2023 ND pronghorn hunting season will have a lot fewer opportunities for hunters due to harsh winter

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s big game biologists recently completed the annual aerial survey for pronghorns.

The 2023 pronghorn hunting season will have a lot fewer opportunities for hunters compared to 2022.

“In 2022, we had just over 1,900, I believe. And then in 2023, we’re at about 420. So a major decline in licenses,” said Bruce Stillings, North Dakota Game and Fish big game supervisor.

And it’s no big surprise why pronghorn populations decreased during this year’s aerial survey.

“The winter of 2022-23 is going to go down as being one of those historic winters. Anybody that’s been following pronghorn populations over time knows when we get those extreme winters, it’s not good for deer and especially not good for pronghorn, and that’s exactly what we saw this past summer doing our surveys,” said Stillings.

Overall, pronghorn numbers from this year’s aerial survey are down 40% in North Dakota.

“Pronghorn farther north didn’t do as well as pronghorn down south. North of the Missouri River, pronghorn were down 60%. The northern badlands, north of Medora, as a whole, were down 53%. South of Medora, in the southern Badlands, down 31%. And then Bowman area, in the extreme southwest, down 15%,” said Stillings.

Stillings said even though numbers are down, each hunting unit had pockets with good numbers of animals. However, it’s going to take a little help from Mother Nature and good habitat conditions to get this population heading in the right direction.

“So, this summer, we have great habitat conditions. Pastures look great, hay fields look great, crops look great, stock dams are full. So the resources available this summer going into the winter are very good,” said Stillings.

Eight of the 17 pronghorn hunting units will be open for this year’s season.

The pronghorn application deadline is August 9. For more information, go to gf.nd.gov.

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