STATUS OF THE PRONGHORNED ANTELOPE, 1922-1924 
17 
to concentrate and care for the young animals when captured and to 
raise them on the bottle. * 
This new plan of operations was submitted to the donors of the 
fund and heartily approved. Its practical execution was placed in 
the hands of E. K. Sans of the Biological Survey. 
Forty newly born fawns were captured in the spring of 1924 by 
Mr. Sans, and all but a small number were safely reared during the 
summer and distributed in fall, as detailed below. 
Tlie outcome of this experiment has been the placing of 12 ante- 
lope in Hermit Basin, in the Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz., 
where it is hoped they may thrive and increase so as to gi-vc pleasure 
to many thousands of visitors during the coming years. (PL V, fig. 
2.) Ten of the young antelope were placed on the Niobrara reserva- 
tion, near Valentine, Nebr., 9 on the National Bison Range, in west- 
ern Montana, for the purpose of attempting to build up herds of 
these animals on both of these Federal game refuges, and 2 in the 
city park at Reno, Nev. 
It is obvious that, following Mr. Sans's methods, the capture of 
young antelope would be perfectly simple in southeastern Oregon, 
in various parts of Wyoming, and in .,cher districts where consid- 
erable numbers of these animals still exist, especially in areas like 
the Greybull River section of W^^oming, where they have increased 
until they are looked upon with disfavor by many of the resident 
farmers. 
To perpetuate antelope under fence, even in game refuges cover- 
ing large areas, experience has shown that very great precautions 
must be taken first to destroy predatory animals, as bobcats and 
coyotes. Antelope within such areas appear to lose their freedom 
of movement and become extraordinarily helpless. This is par- 
ticularly the case during heavy snowstorms, when they remain Avithin 
more or less definite areas, in which predatory animals capture them 
with surprising ease. 
The antelope herds in the Wind Cave Gaii[ie Preserve in South 
Dakota and on the National Bison Range in Montana, the latter area 
consisting of more than 18,000 acres under fence, were brought up to 
a total of about 100 animals. Predatory-animal hunters had been 
detailed repeatedly by the Biological Survey to kill coyotes and 
bobcats in and about these refuges until the number of animals 
thus destroyed amounted to several hundred. Notwithstanding 
this, however, during severe winter storms in two seasons the band 
of G4 antelope on the Bison Range was completely destroyed by 
wandering predatory animals, which were able to drive them into 
snow drifts and kill them without difficulty. More than half the 
herd on the Wind Cave refuge also was killed, partly by coyotes and 
partly by bobcats. 
Evidence as to the danger from the bobcats was made plain when 
the Biological Survey warden, riding through the open pine forest 
of the Wind Cave refuge during a snowstorm, found and fol- 
lowed the fresh trail of a solitary old buck antelope. He soon came 
upon the tracks of a bobcat which had taken up the trail also. A 
short distance beyond he found the antelope, just killed and still 
warm. It was a full-grown buck in good condition and apparently 
had been easily killed by the bobcat, which had leaped upon its back. 
