(20) THE elk or wapiti deer had been very abundant in all this country not long before it was settled. Their horns, that had been shed, were often met with on the prairie, frequently only slightly decayed. Not a season passed that they were not seen by some of the settlers, sometimes a single one, sometimes in little bands of three or four, and at other times large droves of thirty or forty were met with. Lewis Warren, who settled where Newman Grove now is, in Madison County, at one time counted sixty in one drove in Boone County. A. J. Leach and J. H. King, while hunting in Wheeler County, counted thirty-six in one band, and about the same number were seen in the southwestern part of Antelope County. Several were killed within the borders of the county by the hunters among the early settlers. In a short time, however, they all disappeared, going farther west, where they were not so often disturbed. The elk will not remain long in a prairie country where they are hunted. The common deer will remain, although they will soon become very wild and hard to approach. The blacktail or mule deer were found here, but they were not at all abundant. Their home is in a rough, broken, or hilly country, and they are never found in a smooth region, except when traveling through from one rough tract to another. They are larger and considerably heavier than the common deer, darker in color, with much larger horns, and with ears almost as large as those of a mule, hence the name -- mule deer. Two at least were killed in the rough part of Logan township, one in Lincoln township, and a few were seen on the rough (21) lands of the Verdigris, in the northwestern part of the county. On July 4, 1870, A. H. Palmer, S. P. Morgan, and one or two others were hunting in the southern part of Cedar township. Mr. Palmer crossed the line into Boone County, to a little patch of timber at the head of a ravine. From this timber a deer jumped out and was shot by Mr. Palmer. No one of the company had ever seen anything like it before, and they concluded it must be a cross between an elk and a deer. It proved to be a blacktail deer. This was the first time it was known by the settlers that they were to be found in the country. They were very numerous in the rough country bordering the Loup and Cedar rivers as late as the winter of 1880, but they have probably now disappeared from the state. The common or whitetail deer were very plentiful in an early day, and were found along the Elkhorn and all the streams of the county, especially wherever there was brush or tall grass for shelter. Hundreds of them were killed by the settlers, but they held their own pretty well and were not greatly diminished in numbers until the winter of 1880. This winter was very severe, beginning the middle of October by a very heavy snowstorm, with a terrific wind, and continuing for three days. Snow that fell in October still lay in drifts the next May, having been augmented by storm after storm throughout November and December. The deer were killed by hunters in considerable numbers the fore part of the winter, others were killed and devoured by the prairie wolves, and others perished from the severity of the weather and scarcity of food. They were scarce after this winter, and in five or six years more entirely disappeared from the county. There are none now found in the state, excepting an occasional one in the sand-hill country of the central northern part. The prong-horned antelope, the only representative of its species in the United States, were as abundant in Antelope County in the early days as sheep now are in Montana. There were thousands on thousands of them here from the date of the first settlement up to about 1875 or 1876.They are strictly an (22) animal of the plains, and are never found in a hilly country or in the timber, excepting for a little while in traveling through these places. In the spring they could be seen scattered about all over the smooth prairie country in little bands of three or four, up to a dozen or so. Later in the season, about August, they began to gather together in larger numbers and by September large droves of forty or fifty could be seen together. Most of the antelope went farther west to winter, and returned in the spring to rear their young through the summer. A few would remain here throughout the winter, but generally not many. In the winter of 1870 a large herd of two or three hundred spent the winter mostly in Lincoln township, where they were often seen, and several of them were killed. The winter was mild and they continued in good condition all winter. One killed in February that winter was very fat. The antelope have probably left the state entirely, and cannot be found this side of Wyoming. All of the first settlers of the county were familiar with all of these wild animals named, and depended on them to a great extent for food for the first five or six years. One of the sad things to call to mind is that now they are all gone. The elk is the grandest and most lordly of any of the deer family ever found in Nebraska. Next to the elk in size and grandeur is the blacktail deer, while the whitetail deer is the most graceful in form and movement, and the antelope the fleetest of all native wild animals. While it is to be regretted that they are all gone, there is no help for it and there could have been none. These animals cannot exist in a wild state in an agricultural community, such as we have in Antelope County. They must have such shelter as is afforded by rough or mountainous tracts of land, or by dense swamps, or by large tracts of barren land unsuited for cultivation.

     There were a few wild turkeys here at first. They were found only along the timbered streams and chiefly on such creeks as the Cedar, the two Hopkins creeks, and St. Clair Creek, where oak timber abounded, the acorns forming one (23) of their chief articles of food. Mr. A. L. Kimball, one of the first settlers on Cedar Creek, counted twenty-two birds in one flock near that stream, in the fall of 1869. A few were shot by some of the first settlers, but they migrated to some other place as soon as they began to be hunted, there not being sufficient cover for them here.

     Prairie chicken and sharptail grouse were found in great abundance for many years after the first settlement began. In the fall and early winter they would gather in large flocks of hundreds in a flock, visiting the tracts of timber for shelter in stormy weather to quite an extent, although often remaining on the open prairie, especially among the hills. Numbers of them were shot by the settlers and in some cases they were caught in traps made for that purpose. They were used extensively to supply the table, and sometimes the breasts were salted and smoked and packed away, late in the fall, for late winter and spring use. Their numbers did not diminish materially for several years, the increase each season equaling the number killed by the settlers.

     There were no game laws in force in those days, and the settlers helped themselves to game of all kinds found here whenever their needs demanded, and it could be obtained. Prairie chicken were taken at all seasons, but elk, deer, and antelope were seldom killed from February to July, because they were poor in flesh at that time. Elk and deer killed in October, November, and December were often salted down like beef, for winter and spring use, or the hams of the deer and the thick parts of the meat of the elk were salted and smoked. Smoked or dried venison was common on the tables of many of the new settlers. Game was seldom, if ever, hunted for the market in those days, but was killed only to supply home demands. The prairie chicken hunters had not reached Antelope County in those days. These hunters, and the rats, came at the same time. They both came with the railroad, but not before.

     Quail were found here in very limited numbers by the first settlers, but they soon rapidly increased, and are (24) much more plentiful now than in early times, while the prairie chicken are nearly exterminated.

     There were beaver here along nearly all the timbered streams, but they were not numerous. Their cuttings were fresh and plentiful among the cottonwood and willow trees and bushes. One cottonwood tree on Cedar Creek was cut by them that was about fifteen inches in diameter. They usually made their nests in the banks of the streams, but sometimes built dams and houses. There was one beaver pond on section 10 in Cedar township from which two beaver were taken, one of them a large one, weighing fifty-two pounds. A dam was built by the beaver, across Beaver Creek, in Wheeler County, about five miles southwest of Antelope County, that flooded several acres of land, and appeared to be used by a large colony. The beaver remained but a short time. A few of them were trapped, and the others, becoming alarmed, soon left the country.

     There were no wild honey-bees here when the country was new. Those here now are swarms escaped from the beekeepers that raise them. There were few gray, or timber, or buffalo wolves here when the country was first settled. None have been trapped or killed, so far as it is known, but it is claimed that an occasional one has been seen. There were numbers of coyotes or prairie wolves, also some badgers, raccoons, and wildcats. These have nearly all disappeared, excepting the prairie wolves, which are still with us.