Panhandle Pronghorns Get New Home on the Range - Texas Parks and Wildlife [Official] Video Lecture | Hunter Education: Becoming an Expert Hunter - Hobbies

THIS HELICOPTER IS CARRYING
SOME PRECIOUS CARGO.
THESE PRONGHORN ANTELOPE ARE
ABOUT TO TRAVEL
FROM THE PANHANDLE TO
THEIR NEW HOME
IN FAR WEST TEXAS.
[pronghorn brays]
We have growing populations of
pronghorn in the Panhandle
and with that growing population
we get more and more
farmer-pronghorn conflicts and crop
depredation issues.
At the same time, in the
Marfa plateau
the last few years
we've had huge declines
in the population around
the Marfa area.
MILLIONS OF PRONGHORN
ONCE ROAMED TEXAS.
ONLY POCKETS REMAIN TODAY.
BUT WHILE SOME HERDS
ARE THRIVING,
OTHERS ARE IN TROUBLE.
You used to be able to drive
from Valentine to Marfa
and maybe see 2-300 of them
just from the highway.
And now you're lucky if
you see one.
TO BOOST THE DWINDLING HERDS,
TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE
IS TRANSPORTING ABOUT
200 PRONGHORN
FROM THE NORTHWEST CORNER
OF THE PANHANDLE
TO GRASSLANDS AROUND MARFA.
We recently did a genetic study
on the pronghorn in Texas
and they're all pretty much
the same animal.
We have some excellent habitat
we're putting them into around Marfa
and they should do well.
WHEN YOU'RE WORKING WITH
NORTH AMERICA'S FASTEST LAND MAMMAL,
YOU GOTTA MOVE QUICK.
We've got a contract helicopter crew
that is capturing those animals
with a net gun. They then
sling the animals off the wheat fields
back to our processing facility here.
We take samples on them.
Pronghorn are notoriously
high-strung. They're somewhat
prone to being stressed out
during capture
so we go ahead and give them a
sedative, kind of calm them down
during transport.
IT'S A 9 HOUR DRIVE
ACROSS THE STATE
WITH NO STOPS FOR SNACKS.
We've got some pretty
precious cargo with us
so we try to be as careful
as we can.
IT'S DARK BY THE TIME THEY ARRIVE.
THE PRONGHORN TAKE THEIR FIRST
TENTATIVE STEPS INTO THEIR NEW HOME.
Your heart's racing right up until
the last one gets out.
TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE WILL
MONITOR THE RELOCATED PRONGHORN
AND SURVEY THE FAWNS
BORN IN THE SPRING.
Look at it! Isn't that amazing?
The best feeling's going to be
when they start making babies
and these populations come back
to what they used to be.
FOR TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE,
THIS IS LYDIA SALDANA.
It really is moving!