An Antelope By Any Other Name Is Till A Pronghorn

Persnickety is as persnickety says. A reader recently chastised a newspaper writer for a hunting story referring to “antelope” in Wyoming.

“There are no antelope in N. America (except in zoos),” the reader wrote. “What you are perhaps referring to is the pronghorn. The spreading of misinformation is worse than ignorance.”

Apparently it’s time again to prove that: American pronghorns are cows, African antelope are elk, elk are moose, and largemouth bass are hawgs.

Everybody who knows anything about the outdoors knows this stuff - as they know that a buffalo is a bison, a lake trout is a char, an Indian never was a native of this continent and that Ground Hog Day has nothing to do with pork patties.

Scientists and other fastidious folk may natter, but the first English-speaking people to see “pronghorns” called them antelope. And to most Westerners, antelope they are - although weathered ranchers and old hunters call them “goats,” which also is appropriate.

The beauty of the English language is that it is adaptable, borrowing from here and there, overlooking snooty details, always changing and getting on with the business of saying what it means. We know, for example, that Utes and Arapahos are Indians.

The antelope misinformation is widespread enough to be found in dictionaries and accepted by most Westerners who get up on the right side of the bed. Brochures for hunters produced by states such as Montana and Colorado refer to these creatures as “antelope.”

The University of Wyoming did a study on pronghorn venison entitled “The Pronghorn Antelope Carcass.”

In fact, only recently has “pronghorn,” standing alone, meant what it means now. In earlier literature, “pronghorn” appears only as a modifier, describing what kind of antelope it is (even though technically it isn’t). Or is it?

Really there are no antelopes. The original “antelop” appeared in old French myths. It was a savage beast with sawlike horns thought to live along the Euphrates. You know, the sawhorn.

Anyway, pronghorns and African antelope all belong to the family Bovidae: cattle, goats and sheep. So-called true antelopes range from jackrabbit-sized pygmy antelopes to elands, which are 6 feet tall at the shoulder. However, elands derive their name from the French term elan, which means elk, but really means moose.

We’re not sure where jackalopes stand.

Our elk are no more elk than pronghorns are antelope. They are a type of red deer. The word “elk” derives from the Latin alces (German elch, English elk), which is a moose. Nor is it correct to call them “wapiti,” which Shawnees now tell us means anything with a white rump.

Another common but atrocious critter-error is calling Canada geese “geese.” Canada geese are brant. They’ve never been geese.