White Pine news. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1920-1923, 1923-02-11
ANTELOPE NOT KILLED.;
HELD IN COYOTE TRAPS

AS L vas ABOUT 10 lSll NOu, odit
the old-time trapper, when ! ex-
planned to you last week that an
eagle caught in a trap should never
be killed, because it is docile and will
not fight you, | have trapped several
antelope in coyote traps in my time.
1t is against the law to kill them, too,
the same as eagles, but how to get
away from it when one is trapped is
not so easy. But as it happened l
have never had the problem put up
to me in exactly that way.
THE first antelope l ever trapped
was a large doe. l was on my way
out to Sagehen springs from the TT
ranch, in Guano valley, Oregon, on
the Nevada line. I had been eau
toned about attempting to release
"a buck antelope from a trap. When
/ came up to this doe, how she did
wallop the earth! She reared and
bueked like a high-lifed cayuse and
all she did not attempt to do to me
was to hook me. Had | given her the
opportunity she would have tread
and danced on me with her sharp
hoofs, as antelopes do with rattle
snakes and coyotes. She wds big, fat
and strong. Ten men would not have
been her equal in a wrestling match.
One fore foot was pinched in a No. 4
Hawley & Norton trap, which, next
TO the Newhouse, is one of the hard
est to open. When both springs are
on few men can set them without
using their feet or clamps. | got
my right arm hooked owe her neck.
planted my feet on the trap springs
and let 'er buck And she sure Gid
buck. | did not time the round or
two but it vas a matter of twenty OF
thirty minutes until she was released
and across the mesa, rocks and sage
brush she went. holding one paw out
before her as if she had been taught
to shake hands, her speed comparable
to that of an express train. She was
not permanently hurt.
IF l had had a RATA with me ]
could have handled her with ease
but that was about the last thing
thought of needing. If it had been
a buck it would have been about the
only way to avoid violating the laws
of the state and humanity.
Riding down to the sinks of the
Sagehen on my way back the nexl
Gay | was putting out some traps
around the water holes. As | set the
last one at a large water hole l thinl
noticed a young baby antelope over
among the rocks under the rim. !
went less than fifty yards and was
setting another trap by a trail wnen
something told me to look back, and
there was the tiny fawn caught in
the last trap. It had been lured
there by the scent placed for coyotes.
as all animals of cloven hoofs are
moro or less. AS | released 1t and
let IL go there stood, cycling me in
evident terror, on the rim 200 yards
or less away. a band of not less than
fifteen adult antelope. I feared that
upon my return in three days I would
have the babe in the same or another
trap again, but not so had n fine
skookum coyote in that trap and
some others near there.
"On the bench west of the TT a
few days later I had trapped a third
antelope. ! never knew whether il
was a buck or doe. 1t was gone
So was the trap and stake. l don't
cay they're going yet. because the
trap would collapse into pieces soon.
er or later IL 1t was a Victor, which
l think 1t was.
THE fourth one was up the same
line three or four weeks later. l die
foreman. happened by. He was sale
to be a fellow who would wink midi,
at your killing a deer out of season Il
you needed the meat, but no so will
an antelope. This trap was another
Hawley & Norton. The animal hat
worn its joint nearly asunder and L
hanging by a cord or cords TIL,
foreman cut the cord with his cattle
knife. Others might not have done
IL in that way but he complied with
the law. He did not kill the ante
lope. I found the foot in the traI
but did not ask him about 1t, and hs
never spoke of 1t to me. So I never
learned whether 1t was a buck or a
doe.
But IL the trap had not severed
the ankle down to the cord and II
had been a buck 1t would not have
been SO easy for Mr.. Frakes. His
only recourse would have been the
use of his RATA, snd ! am sure that
he did it with him, and then 1t is no
snap. Men who knew say a buck will
tear your pants of. but that is not
half what he will do to your clothes
or the rest of you. He will put you
out of business unless you hog-tie