Antelope Awareness Day
February 28, 2009
By David Brown

The Arizona Antelope Foundation in conjunction with the Friends of the Agua Fria National Monument presented an Antelope Awareness Day on Saturday, February 28, 2009, at the Horseshoe Ranch off Bloody Basin Road. The purpose of the get-together was to inform interested people about Arizona’s antelope, and tell them everything they wanted to know about the pronghorn population closest to Phoenix. All of the 60 plus people in attendance agreed that the program was a huge success and should be followed up by similar events in other areas.

Dale Longbrake, owner of the Horseshoe Ranch, was the perfect host and his barn provided a wonderfully rustic meeting place, not to mention the use of his other facilities. After breakfasting on coffee, juice, and donuts provided by the Friends, the guests were welcomed by Jimmy Mehen of the Arizona Antelope Foundation and Jake Fousek, the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s local Wildlife Manager. The presentations that followed were outstanding. Richard Ockenfels, retired Antelope Biologist with AGFD, had put together a terrific power point presentation on the pronghorn’s natural history, which was followed by Habitat Specialist Dana Warnecke, who summarized the pronghorn’s landscape and vegetative requirements on the Horseshoe Ranch, which the Department hopes to acquire. Then, after a short break, the participants were treated to a discussion of local pronghorn management problems led by Game Specialist Jon Hanna. Jon was followed by Melanie Tlzucek’s invigorating talk on the pronghorn’s local food and water needs. Then, prior to everyone participating in a picnic lunch, yours truly summed up the pronghorn’s unique horn-growth, running, digestive, and other physiological capabilities

There are four pronghorn in the vicinity of the Horseshoe Ranch that are equipped with radio collars, thus allowing the group to go out antelope watching in the afternoon. Those that followed Bill Keebler got to see wild, free-roaming pronghorn in their natural habitat while those accompanying Jon Hanna got to participate in a “snipe hunt” for a radio collar that was emitting a mortality signal. We found the collar all right, but the antelope it belonged to had been reduced to a few wads of hair and a bone or two. It is truly amazing how fast a deceased pronghorn can disappear, and we will never know whether the animal had been poached or succumbed to one of the mountain lions that frequent the Horseshoe Ranch and its environs. All in all, everyone there had a great time!

Additional Photos