Colville Antelope

[notellumcreek]

"There is enough native habitat on the plateau to support them," said Whitney. "We chose to move forward with the reintroduction at this time since a primary goal of the wildlife program is to restore native and desired non-native species to the Colville Reservation. Pronghorn are a native species to the homelands of our people. Since they have been extirpated from Wash., our tribal members have had to go to other states in order to utilize these animals for subsistence."

Probably falls under the non-native species clause.  Not 100% sure what the "usual and accustomed" range of the tribes that now call the Colville Reservation home actually were, but it is conceivable that some of them used to hunt pronghorn back in the day on those lands.

 

   

[Bob33]

The 99 pronghorns that were released in 2011 are doing very well. The population has more than doubled.

Don't think this is even close to accurate.

There was a survey done earlier this year. As I recall the number was close to double. The herd size has definitely grown.

[Maverick]

I'm glad to see the colvilles are doing this.

[bobcat]

I would love to have a sustainable pronghorn population (and hopefully hunting season) in Washington, but before trying to reestablish them were any ecological studies performed?

There was a study done in 2006:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01156/wdfw01156.pdf

[pianoman9701]

Cool........... I asked once long ago why Washington didn't have Pronghorns, and was told it was too cold. Bull Oregon has them, and from what I've been reading on the Oregon Regs on hunting they are found in places just a few miles from the Border. not far either In and around Ontario you can find Pronghorn Antelope, and believe in, and around Baker so.....
I figured they had to be Native of Washington at one time now from Bones link there's proof that if they hunted them in Waitsburg they sure as heck had some in and around Walla Walla as well. Probably out towards Touchet too.

Aren't there a bunch in WY and E. MT, too?

[Gringo31]

Quote from another thread

From 99 in 2011 to 140 now is 9.8% or about 10%.

With most to all of the does being pregnant, I would have expected 140ish that first summer.  Time will tell how they do. 

I think a mistake people make when they see sage brush and think it's antelope country is in many of our western states with healthy populations of antelope, they have more access to water than we do in most "antelope country" in Washington.   

[Bob33]

Cool........... I asked once long ago why Washington didn't have Pronghorns, and was told it was too cold. Bull Oregon has them, and from what I've been reading on the Oregon Regs on hunting they are found in places just a few miles from the Border. not far either In and around Ontario you can find Pronghorn Antelope, and believe in, and around Baker so.....
I figured they had to be Native of Washington at one time now from Bones link there's proof that if they hunted them in Waitsburg they sure as heck had some in and around Walla Walla as well. Probably out towards Touchet too.

Aren't there a bunch in WY and E. MT, too?

Yes. There are tens of thousands of pronghorns in places with colder winters than Washington.

[James]

There was a study done in 2006:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01156/wdfw01156.pdf

Thank you, that was a good read.

They focused on habitat suitability for Antelope, which is good, but I didn't see anything about Antelope impacts to our current ecosystem.

[HUNTaHOLIC5]

I'd love to see around 10,000 horses disappear from the face of this earth and a couple more transplants of pronghorn to the yak rez.

Quote from another thread

From 99 in 2011 to 140 now is 9.8% or about 10%.

How accurate is that info? I thought it was just shy of 170.

[boneaddict]

Amen to that.  The horses are having wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more of an impact than a few antelope

[bearpaw]

Happy to read this topic, good job CCT's! 

[KFhunter]

Amen to that.  The horses are having wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more of an impact than a few antelope

I'd love to see around 10,000 horses disappear from the face of this earth and a couple more transplants of pronghorn to the yak rez.

Quote from another thread

From 99 in 2011 to 140 now is 9.8% or about 10%.

How accurate is that info? I thought it was just shy of 170.

I just watched unbranded on netflix streaming, it was pretty interesting and put together very well.  I really enjoyed it.  Talked a lot about the wild horses and overgrazing but it seemed to hold the middle and not push one agenda too hard over the other.

[PolarBear]

Next we need some buffalo roaming around Washington.  They would probably be more destructive than horses.  The Colville Rez would be the perfect place to start them off.

[Dhoey07]

The biggest issue we have is a lack of habitat. Much of what would have been prime habitat 100 years ago, has been converted to agricultural uses and/or cattle range. I'd be amazed if Washington ever has hunt-able populations of antelope. They tried establishing antelope populations several decades ago and it didn't work, so I'm not sure why it would work now, with even less habitat than what would have been available back then.

How many failed attempts did they have at transplanting turkeys before it took?  4 or 5 I think.  And look at them now.  I'm not saying it's apples to apples, but I don't think it's apples to oranges either.

[boneaddict]

Next we need some buffalo roaming around Washington.  They would probably be more destructive than horses.  The Colville Rez would be the perfect place to start them off.

I about hit an escapee up in the selkirks.  He was doing just fine.  Lol