8 BULLETIN 1346, IJ 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 follov/ing 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 
jDcrmit 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- 
