Pronghorn are normally very skittish creatures. Most of them will hold their ground if you pass by in a moving car, but if that car slows down much or stops then they'll typically run like their lives depend on it. If you get out of the car, then you can bet that any of them still standing around will take that as their cue to run for it. But, under the right circumstances it's sometimes possible to coax them into approaching me for a closer look.

"Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American antelope, prong buck, pronghorn antelope, and prairie antelope" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronghorn

While out in remote areas of Wyoming, pronghorn are a common sight. I was driving around looking for wild horses, when I finally spotted a single horse about a quarter mile away. I slowed down and parked to see if maybe this male would perk up and run over to me. I sat down in the sage a few feet from my car and pointed my lens his direction.

I then noticed off to my right that there was a single pronghorn in the sage maybe 1,000 ft. away. Two more heads popped up and I knew that I had the chance to try and lure them in closer.

I have a few personal photography goals with pronghorn, but it makes for a very challenging subject to photograph at close range because they are so nervous around humans. Without a ton of patience and great camo, good luck on getting any pictures inside of 50 or so feet (at least from my experience). But there are a few special techniques that some of them just can't seem to resist. These guys were indeed curious about me.

All of the pronghorn images are taken from the exact same spot, with zero movement on my part at all. I was using my medium lens on this occasion, which has a focal length of 100-300mm. If I would have been using my 500mm, then these images would have much more up-close detail, but I'm glad to have been using the wider angle lens.

Closer and closer they came. Cautious, but curious. They focused on me intently as they continued to work their way my direction. Slowly walking at first and then they eventually trotted over. At their closest, they might have been 50-70 feet away.

Happy with how far they had come and how close they were, I decided to reveal myself to them as opposed to testing if they would come any closer. I knew the reaction before it even happened, and sure enough they sounded the alarm with a powerful (and loud) breath of air through their nostrils. With that, they ran away until they were eventually out of sight.

My attention then turned to the horse in the background. He had an injured leg, and he too became curious about me. He drifted my direction, but after coming about halfway he was stuck in place. I wasn't sure if he'd eventually come all the way, so I said good-bye and went off in search of other horses.

Not far away, I found four other horses. I could tell from nearly three-quarters of a mile away that they were a bit nervous about me. I couldn't resist the potential of snowy mountains, rain and potential rainbows that were happening in the background so I decided to try and position myself somewhere closer to them. Slowly and slowly I drifted their direction. At my closest, I was several hundred feet away and it was obvious that they didn't want a close encounter. So, I packed up and headed on my way after snapping a few photos.