Gamma pulse telemetry. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are methods including: reading data associated with a borehole penetrating an earth formation; encoding the data in a first plurality of gamma bursts, the encoding by an encoding system coupled within the drill string, and where the each gamma burst travels a first distance along the borehole; receiving the first plurality of gamma bursts by a receiver system coupled within the drill string; and decoding the first plurality of gamma bursts and thereby recovering the data.