Am. to,, i8gf).l 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
14 8 
o'clock dinner, hot and bountiful as even our sharpened 
appetities could desire. 
Or perhaps, leg-weary, the next day we would saddle 
a couple of stout hunters and ride over to some distant 
cover, tic our horses and shoot over a field, ride on to 
another, and so on, till dusk; then instead "of a weary 
tramp a brisk canter would bring us speedily back to 
bod and board. On one such expedition — a two days' 
bunt — the sportsman was rewarded by a bag of eighty-five 
fat quail. 
When the pleasures of (juafl shooting grew monoto- 
nous there was always a deer hunt or a fox chase by way 
ot variety; and if the sportsman was a "tenderfoot" or 
tender elsewhere from the unwonted exercise of horse- 
back riding, or if for any other reason he preferred a 
sedentary sport, he had but to creep out in the cool 
"hush of early dawn to the dark woods, ensconce himself 
in a blind made of fallen logs and brush, and await the 
coming of the wily wild turkey to the bait. The extreme 
shyness of this magnificent bird afifords that element of 
imcertainty and necessitates the craft and caution which 
lend to sport of all sorts its greatest charm. When at 
last the glistening bronze of a great gobbler is seen 
shining in the first rays of the rising sun, like a burnished 
coat of mail the cautious watcher takes careful aim 
through the loop hole in his blind,, fires, and the next 
moment finds him shouldering a 2olb. gobbler and tramp- 
ing home just in time for the early breakfast! Amid the 
plaudits of his friends he forgets the weariness and pain- 
fulness of the long vigils gone before— sitting in cold. 
Junigry and cramped in the narrow confines of the blind, 
while ha];pier mortals slumbered in their beds. It is their 
turn to envy him now. He has caught the "early bird." 
I shall be at the lodge again next season, and I trust 
fwr many more to come, and I have a "reasonable hope" 
of meeting every man of the jolly party of a year ago on 
this "happy hunting ground." 
L. P. Blow. 
LUMBERTON, Va. 
Antelope Catching for the Zoo. 
Yellowstone National Park. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: You ask me to tell the story of the young ante- 
lope. I wrote: "I went out and captured ten, raised six 
and took them to Washington, along with some eik." 
The above story you think too short, and that I must go 
into details for the Forest and Stream. 
Early in May of 1897 I started from the Spring with 
part of my outfit by Government teams, and from Gar- 
diner with my pack and saddle animals and one man — • 
Sara Yancey — to help me care for the young animals I 
proposed to catch. We moved out over the old Turkey- 
pen trail on our twenty-mile ride to Uncle John Yancey's. 
Soon after crossing Blacktail Deer Creek we saw one 
very young elk — the first of the season. It was so young 
and weak that it could but just stand or stagger along a 
few feet in an awkward way, with its legs braced out at 
all angles. It was quite close to the trail. Its mother, a 
very large cow, showed great anxiety about it, running 
off a short distance and calling her calf, which would 
stand weaving around more like a drunken man than an 
animal. Then she would come back, poke it along with 
her nose a little ways, then trot around it and be off 
again away from us. We did not stop, but watched her 
maneuvers as we rode along. I thought she would cache 
it and go away; but no; she did not follow the band she 
had been with — some 300 cows, yearlings and spikes. 
'This band went to our left toward a high butte and 
crossed our trail again just ahead of us. The calf was 
the only one we saw for several days, and possibly the 
first dropped that season. We could not take it along 
•with us. 
At Yancey's we located ourselves in the old cabin I 
had used on a former occasion while catching game. 
Knowing this time what I had to do, I had come better 
prepared for the work, with everything I thought neces- 
sary. I was particularly •anxious to get a number of 
young antelope and raise them. I had been out several 
times for young animals for the Zoo and had captured 
more than ten antelope; but none had ever lived to reach 
Washington. A dog killed the first two after they were 
several months old; the others died young or were killed 
by hurting themselves. The last one was hurt by an 
elk, whose inclosure it entered one day when the gate 
was left open accidentally for a moment. I had concluded 
that the only way to save any was to give them constant 
attention until they were turned over to the superin- 
tendent of the park in Washington. I had talked of cor- 
raling full grown animals, but was discouraged, because 
they are "such excessively timid animals" that they would 
kill themselves in an inclosure. 
Yancey's is at the center of the breeding ground for 
large game in the Park, and the best point to secure and 
care for the young. 
I must not forget to mention another valued assistant — 
my old dog Leo, "the black pup" who has helped me so 
many times and is such a faithful companion. He has 
assisted me in all kinds of work, from making scientific 
collections to catching young animals. His zeal in catch- 
ing some things I had to discourage. He was apt to 
,muss butterflies, millers and insects of that kind, but he 
would not hurt a young deer, antelope or elk, but was al- 
ways kind and friendly to them. His great fault was that 
he would snore; not that it troubled me, but it did my 
friends when camped with me. His snoring soothed me 
to sleep. If by chance he stopped or left my bedside I 
would awake, wondering what was wrong, until Leo re- 
turned with his music. 
It would be useless to mention all the articles I took 
with me. I had bottles, nipples, tubes and brushes for 
cleaning them, soda washes, sacks, panniers, buckskin 
for strings, wire netting and anything I could think of 
that would be of use. I had also powerful field glasses 
and the use of Uncle John's telescope. W''e cleaned out 
the old cabin, made bunks and inclosures- we could reach 
from one of the doors of our sleeping roonu and includ- 
ing another for ^belter for the elk. Thr mtelope I in- 
tended to keep in the room with me nights. ^ 
We commenced operations by riding out every day, 
sometimes leading a pack animal with sacks, ropes, 
strings and canvas, and taking a lunch along, for we 
were often out until dark. We would ride to a prominent 
point, from which wc could see game and command a 
view of as large an extent of country as possible. Then 
we would look for antelope. The bands did not interest 
us much, but only single individuals, or two at the most. 
After locating a female, it would not take long to decide 
if she had young; not that we would see them, but we 
could tell by her actions when she was moving around. 
W^e would decide on an animal to watch; then with field 
glasses and telescope watch her every movement. Some- 
times she would lie down for an hour; then we would 
look for other animals until she got up. At times the 
first view of the antelope we would get was when she was 
resting. When she got up, if she had young cached she 
would commence feeding a little,, then run to the top of a 
antelope or rock? 
little hill, looking all around; then quarter back and forth 
across the wind, but keeping watch for danger and 
coming up on the wind. We would try to locate the 
place where her young were by her action, but this I 
never succeeded in doing very closely. We could not tell 
if she was within 50ft. or 200yds. The mother would 
often walk around for more than an hour, sometimes 
running of? quite a ways and be gone so long we would 
give up if she went out of sight. Then again she would 
run up against the wind and past the point we thought it 
possible her young were hid. Sometimes a coyote would 
show up; then we knew the game was up for us, because 
she would never go near her young to show the coyote 
where her babies were sleeping. , When the antelope 
thought everything all safe, and no' watchful eye of coy- 
ote, lynx or other animal was on her, she would circle 
around a few times more, then stop as though to eat and 
on the ground in an instant, there to lie until called or 
poked up by their mother, unless picked up by an eagle, 
coyote, lynx or Smithsonian hunter. I think very few of 
them are found when properly cached by their mothers 
unless they are seen moving around with her and the 
point is marked where they disappeared, so that one 
knows about where to look. There are very few chances 
of their being seen. 
When I had found an antelope to watch and then seen 
her young with her, usually in a place I would not have 
picked out, the next question was to get as close as pos- 
sible before she saw me. Getting on my saddle horse and 
leaving Sam to bring on the pack if he was with me, I 
would approach as near as possible unseen and always 
tried to get sight of the doe before she saw me. If she 
saw me first she would give some signal to her little ones 
to hide and run ofi: a few yards, sometimes ruiming to- 
ward me an.d quartering to one side. Then it would be 
very diihcult to find the young. I often had to ride over 
a mile. This gaVe her time to change her location, so 
that it was not an easy thing to do to find the antelope' 
again and see her first. I never saw the little ones with 
their mother when I was close by. They disappeared 
before I could see them, either from having seen me or 
in obedience to a warning stamp or snort from their 
mother. If I saw her first I would mark the spot by some 
bush or other object and then ride to it. The doe would 
be off out of sight quickly. Then 1 would commence a 
very careful hunt, looking over every inch of the ground 
and at every object, whether it looked like an animal or 
not. Sometimes I would find the doe's trail and go back 
on that if possible until I found the tracks of little ones, 
then turn the other way again and stand still, look over 
the ground again and again, then go fomard a few feet, 
look over a little new ground and the old, at every rock, 
bush or lump of dirt, and peer under every sagebush 
looking for an eye or ear or some little thing that could 
be part of an antelope. 
The first two I captured I saw at a distance of three- 
fourths of a mile, but I had to ride fully a mile to get to 
them. I got off my horse and led him along when I 
got close to where I had seen the antelope. Approaching 
under cover a slight rise in the ground close to her, I got 
within 50yds before she saw me. The little ones were 
not in sight, but they could not be far off, as she had 
only moved a short distnnce from where I had first seen 
her. I saw the tracks of the young ones in the trail along 
the edge of a swampy piece of ground. Going ahead of 
the place where I had first seen the old one, I looked the 
ground over carefully from my feet all around; then going 
ahead a few feet further, did the same, and at last 1 
saw one by a rock which looked as much like an ante- 
lope as did the animal itself. I picked it up (it never of- 
fered to escape, for it was quite young), put it in a sack 
and then looked for its mate. This I saw about 20ft. up a 
little hill in some gravelly ground where there was not a 
bit of gras? or cover. This I put in another sack. Cut- 
ting the sacks so that I could put them over my shoulder, 
and having them swing in front of me high enough to 
support thein with my arms if I wished, T got on ray saddle 
horse and put the lines , over the horn of the saddle. I 
did not have to guide him for home; he took the trail 
and soon got there, while I paid all my attention to the 
little ones. , 
At another time, watching from the same hill, I saw an 
MODE OF PACKING IN THE GAME. 
put her nose to the ground; and then in the field of the 
telescope or field glass would appear a small object with 
its mother. She would let it have a little dinner, then 
make it stop nursing, and go to her other kid, putting it 
up the same way — with a poke of her nose — the first kid 
playing around while its mate had its dinner. The yoting 
of the antelope go down on their knees when feeding, 
like a lamb. After the young have been satisfied the 
old one moves off slowly with them. They play around, 
running in circles, stopping suddenly and running the 
other way, jumping to one side, up in the air, whirling 
around and going through all kinds of antelope gymnas- 
tics, unconsciously practicing every trick that it will re- 
sort to to escape from its enemies when it has to shift 
for itself. 
I have watched them play until something alarmed 
them; then down they would drop, as if shot, never stop- 
ping to fold a leg under them, But flattening themselves 
antelope about a mile and a half off on quite a steep side- 
hill partly covered with clumps of r.ve grass and low 
bushes. There was a heavy trail along the hill out on 
which she came. Further on the hill dropped off to a 
bottom about five acres close to the river. This could 
not be seen until one was right on the edge of the hills 
that inclosed it, all of which were quite steep. I had 
watched this antelope for two hours or more. At times 
she would disappear toward the bottom, be gone some 
few minutes, then come back again on to the trail. At 
last she went out of sight for twenty minutes; then I 
thought it my time to get close to the edge of the hill. I 
hurried along the trail on a 'lope where I could, and as 
I came to the edge of the hill, looking down to the little 
bottom, I met the doe coming back. I knew she would 
not have her young verj^ close if they were small enough 
for me to catch, so I rode down to the bottom, and pick- 
ing out the kind of a country I though proper to cache 
