Photograph of a pronghorn buck.

Pronghorn Buck in Northwestern, Colorado.

Though easy to find, they are not easy to photograph...

Colorado is full of Pronghorn, sometimes referred to as Pronghorn Antelope. Factually speaking, pronghorn are not antelope and are their own species, related to giraffe and okapi.

Adult pronghorn can weigh between 80-140 lbs, with the males being the larger of the sexes. These are very fast animals. The fastest land animals in the Western Hemisphere and can run at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour, second only to the cheetah. I have personally clocked them at 50 mph running parallel to my truck along dirt roads on the Colorado high plains. Estimates have the population in Colorado somewhere around 82-85 thousand animals today.

They are easy to spot along the rural routs of Colorado, usually seen at a distance from roads, in large fields and open areas. Though easy to find, they are not easy to photograph as they are very skittish animals and keep a good distance from humans most of the time.

Over the years, I have made a few road trips to photograph these animals, but I normally treat them as targets of opportunity when I travel due to the difficulty of getting close to them. This photograph was made in Northwestern Colorado, near the town of Craig in 2021, using a Nikon D500 and the 200-500mm ED VR lens.