That fracturing of land ownership has hurt pronghorns. And the more fences you have, the fewer antelope you have. Antelope, brains hard-wired to life on open plains and prairie, are bamboozled by fences. They have a hard time figuring out how to get through, under or over them. And unless landowners make special accommodations for antelope, a fence can be a death trap.
Antelope naturally travel long distances, moving to where water and forage are available.
Denied that ability, herds can wither and disappear, Humphreys said. Also, fences make adult antelope more vulnerable to predation. Anything that makes him slow down makes him vulnerable. And fences slow them down. Hobson said he has watched wickedly cunning coyotes use a fence to fluster and fell adult antelope.