The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-05-01
ON TRAIL oE ANTELOPE.

ward over the rolling country of the wide
! valley toward the treeless prairie, making
for some broken country ten miles away
where several small bands of antelope
were ranging. choosing rather the better,
fresher grass in the coulee bottoms 10 the
dry and withered growths of the sun
burned euter lands.
Though il was d-September as soon
as the sun was well up in the braZen,
spotless sky, the air turned hot and the
breaths from of the level land came dry
( and burning as a furnace draught- My
hunting horse logged on doggedly, with
hanging head, the perspiration drying on
| his smooth red coat soon as raised
| In the foothills il was little better. the
! air seemed fresher and the change was
J most agreeable.
At one OF my usual halts at the foot of
/ a ridge to look over the country beyond
before crossing. 1 spied a suspicious white
: spot half a mile away. The glass showed
this to be an antelope, for il was almost
noon. well punched near the head of
! shallow side coulee. Loose2ing the cinch
! and dropping the bride reins was all that
was necessary 70 make my horse as COM
: Portable as possible and insure his re-
manning near till 1 needed him again.
1t was necessary TO make q long detour
/ TO avoid crossing this first ridge and il
| was something over an hour before was
on the opposite side of the slight raise
I on which they lay. Carefully. slowly, l
! worked toward the top. STOPPING and IL
nally crawling as l neared the crest
/ Then, removing my wide-brimmed hat,
I peered softly over in the hollow
had the wind on them. | had made no
noise that they could hear. yet those an
! telope had seen the top of my hat slowly
rising a hundred long yards away, and
were up and running before my eyes
came high enough for me to see them
<@- hot
} at first l thought I had gone behind Can
I old falling, the bullet in it's flight having
! to cross the coulee before ii struck, rails
/ ing d cloud of dust two lengths behind the
/ last of the flying band. But, as they
| crossed the ridge one of them left the
others, and as il turned brOaGSide | could
! see ii was hard hit. i Immediately crossed
! the coulee and gaining the further ridge
/ looked out and down on the yellow,
J parching prairie.
Four of the antelope stood. a beautiful
/. group, a thousand yards away, gazing
backward toward the bluff, evidently
! looking at something under the hill What
| this was, l could not see, but | knew IL
| must be the antelope l had wounded. As
! 1 came in sight the four, after breaking
! and standing several times. evidently
| had seen enough of me, for they fitted
away, not running, but in one of the an
! telope's peculiar gaits-a long, high
/ bounding trot. which is the very antith-
/ esis of springing strength and speed /
watched them till they blended with the
shimmering heat of the mirage. Then
crossed on further and saw the wounded
! one. She was almost dead when | finally
| came up. Dressing her, | brought my
horse, who had fed not fifty yards from
where L left him, threw the carcass up
behind and dashed it to the saddle. / was
home in time for supper.
Though possessing fine sight and great
speed, antelope have a habit which often
| obviates all advantage given by either.
| This is curiosity. Many of the big game
animals evince the tendency, at times, to
satisfy themselves with a long look at
anything attracting their attention or
| startling them before seeking safety in
fight, but it is seldom with these that
they seek out the cause, or attempt to
solve the why's and wherefores of the
strangeness. With antelope it is different.
They are naturally intensely curious and
will, if possible, satisfy their wonder and
inquisitiveness with determined investiga-
ton, frequently coming close up to the
object that has attracted their attention.
Advantage of this well-kuown character
istic has been made use of by hunters,
who by the display of any unusual OBJ
ject could flag them within range l
have had them follow, for some distance.
my blackboard on the prairie. This char
acteristic is more properly only strictly
true where the game has not been hunt
ed and they are. therefore, in a sense I'M
educated. yet 1 have several times noted
it also in comparatively well settled coun-
try. where the animals were bothered and
very wild. L believe it is a feeling they
cannot at times resist, though they are
sure it leads them into danger.
Not long since hunting friend told me
of an experience illustrative of this. With
his wife he was driving between two of
his widely separated ranches east of the
Little Rockies, in east-central Montana.
Stopping for lunch, the horses were pick
eted in a shallow coulee out of sight. in
the hot blaze of the fall sun my friend
and his wife were doing under the buck
board in the scant shade. Awakening
along in the afternoon he saw an antelope
approaching. evidently with the idea of
inspecting the strange object he had
found on his range. The animal had to
climb a slight rise to obtain as close a
view as he desired, and when he went out
of sight under the hill my friend awoke
his wife and told her an antelope was
coming. She Immediately took her rife
and both stood behind the blackboard
The buck came slowly on, steadily climb
ing the steep little rise till he was in
plain ciew. some fifty yards away and
then stopped for leisurely observation
Then she shot and broke his neck.
Many of my experiences show this fall
ing. l was driving through some fair an
telope country along the upper Missouri
in September. and late in the afternoon |
saw a band of nine feeding about a mile
from the road. Leaving my wife in
charge Of the team. l commenced a stalk.
\ small coulee helped me some distance,
and q wide, shallow depression aided me
sun further. but from the edge OF this
last there was absolutely no cover OF any
kind that could be used, and the band
was long cog yards away.
I had been crawling already some dis
lance. but now had 10 get down fat and
wriggle along on my stomach. using my
knees and elbows as best I could. and
with my head down and my eyes gazing
straight into the sod and dirt two inches
from my nose. This was hard work
principally for the eyes. When they grew
tired I would roll over sideways and rest.
watching the antelope without rising. or
else shut my eyes and wriggle on
Up to the time I had left the last de-
preston the band had been watching the
.arriage. not curiously. but just look
now and then to see that il came no
closer. Though / was only mile away al
the time 7 GOT out. l do net think they no
ticed me. for q coulee partly hid me But
just as soon as I came up over that edge.
though only my broad hat could have
been u sight. they all saw me almost i'm
medisteiy. and l was over a quarter Of
mile distant.
on worked. stopping frequently 10 rest
and watch them from ny side The scaut
buffalo grass concealed ny body for a
couple OF inches. but that was all The
rest YES IN plain sight. yet there was evil
denty not enough Of u 10 give them a
satisfactory lock or frigntrr them AT