90 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



CHAPTER V. 



HUNTING THE PRONG-BUCK ; FROST, FIRE, AND 

 THIRST. 



AS with all other American game, man is a 

 worse foe to the prong-horns than all 

 their brute enemies combined. They hold 

 their own much better than the bigger game ; 

 on the whole even better than the blacktail ; 

 but their numbers have been wofully thinned, 

 and in many places they have been completely 

 exterminated. The most exciting method of 

 chasing them is on horseback with gray- 

 hounds ; but they are usually killed with the 

 rifle. Owing to the open nature of the ground 

 they frequent the shots must generally be 

 taken at long range ; hence this kind of hunt- 

 ing is pre-eminently that needing judgment of 

 distance and skill in the use of the long- 

 range rifle at stationary objects. On the 

 other hand the antelope are easily seen, mak- 

 ing no effort to escape observation, as deer 

 do, and are so curious that in very wild dis- 

 tricts to this day they can sometimes be tolled 

 within rifle shot by the judicious waving of a 

 red flag. In consequence, a good many very 

 long, but tempting, shots can be obtained. 

 More cartridges are used, relatively to the 

 amount of game killed, on antelope, than in 

 any other hunting. 



