If Pronghorn ever have fun this little fella was doing exactly that.
1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender
He (or she?) and his twin were with their mother at Montana’s Red Rock Lakes NWR exactly two years ago today and they were having a rollicking good time. While his mother watched this one ran back and forth along the fenceline several times. Occasionally he’d stop and check out his surroundings but most of the time he was just running and looking like he was having a blast. Similar to a horse he alternated between galloping, trotting and flat-out running. In this shot his gait was a trot.
Once he even did a few near-vertical bounds into the air that reminded me of a “spronking” African Springbok. If you’re unfamiliar with that behavior you might enjoy this clip from BBC, especially if you’re a fan of David Attenborough.
I took many photos of this spunky little guy but because he was sidelit very few of them had any light in the eye and I wasn’t fond of the barbed wire behind him. I’ve repeatedly railed against barbed wire on Feathered Photography and some readers will remember from a previous post that later on this same day another pronghorn fawn had a nasty encounter with the “devil wire”.
Later that same day I was driving a gravel road on the refuge when I encountered a female Pronghorn and her two fawns in front of me. They were trapped between barbed wire fences on both sides of the road so I stopped my pickup to give them time to find an escape route through the wire. The female and one fawn ducked under the wire and made it safely to the other side but this one got hung up on the wire.
I gave it a minute or see to see if it would extricate itself but it couldn’t so I walked over and freed it, taking a few quick photos as I approached. A single barb on the wire had snagged him under his left “armpit” and he was really stuck. And scared.
In this photo it might look like he was also snagged in his rear quarters but…
he wasn’t.
I’ll never forget that it only took a single barb on the wire to get him hung up so effectively that he probably would have eventually died if someone hadn’t pulled him off of the wire. When I released him he ran off to his mama and sibling but he gave me a swift and deliberate kick in the arm with his left rear foot as he took off.
I’ve always taken that kick as a “thank you”…
Ron
That little goodbye kick reminds me of the old saying: “No good deed goes unpunished.” Fortunately, that kick wasn’t from an adult who have hooves like claw hammers. Thank you for all you do!
OF COURSE animals have fun. And their fun often makes me smile too.
This has been a truly frustrating morning. I am so grateful to (finally) be able to get here for some mood medication. And a bit of David Attenborough never goes astray either.
Thank you as always. And thank you for unhooking that fawn.
Sorry you’ve been having a bad morning, EC. I’m glad this little guy could cheer you up a bit.
Sorry your morning has been frustrating…try outdrawing that gunslinging hawk and maybe it will get better!🙂
Mood medication…yep, that’s what happens here. Glad you took your meds here EC. Hope your frustrations have passed. 😉
Well done! Both the photos and the rescue.
Thanks, Lyle.
They are so very cute. I love that I can learn a lot just from reading the comments here. You have a great set of readers!
“You have a great set of readers!
I couldn’t agree more, Arwen.
What a wonderful thing you did…not surprised in the least. When I saw the barbed wire, I got concerned.
Your link to Springbok spronking is amazing.
Thank you for your wonderful post, Ron.
Thank you, Alice.
They are adorable.
Agreed, April.
Thank you for sharing some special images, Ron.
More important than the photographs is the experience you had just being able to observe the exuberance of a young pronghorn in the wild. This is the sort of education our children desperately need to ensure the survival of so many of the planet’s species, including Homo sapiens.
(You just can’t quit that teaching thing, can you? Thank goodness.)
Nope, just can’t quit, Wally. 🙂
Yes, pronghorns have fun! Some years back, I lived on a large cattle ranch in New Mexico. Each morning, a young dog and I ran several miles. When we came in sight of a herd of Pronghorn with young, one adult would leisurely break from the herd, luring the dog to chase. That animal would take it on a loop over the prairie, gradually returning to the group. As soon as it was back, another adult would lead the dog away on another jaunt. Their gentle trot was calculated to be a full out run for the dog. Dog couldn’t seem to resist the chase until it was exhausted. She would finally give up and return to me as I plodded along. The same scenario repeated often enough that it was clearly a tactic to keep that pesky canine from ever coming near the precious babies. They had her number.
They not only have fun, sounds to me like they’re pretty darned smart too! Thanks for the story, Mikal.
Great story Mikal and thanks Ron for your good deed and the images too.
Great shots as usual. Nicely done Ron!
Glad you rescued him, I have always wondered how many wild animals die due to the devil wire, probably we’ll never know accurately.
Nope, we’ll never know, Dick. Too many thousands of miles of fence that isn’t monitored, especially out west. Thanks.
What a beautiful baby and yes, just being a baby and celebrating its new life! S/he is in that glorious stage of life where nothing matters but enjoying life.
And yes, thank you for caring enough to stop and help him/her. Personally, I think it’s our duty to intervene when NECESSARY (sometimes, like with new fledgling birds, it isn’t necessary unless there’s a clear and present danger) simply because we put the danger there in the first place. But don’t get me started on humans.
I won’t go into the devil wire discussion except to echo you, Patty and every other body here…blood pressure and all, but I also know I’d be preaching to the choir.
Today, I’ll be watching a wake of vultures doing what vultures do. There’s a dead horse out in the field across the street and it’s nearing banquet stage. Last night, there was a huge gathering, but people were doing horse things in the space right across the street, too close for comfort. But what an amazing sight to see a huge wake, soaring above us. WOW! I hope humans allow the vultures to do their thing cleaning up the planet instead of tidying it up, depriving them of a really good meal. I don’t hold out much hope for that, but still I persist.
Looks like you remembered to copy your comment before posting this time, Laura! 🙂
I agree, I hope folks allow the vultures to enjoy their equine meals…
Oh cute photos and thank you for saving the little Pronghorn. Last week I saw a man rescue a turtle trying to cross the street. I posted a thank you on a local fb group and have gotten lots of thumbs up. We need to help our wild life. Hmm had to put in my name and email again on this post.
Trudy, I’ve seen a lot of turtle rescues on FB lately. It must be the season for it.
What a joyous photo at the top. I have taken a number of photos of dead deer hanging by a foot from the top line of barbed wire. What a horrible way to go. Glad you were there to rescue this baby.
DEVIL WIRE strikes again!!! HATE THE GODDAMNED STUFF!!!!! Especially what it does to pronghorns, horses and, sometimes, even owls, like Galileo…you are definitely some kind of angel to come along in time to free these luckier ones…so glad you do!!! So many others die horrible deaths…..(I hope the inventor of this crap is roasting in Hell!!!)….
I figured this post would get a reaction from you, Patty!
It sure as hell did!!!!!
I love the photo of the pronghorn trotting! I have never seen a young pronghorn before and they are adorable. So glad you were able to save the day for that lucky one!
Joanne, A newborn Pronghorn (younger than this one) is about the cutest mammal I’ve ever seen!
Around here, we call the bounding “stotting.” Both young and adult blacktails do it. I’ve seen lambs do it, but I’ve never seen a grown sheep do it. Years ago, not far from Kemerer, Wyoming, I was parked next to a marsh, looking at a map – suddenly, something shaded the map. I looked up and two pronghorn fawns and their dam were staring in my open window. I stealthily reached for the camera on the seat and they were gone in one second. Shadows over the grass, bounding, or stotting, or pronking, but going away. Gone.
Ha, I’ll bet that Pronghorn incident near Kemerer really got your attention, Martha! I once had a cow moose come very close to sticking her head in my pickup window…
I wonder if Pronking is also what Muleys and llamas do…looks like they are on pogobsticks for about 3 or 4 “stiff legged “hops–when they approach something they are curious about…
I have a really hard time with hearing/reading about animals getting caught on barbed wire. Aptly called devil wire. I’m glad you were able to free that fawn. Of course reading about this creature getting caught takes me back to thinking about Galileo – so glad you rescued him…
Susan, First I thought about the Barn Owl I pulled off of barbed wire because that happened only a few miles west of where this incident took place. But then I also thought about Galileo of course…
I would consider that kick part of your penance for belonging to a species that invented a greed based tool like barbed wire. I like fact that you didn’t hide behind the “Don’t get involved” rule. When humans are the problem we need to get involved in the solution.
Porcupine
I always get involved when barbed wire is concerned, Porcupine. Or any other cause that isn’t natural – including vehicle collisions.
Ron, Your experiences with wildlife are wonderful. I am sure that ‘thank you’ kick was painful but so glad it didn’t deter you. Scars from good deeds are reminders of kindnesses that were slightly misunderstood. Not only are you an ambassador for wildlife but also a rescuer! I Love your photos!! Sometimes I wish you would try the occasional video 🙂 but the video in my mind created by your amazing photos is more than sufficient.
He was too small to deliver a painful kick, Melanie. I was much more surprised than hurt.
Taking video means I’d miss the still shots… 🙂
He wanted you to have that bruise to remember him by. 😉 I’m so relieved every time you’re there to rescue an animal from devil wire. (I don’t even want to think about all the times there isn’t someone around.)
The pronghorn’s “smile” in the first shot is too cute for words! Have you and Mia seen many out and about this year?
From such a little guy it wasn’t a hard kick, Marty – it barely hurt. But he was sure fast in doing it, I didn’t even see it coming.
We always see quite a few Pronghorn on Antelope Island and we have this year too. I’ve also seen a few elsewhere.
Beautiful photos Ron of one of my favorite animals. North America’s fastest animal, but cannot jump fences. Always amazes me to see these guys squeezing under and through fences while the mule deer sail over them. We have large herds here that are currently in trouble due to our severe drought. They are coming right up to houses on the outskirts and ranches now looking for water. Thank you for saving one of these beautiful creatures.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
They actually can jump fences, Everett – it’s just that they almost never do. A year or two before this incident I watched as a doe pronghorn jumped a barbed wire fence in the Centennial Valley. I got out of my pickup and measured its height and it was just under 5′. In all the decades I’ve been seeing Pronghorn that’s the only time I ever saw one jump a fence.
They sellfom seem to jump these damned fences…sometimes their bodies build up along them when there has been a blizzard where they starved and froze to death….even when you’d think they coukd have jumped, they don’t…another reason I call it Devil Wire….
SO cute! Good shots, Ron…:) I was eying that barbed wire…………:( SO glad you were there to handle the situation!
Thank you, Judy.
Thanks so much for including the “pronking” clip—it is so wonderfully joyous that it brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes at 6:00 AM ! I’ve been watching very young
lambs engage in a much less spectacular version of this “full of beans” and life in general for the last few weeks, and it’s been a great reminder to celebrate whenever possible !
I watched that clip several times just for the joy of it, Kris.
This is new to me, have never seen a Pronghorn before. So cute, wow. Glad you were there to come to the rescue.
Me too, Sarah.