Greater Vegas — Thousands of Pronghorn? In Nevada?

Pronghorrn are unique for a number of reasons. They’re not related to antelope, deer, elk, caribou, sheep, or goat. The resolution of their eyes, extremely wide-set, as big as an elephant’s, and sharp, has been compared to eight-power binoculars. But mainly, these graceful creatures are fast.

Pronghorn are the fastest land animal on the continent. They can run up to 60 miles an hour for short bursts and have been clocked at 35 miles per hour for more than two miles without stopping.

Like the American bison, tens of millions of pronghorn once roamed the west, but within 100 years of the first mountain men entering Nevada, hunting, disease, and deliberate poisoning had decimated their numbers to the verge of extinction.

From a 19th century estimated population of 50 million, by 1924, only 20,000 pronghorn remained. That was when the Nevada director of predator control began growing concerned about the fate of the pronghorn and put into motion a proposal to purchase large ranching tracts in far northwestern Nevada to provide a refuge for one of the last and largest herds of these animals. Eventually growing to nearly 600,000 acres in size, about a third the size of Rhode Island, the Refuge was named after Charles Sheldon, a hunter, explorer, and leading member of the Boone and Crockett Club, who’d studied and written extensively on the pronghorn.

Today, the pronghorn at the Charles Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge have regenerated to a winter population of about 2,500. The best time to spot them is in the morning and evening, though because they feed throughout the day, they’re visible anytime — bouncing over the sage as if on springs, bobbing their heads back and forth, and flashing their bright white rumps.

And you’ll be pretty much by yourself with them. Very few people travel through here on paved NV 140 between Denio, Nevada, and Lakeview, Oregon, and even fewer get off the pavement to drive along the gravel roads through the Refuge.

If you’re looking for solitude, excellent wildlife viewing, and an off-pavement adventure, this is the most remote place to do all three in Greater Vegas.

A dancer pretends to be a pronghorn at one of the entrances to the Refuge