AN ANTELOPE'S BATTLE FOR HER FAWN 

 Reminiscences of an old Plainsman 



BY HOWARD EATON. 



The Bad Lands of North Dakota 

 were famous hunting" and trapping 

 grounds for many years. 



When Sitting Bull laid down his 

 arms he asked that he be given a sep- 

 arate reservation for his warriors, 

 pups and pappooses, and that the Bad 

 Lands should be the center of his 

 stamping ground. "Up to the time of 

 the ghost dance excitement, the old 

 chief and a number of bucks, with 

 their families and other live stock, 

 hunted along the Little Missouri river 

 'every fall. Nothing escaped when 

 they surrounded a wood or thicket. 

 Anything inch high, or minute old, 

 went in those hunts. 



Game was plentiful. Buffalo, elk, 

 mule and Virginia deer, mountain 

 sheep, antelope, silvertip and cinna- 

 mon grizzlies, wolves, coyotes, badg- 

 ers, lynxes and cats, otters, prairie 

 dogs, rattlesnakes, sage and pintail 

 grouse, golden and bald eagles, ducks, 

 geese, sandhill cranes, jack rabbits 

 and cottontails, with a few cougars, 

 made up the game list. Now it is 

 composed mostly of stud, draw poker 

 and sevenup. 



Indians, coyotes, wolves, rattlers 

 and prairie dogs are always in sea- 

 son ; but most of the other game is 

 gone forever. In '84 a wolverine was 

 killed on the river, but it is the only 

 one I have ever heard of here. The 

 buffalo were wiped out in '83, al- 

 though one cow was killed in '84. 

 The elk lasted until '90. Some mule 

 deer are still in the hills, and more . 

 Virginia deer in the bottoms. A few 

 sheep and antelope and still fewer 

 bear are left. 



In 1899 the Legislature protected 

 sheep and antelope for 5 years, and 

 in 1901 put sheep on the retired list 

 and protected antelope until 191 1. If 



167 



that law had been enforced, we should 

 have some game to show in a few 

 years ; but between permits to visit 

 the Crows, Cheyennes or Gros Ven- 

 tres, and hunting permits, the Sioux 

 make a clean-up yearly. In '98 In- 

 dians, mostly Standing Rock Sioux, 

 killed 21 wagon loads of antelope in 

 3 weeks' hunting. In '99 they made 

 a big killing, while in 1900 one party 

 of bucks had 65 antelope in their 

 camp. 



The region is nearly 200 miles 

 long and 60 wide, so one game war- 

 den can not cover the ground, and as 

 the Indians hunt in bands, it is tough 

 on a lone Christian who tries to stop 

 the deal. 



After the buffalo were wiped out, 

 antelope in herds of 1,000 to 5,000 

 covered the range. At Stoneville the 

 price for an antelope saddle with skin 

 attached was 90 cents. 



In the winter of '84 and '85 a Rus- 

 sian count visited the Marquis de 

 Mores, The marquis furnished a 

 hunting outfit complete, and the Rus- 

 sian hired Vic Smith to hunt with 

 him. Vic got the meat to sell and 

 the count got the heads. In a few 

 weeks they killed over 400 antelope. 



Along in June, '94, I was out with 

 the men gathering a bunch of horses 

 near Rainy Buttes. Antelope were 

 still plenty, and we saw many does 

 and fawns daily. 



One evening, shortly before sun- 

 set, I saw a sight never to be forgot- 

 ten. Just from habit I had counted 

 the antelope we had seen that day, 

 and up to about 6 p. m had tallied 28. 

 I was riding with one cowboy, and 

 as we swung over the shoulder of a 

 flat butte we rode into a saucer 

 shaped hollow about 80 yards in di- 

 ameter. I saw antelope number 29 



