HUNTING IN CATTLE COUNTRY 139 



in the creek beds, and living where there was no shelter 

 of any kind. As winter approached they began to gather 

 in bands. Some of these bands apparently had regular 

 wintering places to the south of us, in Pretty Buttes and 

 beyond; and close to my ranch, at the crossing of the 

 creek called Beaver, there were certain trails which these 

 antelope regularly travelled, northward in the spring and 

 southward in the fall. But other bands would seek out 

 places in the Bad Lands near by, gathering together on 

 some succession of plateaus which were protected by 

 neighboring hills from the deep drifts of snow. Here 

 they passed the winter, on short commons, it is true (they 

 graze, not brow r sing like deer), but without danger of 

 perishing in the snow-drifts. On the other hand, if the 

 skin hunters discovered such a wintering place, they were 

 able to butcher practically the entire band, if they so de- 

 sired, as the prongbucks were always most reluctant to 

 leave such a chosen ground. 



Normally the prongbuck avoids both broken ground 

 and timber. It is a queer animal, with keen senses, but 

 with streaks of utter folly in its character. Time and 

 again I have known bands rush right by me, when I 

 happened to surprise them feeding near timber or hills, 

 and got between them and the open plains. The animals 

 could have escaped without the least difficulty if they had 

 been willing to go into the broken country, or through 

 even a few rods of trees and brush; and yet they preferred 

 to rush madly by me at close range, in order to get out 

 to their favorite haunts. But nowadays there are certain 

 localities where the prongbucks spend a large part of 



