We had slept in. I mean, we really slept in. After attending midnight mass, and then all five ofus indulging in the daughter-in-law's yule logs afterwards, it was several hours into Christmas before we got to sleep.

So I was shaved, but just barely dressed when the call came.

Dispatch was all apologetic... "I know this is Christmas Day, but..."

But we've got over a hundred pronghorn on the interstate. One warden's in California, the other, wisely, is unavailable today.

There's a patrolman on the scene. He's trying to herd them to the nearest gate in the highway fence.

About four to five miles east.

Tell him I'm on my way.

In less than twenty minutes I'm on the scene. Across the median, in the west-bound side of the highway, a Pat unit and two deputies have over 100 antelope gathered up and are slowly walking them down the fenceline.

I cross the median, and take my place in line, not really adding much to the roundup except another set of flashing lights for drivers to see in the haze.

These guys are doing a great job. Not pushing the pronghorn too hard, which would force them to scatter out onto the traffic lanes, but not so slow that they stop and start to look around.

You just slowly push, push, push.

It is still hard going for the critters, especially through the crusted snow, and soon a group of fawns is lagging.

Finally I have something to do. One deputy and the patrolman take the main herd on east, and I ride herd on the group of fawns as the second deputy stays on their ass.

Three or four times he has to get out on foot to keep the stragglers moving.

One fawn finds a gap under the fence and escapes right where we want them to go, and now we are six.

A half mile on, we pick up another straggler, a doe barely able to move her feet. The mainherd has reached the exit ramps, and I see the deputy jump out to open the gate through the fence.

Eventually we also reach the exit ramp, but I see the others failed to get their charges through the fence. They've moved past the underpass, almost to a reststop, trying to get their herd turned around.

And our doe collapses.

She is done in. We both run up, and she's got that "go ahead and kill me, I don't care anymore" look. I grab her around the belly three times before I have a good grip, and then just heft her up into my arms.

Carrying a fawn antelope by yourself is fairly easy, even in winter when they're 80 percent grown.

Didn't know I could carry a whole doe.

I carry her to the fence, swing her legs over and the deputy says "You're clear!"

And thump, I drop her. And she lays there with a "What the hell?" look.

And we're back in our trucks, herding our fawns.

Whoa also blow past the gate.

Which is closed.

Why the hell did they close the gate back up?

Looking ahead I see a patrol car suddenly u-turn on the road, and there's a herd of pronghorn stampeding my direction.

Ohhh, crap!

I also spin around on the highway (easy to do on ice), cutting off the patrolman (not recommended, but hey, kinda fun when you can), and race back to the gate. I run across the snow, fling it open, and run back to the truck just in time to see a hundred pronghorn run past, headed towards the highway again.

Craaaap! I cut off the patrolman again, and race up the entrance ramp.

As I learned when trapping antelope thirty years ago, to stop a stampeding herd you've got to stop that lead doe. If she keeps running, so will everybody else.

Turn her, and they'll all turn.

At the top of the rmp, it's all or nothing. I throw my truck off and block their path along the fence.

The bitch turns left and heads for my rear bumper, and four lanes of semis.

Noooooo!

And gets blocked by a patrolcar, with siren. Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!

And they turn. They turn to the gate.

Where we have one deputy blocking the underpass, another blocking the frontage road. We push them hard.

And the pronghorn rush through the open gate like it was their idea.

Wow. Merry Christmas.