White Pine news. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1920-1923, 1923-06-17
WILD LIFE STUDIES
ON TRAP LINE

ct saw this while riding my trap
line. but it is not a trapping story,
said the Ely trappor yesterday. AT
that [ would have given $1,000 tor
a moving picture machine to nave
taken 1t and my fortune would nave
been made. It was two buck rte
llopes fighting.
This happened in southern ore
gon. on the Nevada line. saw an
telopes there every day, frequently
City or sixty at a time. you neal
this talk about 500 in a bunch, but
YOU never meet the fellow who count
ed them and knows there were that
many. I have counted them time
and again and the highest ever
counted was sixty-eight in one bunch,
and | think that is the best antelope
country that there Is left in the Unit
ed States. But in a radius of some
fifty miles | have no doubt that there
are 500 and possibly 700 antelopes,
for there are many bunehec mat
range in their own particular haDl-
fats, and If there are twenty punches
that will average twenty-five or thirty
each it would make up that number.
have been over that country a great
deal and | think I have 1t sized up
as well as anybody. Also many other
antelope countries, but ] know OF
none that will compare with that
one.
Il went over the crest of a ridge
and through a gate in a drift fence.
The first thing I saw were some M
teen or twenty does and fawns stand
ing and looking at something, ana
that was the two bucks going to 1t
THE way those bucks whipped up
the ~sagebrush and the cener Tor
half a mile in every direction was a
little the liveliest encounter OF any
kind that | ever beheld. The does
and fawns lit out and ran away when
they saw me, going first about three
fourths OF a mile and then about two
miles. Both times they stopped and
eyed the fighters.
THE bucks never saw me, or II
they did | did not interest them in
the slightest. They had their heads
together and | do not think | am
overestimating when l say that they
butted each other back and forth at
a rate of twelve to fifteen miles an
hour. | say that from long eyperi-
ence at the throttle and steering
wheel of a gas wagon, both before
and after.
Il cannot estimate how long J
watched them fight, but IL must have
been about twenty minutes. How
long they had fought before ] arrived
cannot be guessed. II may have been
minutes and II may have been hours.
II was about 9 o'clock In the morn
ing and IL Is probable that II was not
an older affair than OF that day. for
the good reason that II was too lively
They were about evenly matched
as to size and I had no means of tell
ing them apart, other than to keep
my eyes riveted upon them. By so
doing / observed that for the first
several minutes. probably two-thirds
of the part OF the fight l witnessed,
= wan hA6A oht anu thth III
One would butt the other back at the
rate Of speed mentioned for one
fourth "a one-half OF a mile. and
then 1t would be the other way for
a while.
In doing this their bodies and
heads vibrated so rapidly that with
out the aid of a moving picture ma
chine 1t would be impossible to con
vey the idea OF this speed. II was
something terrific. The only way To
illustrate their rapid movements that
| can think OF Is to picture a sack OF
flour or something equally light
thrown upon a crest of water In n
terrific river gorge and watch tho
sack dancing up and down as Il
speeds away at express train gait.
Through the first part OF the fight
that I saw the buck that finally 20,
whipped had all the best of IL. While
the other ole had the initiative AZ
times the most OF the time the other
one had 1t and was backing the final
victor of through the high sage
brush. Dust and brush twigs filled
the air at times, but most OF the
time the view Of the animalo was
perfectly clear. Frequently they
backed each other within 900 yards
Of me and again in apparently less
time than II takes to tell IL they
would batter each other OF in The
same hurryup fashion for a half To
three-fourths of a mile
AT last the one that appeared al
the first to be getting n shade the
best OF 1t commenced t. weaken and
in a little time IL turned tail and In
stantly the other ones antlers were
planted against it's flank and showing
II away at a still faster gait than they
had yet moved. After the first shove
or two OF that kind the then LOSING
buck turned and put up a head-on
fight as before for a short while. but
1t was plain that he was all "a and
4p0U1d nof aonaa 1o.Ir -. -.