Patrick Novak downed this nice prairie buck last season near the Montana-South Dakota state line. Photo courtesy of Patrick Novak.

Whether you call them pronghorn, antelope or speed goats -- to name a few choices -- they're an American original. In the hierarchy of animal species, the pronghorn stand alone. They're a family of one, neither goat nor antelope . . . and really not all that closely related to either, popular notions to the contrary.

Both sexes have horns, but the female's horns are rarely longer than two inches. Mature bucks wear horns 12 to 15 inches long, on average, that sport a prominent prong.

Bucks wear a distinctive black cheek patch, muzzle and forehead.

Antelope eat more than 150 species of grasses, forbs and browse. That lets them occupy a variety of areas, such as prairie grasslands, sagebrush desert and lush green alfalfa fields.

To hunt an antelope successfully is to defeat his eyesight. Blessed with eyes set well to the side of its head, the antelope is said to enjoy roughly 280-degree vision. In my book, that's close enough to the proverbial "eyes in back of the head." Depending on who's doing the talking, it's said that an antelope's keenness of vision is the equivalent of a human gawking through a 6X or 10X glass.

STATES' ROUNDUP
In many of the Rocky Mountain States, rifle or bowhunters have excellent opportunities to tag an antelope. Here's a look at what's going on in each state.

Arizona
The Grand Canyon State doesn't have a lot of antelope compared to some of the other nearby states, so there aren't a lot of tags to be had. But Arizona does produce a high percentage of larger-than-average bucks.

Hunters from all over enter the annual draw. As you might expect, the odds of drawing a coveted tag are not in your favor.

In most hunt areas, the 2006 success rate hovered around 1 percent! The good news? If there are permits and you happen to have lucked out, expect good hunting.

In 2006 (the most recent year for which complete data is available), 489 rifle hunters killed 389 bucks, for a whopping 80 percent success rate!

A total of 101 muzzleloaders killed 67 bucks. That's a respectable 66 percent success rate.

As for bowhunters, 365 downed 67 bucks, for an 18.4 percent success rate. So as you can see, drawing a tag is the hardest part by far -- especially if you hunt with a rifle or muzzleloader.

One big reason Arizona's antelope grow bigger horns is that mild winters equate to longer lives.

Two Arizona bucks top the Boone and Crockett list: a 17-inch-plus monster killed in 2002 in Mohave County; and an unbelievable 19-inch-plus buck killed in Coconino County two seasons earlier.

Both scored an incredible 95!

Based on 2006 harvest data, hunters in units 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12 and 17 enjoyed success rates in the 90 to 100 percent range. Barring disaster -- such as extreme drought, extensive wildfires and other acts of God -- biologists see little reason to think this year will be much different.

Colorado
Colorado has more antelope than Arizona. There are also more permits available, and better odds of drawing one.