376 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 8, 1906. 
start off on a jump. The buck we struck stand¬ 
ing still at 90 yards, first walked a short dis¬ 
tance, then trotted a little way, and finally ran 
at full speed. This peculiarity can perhaps be 
accounted for from the nature of the country 
they inhabit, seldom being in'position where 
they cannot see all objects for miles about 
them—except occasionally when they are near 
a draw, or in the depression between two 
swells—it necessarily follows that nothing can 
approach near enough to startle them, being 
accustomed usually to see all objects approach 
from a distance, they are not in the habit of 
starting to run from an object suddenly, be¬ 
cause of its near approach unseen; and, when 
this does occasionally happen, they seem to be 
controlled by their normal habit of moving 
off leisurely at first. 
We shall now relate some of our experiences 
in pursuing them with the greyhound. Many 
of the settlers on the plains are sportsmen, and 
as there is no game but antelope, jack-rabbits 
and coyotes (excepting a few ducks in their 
season), the greyhound is the only dog kept 
for hunting purposes. We frequently chased 
the antelope with them, but always without 
success. General Custer, who hunted them 
often, regarded them as among the swiftest of 
animals. The greyhound depends solely upon 
his speed and eyesight to catch an animal, and 
if the pursued animal gets over a swell, or into 
a draw out of his sight for a short time, he will 
find it again only by chance, having no scent 
or ability to trail. His forte in overtaking 
game lies in his wonderful burst of speed at 
the commencement of the chase. He has com¬ 
paratively little bottom, and if his quarry is 
not overtaken in the first two or three miles, 
the chances are that it will escape. The great¬ 
est difficulty in chasing antelope with the grey¬ 
hound is to get a fair start, which is next to 
impossible, because the hunter is usually per¬ 
ceived at a distance. From a half mile to a 
mile is as close as they will permit one to 
approach before running; often not that near. 
The difficulty in overtaking them even with the 
greyhound, when they have a start of a mile, 
will readily be perceived. Their bottom fully 
equals their speed. From the chases we had 
we were led to believe that they are capable 
of maintaining great speed for ten miles or 
more. This is something no greyhound we 
have seen can do, so that if you cannot ap¬ 
proach them closely, say, within one or two 
hundred yards, before detection, your chances 
of outrunning them are poor, at least this was 
out experience. 
After numerous failures to catch one with 
the two dogs belonging to our friend, one a 
brindle and the other a mouse-color—the for¬ 
mer the fastest dog we ever saw—we arranged 
a chase on a much larger scale. Having col¬ 
lected eight greyhounds and two staghounds, 
accompanied by half a dozen other sportsmen, 
we started one morning for Antelope Flat, 
for a grand chase. “The dogs of all our sport¬ 
ing friends could catch an antelope, of course, 
and several of them had done so,” so their 
owners said. Our plan was to surround the 
herd and chase them in detail; that is, two 
riders with two dogs would start them, and 
after running them several miles, would be 
relieved by two other fresh riders, and dogs, 
provided they ran so that the fresh force could 
be put in, which we thought they would do, 
for they, like most animals which depend upon 
their heels for safety, run in a circle, for a 
while at least. The circle of the antelope is 
usually much larger than that, of the fox or 
deer, for they have no concealment except dis¬ 
tance, and can rarely make a short turn un¬ 
perceived, if they would. Therefore, they run 
in a much larger circle. No better ground 
for a chase could be desired than this, in ex¬ 
tent about eight miles by ten, and nearly level, 
covered with a beautiful buffalo grass sod, 
which afforded a sure and safe footing for our 
horses, the only danger in safe and rapid 
riding being the holes of an occasional prairie 
dog town, and a few badger holes. The former 
will usually be noticed in time for caution, and 
the latter are not frequent. A better country 
for a chase could hardly be found. We started 
across the Flat from the south, and when near 
the center we discovered the herd about two 
miles away. We now proceeded to surround 
them, as they would not run. So long as we 
kept at this distance from them, we had every 
opportunity to take our desired positions. Two 
riders with two dogs remained where we were, 
four took a wide circuit to the east, two stop¬ 
ping when they arrived at a point directly east 
of the herd, and two continuing on to a point 
just north of it; the last two (the writer being 
one of them) with one staghound and one 
greyhound, taking their positions directly west 
of them. All reached their positions without 
alarming the herd. The distance between the 
north and south, east and west parties was 
about four miles in each case, the herd being 
in the center. The southern party now, ac¬ 
cording to previous arrangement, rode toward 
them. They soon started to run, going north, 
but perceiving the hunters in that direction, 
they bore northeast, passing between the north 
and east parties, the east party joining in the 
chase. Away they went beyond our sight to 
the east. They made a wide circle toward the 
north, eventually bearing around to the west. 
The chase during all this time was beyond 
our view, and we impatiently awaited some in¬ 
dication of their whereabouts. After perhaps 
an hour had elapsed, we saw several antelope 
in the distance, coming round from the north 
toward our position, with two riders a mile 
astern of them, the other riders and all the 
dogs having been thrown out ere this. As. 
they came nearer, we saw that there were 
three dogs and two kids in this bunch. See¬ 
ing that they were not going to pass very near 
us, we ran our horses to cross their course as near 
to them as possible. We were within a quarter 
of a mile of them, then they passed in front of 
us, and now our stern chase commenced. Urg¬ 
ing our horses to their utmost, we were en¬ 
abled to keep well up with the dogs, which 
were now making a terrific burst of speed, and 
gaining on the antelope very perceptibly. At 
this stage of the chase, it looked as if we would 
soon overtake them, for we knew they had 
already been run for ten or twelve miles at 
least. By the time we had run three miles, we 
were within 300 yards of them, and up to the 
dogs; but now, with all the spurring of our 
horses and shouting to the dogs, enabled 
neither to close the gap, as both were badly 
winded, for the pace had been tremendous. 
We now soon began to lose ground, the an¬ 
telope slowly drawing away from us, although 
we still continued to urge both horses and 
dogs to their utmost. After possibly five miles 
had thus been passed over, the dogs threw up 
the sponge, actually stopping, being completely 
exhausted with fatigue and heat. This ended 
our chase for that day, and we were forced to 
confess that the antelope, even at the disad¬ 
vantage of being pursued in detail by fresh 
forces, had proved themselves speedier and of 
much greater bottom than either horses or 
dogs, on this occasion at least. We could nof 
help but admire them as with their two half- 
grown kids they gallantly sailed away out of 
sight with much speed still, having fairly won 
the race for their lives and earned their free¬ 
dom. The day was hot, and our dogs had had 
no water since early morning, it being 12 when 
the chase terminated; so they labored under a 
great disadvantage in this respect, as the heat 
and want of water did not affect the antelope 
in an equal degree, they being more accus¬ 
tomed to it. Had the day been cool and cloudy 
we believe that we should have overhauled 
them in the last heat. We think, however, that 
few Texas ponies are capable of outrunning an 
antelope. Had we been mounted on blooded 
horses, we should probably have succeeded in 
overtaking them. 
We now returned, soon meeting the other 
parties. Both were confident that each had 
chased them ten or fifteen miles. If this was 
correct, they must have run twenty miles at 
least before we put in the chase. We beg 
leave, however, to doubt the correctness of 
these estimates. We have no doubt the boys 
thought so, but from the time of starting to 
the point where we joined in the race, was not 
over an hour at the furthest, and twenty or 
thirty miles in that time is a little too fast, even 
for an antelope. At one point in the chase 
one of the party, by short cut, ran through 
the herd, banging at them with his revolver, 
killing none, but scattering the herd in several 
directions. This is why only three of them 
came our way. Two of the greyhounds were 
so completely fagged out that we were obliged 
to carry them home on horseback, and most 
of them did not fully recover from the effects 
of this chase for several days, the brindle dog, 
before mentioned, being one of the exceptions, 
doing fine work next day after jack-rabbits. 
Several days after the termination of this 
chase, a party of four of us with six grey¬ 
hounds concluded to give them another run. 
Not having force sufficient to surround them, 
this must necessarily be a straightaway race. 
Starting on a cool, foggy morning, we ap¬ 
proached Antelope Flat from' the north, mov¬ 
ing up one of the large draws on that side. As 
we came to the head of the draw, and upon 
the surface of the Flat, we saw this same’herd 
within a quarter of a mile of us. We imme¬ 
diately started toward them and gained on 
them considerably before they got under full 
headway. The spectacle now presented was 
most exhilarating; ten antelope flying across 
the level plain with six greyhounds at their 
heels, and four riders closely following, shout¬ 
ing to the full capacity of their lungs, and 
spurring their horses at every jump. Away we 
flew, being determined to overtake them this 
time, if possible. They ran straight across the 
Flat at their utmost speed. Some of our swift¬ 
est dogs got within 100 yards of them in the 
first two miles, but that was the nearest ap¬ 
proach made during the chase. They did not 
circle, perhaps because we were pushing them 
so closely, but went directly across to the op¬ 
posite side, about eight miles from the starting 
place. Before reaching this side, we had 
passed all the dogs, most of them being some 
distance behind. The antelope now plunged 
into a succession of draws and ridges, soon 
leaving all behind, and thus terminating the 
quickest and most furious chase we ever saw. 
Opening of <he Rail Season. 
Milford, Conn., Sept. 2.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The rail season opened in Connecticut 
September 1, and as is often the case on the first 
day, fair bags—for these days—were made. The 
birds taken were almost all of them natives, bred 
in the marshes where they were shot. The mi¬ 
grating rail will come a little later, though the 
cool weather that is prevailing now, together with 
the full moon which shines almost all night, may 
before long bring on a flight of migrants from the 
north. On the Essex marshes the shooting 
should be good, but on the North Haven 
meadows, as is well known, a high tide, usually 
following an easterly storm, is needed to enable 
the boats to pass through the reedy thickets 
where the rail hide. 
On the Housatonic meadows, near Stratford 
and Milford, the bags made on Saturday were 
21, 18, 17, and 5 per boat. Ramon. 
Washington Indians on a Foray. 
Spokane, Wash., Aug. 26.— Indians of the Nez 
Perce tribe are gathering in large numbers at 
North Lapwai, Ida., southeast of Spokane, on 
the Clearwater River, for their annual harvest 
moon foray into the hills in search of big game, 
thus perpetuating a custom that had its origin 
long before Lewis and Clark crossed the trail 
in the Northwest, more than 100 years ago. The 
Indians are preparing for the biggest hunt in 
years, and, despite the restrictions of license 
and the limited number of deer, elk and bear 
that can be taken, they are out in force. Some 
of the old-timers will not shoulder their rifles 
this season, as many of them have become 
civilized and are working in the harvest fields, 
earning from $3 to $4 a day. 
