An Ethnohistorical Consideration of the Role of Antilocapra americana in the Lives of Indigenous Peoples and American Pioneers

Abstract

American pronghorn, Antilocapra americana, have been known to Euro-Americans for over 450 years. The species importance as a food source has varied over time and from region to region over western North America. Both Native Americans and Euro-American pioneers relied upon pronghorn for food to varying degrees, but only Euro-Americans hunted pronghorn for sport. Sport hunting together with changed environmental conditions and land-use practices nearly resulted in the extinction of pronghorn. Finally, the developing conservation ethos and subsequent game management regulations stemmed the slaughter of pronghorn in the early twentieth century.