The Prongborn Antelope 115 



the middle of this bottom we had built a corral 

 for better convenience in branding the calves when 

 the round-up came near our ranch — as the bottom 

 on which the ranch-house stood was so thickly 

 wooded as to make it difficult to work cattle 

 thereon. The does and fawns hung around the 

 corral bottom for some little time, and showed 

 themselves very curious and by no means shy. 



When I went from the ranch for a day's prong- 

 buck hunting of set purpose, I always rode a stout 

 horse and started by dawn. The prongbucks are 

 almost the only game that can be hunted as well 

 during the heat of the clay as at any other time. 

 They occasionally lie down for two or three hours 

 about noon in some hollow where they cannot be 

 seen, but usually there is no place where they are 

 sure they can escape observation even when rest- 

 ing ; and when this is the case they choose a some- 

 what conspicuous station and trust to their own 

 powers of observation, exactly as they do when 

 feeding. There is therefore no necessity, as with 

 deer, of trying to strike them at dawn or dusk. 

 The reason why I left the ranch before sunrise 

 and often came back long after dark was because 

 I had to ride at least a dozen miles to get out to 

 the ground and a dozen to get back, and if after 

 industrious walking I failed at first to find my 

 game, I would often take the horse again and 

 ride for an hour or two to get into new country, 



