50 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 14, 1906. 
Gossip about the Pronghorn. 
New York, June 25. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
All old plains people, and many other hunters 
of narrower experience, will read with very great 
interest Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton’s article, 
on the Prong Horned Antelope, in Scribner’s 
Magazine for July. There is gathered together 
here a wealth of interesting and valuable matter 
about a vanishing species, which I am glad to 
think, will- appear in permanent form. 
A volume might well be written on the ante¬ 
lope, which, as is well known, stands absolutely 
by itself in the world, and is far and away the 
most peculiar of North American mammals. 
Mr. Seton has pointed out these peculiarities, 
but I ask permission to make a running com¬ 
ment on some of his statements, not because I 
have anything to criticise, but because I want 
to emphasize a few matters that he speaks of. 
In doing this, I shall simply run along over 
his article, and gossip about the matter that it 
touches on. 
There is a bend to the westward in the dark 
line, which on his map shows the eastern boun¬ 
dary of the primitive range of the antelope, in 
Nebraska, which I do not think should be there. 
In other words, I believe that this line should 
be brought nearer the Missouri. River, and that 
in eastern Nebraska, the antelope was found 
nearly to the breaks of the Missouri River—at 
least north of the Platte River. When I first 
crossed the Missouri River in the early days, 
antelope were found not very far west of the 
town of Omaha. I have myself seen them with¬ 
in forty miles of Omaha. 
This statement is confirmed and somewhat 
amplified by one made by my friend, Capt. L, 
H. North, who has resided in eastern Nebraska 
since before the year i860. He writes me, 
“There used to be a great many antelope be¬ 
tween Columbus and Omaha, but I do not re¬ 
member just how near to Omaha I have seen 
them. In the northern part of the State, near 
the Niobrara River, 1 have seen them not more 
than five miles from the Missouri River, and I 
have no doubt they' ranged on the Missouri 
River bottom.” Columbus is about ninety miles 
west of Omaha. 
The numbers of the antelope are not, I think, 
YELLOWSTONE PARK ANTELOPE. 
over-estimated. We have heard for many years 
of the millions of buffalo that used to range the 
western plains, but so far as I recall it, there 
has never been an intelligent attempt to estimate 
the numbers of buffalo in the country at any 
time, and in fact such an attempt could never 
have been made intelligently. They were count¬ 
less, but for many years I have believed that 
in early days the antelope were more numerous 
than the buffalo. To be sure, I have seen buffalo 
in numbers that could not be computed, and 
have traveled for weeks through the multitudi¬ 
nous herds, but I am very sure that I have seen 
far more antelope than I have ever seen buffalo, 
and in this view, I am upheld by the opinions 
YOUNG ANTELOPE AND STONES, 
An Instance of Concealment. Photos by E. Hofer. 
of a number of men whose experience has been 
as long and longer than mine. 
Major J. B. Pond’s description of the valley 
of the Cache le Poudre in winter, when the an¬ 
telope were bunched up there, is just; but as 
Mr. Seton says this was only one of the winter 
bunches of which there were many. They gath¬ 
ered in the same way, I am told, in the valley of 
the Little Missouri, and I have seen them so 
gathered, and in inconceivable numbers in the 
Laramie plains. Here they were so abundant, 
that the meat hunters did not take the trouble 
to approach the animals, but getting as near as 
convenient, would fire half a dozen shots at the 
“brown” of the herd, and then go and pick up 
the dead and the badly wounded. There was 
another winter range in the Colorado parks 
where were gathered all those vast multitudes 
of antelope, which in summer inhabited North 
Park, South Park and Middle Park, and the 
high plateaus of the neighboring mountains. 
I should suppose that a fully adult buck ante¬ 
lope, in good condition, would weigh on the 
hoof more than 125 pounds, but dressed, prob¬ 
ably not more than 80 pounds. 
Mr. Seton does not speak of the curiously 
crimped appearance of the hair in the young 
antelope. This crimping is soon lost. This 
crimping, together with the dull shades of gray 
and brown which mark the new born antelope, 
make him almost invisible, because he matches 
so closely the ground on which he lies, and so 
closely resembles a stone or other natural 
object. I recall a picture, taken I think by Mr. 
Hofer, of a newly born antelope lying on the 
ground near a stone. Quite a sharp inspection 
of the picture is required to say which is the 
antelope and which the stone. As has often 
been pointed out, before the antelope, like 
other young ungulates, is absolutely limp and 
loose at such a time, and if picked up, will hang 
down like a newly killed animal. I have had 
a number of these young antelopes in confine¬ 
ment, and have observed that the brownish 
color of the coat changes slowly, until, when 
they are about three or four weeks old. they 
have approached quite nearly to the adult in 
color, being of a reddish yellow hue. 
A very great interest attaches to the horns 
of this curious species, but Mr. Seton’s des¬ 
cription leaves little to be. added. On one occas¬ 
ion in North Park, Col., I killed a buck antelope 
with four horns, the additional ones being solid 
cylindrical black masses of aglutinated hair, like 
the ordinary horn sheath, growing from the skin 
of the head behind the horns. Of course, they 
had no born cores. One of these horns was an 
inch in diameter, and about two and a half 
inches long, while the other was slightly longer. 
I attempted tO' preserve the skull and skin rf 
this head, but it was lost off a pack. 
As Mr. Seton says, the fact that the antelope 
shed his horn sheaths was first established by 
Dr. Canfield of California, but of course it had 
long been known to hunters and mountain men. 
I pointed out some time ago that the earliest 
printed mention of it that I have seen, was by 
R. B. Sage in a book published in 1846. 
From what Mr. Seton says I have inferred, 
probably incorrectly, that he believes that the 
tip of the antelope horn is usually turned in¬ 
ward. This of course is not the fact. They 
are commonly turned inward or backward, but 
more often backward than inward. I think. I 
have a pair—the only one I have ever seen—in 
which the tips are directed forward. They turn 
inward, downward and forward, so that the tips 
actually point to the front. I have seen antelope 
fight on more than one occasion, and where it 
was possible to see any of the detail of the battle 
it always seemed to me that the prong of the 
horn acted as a guard, much as the brow antlers 
of an elk act as a guard. 
Up to about twenty years ago, the curiosity 
of the antelope was very real and could be taken 
advantage of by the hunter. 
One of the very interesting subjects touched 
CAPTAIN JOHN PITCHER AND HIS ANTELOPE PETS. 
