STATUS OF THE PEONGHORNICD ANTELOPE, 1922-1924 
21 
CARE TO PREVENT FRIGHTENING 
Antelope fawns are very panicky when something unusual occurs. The 
attendants must move slowly, talking to them at all times; quick movements 
frighten them. Upon entering the place where they are confined, if one will 
talk to them and be careful to move slowly, in a few minutes they will settle 
down and allow him to work among them without signs of fear. Even after 
they are 2 or 3 months old it is necessary to use much caution when going 
among them, but I noticed that the fawns usually come running to a man 
when they become frightened, apparently for protection. When suddenly 
frightened, hov/ever, they may rush at full speed into a fence without appar- 
ently seeing it. With a single exception every fawn we lost was injured or 
killed outright from being frightened. 
Two of them broke their necks by hit- 
ting the wire fence on a slant, running 
their noses into the mesh. 
Fawns apparently have a hereditary 
fear of cats and dogs, and I believe 
cats scare them worse tlian the dogs. 
I have been wondering if the bobcat 
family isn't one of their worst enemies 
on the range. 
We found out when we crated the 
animals at Diessner that one must be 
very careful, for after a few were 
caught the others became frightened. 
At first we caught all the gentle ones, 
leaving the wild ones until the last. 
When we came to the last two, which 
were the wildest of all, one of them 
made a frantic jump at the wire fence, 
striking it on the slant and' breaking 
its neck. 
When w^e recrated them at Reno I 
purchased lumber and made a corral 
about 8 by 20 feet with a lumber chute narrowing to about 4 feet wide at one 
end. Putting all the fawns into this small inclosure, we picked the wildest one 
first and by catching the four or five that did not come to us readily when they 
were out in the big inclosure we had no trouble whatever. The old gentle 
stand-bys did not become frightened, and within a few minutes we had the total 
number for shipment crated. 
SHIPPING CRATES 
Crates should not be built too large. (Fig. 2.) A crate for an antelope 
averaging 50 pounds in weight should be about 381/^ inches long, 13 inches 
wide, and 33 inches high, inside measurements, using select dressed lumber, 
about one-half or five-eighths of an inch thick by 3 inches wide. The bottom 
and sides up for about 12 or 14 inches should be solid, and then 3-inch strips 
placed 3 inches apart on the sides and ends to allow good ventilation. The 
two strips above the solid bottom board should be wrapped with burlap so as 
to make a padded crate. It is well to take a small joining plane and run over 
the edges of the boards so that there will be no sharp edges to cut. 
The main thing in making a crate is to have it so narrow that the animal 
can not change ends in it. Antelope should be put in the crate backward with 
head toward the door. The door should be made so that it will slip in a slot 
B 2504 M 
Fig. 2. — Specially constructed crate for 
shipping 4-months-old antelope. Made 
of five-eightlis-incli material and requir- 
ing 20% feet of common lumber, the 
inside measurements being 38% inches 
long, 3.3 Inches high, and 13 inches 
wide. Weight, 35 pounds. Cost of 
making crate and lining with burlap, 
including labor and materials, .$2.40 
