Summary Report 2023: Pronghorn antelope abundance survey in south-central Washington

By the start of the 20^th century, pronghorn antelope were extirpated from Washington. The Yakama Nation reintroduced pronghorn onto the Yakama Reservation in Washington, releasing 198 animals from 2011 to 2019. These pronghorn dispersed from their release locations and increased in abundance according to biennial surveys. We conducted a fifth biennial aerial survey on Jan 26-27, 2023 in parts of Benton, Klickitat, and Yakima counties in south-central Washington, including parts of the Yakama Reservation. The objective of the survey was to obtain a minimum population estimate for pronghorn. We counted a total of 212 pronghorn from the air, which was a decrease from the 2021 count of 250 animals. True abundance is likely greater due to challenges in detecting all pronghorn groups. This remains a relatively small population and there is currently no legal harvest of the species under regulations of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Yakama Nation.