Pronghorns return
to Big Bend
Story and photograph by Carolyn Miller
O
ur area of West Texas is home
to one of the most beautiful
animals in the world. Most of
us call them antelope, but technically
they are pronghorn. Although the
antelope looks much like our prong-
12
Cenizo
horn, they are not found in North
America and most are native to Africa
and Asia. The pronghorn reside in the
US, Canada and Mexico, preferring
grasslands in altitudes of 3,000 to
5,900 feet.
First Quarter 2015
The pronghorn have called West
Texas or the Trans-Pecos high desert
grasslands home for many years and
numbered over 17,000 in the early
1980s. By 2008 they numbered
around 10,000 and between 2008 and
2012 they were down to around 2,750.
After seeing a decline over the past
thirty years, they are making a slow but
steady comeback due to very concen-
trated efforts by various agencies and
local ranchers.