The Whisky Flat pronghorn trap complex, Mineral County, Nevada, Western United States: Preliminary report

A big-game wing-trap complex in Mineral County, Nevada, seen standing and in apparently usable condition in 1845, is described, with interpretations on the manner in which it likely was used to capture Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). The complex occurs at an elevation of 2000 m in a valley narrows, and was built mostly of juniper posts set in the ground, with bracing rocks as needed. When first seen, sagebrush also was used in its construction. It consists of several features, including a drift fence more than a kilometer long; a large oval-shaped corral with flagstones across the entrance, and containing stone blinds or shooting stations; an adjoining small corral; various other structures; and a nearby campsite. Faunal remains from the looted campsite are mostly those of large mammals, and all of the identified elements are of pronghorn. Interpretation of the manner in which the trap probably functioned conflicts in many ways with descriptions of communal pronghorn trapping provided by Great Basin ethnographers. But there is good reason to believe that descriptions of pronghorn trapping in regional ethnographies are seriously flawed. Study of this and other nearby wing-traps suggests that by late prehistoric and historic times the Indians of the southwestern Great Basin relied heavily on a set of similar communal strategies for mass entrapment of large game animals, especially pronghorn, but including also deer. They employed a built environment consisting of large wing-traps, perhaps using several such traps annually while pursuing a seasonally nomadic foraging cycle. If pronghorn trapping was paired with pine-nut gathering, exploitation of pronghorn may of necessity have occurred in different localities in successive years, allowing local populations to restore themselves. This pattern apparently prevailed in southwestern Nevada and eastern California for at least several thousand years.