Antelope Reintroduction to Washington

[C-Money]

  Very cool!

[saylean]

Nice pics. My buddy at the WDFW told me bout this....im pretty pleased. I would love to be able to eventually go after a WA antelope. I hope they take.

[Gringo31]

Seems like they (or some) spread out real fast and now they are content where they are.  I see this one group within .5 miles of the same spot now for several weeks.

[PlateauNDN]

Those are some very good pics!  I can't wait to get out there and see them up close and in person.

[unc32]

Received these in an email. Apparently this group was south of Kennewick this week.

[runamuk]

cool pics...

[fair-chase]

Great pics Unc32. I'm so excited to have them around town here. 

Curious to see if they stop heading east when they get to the highway or if they will cross and keep going until they hit the river.

[C-Money]

Wonder when fawns will start dropping? Hope some made the trip north pregnant.

[carpsniperg2]

SWEET! thanks for sharing the pic's keep them coming when you get them. We love to see them 

[rebal69972]

great pics guys. i cant wait to get to hunt them

[400out]

If anyone sees them around kennewick please herd them away for their own good PLEASE! there is a reason the deer herd is in such bad shape around here  Hate to see them not even get a chance 

[fair-chase]

400, do you think they were safer on the res? Serious question, not being sarcastic.

I think if they cross the highway and hit some of the open land around Finley they would be wiped out pretty fast but the farm land where there at now or even further south to Agri NW land should be about as safe as it gets in the Columbia Basin.

[wa.hunter]

update on the antelope. The original release included 62 pregnant females, 21 fawn females, 5 fawn males and 7 adult males. to date there is 4 know mortalities. Apparently about 1/2 of them are still hanging around the original release site and the rest have turned into wanders. As I see you know they are currently know to be on YTC around Ellensburg to Rye Grass and over to Kennewick. They are expecting fawning to occur 1st of June with an aggressive predator control program in the works now.  With the verbal support of WDFW and funds from Shikar and SCI we hope to release another 100 antelope this next January and hopefully again the next January. The plan is to not let this fail.

[fair-chase]

wahunter, that's great news that they are already planing on bringing in more. Do they have a population objective that they would like to reach? Is this going to be an annual thing until there is a sustainable (hate that word) population?

[wa.hunter]

We did a feasability study back in 2005 which indicate what the population objectives would be in areas. I do not believe this would be that hard to achieve. With the fact that I feel WDFW is supporting the releases it should go easier. Any time you are working with the tribes things tend to go slow. Right now they are the best alterative with possible release coming in the Quilomene and hopefully YTC if the feds can be worked with too. If  the Colvilles and the Spokanes come on board and we can find the antelope and the funds I think we will be surprized what might happen. We are working with the Yakama Nation to help fund their studies currently and will try to keep this happening.