Alsatian

If possible, take two rifles: one as your primary and one as your back-up. If your primary rifle gets screwed up -- you drop it out of the case on the concrete outside your hotel -- you have the secondary to use instead. I suggest your .243 Winchester Tikka as your primary. A .243 is plenty of cartridge for pronghorn. Asa back-up, I suggest one of your 7mm-08.

Ideaman

I agree with everyone who says "the one you shoot best". I will add though, you have a lot of time to practice.

Ilike 308 if you like it and shoot it well. You can buy a lot of ammo and practice several times a week before your trip inexpensively. I like a little more weight in my bullets and that is just my personal preference.

You want to shoot a mag, go for it. He can't be too dead and it sure makes makes up for poor shot placement. I know you might waste some meat, but I doubt you will eat much of it any way after your first bite.

c j

Goats aren't all that big, so yes, the 243 is enough to bring one down. My concern, though, would be the wind and distance factor. I'd expect the shots to be longer rather than shorter, and in the open plains, the wind can be tough to deal with. A bigger bullet should have fewer problems with wind drift, so I'd go with one of your bigger rounds. There's no such thing as overkill, IMO. If you hit them in the meat, you're going to have meat loss regardless, so I don't even look at that as a factor.

I don't think you'd be 'overgunned' with the 300 wsm. Of the 3 I shot last year, I used a 7 wsm, a 7mm rem mag, and a 30-30.

<------------ The one in my avatar was taken with a 25-06.

As for the meat itself, some will tell you it's not as good as venison, but I don't really feel that way. Just make sure it gets cut up and on ice right away. IMO, a lot of the guys who don't like speed goat have eaten them after they've sat too long in warmer-than-typical-deer-season temps. Plus their hides stink, too. Get those nasty sage&musk-smelling hides off asap.