather cool if rams grew prongs...LOL)

The thing I don't get, and we don't have pronghorn here in WA so I don't see them every day, but I have never seen a pronghorn buck right after it's shed it's sheath.

Does anyone here have pics of one? Curious as to just what it looks like.

Also, I would like to correct something. I don't think they shed them EVERY year. I know they shed them periodically but as to exactly how often....I'm not sure.

so is this rare cause i got one sittin outside to the side of the house in the snow.

I guess it's rare to find them.

I'm sure they are MUCH harder to spot than a shed antler.

By the way: the good 'ol internet encyclopedia says it's an annual shed...HHmmm.

I'm not sure how often they shed either. :-k

I think that one of the reasons that it is so rare to find a shed is that they are hair. I think that all the little critters get them chewed up and hauled off before we come accross them. Antlers are much harder and larger so it takes longer for then to be chewed up. I noticed on the one that I found that they were kind of thin and flimsy so I don't think that they survive long out in the wild.

Here is one that has been in our Photo Gallery, that a user sent in a few years back.

http://www.muleymadness.com/gallery/d/7692-2/antelopehorn1.jpg" alt="" />

My understanding is they do shed them every year, or so I thought. ???

Yep, I think they decay much quicker.

They arent rare becouse every antelope buck sheds every year.

They are rare to find, I think for a couple reasons. Not many poeple look for them. Antelope seldom Winter in the same places deer and elk do. so shed hunters don't come across them. About the only time you find them is while your antelope hunting out on the prairie. They rot much faster than antler, after 1 year they are in bad condition and blend in with the ground very well.

Antelope shed their horns early, by the end of Nov not many bucks if any are carrying their horns. The main reason states open thier seasons in early Oct and close before the buck sheds. Its hard to tell sexes after the bucks shed. And who wants a buck that has shed his horns.

I found this horn in Nov, I think it was the 20th. I walked across a sage brush flat, working my way to some rough country, looking for mulies. All the antelope bucks I saw on this trip had shed their horns. Antelope don't have a bur like deer, a mature lope will still have the horn core about 4 to 6 inches long. I don't have a photo, but I will work on it next time.

wow - thats some great info. from everyone. This is pretty interesting, im on a quest now!!

Makes sense cause about 2 weeks ago I saw a pretty large group (probably 35 at least) was looking all over for the buck thinking there had to be a pretty nice one to keep that herd.... but never saw a buck - I guess that makes sense since they've shed now.

When looking for the bucks in the herd. Look for the black patch on their cheek. It's the one thing that sets them apart all year long from the does. That way you don't have to rely on seeing horns all the time.

I have actually found a couple of pronghorn horns, but theres a bunch around here.

the best word I can think of to describe the boney core is "blade"
prolly around 4 inches in length.

I have pulled sheaths off while dragging prongs on late oct hunts, but never on late sept hunts.

Taxidermy procedure calls for removing sheaths and curing them, often filling them up with formaldahyde, and gluing them back on the blades.

I have found shed success on fence lines. Prongs like to go under fences in certain spots and the fence sometimes pulls off the sheaths. I found three in one spot once.

They do rot and fall apart very quickly, however a hunter in my party once killed a wyoming prong that had last years sheath still stuck on the current growth..... very unusual indeed.

they are shed every year. BUT I have seen bucks that had shed but the sheath hadn.t fallen off so new growth was attached to it.was pretty wild looking. I am told one of the reasons for not finding these sheds is that rodents find and consume them. I too was told by a conservation officer that they rot away very quickly.especially when wet.

I myself have only found one shed.