8 BULLETIN" 1346, U S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



During the eighties the increase in the cattle business was so great 

 in northern Arizona that the antelope learned many new habits. 

 Among others was that of following range cattle through a belt of 

 heavy pine forest up to an elevated grassy plateau of about 8,000 

 feet altitude, lying on the east front of the White Mountains, about 

 the headwaters of the Black, Blue, and Colorado Rivers. There, on 

 a wide rolling open plain, they passed the summer, coming out, on 

 the approach of winter, in company with the cattle. This change 

 was comparable to that which caused the elk, once a habitant of the 

 foothills and adjacent plains, to become an animal of the higher 

 elevations. During this period antelope became frequenters of the 

 open, grass-grown, yellow-pine forests of the mountain areas not 

 only in various parts of the United States but also in the Sierra 

 Madre of Chihuahua, Mexico. 



CONSERVATION AND CONTROL 



The hunting of antelope is now forbidden by law almost through- 

 out its range. In the United States, of the 16 States in which these 

 animals still occur, Wyoming is the only one in which their hunting 

 might be legalized. The Wyoming law authorizes the State game 

 and fish commission to permit the killing of not to exceed 100 bucks 

 in designated parts of the State from September 15 to October 31 

 in any year. In 1922 the Wyoming commission had in mind to 

 permit the killing of 100 buck antelope under the terms of this law, 

 but the opposition expressed by individuals and in the press, not 

 only in Wyoming but in other parts of the country, caused the plan 

 to be abandoned. In 1925, however, the legislature authorized the 

 issuance of 300 such permits during October, in certain counties in 

 the eastern and southern parts of the State. 



In Nevada the close season ends in 1930, and in Kansas, by action 

 of the 1925 legislature, the close season was extended indefinitely. 



There is little likelihood that the season will be opened in any 

 other States in the near future, although under good protection the 

 increase of antelope in favorable areas may in a few years render it 

 urgently necessary to reduce their numbers. With the increasing 

 occupation of the western United States, the presence of antelope in 

 such numbers as might occur under complete protection might create 

 a situation that would be intolerable to some of the residents whose 

 livelihood depends upon farming and grazing. 



Antelope, as in the case of other large-game animals, when under 

 practically complete protection, lose their fear of man to a surpris- 

 ing extent and become bold in raiding fields and in destroying 

 crops. The possibility of the development of such conditions should 

 be seriously considered by conservationists in building up herds of 

 antelope. Efforts should be made to seek, for the establishment of 

 antelope refuges, remote and thinly settled areas unless the animals 

 are to be reared within fenced inclosures. Even in the latter case 

 the increase of the animals will eventually require some control of 

 the numbers by eliminating the surplus. This is a matter of prac- 

 tical game administration which should be understood and accepted 

 by the public with the same matter-of-course attitude that is shown 

 toward the control of the surplus livestock on a farm. The limited 

 hunting-license system provides a practical method of handling sur- 



