The original range of the pronghorn in Utah was in the foothills and lower valleys of the state.
As more people moved into the state and began taking up land for agriculture, antelopes were pushed out to less favorable habitat in the desert areas.
Even though the desert ranges offered less-favorable living conditions, they did offer necessary protection for the pronghorns.
But overgrazing and uncontrolled hunting nearly wiped out the pronghorn. In an attempt to save the antelope, they were given full protection in Utah in 1898. In 1922, it was reported that Utah's total population was around 670 animals. Over the next several years, wildlife managers could detect no appreciable increase in numbers. Then, slowly, they began to recover.
It would be 1945 before antelope populations reached numbers where they could legally be hunted again in Utah.
The animals were reintroduced back onto the Parker Mountain range in 1964. That unit is, today, the most productive in the state. There are currently more than 2,500 antelopes in the unit. The management objective is to keep the herd at around 2,000.
In recent years, more than 5,000 antelopes have been trapped and moved to other parts of the state to help build other herds.
A mature buck can weigh upward of 100 pounds, while does weigh around 80 pounds. Bucks have short, black horns that some say resembles a bottle opener.