ANTELOPE HUNTING IN WYOMING. 



E. C. HALL. 



The extensive plains of Wyoming, 

 sparsely covered with short but nutritious 

 grasses, and abounding in short growl lis 

 of sage and greasewood, are the natural 

 habitat of the antelope. Under favorable 

 conditions these beautiful creatures flourish 

 in great numbers. Until recently, particu- 

 larly in the Northeastern part of the Slate, 

 a scattered population of cattle ranchers, 

 itinerant freighters passing through to gov- 

 ernment post, or prospectors crossing from 

 one mountain range to another has permit- 

 ted the full development of this natural an- 

 telope range; but the incoming of small 

 stock owners and o. pioneer grangers 

 just in advange of railroads has ma- 

 terially and fatally affected this condi- 

 tion of affairs, and the antelope, formerly 

 looked on with contempt by cowmen 

 and hunters, accustomed to the choicer 

 meat of larger game, has attained a domes- 

 tic and commercial value destined to ac- 

 complish its early extinction. The most 

 speedy and to ranchmen unsatisfactory step 

 in its extermination is that effected by In- 

 dians who come each year from distant 

 agencies and destroy hundreds, both for 

 temporary subsistence and for winter food. 

 The State game laws, while restricting the 

 white resident and instructing him regard- 

 ing the close season and the number of his 

 kill, have permitted the Sioux, Cheyenne or 

 Crow hunter to come from another State 

 and slaughter without stint. The Indian of 

 to-*day makes his appearance with nonies 

 and good wagons in which to store the un- 

 fortunate pronghorn when r.assacred and 

 its flesh made portable by the jerking pro- 

 cess. His ambition to kill knows no rest, 

 for even though he takes to his tepee more 

 than his own outfit requires there are num- 

 erous kinsmen back on the reservation who 

 can be provided for. In the autumn of '92 

 the Ogallalla chief, known as Young Man 

 Afraid of His Horses, went with 30 wag- 

 ons into Northern Wyoming, locating his 

 camp about 12 miles from my ranch, on a 

 range where antelopes were usually abund- 

 ant. Those people were good Indians, hav- 

 ing pulled out from Pine Ridge agency to 

 avoid getting involved in the Wounded 

 Knee trouble : but they were death on the 

 local game. Without positive knowledge of 

 the number of deer and antelopes brought 

 in, I saw enough of their work to estimate 

 the killing at not less than 1,000 head. One 

 buck stated that he had already shot 40 

 some time before the chief's departure. 

 Nothing is spared by this native hunter 

 out on his annual raid ; the wretched does, 



dragged down by suckling kids, that the 

 white man would scorn for food, even if 

 compassion did not animate him, are as 

 ruthlessly shot down as any others. It 

 may readily be inferred that raids like that 

 worked no little hardship on those ranch- 

 men who depend largely on the antelope for 

 camp use. The game that in comparatively 

 recent years ranged the country literally in 

 thousands has become both scarce and shy, 

 and the fact of its not distant extermina- 

 tion seems assured. 



I have alluded to the circumstances 

 of the invasions of the antelope range 

 by Indians not only because their recurrence 

 is materially felt by settlers, but for 

 the added reason that I feel sympathy 

 and concern for the fate of this in- 

 teresting animal. Most Western men re- 

 gard the pronghorn with anything but re- 

 spect, classing it very low as a meat pro- 

 ducer and referring to it contemptuously 

 as a goat. On the contrary, a study of its 

 habits and its pursuit in a fair way has al- 

 ways given me pleasure. In appearance cer- 

 tainly many animals are its inferior, though 

 it must be admitted it is more attractive 

 when alone than when running in large 

 bands. As affording a sport to test the 

 hunter's eye, judgment and rifle, no Ameri- 

 can game can compete with it. I refer not 

 to the practice of lying in wait along a trail 

 or at a water hole for emigrant bunches, 

 but to the legitimate stalking of single 

 bucks from May till September, when they 

 run more or less alone. After the spring- 

 ing of green grass in early April the ante- 

 lope, particularly the males and the barren 

 does, improves rapidly in flesh and flavor, 

 much more so than other wild game. Crop- 

 ping short, like a sheep, the new pasturage 

 soon affords it good grazing, and this tonic, 

 added to the increasing warmth of the 

 season, rapidly changes its appearance. The 

 process of shedding, as with other animals, 

 is not interesting, and the antelope often 

 presents a curious appearance from the 

 matted hair and inner winter's wool rolled 

 up and clinging to its' body. The hair along 

 the back and sides is at all times easily de- 

 tached, but in May it can be removed by 

 handfuls and annoys the hunter not a little 

 in dressing a carcass. Unlike the deer 

 tribe, this beast sheds its horns in Decem- 

 ber and January, and at the period when 

 the blacktail and whitetail bucks secrete 

 themselves, seemingly humbled by the de- 

 fenceless condition of their antlers, the 

 pronghorns are matured and the male car- 

 ries his perfect head with conscious pride. 



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