Southwestern Wyoming is much different than Northwestern Wyoming. Southwest Wyoming is flat, ranch, and farm land. It still has a huge population of Pronghorn. By the early 1900's only 20,000 were left in North America. But conservation efforts have succeeded, and except for the Sonoran Pronghorn subspecies, has recovered to over 500,000. Pronghorn are often referred to as Antelope, which technically they are not. They are in a family all of their own. They are the fastest land animal in North America and the second fastest (only to the Cheetah) in the world. They have very large eyes that can detect movement from up to four miles away. Unlike deer, they prefer flatland where they can run. They don't jump so, if they need to get to the other side of a fence they go under as opposed to over (like deer, elk, and moose). In Arizona, ranchers have been encouraged to remove the barbs from the lowest wire on their fences in order to protect them. But, I want to tell you this story: I was headed up to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone a few years back. It was very early in the morning on a back road in Southwest Wyoming when I came across this gorgeous male who seemed as curious about me as I about him. He let me get very close. I suspected that I was going to have a good photo. I should add that as a Wildlife Photographer I am focused on the animal and sometimes don't even think about what else is in the frame. Such it was in this case. When I got back and developed the film there was this wonderful background of purple and orange hues, perfectly out-of-focus not to distract the viewer from the pronghorn. And, so we have a beautiful photo of a pronghorn in front of an impressionist painting. WOW, what a nice surprise!
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