Overheated planet update, North Dakota edition: Three straight severe winters devastate the antelope population

No antelope hunting in ND for 2nd straight year

A recent survey found North Dakota's pronghorn antelope population is 30 percent lower than last year, the state Game and Fish Department said. Three straight severe winters with high adult death rates followed by poor fawn production have reduced the antelope herd to about 4,500, said Bruce Stillings, a big game supervisor in Dickinson.

"Production this year was the lowest documented since biologists began surveying in the late 1950s," he said.

Antelope hunting in North Dakota was called off last year for the first time in nearly 30 years, after the population declined by 37 percent in one year.
...After the harsh winter of 1977-78, hunting was closed through 1982. After the bad winter of 1996-97 in which three-fourths of the population died, there were limited hunting seasons the next few years.