Coursing the Prongbuck 



any other game. They would be even harder 

 to secure were it not that they are subject 

 to fits of panic, folly, or excessive curiosity, 

 which occasionally put them fairly at the mercy 

 of the rifle-bearing hunter. 



Prongbucks are very fast runners indeed, 

 even faster than deer. They vary greatly 

 in speed, however, precisely as is the case 

 with deer; in fact, I think that the average 

 hunter makes altogether too little account 

 of this individual variation among different 

 animals of the same kind. Under the same 

 conditions different deer and antelope vary 

 in speed and wariness, exactly as bears and 

 cougars vary in cunning and ferocity. When 

 in perfect condition a full-grown buck ante- 

 lope, from its strength and size, is faster and 

 more enduring than an old doe; but a fat 

 buck, before the rut has begun, will often be 

 pulled down by a couple of good greyhounds 

 much more speedily than a flying ^^earling 

 or two-year-old doe. Under favorable cir- 

 cumstances, when the antelope was jumped 

 near by, I have seen one_ overhauled and 

 seized by a single first-class greyhound ; and, 

 on the other hand, I have more than once 

 131 



