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MIGRATIONS OF THE PRONGHORN Antelopes Still Herd for Their Fall Travels in tho West The seasonal migrations of the antelope oiico so abundant on the western plains were familiar to every oldtime hunter These movements took place just before the advent of cold weather and might be in any direction They were not neces ¬ sarily from north to south but rather from an exposed situation to one that was more sheltered shelteredThe The vast numbers of antelope that summered on the high Coteau des Prairies in autumn Journeyed southwest and wintered in the breaks of the Little Missouri north of the Black Hills Those summer ¬ ing among the mountains of the Yellowstone Park passed down the various stream valleys out to the prairie and those in the high country the mountains in the bend of the North Platte and other moun ¬ tains farther to the southward came out iu great herds and wintered on the Laramie plains There were a hundred other winter ranges On rangesOn the Laramie plains the herds were so numerous in the early seventies that men going out for meat often did not attempt closely to approacli the herds but dropped a dozen shots into the thick of a group of thousands of antelope aud then going forward recovered those that had been killed bv these random shots Such shooting wounded nianv animals and these went to feed the eagles and the coyotes coyotesA A recent publication referring to the seasonal migrations of some of the large game animals of the plains urged that some naturalist take up and work out this subject It is too late to do tins now by observation The animals which once moved in such large bodies no longer exist and tiieir old migration routes are blocked by settle ¬ ment mentThe The hunters in what now seem early days on tin plains know that there were seasonal shiftings b bnffalo elk muledeer and antelone Whether such movements took place with the Virginia deer or tin moose is doubtful I think Sheep moved down from higher to lower ground but it must be re ¬ membered that in those early days the sheep usually did not live on the mountain peaks but rather on the high plateaus and parks so often found just below the rim rock I do not suppose that the sheep of the plains did much moving but about tliis I do not know It is certain however that in rough stormy weather the sheep gathered in considerable groups and sought shelter from snow in caves and hollows in the rock and under steop ledjres Signs of their presence in great numbers were frequently seen in such situations situationsINDIANS INDIANS TOOK THEIR TOLL TOLLThe The Indians whose lives wore devoted in larv measure to the study of the wild animals on whiHi they in part subsisted were of course familiar with the regularity of these migrations and at the proper season spread themselves out along tin routes the antelope followed to intercept and take toll animalsAn of the migrating animals An interesting perhaps the earliest reference to these movements by the antelope is to be foiiml in the journals of Lewis and Clark at what was one f tlm favorite crossing places of antelope on the Missouri River in the present state of North Da DaP P their way up the Missouri River in 1S04 Lewi and Clark happened to reach this region about tin middle of October when the migration of the ante ¬ lope was taking place On the 10th of October the explorers record that they saw great numbers or goats their name for antelope on the river at Si ne time on both sides saw Indians killing these goats At one point boys were in the water killing antelope with sticks and draggiiiir them to the shore while on the banks of the river the Indians shot them with arrows At one point Captain Clark counted fiftyeight antelope that they herdAt had killed out of a single herd At the beginning of this movement from summer to summerto winter range at the approach of cold weather the antelope got together in large herds and tin Indians told Captain Clark that tin animals wen on their way to the Black Mountains when they would spend the winter returning in tin spring and recrossing the Missouri in great IHIIII IHIIIITliese Tliese observations were made just before thc yxplorers came to the mouth of the Cahnonliall River and on the day they reached it great num ¬ bers of antelope were seen Almost immediately ifter this the weather turned cooler and on October 21 the night was cold with rain which froze as it fell and turned to snow in the morning Evidently it was time for the anteloie to be moving G J Gnnnell in Forest and Stream
