Antelope Herd on the Ranch
It must be fall! The antelope are bunching up like they do every fall. We have small groups that live close to our cabin. They range from a solitary buck to a herd with 5 does and a buck. The group of 5 does had 5 fawns this year, but I am only seeing 4 young ones now. Something probably ate one of the babies. But now we have 19 head in our driveway group. There were 2 bucks, and one was a trophy. A mountain lion killed the big buck last week. I thought it was odd that the lion took the big buck and not a “teenager.” Maybe the buck stayed behind to protect his harem – I have no idea. At any rate these antelope are part of our ‘watchable wildlife’ and I do enjoy seeing them. They are protected, like the wolves, from hunting and have been slowly gaining populations here. One of our conservation practices last year was a USFS 10,000-acre prescribed burn to improve deer and antelope habitat and to create wildlife corridors for the antelope. Seems the antelope – being fast flight animals – won’t breed and live in dense woods where their line of sight isn’t good. Getting rid of some of the encroaching juniper opens more country for them as well as for quail, elk, deer, etc.
The herd picture was taken a couple of years ago – there were 39 head in that group. So far there’s 19 in a group, but more will join up. I hope to see over 45 this year in this bunch. Of course, lions are thick in this country and they have to eat too, along with bear, wolves, and coyotes. Good thing the pronghorn are FAST. They sure are beautiful.
Wilma
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