RAISING DEER FOR PROFIT 285 



Boone and Crockett Club of New York, who 

 bore the expenses of the transfer. 



The pronghorn is unlike any other antelope 

 on the face of the earth, and has so many pe- 

 culiarities that naturalists class it in a family 

 by itself. Formerly existing by thousands on 

 our open western plains, it has now been so 

 reduced in numbers that its absolute extinction 

 is certain in the very near future unless pro- 

 tection is given to the few remaining. It does 

 not do well east of the Mississippi river, and 

 can not be successfully bred in captivity; but 

 it thrives if allowed to roam practically free 

 within large enclosures and under conditions 

 closely approaching the natural ones. In 1908 

 the Biological Survey estimated that the total 

 number of antelope in the United States had 

 been reduced to 17,000. Of these about 10,000 

 were in Montana, Wyoming, and the Yellow- 

 stone National Park, and the remaining 7,000 

 were distributed in 12 other states. On the 

 Wichita Game Refuge it is hoped that the ante- 

 lope will find themselves in surroundings suited 

 to their increase. 



The Wichita is really a National Forest, but 



