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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da87799 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #61935 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61935) diff --git a/old/61935-0.txt b/old/61935-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8e09b58..0000000 --- a/old/61935-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11456 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter, by -Theodore Roosevelt - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter - -Author: Theodore Roosevelt - -Release Date: April 25, 2020 [EBook #61935] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN - AMERICAN HUNTER - - - - - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ - │ BOOKS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT │ - │ │ - │ PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS │ - │ │ - ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ - │ │ - │OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER. New Edition. $3.00 _net_.│ - │ Illustrated. 8vo │ - │ │ - │OLIVER CROMWELL. Illustrated. 8vo $2.00 │ - │ │ - │THE ROUGH RIDERS. Illustrated. 8vo $1.50 │ - │ │ - │THE ROOSEVELT BOOK. Selections from the Writings of Theodore │ - │ Roosevelt. 16mo 50 cents _net_. │ - └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, 1908, by P.A. Juley, New York._ -] - - - - - OUTDOOR PASTIMES - OF AN - AMERICAN HUNTER - - - BY - - THEODORE ROOSEVELT - - ILLUSTRATED - - NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION - - - NEW YORK - CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS - 1908 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1893, 1895, 1897, 1904, BY - FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY - - COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY THE - MACMILLAN COMPANY - - COPYRIGHT, 1905, 1907, 1908, BY - CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS - - - _All rights reserved_ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION - - -Chapters XII and XIII relate to experiences that occurred since the -first edition of this volume was published. The photographs in Chapter -XII were taken by Dr. Alexander Lambert; those in Chapter XIII by Mrs. -Herbert Wadsworth and Mr. Clinedinst. - - THEODORE ROOSEVELT. - - THE WHITE HOUSE, January 1, 1908. - - - - - TO - JOHN BURROUGHS - - -Dear Oom John:—Every lover of outdoor life must feel a sense of -affectionate obligation to you. Your writings appeal to all who care for -the life of the woods and the fields, whether their tastes keep them in -the homely, pleasant farm country or lead them into the wilderness. It -is a good thing for our people that you should have lived; and surely no -man can wish to have more said of him. - -I wish to express my hearty appreciation of your warfare against the -sham nature-writers—those whom you have called “the yellow journalists -of the woods.” From the days of Æsop to the days of Reinecke Fuchs, and -from the days of Reinecke Fuchs to the present time, there has been a -distinct and attractive place in literature for those who write avowed -fiction in which the heroes are animals with human or semi-human -attributes. This fiction serves a useful purpose in many ways, even in -the way of encouraging people to take the right view of outdoor life and -outdoor creatures; but it is unpardonable for any observer of nature to -write fiction and then publish it as truth, and he who exposes and wars -against such action is entitled to respect and support. You in your own -person have illustrated what can be done by the lover of nature who has -trained himself to keen observation, who describes accurately what is -thus observed, and who, finally, possesses the additional gift of -writing with charm and interest. - -You were with me on one of the trips described in this volume, and I -trust that to look over it will recall the pleasant days we spent -together. - - Your friend, - THEODORE ROOSEVELT. - - THE WHITE HOUSE, October 2, 1905. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I - - PAGE - WITH THE COUGAR HOUNDS 1 - - - CHAPTER II - - A COLORADO BEAR HUNT 68 - - - CHAPTER III - - WOLF-COURSING 100 - - - CHAPTER IV - - HUNTING IN THE CATTLE COUNTRY; THE PRONGBUCK 133 - - - CHAPTER V - - A SHOT AT A MOUNTAIN SHEEP 181 - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE WHITETAIL DEER 193 - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE MULE-DEER OR ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACKTAIL 224 - - - CHAPTER VIII - - THE WAPITI OR ROUND-HORNED ELK 256 - - - CHAPTER IX - - WILDERNESS RESERVES; THE YELLOWSTONE PARK 287 - - - CHAPTER X - - BOOKS ON BIG GAME 318 - - - CHAPTER XI - - AT HOME 339 - - - CHAPTER XII - - IN THE LOUISIANA CANEBRAKES 360 - - - CHAPTER XIII - - SMALL COUNTRY NEIGHBORS 391 - - * * * * * - - ⁂ Seven of these Chapters have been recently written; - the others have been revised and added to since they - originally appeared in the publications of the Boone and - Crockett Club and in Mr. Caspar Whitney’s “Deer Family.” - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - THEODORE ROOSEVELT _Frontispiece_ - _Photogravure from a photograph._ - - FACING PAGE - GOFF AND THE PACK 5 - - TURK AND A BOBCAT IN TOP OF A PINYON 12 - - BOBCAT IN PINYON 16 - - STARTING FOR A HUNT 33 - - THE FIRST COUGAR KILLED 37 - - AFTER THE FIGHT 44 - - COUGAR IN A TREE 50 - - BARKING TREED 63 - - STARTING FOR CAMP 68 - - AT DINNER 74 - - THE PACK STRIKES THE FRESH BEAR TRAIL 77 - - DEATH OF THE BIG BEAR 83 - - STEWART AND THE BOBCAT 86 - - THE PACK BAYING THE BEAR 88 - - A DOILY BEAR 91 - - THE BIG BEAR 94 - - STARTING TOWARD THE WOLF GROUNDS 101 - - GREYHOUNDS RESTING AFTER A RUN 104 - - AT THE TAIL OF THE CHUCK WAGON 108 - - THE BIG D COW PONY 112 - - ABERNETHY AND COYOTE 116 - - ABERNETHY RETURNS FROM THE HUNT 125 - - BONY MOORE AND THE COYOTE 129 - - ON THE LITTLE MISSOURI 138 - - CAMPING ON THE ANTELOPE GROUNDS 156 - - RANCH WAGON RETURNING FROM HUNT 182 - - ELKHORN RANCH 216 - - THE RANCH HOUSE 238 - - THE RANCH VERANDA 248 - - THE PACK TRAIN 264 - - TROPHIES OF A SUCCESSFUL HUNT 277 - - TROPHIES IN THE WHITE HOUSE DINING-ROOM 284 - - ANTELOPE IN THE STREETS OF GARDINER 294 - - BLACKTAIL DEER ON PARADE GROUND 299 - - ELK IN SNOW 304 - - OOM JOHN 309 - - BEARS AND TOURISTS 311 - - GRIZZLY BEAR AND COOK 314 - - THE BEAR AND THE CHAMBERMAID 316 - - THE NORTH ROOM AT SAGAMORE HILL 324 - - RENOWN 341 - - HIS FIRST BUCK 343 - - ALGONQUIN AND SKIP 344 - - PETER RABBIT 346 - - THE GUINEA PIGS 348 - - FAMILY FRIENDS 350 - - JOSIAH 354 - - BLEISTEIN JUMPING 356 - - THE BEAR HUNTERS 366 - - LISTENING FOR THE PACK 376 - - AUDREY TAKES THE BARS 396 - - THE STONE WALL 402 - - ROSWELL BEHAVES LIKE A GENTLEMAN 414 - - ROSWELL FIGHTS FOR HIS HEAD 418 - - * * * * * - - ⁂ The cuts for Chapter I are from photographs taken by - Philip B. Stewart; those in Chapter II, from photographs - taken by Dr. Alexander Lambert and Philip B. Stewart; - those in Chapter III, from photographs taken by Dr. - Lambert and Sloan Simpson; those in Chapter IX were - obtained through Major Pitcher; most of the others are - from photographs taken by me or by members of my family. - - - - - OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF - AN AMERICAN HUNTER - - - - - CHAPTER I - WITH THE COUGAR HOUNDS - - -In January, 1901, I started on a five weeks’ cougar hunt from Meeker in -Northwest Colorado. My companions were Mr. Philip B. Stewart and Dr. -Gerald Webb, of Colorado Springs; Stewart was the captain of the -victorious Yale nine of ’86. We reached Meeker on January 11th, after a -forty mile drive from the railroad, through the bitter winter weather; -it was eighteen degrees below zero when we started. At Meeker we met -John B. Goff, the hunter, and left town the next morning on horseback -for his ranch, our hunting beginning that same afternoon, when after a -brisk run our dogs treed a bobcat. After a fortnight Stewart and Webb -returned, Goff and I staying out three weeks longer. We did not have to -camp out, thanks to the warm-hearted hospitality of the proprietor and -manager of the Keystone Ranch, and of the Mathes Brothers and Judge -Foreman, both of whose ranches I also visited. The five weeks were spent -hunting north of the White River, most of the time in the neighborhood -of Coyote Basin and Colorow Mountain. In midwinter, hunting on horseback -in the Rockies is apt to be cold work, but we were too warmly clad to -mind the weather. We wore heavy flannels, jackets lined with sheepskin, -caps which drew down entirely over our ears, and on our feet heavy -ordinary socks, german socks, and overshoes. Galloping through the brush -and among the spikes of the dead cedars, meant that now and then one got -snagged; I found tough overalls better than trousers; and most of the -time I did not need the jacket, wearing my old buckskin shirt, which is -to my mind a particularly useful and comfortable garment. - -It is a high, dry country, where the winters are usually very cold, but -the snow not under ordinary circumstances very deep. It is wild and -broken in character, the hills and low mountains rising in sheer slopes, -broken by cliffs and riven by deeply cut and gloomy gorges and ravines. -The sage-brush grows everywhere upon the flats and hillsides. Large open -groves of pinyon and cedar are scattered over the peaks, ridges, and -table-lands. Tall spruces cluster in the cold ravines. Cottonwoods grow -along the stream courses, and there are occasional patches of scrub-oak -and quaking asp. The entire country is taken up with cattle ranges -wherever it is possible to get a sufficient water-supply, natural or -artificial. Some thirty miles to the east and north the mountains rise -higher, the evergreen forest becomes continuous, the snow lies deep all -through the winter, and such Northern animals as the wolverene, lucivee, -and snowshoe rabbit are found. This high country is the summer home of -the Colorado elk, now woefully diminished in numbers, and of the -Colorado blacktail deer, which are still very plentiful, but which, -unless better protected, will follow the elk in the next few decades. I -am happy to say that there are now signs to show that the State is -waking up to the need of protecting both elk and deer; the few remaining -mountain sheep in Colorado are so successfully protected that they are -said to be increasing in numbers. In winter both elk and deer come down -to the lower country, through a part of which I made my hunting trip. We -did not come across any elk, but I have never, even in the old days, -seen blacktail more abundant than they were in this region. The bucks -had not lost their antlers, and were generally, but not always, found in -small troops by themselves; the does, yearlings, and fawns—now almost -yearlings themselves—went in bands. They seemed tame, and we often -passed close to them before they took alarm. Of course at that season it -was against the law to kill them; and even had this not been so none of -our party would have dreamed of molesting them. - -Flocks of Alaskan long-spurs and of rosy finches flitted around the -ranch buildings; but at that season there was not very much small bird -life. - -The midwinter mountain landscape was very beautiful, whether under the -brilliant blue sky of the day, or the starlight or glorious moonlight of -the night, or when under the dying sun the snowy peaks, and the light -clouds above, kindled into flame, and sank again to gold and amber and -sombre purple. After the snow-storms the trees, almost hidden beneath -the light, feathery masses, gave a new and strange look to the -mountains, as if they were giant masses of frosted silver. Even the -storms had a beauty of their own. The keen, cold air, the wonderful -scenery, and the interest and excitement of the sport, made our veins -thrill and beat with buoyant life. - -In cougar hunting the success of the hunter depends absolutely upon his -hounds. As hounds that are not perfectly trained are worse than useless, -this means that success depends absolutely upon the man who trains and -hunts the hounds. Goff was one of the best hunters with whom I have ever -been out, and he had trained his pack to a point of perfection for its -special work which I have never known another such pack to reach. With -the exception of one new hound, which he had just purchased, and of a -puppy, which was being trained, not one of the pack would look at a deer -even when they were all as keen as mustard, were not on a trail, and -when the deer got up but fifty yards or so from them. By the end of the -hunt both the new hound and the puppy were entirely trustworthy; of -course, Goff can only keep up his pack by continually including new or -young dogs with the veterans. As cougar are only plentiful where deer -are infinitely more plentiful, the first requisite for a good cougar -hound is that it shall leave its natural prey, the deer, entirely alone. -Goff’s pack ran only bear, cougar, and bobcat. Under no circumstances -were they ever permitted to follow elk, deer, antelope or, of course, -rabbit. Nor were they allowed to follow a wolf unless it was wounded; -for in such a rough country they would at once run out of sight and -hearing, and moreover if they did overtake the wolf they would be so -scattered as to come up singly and probably be overcome one after -another. Being bold dogs they were always especially eager after wolf -and coyote, and when they came across the trail of either, though they -would not follow it, they would usually challenge loudly. If the -circumstances were such that they could overtake the wolf in a body, it -could make no effective fight against them, no matter how large and -powerful. On the one or two occasions when this had occurred, the pack -had throttled “Isegrim” without getting a scratch. - -[Illustration: - - GOFF AND THE PACK - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -As the dogs did all the work, we naturally became extremely interested -in them, and rapidly grew to know the voice, peculiarities, and special -abilities of each. There were eight hounds and four fighting dogs. The -hounds were of the ordinary Eastern type, used from the Adirondacks to -the Mississippi and the Gulf in the chase of deer and fox. Six of them -were black and tan and two were mottled. They differed widely in size -and voice. The biggest, and, on the whole, the most useful, was Jim, a -very fast, powerful, and true dog with a great voice. When the animal -was treed or bayed, Jim was especially useful because he never stopped -barking; and we could only find the hounds, when at bay, by listening -for the sound of their voices. Among the cliffs and precipices the pack -usually ran out of sight and hearing if the chase lasted any length of -time. Their business was to bring the quarry to bay, or put it up a -tree, and then to stay with it and make a noise until the hunters came -up. During this hunt there were two or three occasions when they had a -cougar up a tree for at least three hours before we arrived, and on -several occasions Goff had known them to keep a cougar up a tree -overnight and to be still barking around the tree when the hunters at -last found them the following morning. Jim always did his share of the -killing, being a formidable fighter, though too wary to take hold until -one of the professional fighting dogs had seized. He was a great bully -with the other dogs, robbing them of their food, and yielding only to -Turk. He possessed great endurance, and very stout feet. - -On the whole the most useful dog next to Jim was old Boxer. Age had made -Boxer slow, and in addition to this, the first cougar we tackled bit him -through one hind leg, so that for the remainder of the trip he went on -three legs, or, as Goff put it, “packed one leg”; but this seemed not to -interfere with his appetite, his endurance, or his desire for the chase. -Of all the dogs he was the best to puzzle out a cold trail on a bare -hillside, or in any difficult place. He hardly paid any heed to the -others, always insisting upon working out the trail for himself, and he -never gave up. Of course, the dogs were much more apt to come upon the -cold than upon the fresh trail of a cougar, and it was often necessary -for them to spend several hours in working out a track which was at -least two days old. Both Boxer and Jim had enormous appetites. Boxer was -a small dog and Jim a very large one, and as the relations of the pack -among themselves were those of brutal wild-beast selfishness, Boxer had -to eat very quickly if he expected to get anything when Jim was around. -He never ventured to fight Jim, but in deep-toned voice appealed to -heaven against the unrighteousness with which he was treated; and time -and again such appeal caused me to sally out and rescue his dinner from -Jim’s highway robbery. Once, when Boxer was given a biscuit, which he -tried to bolt whole, Jim simply took his entire head in his jaws, and -convinced him that he had his choice of surrendering the biscuit, or -sharing its passage down Jim’s capacious throat. Boxer promptly gave up -the biscuit, then lay on his back and wailed a protest to fate—his voice -being deep rather than loud, so that on the trail, when heard at a -distance, it sounded a little as if he was croaking. After killing a -cougar we usually cut up the carcass and fed it to the dogs, if we did -not expect another chase that day. They devoured it eagerly, Boxer, -after his meal, always looking as if he had swallowed a mattress. - -Next in size to Jim was Tree’em. Tree’em was a good dog, but I never -considered him remarkable until his feat on the last day of our hunt, to -be afterward related. He was not a very noisy dog, and when “barking -treed” he had a meditative way of giving single barks separated by -intervals of several seconds, all the time gazing stolidly up at the -big, sinister cat which he was baying. Early in the hunt, in the course -of a fight with one of the cougars, he received some injury to his tail, -which made it hang down like a piece of old rope. Apparently it hurt him -a good deal and we let him rest for a fortnight. This put him in great -spirits and made him fat and strong, but only enabled him to recover -power over the root of the tail, while the tip hung down as before; it -looked like a curved pump-handle when he tried to carry it erect. - -Lil and Nel were two very stanch and fast bitches, the only two dogs -that could keep up to Jim in a quick burst. They had shrill voices. -Their only failing was a tendency to let the other members of the pack -cow them so that they did not get their full share of the food. It was -not a pack in which a slow or timid dog had much chance for existence. -They would all unite in the chase and the fierce struggle which usually -closed it; but the instant the quarry was killed each dog resumed his -normal attitude of greedy anger or greedy fear toward the others. - -Another bitch rejoiced in the not very appropriate name of Pete. She was -a most ardent huntress. In the middle of our trip she gave birth to a -litter of puppies, but before they were two weeks old she would slip -away after us and join with the utmost ardor in the hunting and -fighting. Her brother Jimmie, although of the same age (both were -young), was not nearly as far advanced. He would run well on a fresh -trail, but a cold trail or a long check always discouraged him and made -him come back to Goff. He was rapidly learning; a single beating taught -him to let deer alone. The remaining hound, Bruno, had just been added -to the pack. He showed tendencies both to muteness and babbling, and at -times, if he thought himself unobserved, could not resist making a -sprint after a deer; but he occasionally rendered good service. If Jim -or Boxer gave tongue every member of the pack ran to the sound; but not -a dog paid any heed to Jimmie or Bruno. Yet both ultimately became -first-class hounds. - -The fighting dogs always trotted at the heels of the horses, which had -become entirely accustomed to them, and made no objection when they -literally rubbed against their heels. The fighters never left us until -we came to where we could hear the hounds “barking treed,” or with their -quarry at bay. Then they tore in a straight line to the sound. They were -the ones who were expected to do the seizing and take the punishment, -though the minute they actually had hold of the cougar, the hounds all -piled on too, and did their share of the killing; but the seizers fought -the head while the hounds generally took hold behind. All of them, -fighters and hounds alike, were exceedingly good-natured and -affectionate with their human friends, though short-tempered to a degree -with one another. The best of the fighters was old Turk, who was by -blood half hound and half “Siberian bloodhound.” Both his father and his -mother were half-breeds of the same strains, and both were famous -fighters. Once, when Goff had wounded an enormous gray wolf in the hind -leg, the father had overtaken it and fought it to a standstill. The two -dogs together were an overmatch for any wolf. Turk had had a sister who -was as good as he was; but she had been killed the year before by a -cougar which bit her through the skull; accidents being, of course, -frequent in the pack, for a big cougar is an even more formidable -opponent to dogs than a wolf. Turk’s head and body were seamed with -scars. He had lost his lower fangs, but he was still a most formidable -dog. While we were at the Keystone Ranch a big steer which had been -driven in, got on the fight, and the foreman, William Wilson, took Turk -out to aid him. At first Turk did not grasp what was expected of him, -because all the dogs were trained never to touch anything domestic—at -the different ranches where we stopped the cats and kittens wandered -about, perfectly safe, in the midst of this hard-biting crew of bear and -cougar fighters. But when Turk at last realized that he was expected to -seize the steer, he did the business with speed and thoroughness; he not -only threw the steer, but would have killed it then and there had he not -been, with much difficulty, taken away. Three dogs like Turk, in their -prime and with their teeth intact, could, I believe, kill an ordinary -female cougar, and could hold even a big male so as to allow it to be -killed with the knife. - -Next to Turk were two half-breeds between bull and shepherd, named Tony -and Baldy. They were exceedingly game, knowing-looking little dogs, with -a certain alert swagger that reminded one of the walk of some -light-weight prize-fighters. In fights with cougars, bears, and lynx, -they too had been badly mauled and had lost a good many of their teeth. -Neither of the gallant little fellows survived the trip. Their place was -taken by a white bulldog bitch, Queen, which we picked up at the -Keystone Ranch; a very affectionate and good-humored dog, but, when her -blood was aroused, a dauntless though rather stupid fighter. -Unfortunately she did not seize by the head, taking hold of any part -that was nearest. - -The pack had many interesting peculiarities, but none more so than the -fact that four of them climbed trees. Only one of the hounds, little -Jimmie, ever tried the feat; but of the fighters, not only Tony and -Baldy but big Turk climbed every tree that gave them any chance. The -pinyons and cedars were low, multi-forked, and usually sent off branches -from near the ground. In consequence the dogs could, by industrious -effort, work their way almost to the top. The photograph of Turk and the -bobcat in the pinyon (facing p. 12) shows them at an altitude of about -thirty feet above the ground. Now and then a dog would lose his footing -and come down with a whack which sounded as if he must be disabled, but -after a growl and a shake he would start up the tree again. They could -not fight well while in a tree, and were often scratched or knocked to -the ground by a cougar; and when the quarry was shot out of its perch -and seized by the expectant throng below, the dogs in the tree, yelping -with eager excitement, dived headlong down through the branches, -regardless of consequences. - -The horses were stout, hardy, sure-footed beasts, not very fast, but -able to climb like goats, and to endure an immense amount of work. Goff -and I each used two for the trip. - -The bear were all holed up for the winter, and so our game was limited -to cougars and bobcats. In the books the bobcat is always called a lynx, -which it of course is; but whenever a hunter or trapper speaks of a lynx -(which he usually calls “link,” feeling dimly that the other -pronunciation is a plural), he means a lucivee. Bobcat is a good -distinctive name, and it is one which I think the book people might with -advantage adopt; for wildcat, which is the name given to the small lynx -in the East, is already pre-empted by the true wildcat of Europe. Like -all people of European descent who have gone into strange lands, we -Americans have christened our wild beasts with a fine disregard for -their specific and generic relations. We called the bison “buffalo” as -long as it existed, and we still call the big stag an “elk,” instead of -using for it the excellent term wapiti; on the other hand, to the true -elk and the reindeer we gave the new names moose and caribou—excellent -names, too, by the way. The prong buck is always called antelope, though -it is not an antelope at all; and the white goat is not a goat; while -the distinctive name of “bighorn” is rarely used for the mountain sheep. -In most cases, however, it is mere pedantry to try to upset popular -custom in such matters; and where, as with the bobcat, a perfectly good -name is taken, it would be better for scientific men to adopt it. I may -add that in this particular of nomenclature we are no worse sinners than -other people. The English in Ceylon, the English and Dutch in South -Africa, and the Spanish in South America, have all shown the same genius -for misnaming beasts and birds. - -[Illustration: - - TURK AND A BOBCAT IN TOP OF A PINYON - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Bobcats were very numerous where we were hunting. They fed chiefly upon -the rabbits, which fairly swarmed; mostly cotton-tails, but a few jacks. -Contrary to the popular belief, the winter is in many places a time of -plenty for carnivorous wild beasts. In this place, for instance, the -abundance of deer and rabbits made good hunting for both cougar and -bobcat, and all those we killed were as fat as possible, and in -consequence weighed more than their inches promised. The bobcats are -very fond of prairie-dogs, and haunt the dog towns as soon as spring -comes and the inhabitants emerge from their hibernation. They sometimes -pounce on higher game. We came upon an eight months’ fawn—very nearly a -yearling—which had been killed by a big male bobcat; and Judge Foreman -informed me that near his ranch, a few years previously, an -exceptionally large bobcat had killed a yearling doe. Bobcats will also -take lambs and young pigs, and if the chance occurs will readily seize -their small kinsman, the house cat. - -Bobcats are very fond of lurking round prairie-dog towns as soon as the -prairie-dogs come out in spring. In this part of Colorado, by the way, -the prairie-dogs were of an entirely different species from the common -kind of the plains east of the Rockies. - -We found that the bobcats sometimes made their lairs along the rocky -ledges or in holes in the cut banks, and sometimes in thickets, prowling -about during the night, and now and then even during the day. We never -chased them unless the dogs happened to run across them by accident when -questing for cougar, or when we were returning home after a day when we -had failed to find cougar. Usually the cat gave a good run, occasionally -throwing out the dogs by doubling or jack-knifing. Two or three times -one of them gave us an hour’s sharp trotting, cantering, and galloping -through the open cedar and pinyon groves on the table-lands; and the -runs sometimes lasted for a much longer period when the dogs had to go -across ledges and through deep ravines. - -On one of our runs a party of ravens fluttered along from tree to tree -beside us, making queer gurgling noises and evidently aware that they -might expect to reap a reward from our hunting. Ravens, multitudes of -magpies, and golden and bald eagles were seen continually, and all four -flocked to any carcass which was left in the open. The eagle and the -raven are true birds of the wilderness, and in a way their presence both -heightened and relieved the iron desolation of the wintry mountains. - -Over half the cats we started escaped, getting into caves or deep holes -in washouts. In the other instances they went up trees and were of -course easily shot. Tony and Baldy would bring them out of any hole into -which they themselves could get. After their loss, Lil, who was a small -hound, once went into a hole in a washout after a cat. After awhile she -stopped barking, though we could still hear the cat growling. What had -happened to her we did not know. We spent a couple of hours calling to -her and trying to get her to come out, but she neither came out nor -answered, and, as sunset was approaching and the ranch was some miles -off, we rode back there, intending to return with spades in the morning. -However, by breakfast we found that Lil had come back. We supposed that -she had got on the other side of the cat and had been afraid or unable -to attack it; so that as Collins the cow-puncher, who was a Southerner, -phrased it, “she just naturally stayed in the hole” until some time -during the night the cat went out and she followed. When once hunters -and hounds have come into the land, it is evident that the bobcats which -take refuge in caves have a far better chance of surviving than those -which make their lairs in the open and go up trees. But trees are sure -havens against their wilderness foes. Goff informed me that he once came -in the snow to a place where the tracks showed that some coyotes had put -a bobcat up a tree, and had finally abandoned the effort to get at it. -Any good fighting dog will kill a bobcat; but an untrained dog, even of -large size, will probably fail, as the bobcat makes good use of both -teeth and claws. The cats we caught frequently left marks on some of the -pack. We found them very variable in size. My two largest—both of course -males—weighed respectively thirty-one and thirty-nine pounds. The -latter, Goff said, was of exceptional size, and as large as any he had -ever killed. The full-grown females went down as low as eighteen pounds, -or even lower. - -When the bobcats were in the tree-tops we could get up very close. They -looked like large malevolent pussies. I once heard one of them squall -defiance when the dogs tried to get it out of a hole. Ordinarily they -confined themselves to a low growling. Stewart and Goff went up the -trees with their cameras whenever we got a bobcat in a favorable -position, and endeavored to take its photograph. Sometimes they were -very successful. Although they were frequently within six feet of a cat, -and occasionally even poked it in order to make it change its position, -I never saw one make a motion to jump on them. Two or three times on our -approach the cat jumped from the tree almost into the midst of the pack, -but it was so quick that it got off before they could seize it. They -invariably put it up another tree before it had gone any distance. - -Hunting the bobcat was only an incident. Our true quarry was the cougar. -I had long been anxious to make a regular hunt after cougar in a country -where the beasts were plentiful and where we could follow them with a -good pack of hounds. Astonishingly little of a satisfactory nature has -been left on record about the cougar by hunters, and in most places the -chances for observation of the big cats steadily grow less. They have -been thinned out almost to the point of extermination throughout the -Eastern States. In the Rocky Mountain region they are still plentiful in -places, but are growing less so; while on the contrary the wolf, which -was exterminated even more quickly in the East, in the West has until -recently been increasing in numbers. In northwestern Colorado a dozen -years ago, cougars were far more plentiful than wolves; whereas at the -present day the wolf is probably the more numerous. Nevertheless, there -are large areas, here and there among the Rockies, in which cougars will -be fairly plentiful for years to come. - -[Illustration: - - BOBCAT IN PINYON - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -No American beast has been the subject of so much loose writing or of -such wild fables as the cougar. Even its name is unsettled. In the -Eastern States it is usually called panther or painter; in the Western -States, mountain lion, or, toward the South, Mexican lion. The -Spanish-speaking people usually call it simply lion. It is, however, -sometimes called cougar in the West and Southwest of our country, and in -South America, puma. As it is desirable where possible not to use a name -that is misleading and is already appropriated to some entirely -different animal, it is best to call it cougar. - -The cougar is a very singular beast, shy and elusive to an extraordinary -degree, very cowardly and yet bloodthirsty and ferocious, varying -wonderfully in size, and subject, like many other beasts, to queer -freaks of character in occasional individuals. This fact of individual -variation in size and temper is almost always ignored in treating of the -animal; whereas it ought never to be left out of sight. - -The average writer, and for the matter of that, the average hunter, -where cougars are scarce, knows little or nothing of them, and in -describing them merely draws upon the stock of well-worn myths which -portray them as terrible foes of man, as dropping on their prey from -trees where they have been lying in wait, etc., etc. Very occasionally -there appears an absolutely trustworthy account like that by Dr. Hart -Merriam in his “Adirondack Mammals.” But many otherwise excellent -writers are wholly at sea in reference to the cougar. Thus one of the -best books on hunting in the far West in the old days is by Colonel -Dodge. Yet when Colonel Dodge came to describe the cougar he actually -treated of it as two species, one of which, the mountain lion, he -painted as a most ferocious and dangerous opponent of man; while the -other, the panther, was described as an abject coward, which would not -even in the last resort defend itself against man—the two of course -being the same animal. - -However, the wildest of all fables about the cougar has been reserved -not for hunter or popular writer, but for a professed naturalist. In his -charmingly written book, “The Naturalist in La Plata,” Mr. Hudson -actually describes the cougar as being friendly to man, disinterestedly -adverse to harming him, and at the same time an enemy of other large -carnivores. Mr. Hudson bases his opinion chiefly upon the assertions of -the Gauchos. The Gauchos, however, go one degree beyond Mr. Hudson, -calling the puma the “friend of Christians”; whereas Mr. Hudson only -ventures to attribute to the beast humanitarian, not theological, -preferences. As a matter of fact, Mr. Hudson’s belief in the cougar’s -peculiar friendship for man, and peculiar enmity to other large beasts -of prey, has not one particle of foundation in fact as regards at any -rate the North American form—and it is hardly to be supposed that the -South American form would alone develop such extraordinary traits. For -instance, Mr. Hudson says that the South American puma when hunted will -attack the dogs in preference to the man. In North America he will fight -the dog if the dog is nearest, and if the man comes to close quarters at -the same time as the dog he will attack the man if anything more -readily, evidently recognizing in him his chief opponent. He will often -go up a tree for a single dog. On Mr. Hudson’s theory he must do this -because of his altruistic feeling toward the dog. In fact, Mr. Hudson -could make out a better case of philo-humanity for the North American -wolf than for the North American cougar. Equally absurd is it to talk, -as Mr. Hudson does, of the cougar as the especial enemy of other -ferocious beasts. Mr. Hudson speaks of it as attacking and conquering -the jaguar. Of this I know nothing, but such an extraordinary statement -should be well fortified with proofs; and if true it must mean that the -jaguar is an infinitely less formidable creature than it has been -painted. In support of his position Mr. Hudson alludes to the stories -about the cougar attacking the grizzly bear. Here I am on ground that I -do know. It is true that an occasional old hunter asserts that the -cougar does this, but the old hunter who makes such an assertion also -invariably insists that the cougar is a ferocious and habitual -man-killer, and the two statements rest upon equally slender foundations -of fact. I have never yet heard of a single authentic instance of a -cougar interfering with a full-grown big bear. It will kill bear cubs if -it gets a chance; but then so will the fox and the fisher, not to speak -of the wolf. In 1894, a cougar killed a colt on a brushy river bottom a -dozen miles below my ranch on the Little Missouri. I went down to visit -the carcass and found that it had been taken possession of by a large -grizzly. Both I and the hunter who was with me were very much interested -in what had occurred, and after a careful examination of the tracks we -concluded that the bear had arrived on the second night after the kill. -He had feasted heartily on the remains, while the cougar, whose tracks -were evident here and there at a little distance from the carcass, had -seemingly circled around it, and had certainly not interfered with the -bear, or even ventured to approach him. Now, if a cougar would ever have -meddled with a large bear it would surely have been on such an occasion -as this. If very much pressed by hunger, a large cougar will, if it gets -the chance, kill a wolf; but this is only when other game has failed, -and under all ordinary circumstances neither meddles with the other. -When I was down in Texas, hunting peccaries on the Nueces, I was in a -country where both cougar and jaguar were to be found; but no hunter had -ever heard of either molesting the other, though they were all of the -opinion that when the two met the cougar gave the path to his spotted -brother. Of course, it is never safe to dogmatize about the unknown in -zoology, or to generalize on insufficient evidence; but as regards the -North American cougar there is not a particle of truth of any kind, -sort, or description in the statement that he is the enemy of the larger -carnivores, or the friend of man; and if the South American cougar, -which so strongly resembles its Northern brother in its other habits, -has developed on these two points the extraordinary peculiarities of -which Mr. Hudson speaks, full and adequate proof should be forthcoming; -and this proof is now wholly wanting. - -Fables aside, the cougar is a very interesting creature. It is found -from the cold, desolate plains of Patagonia to north of the Canadian -line, and lives alike among the snow-clad peaks of the Andes and in the -steaming forests of the Amazon. Doubtless careful investigation will -disclose several varying forms in an animal found over such immense -tracts of country and living under such utterly diverse conditions. But -in its essential habits and traits, the big, slinking, nearly -uni-colored cat seems to be much the same everywhere, whether living in -mountain, open plain, or forest, under arctic cold or tropic heat. When -the settlements become thick, it retires to dense forest, dark swamp or -inaccessible mountain gorge, and moves about only at night. In wilder -regions it not infrequently roams during the day and ventures freely -into the open. Deer are its customary prey where they are plentiful, -bucks, does, and fawns being killed indifferently. Usually the deer is -killed almost instantaneously, but occasionally there is quite a -scuffle, in which the cougar may get bruised, though, as far as I know, -never seriously. It is also a dreaded enemy of sheep, pigs, calves, and -especially colts, and when pressed by hunger a big male cougar will kill -a full-grown horse or cow, moose or wapiti. It is the special enemy of -mountain sheep. In 1886, while hunting white goats north of Clarke’s -fork of the Columbia, in a region where cougar were common, I found them -preying as freely on the goats as on the deer. It rarely catches -antelope, but is quick to seize rabbits, other small beasts, and even -porcupines, as well as bobcats, coyotes and foxes. - -No animal, not even the wolf, is so rarely seen or so difficult to get -without dogs. On the other hand, no other wild beast of its size and -power is so easy to kill by the aid of dogs. There are many -contradictions in its character. Like the American wolf, it is certainly -very much afraid of man; yet it habitually follows the trail of the -hunter or solitary traveller, dogging his footsteps, itself always -unseen. I have had this happen to me personally. When hungry it will -seize and carry off any dog; yet it will sometimes go up a tree when -pursued even by a single small dog wholly unable to do it the least -harm. It is small wonder that the average frontier settler should grow -to regard almost with superstition the great furtive cat which he never -sees, but of whose presence he is ever aware, and of whose prowess -sinister proof is sometimes afforded by the deaths not alone of his -lesser stock, but even of his milch cow or saddle horse. - -The cougar is as large, as powerful, and as formidably armed as the -Indian panther, and quite as well able to attack man; yet the instances -of its having done so are exceedingly rare. The vast majority of the -tales to this effect are undoubtedly inventions. But it is foolish to -deny that such attacks on human beings ever occur. There are a number of -authentic instances, the latest that has come to my knowledge being -related in the following letter, of May 15, 1893, written to Dr. Merriam -by Professor W. H. Brewer, of Yale: “In 1880 I visited the base of Mount -Shasta, and stopped a day to renew the memories of 1862, when I had -climbed and measured this mountain. Panthers were numerous and were so -destructive to sheep that poisoning by strychnine was common. A man -living near who had (as a young hunter) gone up Mount Shasta with us in -’62, now married (1880) and on a ranch, came to visit me, with a little -son five or six years old. This boy when younger, but two or three years -old, if I recollect rightly, had been attacked by a panther. He was -playing in the yard by the house when a lean two-thirds grown panther -came into the yard and seized the child by the throat. The child -screamed, and alarmed the mother (who told me the story). She seized a -broom and rushed out, while an old man at the house seized the gun. The -panther let go the child and was shot. I saw the boy. He had the scars -of the panther’s teeth in the cheek, and below on the under side of the -lower jaw, and just at the throat. This was the only case that came to -my knowledge at first hand of a panther attacking a human being in that -State, except one or two cases where panthers, exasperated by wounds, -had fought with the hunters who had wounded them.” This was a young -cougar, bold, stupid, and very hungry. Goff told me of one similar case -where a cougar stalked a young girl, but was shot just before it was -close enough to make the final rush. As I have elsewhere related, I know -of two undoubted cases, one in Mississippi, one in Florida, where a -negro was attacked and killed by a cougar, while alone in a swamp at -night. But these occurred many years ago. The instance related by -Professor Brewer is the only one I have come across happening in recent -years, in which the cougar actually seized a human being with the -purpose of making prey of it; though doubtless others have occurred. I -have never known the American wolf actually to attack a human being from -hunger or to make prey of him; whereas the Old-World wolf, like the -Old-World leopard, undoubtedly sometimes turns man-eater. - -Even when hunted the cougar shows itself, as a rule, an abject coward, -not to be compared in courage and prowess with the grizzly bear, and but -little more dangerous to man than is the wolf under similar -circumstances. Without dogs it is usually a mere chance that one is -killed. Goff has killed some 300 cougars during the sixteen years he has -been hunting in northwestern Colorado, yet all but two of them were -encountered while he was with his pack; although this is in a region -where they were plentiful. When hunted with good dogs their attention is -so taken up with the pack that they have little time to devote to men. -When hunted without dogs they never charge unless actually cornered, -and, as a general rule, not even then, unless the man chooses to come -right up to them. I knew of one Indian being killed in 1887, and near my -ranch a cowboy was mauled; but in the first instance the cougar had been -knocked down and the Indian was bending over it when it revived; and in -the next instance, the cowboy literally came right on top of the animal. -Now, under such circumstances either a bull elk or a blacktail buck will -occasionally fight; twice I have known of wounded wapiti regularly -charging, and one of my own cowboys, George Myer, was very roughly -handled by a blacktail buck which he had wounded. In all his experience -Goff says that save when he approached one too close when it was -cornered by the dogs, he never but once had a cougar start to charge -him, and on that occasion it was promptly killed by a bullet. Usually -the cougar does not even charge at the dogs beyond a few feet, confining -itself to seizing or striking any member of the pack which comes close -up; although it will occasionally, when much irritated, make a rapid -dash and seize some bold assailant. While I was on my hunt, one of -Goff’s brothers lost a hound in hunting a cougar; there were but two -hounds, and the cougar would not tree for them, finally seizing and -killing one that came too near. At the same time a ranchman not far off -set his cattle dog on a cougar, which after a short run turned and -killed the dog. But time and again cougars are brought to bay or treed -by dogs powerless to do them the slightest damage; and they usually meet -their death tamely when the hunter comes up. I have had no personal -experience either with the South American jaguar or the Old-World -leopard or panther; but these great spotted cats must be far more -dangerous adversaries than the cougar. - -It is true, as I have said, that a cougar will follow a man; but then a -weasel will sometimes do the same thing. Whatever the cougar’s motive, -it is certain that in the immense majority of cases there is not the -slightest danger of his attacking the man he follows. Dr. Hart Merriam -informs me, however, that he is satisfied that he came across one -genuine instance of a cougar killing a man whose tracks he had dogged. -It cannot be too often repeated, that we must never lose sight of the -individual variation in character and conduct among wild beasts. A -thousand times a cougar might follow a man either not intending or not -daring to attack him, while in the thousandth and first case it might be -that the temper of the beast and the conditions were such that the -attack would be made. - -Other beasts show almost the same wide variation in temper. Wolves, for -instance, are normally exceedingly wary of man. In this Colorado hunt I -often came across their tracks, and often heard their mournful, but to -my ears rather attractive, baying at night, but I never caught a glimpse -of one of them; nor during the years when I spent much of my time on my -ranch did I ever know of a wolf venturing to approach anywhere near a -man in the day-time, though I have had them accompany me after -nightfall, and have occasionally come across them by accident in -daylight. But on the Keystone Ranch, where I spent three weeks on this -particular trip, an incident which occurred before my arrival showed -that wolves occasionally act with extraordinary boldness. The former -owner of the ranch, Colonel Price, and one of the cowhands, Sabey (both -of whom told me the story), were driving out in a buggy from Meeker to -the ranch accompanied by a setter dog. They had no weapon with them. Two -wolves joined them and made every effort to get at the dog. They -accompanied the wagon for nearly a mile, venturing to within twenty -yards of it. They paid no heed whatever to the shouts and gestures of -the men, but did not quite dare to come to close quarters, and finally -abandoned their effort. Now, this action on their part was, as far as my -experience goes, quite as exceptional among American wolves as it is -exceptional for a cougar to attack a man. Of course, these wolves were -not after the men. They were simply after the dog; but I have never -within my own experience come upon another instance of wolves venturing -to attack a domestic animal in the immediate presence of and protected -by a man. Exactly as these two wolves suddenly chose to behave with an -absolutely unexpected daring, so a cougar will occasionally lose the -fear of man which is inherent in its race. - -Normally, then, the cougar is not in any way a formidable foe to man, -and it is certainly by no means as dangerous to dogs as it could be if -its courage and intelligence equalled its power to do mischief. It -strikes with its forepaw like a cat, lacerating the foe with its sharp -claws; or else it holds the animal with them, while the muscular forearm -draws it in until the fatal bite may be inflicted. Whenever possible it -strives to bite an assailant in the head. Occasionally, when fighting -with a large dog, a cougar will throw itself on its back and try to rip -open its antagonist with its hind feet. Male cougars often fight -desperately among themselves. - -Although a silent beast, yet at times, especially during the breeding -season, the males utter a wild scream, and the females also wail or -call. I once heard one cry repeatedly after nightfall, seemingly while -prowling for game. On an evening in the summer of 1897 Dr. Merriam had a -rather singular experience with a cougar. His party was camped in the -forest by Tannum Lake, on the east slope of the Cascades, near the -headwaters of a branch of the Yakima. The horses were feeding near by. -Shortly after dark a cougar cried loudly in the gloom, and the -frightened horses whinnied and stampeded. The cougar cried a number of -times afterward, but the horses did not again answer. None of them was -killed, however; and next morning, after some labor, all were again -gathered together. In 1884 I had a somewhat similar experience with a -bear, in the Big Horn Mountains. - -Occasionally, but not often, the cougars I shot snarled or uttered a -low, thunderous growl as we approached the tree, or as the dogs came -upon them in the cave. In the death-grapple they were silent, excepting -that one young cougar snarled and squalled as it battled with the dogs. - -The cougar is sometimes tamed. A friend of mine had one which was as -good-natured as possible until it was a year old, when it died. But one -kept by another friend, while still quite young, became treacherous and -dangerous. I doubt if they would ever become as trustworthy as a tame -wolf, which, if taken when a very young puppy, will often grow up -exactly like a dog. Two or three years ago there was such a tame wolf -with the Colorado Springs greyhounds. It was safer and more friendly -than many collies, and kept on excellent terms with the great -greyhounds; though these were themselves solely used to hunt wolves and -coyotes, and tackled them with headlong ferocity, having, unaided, -killed a score or two of the large wolves and hundreds of coyotes. - -Hunting in the snow we were able to tell very clearly what the cougars -whose trails we were following had been doing. Goff’s eye for a trail -was unerring, and he read at a glance the lesson it taught. All the -cougars which we came across were living exclusively upon deer, and -their stomachs were filled with nothing else; much hair being mixed with -the meat. In each case the deer was caught by stalking and not by lying -in wait, and the cougar never went up a tree except to get rid of the -dogs. In the day-time it retired to a ledge, or ravine, or dense -thicket, starting to prowl as the dark came on. So far as I could see -the deer in each case was killed by a bite in the throat or neck. The -cougar simply rambled around in likely grounds until it saw or smelled -its quarry, and then crept up stealthily until with one or two -tremendous bounds it was able to seize its prey. If, as frequently -happened, the deer took alarm in time to avoid the first few bounds, it -always got away, for though the cougar is very fast for a short -distance, it has no wind whatever. It cannot pursue a deer for any -length of time, nor run before a dog for more than a few hundred yards, -if the dog is close up at the start. I was informed by the ranchmen that -when in May the deer leave the country, the cougars turn their attention -to the stock, and are very destructive. They have a special fondness for -horseflesh and kill almost every colt where they are plentiful, while -the big males work havoc with the saddle bands on the ranches, as well -as among the brood mares. Except in the case of a female with young they -are roving, wandering beasts, and roam great distances. After leaving -their day lairs, on a ledge, or in a gorge or thicket, they spend the -night travelling across the flats, along the ridges, over the spurs. -When they kill a deer they usually lie not very far away, and do not -again wander until they are hungry. The males travel very long distances -in the mating season. Their breeding-time is evidently irregular. We -found kittens with their eyes not yet open in the middle of January. Two -of the female cougars we killed were pregnant—in one case the young -would have been born almost immediately, that is, in February; and in -the other case in March. One, which had a partially grown young one of -over fifty pounds with it, still had milk in its teats. At the end of -January we found a male and female together, evidently mating. Goff has -also found the young just dropped in May, and even in June. The females -outnumber the males. Of the fourteen we killed, but three were males. - -When a cougar kills a deer in the open it invariably drags it under some -tree or shelter before beginning to eat. All the carcasses we came -across had been thus dragged, the trail showing distinctly in the snow. -Goff, however, asserted that in occasional instances he had known a -cougar to carry a deer so that only its legs trailed on the ground. - -The fourteen cougars we killed showed the widest variation not only in -size but in color, as shown by the following table. Some were as -slaty-gray as deer when in the so-called “blue”; others, rufous, almost -as bright as deer in the “red.” I use these two terms to describe the -color phases; though in some instances the tint was very undecided. The -color phase evidently has nothing to do with age, sex, season, or -locality. In this table the first cougar is the one killed by Stewart, -the sixth by Webb. The length is measured in a straight line, “between -uprights,” from the nose to the extreme tip of the tail, when the beast -was stretched out. The animals were weighed with the steelyard and also -spring scales. Before measuring, we pulled the beast out as straight as -we possibly could; and as the biggest male represents about, or very -nearly, the maximum for the species, it is easy to see that there can be -no basis for the talk one sometimes hears about ten and eleven foot -cougars. No cougar, measured at all fairly, has ever come anywhere near -reaching the length of nine feet. The fresh hide can easily be stretched -a couple of feet extra. Except the first two, all were full-grown; the -biggest male was nearly three times the size of the smallest female. - - ───────────┬───────────┬───────────────────────┬───────────┬─────────── - Sex. │ Color. │ Length. │ Weight. │ Date. - ───────────┼───────────┼───────────────────────┼───────────┼─────────── - │ │ Feet. Inches. │ Pounds. │ 1901. - │ │ │ │ - [1]Female. │Blue. │ 4 11 │ 47 │January 19 - [1]Female. │Red. │ 4 11½ │ 51 │February 12 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 │ 80 │January 14 - Female. │Red. │ 6 4 │ 102 │January 28 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 5 │ 105 │February 12 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 5 │ 107 │January 18 - Female. │Red. │ 6 9 │ 108 │January 24 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 7 │ 118 │January 15 - Female. │Blue. │ 6 7 │ 120 │January 31 - Female. │Red. │ 6 9 │ 124 │February 5 - Female. │Blue. │ 7 │ 133 │February 8 - Male. │Red. │ 7 6 │ 160 │February 13 - Male. │Blue. │ 7 8 │ 164 │January 27 - Male. │Red. │ 8 │ 227 │February 14 - ───────────┴───────────┴───────────────────────┴───────────┴─────────── - -Footnote 1: - - Young. - -I shot five bobcats: two old males weighing 39 and 31 pounds -respectively; and three females, weighing, respectively, 25, 21, and 18 -pounds. Webb killed two, a male of 29 pounds and a female of 20; and -Stewart two females, one of 22 pounds, and the other a young one of 11 -pounds. - -I sent the cougar and bobcat skulls to Dr. Merriam, at the Biological -Survey, Department of Agriculture, Washington. He wrote me as follows: -“The big [cougar] skull is certainly a giant. I have compared it with -the largest in our collection from British Columbia and Wyoming, and -find it larger than either. It is in fact the largest skull of any -member of the _Felis concolor_ group I have seen. A hasty preliminary -examination indicates that the animal is quite different from the -northwest coast form, but that it is the same as my horse-killer from -Wyoming—_Felis hippolestes_. In typical _Felis concolor_ from Brazil the -skull is lighter, the brain-case thinner and more smoothly rounded, -devoid of the strongly developed sagittal crest; the under jaw -straighter and lighter. - -“Your series of skulls from Colorado is incomparably the largest, most -complete and most valuable series ever brought together from any single -locality, and will be of inestimable value in determining the amount of -individual variation.” - - -[Illustration: - - STARTING FOR A HUNT - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -We rode in to the Keystone Ranch late on the evening of the second day -after leaving Meeker. We had picked up a couple of bobcats on the way, -and had found a cougar’s kill (or bait, as Goff called it)—a doe, almost -completely eaten. The dogs puzzled for several hours over the cold trail -of the cougar; but it was old, and ran hither and thither over bare -ground, so that they finally lost it. The ranch was delightfully -situated at the foot of high wooded hills broken by cliffs, and it was -pleasant to reach the warm, comfortable log buildings, with their clean -rooms, and to revel in the abundant, smoking-hot dinner, after the long, -cold hours in the saddle. As everywhere else in the cattle country -nowadays, a successful effort had been made to store water on the -Keystone, and there were great stretches of wire fencing—two -improvements entirely unknown in former days. But the foreman, William -Wilson, and the two punchers or cowhands, Sabey and Collins, were of the -old familiar type—skilled, fearless, hardy, hard-working, with all the -intelligence and self-respect that we like to claim as typical of the -American character at its best. All three carried short saddle guns when -they went abroad, and killed a good many coyotes, and now and then a -gray wolf. The cattle were for the most part grade Herefords, very -different from the wild, slab-sided, long-horned creatures which covered -the cattle country a score of years ago. - -The next day, January 14th, we got our first cougar. This kind of -hunting was totally different from that to which I had been accustomed. -In the first place, there was no need of always being on the alert for a -shot, as it was the dogs who did the work. In the next place, instead of -continually scanning the landscape, what we had to do was to look down -so as to be sure not to pass over any tracks; for frequently a cold -trail would be indicated so faintly that the dogs themselves might pass -it by, if unassisted by Goff’s keen eyes and thorough knowledge of the -habits of the quarry. Finally, there was no object in making an early -start, as what we expected to find was not the cougar, but the cougar’s -trail; moreover, the horses and dogs, tough though they were, could not -stand more than a certain amount, and to ride from sunrise to sunset, -day in and day out, for five weeks, just about tested the limits of -their endurance. - -We made our way slowly up the snow-covered, pinyon-clad side of the -mountain back of the house, and found a very old cougar trail which it -was useless to try to run, and a couple of fresh bobcat trails which it -was difficult to prevent the dogs from following. After criss-crossing -over the shoulders of this mountain for two or three hours, and -scrambling in and out of the ravines, we finally struck another cougar -trail, much more recent, probably made thirty-six hours before. The -hounds had been hunting free to one side or the other of our path. They -were now summoned by a blast of the horn, and with a wave of Goff’s hand -away they went on the trail. Had it been fresh they would have run out -of hearing at once, for it was fearfully rough country. But they were -able to work but slowly along the loops and zigzags of the trail, where -it led across bare spaces, and we could keep well in sight and hearing -of them. Finally they came to where it descended the sheer side of the -mountain and crossed the snow-covered valley beneath. They were still -all together, the pace having been so slow, and in the snow of the -valley the scent was fresh. It was a fine sight to see them as they -rushed across from one side to the other, the cliffs echoing their -chiming. Jim and the three bitches were in the lead, while Boxer fell -behind, as he always did when the pace was fast. - -Leading our horses, we slid and scrambled after the hounds; but when we -reached the valley they had passed out of sight and sound, and we did -not hear them again until we had toiled up the mountain opposite. They -were then evidently scattered, having come upon many bare places; but -while we were listening, and working our way over to the other side of -the divide, the sudden increase in the baying told Goff that they had -struck the fresh trail of the beast they were after; and in two or three -minutes we heard Jim’s deep voice “barking treed.” The three fighters, -who had been trotting at our heels, recognized the difference in the -sound quite as quickly as we did, and plunged at full speed toward it -down the steep hillside, throwing up the snow like so many snowploughs. -In a minute or two the chorus told us that all the dogs were around the -tree, and we picked our way down toward them. - -While we were still some distance off we could see the cougar in a low -pinyon moving about as the dogs tried to get up, and finally knocking -one clean out of the top. It was the first time I had ever seen dogs -with a cougar, and I was immensely interested; but Stewart’s whole -concern was with his camera. When we were within fifty yards of the -tree, and I was preparing to take the rifle out of the scabbard, Stewart -suddenly called “halt,” with the first symptoms of excitement he had -shown, and added, in an eager undertone: “Wait, there is a rabbit right -here, and I want to take his picture.” Accordingly we waited, the cougar -not fifty yards off and the dogs yelling and trying to get up the tree -after it, while Stewart crept up to the rabbit and got a kodak some six -feet distant. Then we resumed our march toward the tree, and the cougar, -not liking the sight of the reinforcements, jumped out. She came down -just outside the pack and ran up hill. So quick was she that the dogs -failed to seize her, and for the first fifty yards she went a great deal -faster than they did. Both in the jump and in the run she held her tail -straight out behind her; I found out afterward that sometimes one will -throw its tail straight in the air, and when walking along, when first -roused by the pack, before they are close, will, if angry, lash the tail -from side to side, at the same time grinning and snarling. - -In a minute the cougar went up another tree, but, as we approached, -again jumped down, and on this occasion, after running a couple of -hundred yards, the dogs seized it. The worry was terrific; the growling, -snarling, and yelling rang among the rocks; and leaving our horses we -plunged at full speed through the snow down the rugged ravine in which -the fight was going on. It was a small though old female, only a few -pounds heavier than either Turk or Jim, and the dogs had the upper hand -when we arrived. They would certainly have killed it unassisted, but as -it was doing some damage to the pack, and might at any moment kill a -dog, I ended the struggle by a knife-thrust behind the shoulder. To -shoot would have been quite as dangerous for the dogs as for their -quarry. Three of the dogs were badly scratched, and Turk had been bitten -through one foreleg, and Boxer through one hind leg. - -[Illustration: - - THE FIRST COUGAR KILLED - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -As will be seen by the measurements given before, this was much the -smallest full-grown cougar we got. It was also one of the oldest, as its -teeth showed, and it gave me a false idea of the size of cougars; -although I knew they varied in size I was not prepared for the wide -variation we actually found. - -The fighting dogs were the ones that enabled me to use the knife. All -three went straight for the head, and when they got hold they kept their -jaws shut, worrying and pulling, and completely absorbing the attention -of the cougar, so as to give an easy chance for the deathblow. The -hounds meanwhile had seized the cougar behind, and Jim, with his -alligator jaws, probably did as much damage as Turk. However, neither in -this nor in any other instance, did any one of the dogs manage to get -its teeth through the thick skin. When cougars fight among themselves -their claws and fangs leave great scars, but their hides are too thick -for the dogs to get their teeth through. On the other hand, a cougar’s -jaws have great power, and dogs are frequently killed by a single bite, -the fangs being driven through the brain or spine; or they break a dog’s -leg or cut the big blood-vessels of the throat. - -I had been anxious to get a set of measurements and weights of cougars -to give to Dr. Hart Merriam. Accordingly I was carrying a tape, while -Goff, instead of a rifle, had a steelyard in his gun scabbard. We -weighed and measured the cougar, and then took lunch, making as -impartial a distribution of it as was possible among ourselves and the -different members of the pack; for, of course, we were already growing -to have a hearty fellow-feeling for each individual dog. - -The next day we were again in luck. After about two hours’ ride we came -upon an old trail. It led among low hills, covered with pinyon and -cedar, and broken by gullies or washouts, in whose sharp sides of clay -the water had made holes and caves. Soon the hounds left it to follow a -bobcat, and we had a lively gallop through the timber, dodging the sharp -snags of the dead branches as best we might. The cat got into a hole in -a side washout; Baldy went in after it, and the rest of us, men and -dogs, clustered about to look in. After a considerable time he put the -cat out of the other end of the hole, nearly a hundred yards off, close -to the main washout. The first we knew of it we saw it coming straight -toward us, its tail held erect like that of a whitetail deer. Before -either we or the dogs quite grasped the situation it bolted into another -hole almost at our feet, and this time Baldy could not find it, or else -could not get at it. Then we took up the cougar trail again. It -criss-crossed in every direction. We finally found an old “bait,” a -buck. It was interesting to see the way in which the cougar had prowled -from point to point, and the efforts it had made to approach the deer -which it saw or smelled. Once we came to where it had sat down on the -edge of a cliff, sitting on its haunches with its long tail straight -behind it and looking out across the valley. After it had killed, -according to the invariable custom of its kind, it had dragged the deer -from the open, where it had overtaken it, to the shelter of a group of -trees. - -We finally struck the fresh trail; but it, also, led hither and thither, -and we got into such a maze of tracks that the dogs were completely -puzzled. After a couple of hours of vain travelling to and fro, we gave -up the effort, called the dogs off, and started back beside a large -washout which led along between two ridges. Goff, as usual, was leading, -the dogs following and continually skirting to one side or the other. -Suddenly they all began to show great excitement, and then one gave -furious tongue at the mouth of a hole in some sunken and broken ground -not thirty yards to our right. The whole pack rushed toward the -challenge, the fighters leaped into the hole, and in another moment the -row inside told us that they had found a cougar at home. We jumped off -and ran down to see if we could be of assistance. To get into the hole -was impossible, for two or three hounds had jumped down to join the -fighters, and we could see nothing but their sterns. Then we saw Turk -backing out with a dead kitten in his mouth. I had supposed that a -cougar would defend her young to the last, but such was not the case in -this instance. For some minutes she kept the dogs at bay, but then -gradually gave ground, leaving her three kittens. Of course, the dogs -killed them instantly, much to our regret, as we would have given a good -deal to have kept them alive. As soon as she had abandoned them, away -she went completely through the low cave or hole, leaped out of the -other end, which was some thirty or forty yards off, scaled the bank, -and galloped into the woods, the pack getting after her at once. She did -not run more than a couple of hundred yards, and as we tore up on our -horses we saw her standing in the lower branches of a pinyon only six or -eight feet from the ground. She was not snarling or grinning, and looked -at us as quietly as if nothing had happened. As we leaped out of the -saddles she jumped down from the tree and ran off through the pack. They -were after her at once, however, and a few yards farther on she started -up another tree. Either Tony or Baldy grabbed her by the tip of the -tail, she lost her footing for a moment, and the whole pack seized her. -She was a powerful female of about the average size, being half as heavy -again as the one we first got, and made a tremendous fight; and savage -enough she looked, her ears tight back against her head, her yellow eyes -flashing, and her great teeth showing as she grinned. For a moment the -dogs had her down, but biting and striking she freed her head and fore -quarters from the fighters, and faced us as we ran up, the hounds still -having her from behind. This was another chance for the knife, and I -cheered on the fighters. Again they seized her by the head, but though -absolutely stanch dogs, their teeth, as I have said, had begun to -suffer, and they were no longer always able to make their holds good. -Just as I was about to strike her she knocked Turk loose with a blow, -bit Baldy, and then, her head being free, turned upon me. Fortunately, -Tony caught her free paw on that side, while I jammed the gun-butt into -her jaws with my left hand and struck home with the right, the knife -driving straight to the heart. The deep fang marks she left in the -stock, biting the corner of the shoulder clean off, gave an idea of the -power of her jaws. If it had been the very big male cougar which I -afterward killed, the stock would doubtless have been bitten completely -in two. - -The dogs were pretty well damaged, and all retired and lay down under -the trees, where they licked their wounds, and went to sleep; growling -savagely at one another when they waked, but greeting us with -demonstrative affection, and trotting eagerly out to share our lunch as -soon as we began to eat it. Unaided, they would ultimately have killed -the cougar, but the chance of one or two of them being killed or -crippled was too great for us to allow this to be done; and in the -mix-up of the struggle it was not possible to end it with the rifle. The -writhing, yelling tangle offered too shifting a mark; one would have -been as apt to hit a dog as the cougar. Goff told me that the pack had -often killed cougars unassisted; but in the performance of such feats -the best dogs were frequently killed, and this was not a risk to be -taken lightly. - -In some books the writers speak as if the male and female cougar live -together and jointly seek food for the young. We never found a male -cougar anywhere near either a female with young or a pregnant female. -According to my observation the male only remains with the female for a -short time, during the mating season, at which period he travels great -distances in search of his temporary mates—for the females far outnumber -the males. The cougar is normally a very solitary beast. The young—two -to four in number, though more than one or two rarely grow up—follow the -mother until over half grown. The mother lives entirely alone with the -kittens while they are small. As the males fight so fiercely among -themselves, it may be that the old he-cougars kill the young of their -own sex; a ranchman whom I knew once found the body of a young male -cougar which had evidently been killed by an old one; but I cannot say -whether or not this was an exceptional case. - -During the next ten days Stewart and Webb each shot a cougar. Webb’s was -got by as pretty an exhibition of trailing on the part of Goff and his -hounds as one could wish to see. We ran across its old tracks while -coming home on Wednesday, January 16th. The next day, Thursday, we took -up the trail, but the animal had travelled a long distance; and, as -cougars so often do, had spent much of its time walking along ledges, or -at the foot of the cliffs, where the sun had melted the snow off the -ground. In consequence, the dogs were often at fault. Moreover, bobcats -were numerous, and twice the pack got after one, running a couple of -hours before, in one instance, the cat went into a cave, and, in the -other, took to a tree, where it was killed by Webb. At last, when -darkness came on, we were forced to leave the cougar trail and ride -home; a very attractive ride, too, loping rapidly over the snow-covered -flats, while above us the great stars fairly blazed in the splendor of -the winter night. - -Early next morning we again took up the trail, and after a little while -found where it was less than thirty-six hours old. The dogs now ran it -well, but were thrown out again on a large bare hillside, until Boxer -succeeded in recovering the scent. They went up a high mountain and we -toiled after them. Again they lost the trail, and while at fault jumped -a big bobcat which they ran up a tree. After shooting him we took lunch, -and started to circle for the trail. Most of the dogs kept with Goff, -but Jim got off to one side on his own account; and suddenly his baying -told us that he had jumped the cougar. The rest of the pack tore toward -him and after a quarter of a mile run they had the quarry treed. The -ground was too rough for riding, and we had to do some stiff climbing to -get to it on foot. - -Stewart’s cougar was a young of the year, and, according to his custom, -he took several photographs of it. Then he tried to poke it so that it -would get into a better position for the camera; whereupon it jumped out -of the tree and ran headlong down hill, the yelling dogs but a few feet -behind. Our horses had been left a hundred yards or so below, where they -all stood, moping, with their heads drooped and their eyes half shut, in -regular cow-pony style. The chase streamed by not a yard from their -noses, but evidently failed to arouse even an emotion of interest in -their minds, for they barely looked up, and made not a movement of any -kind when the cougar treed again just below them. - -We killed several bobcats; and we also got another cougar, this time in -rather ignominious fashion. We had been running a bobcat, having an -excellent gallop, during the course of which Stewart’s horse turned a -somersault. Without our knowledge the dogs changed to the fresh trail of -a cougar, which they ran into its den in another cut bank. When we -reached the place they had gone in after it, Baldy dropping into a hole -at the top of the bank, while the others crawled into the main entrance, -some twenty-five yards off at the bottom. It was evidently a very rough -house inside, and above the baying, yelping, and snarling of the dogs we -could hear the rumbling overtone of the cougar’s growl. On this day we -had taken along Queen, the white bull bitch, to “enter” her at cougar. -It was certainly a lively experience for a first entry. We reached the -place in time to keep Jim and the hound bitches out of the hole. It was -evident that the dogs could do nothing with the cougar inside. They -could only come at it in front, and under such circumstances its claws -and teeth made the odds against them hopeless. Every now and then it -would charge, driving them all back, and we would then reach in, seize a -dog and haul him out. At intervals there would be an awful yelling and a -hound would come out bleeding badly, quite satisfied, and without the -slightest desire to go in again. Poor Baldy was evidently killed inside. -Queen, Turk, and Tony were badly clawed and bitten, and we finally got -them out too; Queen went in three times, and came out on each occasion -with a fresh gash or bite; Turk was, at the last, the only one really -anxious to go in again. Then we tried to smoke out the cougar, for as -one of the dogs had gotten into the cave through an upper entrance, we -supposed the cougar could get out by the same route. However, it either -could not or would not bolt; coming down close to the entrance where we -had built the sage-brush fire, there it stayed until it was smothered. -We returned to the ranch carrying its skin, but not over-pleased, and -the pack much the worse for wear. Dr. Webb had to sew up the wounds of -three of the dogs. One, Tony, was sent back to the home ranch, where he -died. In such rough hunting as this, it is of course impossible to -prevent occasional injuries to the dogs when they get the cougar in a -cave, or overtake him on the ground. All that can be done is to try to -end the contest as speedily as possible, which we always did. - -[Illustration: - - AFTER THE FIGHT - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Judging from the experience of certain friends of mine in the Argentine, -I think it would be safe to crawl into a cave to shoot a cougar under -normal circumstances; but in this instance the cave was a long, winding -hole, so low that we could not get in on hands and knees, having to work -our way on our elbows. It was pitch dark inside, so that the rifle -sights could not be seen, and the cougar was evidently very angry and -had on two or three occasions charged the dogs, driving them out of the -entrance of the hole. In the dark, the chances were strongly against -killing it with a single shot; while if only wounded, and if it had -happened to charge, the man, in his cramped position, would have been -utterly helpless. - -The day after the death of the smoked-out cougar Stewart and Webb -started home. Then it snowed for two days, keeping us in the ranch. -While the snow was falling, there was no possibility of finding or -following tracks; and as a rule wild creatures lie close during a storm. -We were glad to have fresh snow, for the multitude of tracks in the old -snow had become confusing; and not only the southern hillsides but the -larger valleys had begun to grow bare, so that trailing was difficult. - -The third day dawned in brilliant splendor, and when the sun arose all -the land glittered dazzling white under his rays. The hounds were -rested, we had fresh horses, and after an early breakfast we started to -make a long circle. All the forenoon and early afternoon we plodded -through the snowdrifts, up and down the valleys, and along the ridge -crests, without striking a trail. The dogs trotted behind us or circled -from one side to the other. It was no small test of their stanchness, -eager and fresh as they were, for time after time we aroused bands of -deer, to which they paid no heed whatever. At last, in mid-afternoon, we -suddenly struck the tracks of two cougars, one a very large one, an old -male. They had been playing and frolicking together, for they were -evidently mating, and the snow in the tracks showed that they had -started abroad before the storm was entirely over. For three hours the -pack followed the cold trail, through an exceedingly rugged and -difficult country, in which Goff helped them out again and again. - -Just at sunset the cougars were jumped, and ran straight into and -through a tangle of spurs and foothills, broken by precipices, and riven -by long deep ravines. The two at first separated and then came together, -with the result that Tree’em, Bruno, and Jimmie got on the back trail -and so were left far behind; while old Boxer also fell to the rear, as -he always did when the scent was hot, and Jim and the bitches were left -to do the running by themselves. In the gathering gloom we galloped -along the main divide, my horse once falling on a slippery sidehill, as -I followed headlong after Goff—whose riding was like the driving of the -son of Nimshi. The last vestige of sunlight disappeared, but the full -moon was well up in the heavens when we came to a long spur, leading off -to the right for two or three miles, beyond which we did not think the -chase could have gone. It had long run out of hearing. Making our way -down the rough and broken crest of this spur, we finally heard far off -the clamorous baying which told us that the hounds had their quarry at -bay. We did not have the fighters with us, as they were still under the -weather from the results of their encounter in the cave. - -As it afterward appeared, the cougars had run three miles before the -dogs overtook them, making their way up, down and along such difficult -cliffs that the pack had to keep going round. The female then went up a -tree, while the pack followed the male. He would not climb a tree and -came to bay on the edge of a cliff. A couple of hundred yards from the -spot, we left the horses and scrambled along on foot, guided by the -furious clamor of the pack. When we reached them, the cougar had gone -along the face of the cliff, most of the dogs could not see him, and it -was some time before we could make him out ourselves. Then I got up -quite close. Although the moonlight was bright I could not see the -sights of my rifle, and fired a little too far back. The bullet, -however, inflicted a bad wound, and the cougar ran along a ledge, -disappearing around the cliff-shoulder. The conduct of the dogs showed -that he had not left the cliff, but it was impossible to see him either -from the sides or from below. The cliff was about a hundred feet high -and the top overhung the bottom, while from above the ground sloped down -to the brink at a rather steep angle, so that we had to be cautious -about our footing. There was a large projecting rock on the brink; to -this I clambered down, and, holding it with one hand, peeped over the -edge. After a minute or two I made out first the tail and then the head -of the cougar, who was lying on a narrow ledge only some ten feet below -me, his body hidden by the overhang of the cliff. Thanks to the -steepness of the incline, I could not let go of the rock with my left -hand, because I should have rolled over; so I got Goff to come down, -brace his feet against the projection, and grasp me by my legs. He then -lowered me gently down until my head and shoulders were over the edge -and my arms free; and I shot the cougar right between the ears, he being -in a straight line underneath me. The dogs were evidently confident that -he was going to be shot, for they had all gathered below the cliff to -wait for him to fall; and sure enough, down he came with a crash, -luckily not hitting any of them. We could hear them seize him, and they -all, dead cougar and worrying dogs, rolled at least a hundred yards down -the steep slope before they were stopped by a gully. It was an -interesting experience, and one which I shall not soon forget. We -clambered down to where the dogs were, admired our victim, and made up -our minds not to try to skin him until the morning. Then we led down our -horses, with some difficulty, into the snow-covered valley, mounted -them, and cantered home to the ranch, under the cold and brilliant moon, -through a white wonderland of shimmering light and beauty. - -Next morning we came back as early as possible, intending first to skin -the male and then to hunt up the female. A quarter of a mile before we -reached the carcass we struck her fresh trail in the snow of the valley. -Calling all the dogs together and hustling them forward, we got them -across the trail without their paying any attention to it; for we wanted -to finish the job of skinning before taking up the hunt. However, when -we got off our horses and pulled the cougar down to a flat place to skin -it, Nellie, who evidently remembered that there had been another cougar -besides the one we had accounted for, started away on her own account -while we were not looking. The first thing we knew we heard her giving -tongue on the mountains above us, in such rough country that there was -no use in trying to head her off. Accordingly we jumped on the horses -again, rode down to where we had crossed the trail and put the whole -pack on it. After crossing the valley the cougar had moved along the -ledges of a great spur or chain of foothills, and as this prevented the -dogs going too fast we were able to canter alongside them up the valley, -watching them and listening to their chiming. We finally came to a large -hillside bare of snow, much broken with rocks, among which grew patches -of brush and scattered pinyons. Here the dogs were at fault for over an -hour. It had evidently been a favorite haunt of the cougars; they had -moved to and fro across it, and had lain sunning themselves in the dust -under the ledges. Owing to the character of the ground we could give the -hounds no assistance, but they finally puzzled out the trail for -themselves. We were now given a good illustration of the impossibility -of jumping a cougar without dogs, even when in a general way its haunt -is known. We rode along the hillside, and quartered it to and fro, on -the last occasion coming down a spur where we passed within two or three -rods of the brush in which the cougar was actually lying; but she never -moved and it was impossible to see her. When we finally reached the -bottom, the dogs had disentangled the trail; and they passed behind us -at a good rate, going up almost where we had come down. Even as we -looked we saw the cougar rise from her lair, only fifty yards or so -ahead of them, her red hide showing bright in the sun. It was a very -pretty run to watch while it lasted. She left them behind at first, but -after a quarter of a mile they put her up a pinyon. Approaching -cautiously—for the climbing was hard work and I did not wish to frighten -her out of the tree if it could be avoided, lest she might make such a -run as that of the preceding evening—I was able to shoot her through the -heart. She died in the branches, and I climbed the tree to throw her -down. The only skill needed in such shooting is in killing the cougar -outright so as to save the dogs. Six times on the hunt I shot the cougar -through the heart. Twice the animal died in the branches. In the other -four cases it sprang out of the tree, head and tail erect, eyes blazing, -and the mouth open in a grin of savage hate and anger; but it was -practically dead when it touched the ground. - -[Illustration: - - COUGAR IN A TREE - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Although these cougars were mates, they were not of the same color, the -female being reddish, while the male was slate-colored. In weighing this -male we had to take off the hide and weigh it separately (with the head -and paws attached), for our steelyard only went up to 150 pounds. When -we came to weigh the biggest male we had to take off the quarters as -well as the hide. - -Thinking that we had probably exhausted the cougars around the Keystone -Ranch, we spent the next fortnight off on a trip. We carried only what -we could put in the small saddle-pockets—our baggage being as strictly -limited as it ought to be with efficient cavalry who are on an active -campaign. We worked hard, but, as so often happens, our luck was not in -proportion to our labor. - -The first day we rode to the Mathes brothers’ ranch. On the high divides -it was very cold, the thermometer standing at nearly twenty degrees -below zero. But we were clad for just such weather, and were not -uncomfortable. The three Mathes brothers lived together, with the wives -and children of the two married ones. Their ranch was in a very -beautiful and wild valley, the pinyon-crowned cliffs rising in walls on -either hand. Deer were abundant and often in sight from the ranch doors. -At night the gray wolves came down close to the buildings and howled for -hours among the precipices, under the light of the full moon. The still -cold was intense; but I could not resist going out for half an hour at a -time to listen to them. To me their baying, though a very eerie and -lonesome sound, full of vaguely sinister associations, has, -nevertheless, a certain wild music of its own which is far from being -without charm. - -We did not hear the cougars calling, for they are certainly nothing like -as noisy as wolves; yet the Mathes brothers had heard them several -times, and once one of them had crept up and seen the cougar, which -remained in the same place for many minutes, repeating its cry -continually. The Mathes had killed but two cougars, not having any dogs -trained to hunt them. One of these was killed under circumstances which -well illustrate the queer nature of the animal. The three men, with one -of their two cattle dogs, were walking up the valley not half a mile -above the ranch-house, when they saw a cougar crossing in front of them, -a couple of hundred yards off. As soon as she saw them she crouched flat -down with her head toward them, remaining motionless. Two, with the dog, -stayed where they were, while the other ran back to the ranch-house for -a rifle and for the other dog. No sooner had he gone than the cougar -began deliberately to crawl toward the men who were left. She came on -slowly but steadily, crouched almost flat to the ground. The two unarmed -men were by no means pleased with her approach. They waved their hands -and jumped about and shouted; but she kept approaching, although slowly, -and was well within a hundred yards when the other brother arrived, out -of breath, accompanied by the other dog. At sight of him she jumped up, -ran off a couple of hundred yards, went up a tree, and was killed. I do -not suppose she would have attacked the men; but as there was an -unpleasant possibility that she might, they both felt distinctly more -comfortable when their brother rejoined them with the rifle. - -There was a good deal of snowy weather while we were at the Mathes -ranch, but we had fair luck, killing two cougars. It was most -comfortable, for the ranch was clean and warm, and the cooking -delicious. It does not seem to me that I ever tasted better milk and -butter, hot biscuits, rice, potatoes, pork and bulberry and wild-plum -jam; and of course the long days on horseback in the cold weather gave -an edge to our appetites. One stormy day we lost the hounds, and we -spent most of the next day in finding such of them as did not come -straggling in of their own accord. The country was very rough, and it -was astounding to see some of the places up and down which we led the -horses. Sometimes I found that my horse climbed rather better than I -did, for he would come up some awkward-looking slope with such a rush -that I literally had to scramble on all-fours to get out of his way. - -There was no special incident connected with killing either of these two -cougars. In one case Goff himself took the lead in working out the trail -and preventing the hounds getting off after bobcats. In the other case -the trail was fresher and the dogs ran it by themselves, getting into a -country where we could not follow; it was very rough, and the cliffs and -gorges rang with their baying. In both cases they had the cougar treed -for about three hours before we were able to place them and walk up to -them. It was hard work, toiling through the snow over the cliffs toward -the baying; and on each occasion the cougar leaped from the tree at our -approach, and ran a quarter of a mile or so before going up another, -where it was shot. As I came up to shoot, most of the dogs paid no -attention, but Boxer and Nellie always kept looking at me until I -actually raised the rifle, when they began to spring about the spot -where they thought the cougar would come down. The cougar itself always -seemed to recognize the man as the dangerous opponent; and as I strode -around to find a place from whence I could deliver an instantaneously -fatal shot, it would follow me steadily with its evil yellow eyes. I -came up very close, but the beasts never attempted to jump at me. -Judging from what one reads in books about Indian and African game, a -leopard under such circumstances would certainly sometimes charge. - -Three days of our trip were spent on a ride to Colorow Mountain; we went -down to Judge Foreman’s ranch on White River to pass the night. We got -another cougar on the way. She must really be credited to Jim. The other -dogs were following in our footsteps through the snow, after having made -various futile excursions of their own. When we found that Jim was -missing, we tried in vain to recall him with the horn, and at last -started to hunt him up. After an hour’s ride we heard him off on the -mountain, evidently following a trail, but equally evidently not yet -having jumped the animal. The hounds heard him quite as quickly as we -did, and started toward him. Soon we heard the music of the whole pack, -which grew fainter and fainter, and was lost entirely as they -disappeared around a spur, and then began to grow loud again, showing -that they were coming toward us. Suddenly a change in the note convinced -us that they had jumped the quarry. We stood motionless; nearer and -nearer they came; and then a sudden burst of clamor proclaimed that they -were barking treed. We had to ride only a couple of hundred yards; I -shot the cougar from across a little ravine. She was the largest female -we got. - -The dogs were a source of unceasing amusement, not merely while hunting, -but because of their relations to one another when off duty. Queen’s -temper was of the shortest toward the rest of the pack, although, like -Turk, she was fond of literally crawling into my lap, when we sat down -to rest after the worry which closed the chase. As soon as I began to -eat my lunch, all the dogs clustered close around and I distributed -small morsels to each in turn. Once Jimmie, Queen, and Boxer were -sitting side by side, tightly wedged together. I treated them with -entire impartiality; and soon Queen’s feelings overcame her, and she -unostentatiously but firmly bit Jimmie in the jaw. Jimmie howled -tremendously and Boxer literally turned a back somersault, evidently -fearing lest his turn should come next. - -On February 11th we rode back to the Keystone Ranch, carrying the three -cougar skins behind our saddles. It was again very cold, and the snow on -the divides was so deep that our horses wallowed through it up to their -saddle-girths. I supposed that my hunt was practically at an end, for I -had but three days left; but as it turned out these were the three most -lucky days of the whole trip. - -The weather was beautiful, the snow lying deep enough to give the dogs -easy trailing even on the southern slopes. Under the clear skies the -landscape was dazzling, and I had to wear snow-glasses. On the first of -the three days, February 12th, we had not ridden half an hour from the -ranch before we came across the trail of a very big bobcat. It was so -heavy that it had broken through the crust here and there, and we -decided that it was worth following. The trail went up a steep mountain -to the top, and we followed on foot after the dogs. Among the cliffs on -the top they were completely at fault, hunting every which way. After -awhile Goff suddenly spied the cat, which had jumped off the top of a -cliff into a pinyon. I killed it before any of the dogs saw it, and at -the shot they all ran in the wrong direction. When they did find us -skinning it, they were evidently not at all satisfied that it was really -their bobcat—the one which they had been trailing. Usually as soon as -the animal was killed they all lay down and dozed off; but on this -occasion they kept hurrying about and then in a body started on the back -trail. It was some time before we could get them together again. - -After we had brought them in we rode across one or two ridges, and up -and down the spurs without finding anything, until about noon we struck -up a long winding valley where we came across one or two old cougar -trails. The pack were following in our footsteps behind the horses, -except Jim, who took off to one side by himself. Suddenly he began to -show signs that he had come across traces of game; and in another moment -he gave tongue and all the hounds started toward him. They quartered -around in the neighborhood of a little gulch for a short while, and then -streamed off up the mountain-side; and before they had run more than a -couple of minutes we heard them barking treed. By making a slight turn -we rode almost up to the tree, and saw that their quarry was a young -cougar. As we came up, it knocked Jimmie right out of the tree. On -seeing us it jumped down and started to run, but it was not quite quick -enough. Turk seized it and in a minute the dogs had it stretched out. It -squalled, hissed, and made such a good fight that I put an end to the -struggle with the knife, fearing lest it might maim one of the hounds. - -While Goff was skinning it I wandered down to the kill near which it had -been lying. This was a deer, almost completely devoured. It had been -killed in the valley and dragged up perhaps a hundred yards to some -cedars. I soon saw from the tracks around the carcass that there was an -older cougar with the younger one—doubtless its mother—and walked back -to Goff with the information. Before I got there, however, some of the -pack had made the discovery for themselves. Jim, evidently feeling that -he had done his duty, had curled up and gone to sleep, with most of the -others; but old Boxer and the three bitches (Pete had left her pups and -joined us about the time we roused the big bobcat), hunted about until -they struck the fresh trail of the old female. They went off at a great -rate, and the sleeping dogs heard them and scampered away to the sound. -The trail led them across a spur, into a valley, and out of it up the -precipitous side of another mountain. When we got to the edge of the -valley we could hear them barking treed nearly at the summit of the -mountain opposite. It was over an hour’s stiff climbing before we made -our way around to them, although we managed to get the horses up to -within a quarter of a mile of the spot. On approaching we found the -cougar in a leaning pinyon on a ledge at the foot of a cliff. Jimmie was -in the lower branches of the pinyon, and Turk up above him, within a few -feet of the cougar. Evidently he had been trying to tackle her and had -been knocked out of the tree at least once, for he was bleeding a good -deal and there was much blood on the snow beneath. Yet he had come back -into the tree, and was barking violently not more than three feet beyond -her stroke. She kept up a low savage growling, and as soon as I -appeared, fixed her yellow eyes on me, glaring and snarling as I worked -around into a place from which I could kill her outright. Meanwhile Goff -took up his position on the other side, hoping to get a photograph when -I shot. My bullet went right through her heart. She bit her paw, -stretched up her head and bit a branch, and then died where she was, -while Turk leaped forward at the crack of the rifle and seized her in -the branches. I had some difficulty in bundling him and Jimmie out of -the tree as I climbed up to throw down the cougar. - -Next morning we started early, intending to go to Juniper Mountain, -where we had heard that cougars were plentiful; but we had only ridden -about half an hour from the ranch when we came across a trail which by -the size we knew must belong to an old male. It was about thirty-six -hours old and led into a tangle of bad lands where there was great -difficulty in working it out. Finally, however, we found where it left -these bad lands and went straight up a mountain-side, too steep for the -horses to follow. From the plains below we watched the hounds working to -and fro until they entered a patch of pinyons in which we were certain -the cougar had killed a deer, as ravens and magpies were sitting around -in the trees. In these pinyons the hounds were again at fault for a -little while, but at last evidently found the right trail, and followed -it up over the hill-crest and out of sight. We then galloped hard along -the plain to the left, going around the end of the ridge and turning to -our right on the other side. Here we entered a deep narrow valley or -gorge which led up to a high plateau at the farther end. On our right, -as we rode up the valley, lay the high and steep ridge over which the -hounds had followed the trail. On the left it was still steeper, the -slope being broken by ledges and precipices. Near the mouth of the gorge -we encountered the hounds, who had worked the trail down and across the -gorge, and were now hunting up the steep cliff-shoulder on our left. -Evidently the cougar had wandered to and fro over this shoulder, and the -dogs were much puzzled and worked in zigzags and circles around it, -gradually getting clear to the top. Then old Boxer suddenly gave tongue -with renewed zest and started off at a run almost on top of the ridge, -the other dogs following. Immediately afterward they jumped the cougar. - -We had been waiting below to see which direction the chase would take -and now put spurs to our horses and galloped up the ravine, climbing the -hillside on our right so as to get a better view of what was happening. -A few hundred yards of this galloping and climbing brought us again in -sight of the hounds. They were now barking treed and were clustered -around a pinyon below the ridge crest on the side hill opposite us. The -two fighters, Turk and Queen, who had been following at our horses’ -heels, appreciated what had happened as soon as we did, and, leaving us, -ran down into the valley and began to work their way through the deep -snow up the hillside opposite, toward where the hounds were. Ours was an -ideal position for seeing the whole chase. In a minute the cougar jumped -out of the tree down among the hounds, who made no attempt to seize him, -but followed him as soon as he had cleared their circle. He came down -hill at a great rate and jumped over a low cliff, bringing after him -such an avalanche of snow that it was a moment before I caught sight of -him again, this time crouched on a narrow ledge some fifteen or twenty -feet below the brink from which he had jumped, and about as far above -the foot of the cliff, where the steep hill-slope again began. The -hounds soon found him and came along the ledge barking loudly, but not -venturing near where he lay facing them, with his back arched like a -great cat. Turk and Queen were meanwhile working their way up hill. Turk -got directly under the ledge and could not find a way up. Queen went to -the left and in a minute we saw her white form as she made her way -through the dark-colored hounds straight for the cougar. “That’s the end -of Queen,” said Goff; “he’ll kill her now, sure.” In another moment she -had made her rush and the cougar, bounding forward, had seized her, and -as we afterward discovered had driven his great fangs right through the -side of her head, fortunately missing the brain. In the struggle he lost -his footing and rolled off the ledge, and when they struck the ground -below he let go of the bitch. Turk, who was near where they struck, was -not able to spring for the hold he desired, and in another moment the -cougar was coming down hill like a quarter-horse. We stayed perfectly -still, as he was travelling in our direction. Queen was on her feet -almost as quick as the cougar, and she and Turk tore after him, the -hounds following in a few seconds, being delayed in getting off the -ledge. It was astonishing to see the speed of the cougar. He ran -considerably more than a quarter of a mile down hill, and at the end of -it had left the dogs more than a hundred yards behind. But his bolt was -shot, and after going perhaps a hundred yards or so up the hill on our -side and below us, he climbed a tree, under which the dogs began to bay -frantically, while we scrambled toward them. When I got down I found him -standing half upright on a big branch, his forepaws hung over another -higher branch, his sides puffing like bellows, and evidently completely -winded. In scrambling up the pinyon he must have struck a patch of -resin, for it had torn a handful of hair off from behind his right -forearm. I shot him through the heart. At the shot he sprang clean into -the top of the tree, head and tail up, and his face fairly demoniac with -rage; but before he touched the ground he was dead. Turk jumped up, -seized him as he fell, and the two rolled over a low ledge, falling -about eight feet into the snow, Turk never losing his hold. - -No one could have wished to see a prettier chase under better -circumstances. It was exceedingly interesting. The only dog hurt was -Queen, and very miserable indeed she looked. She stood in the trail, -refusing to lie down or to join the other dogs, as, with prodigious -snarls at one another, they ate the pieces of the carcass we cut out for -them. Dogs hunting every day, as these were doing, and going through -such terrific exertion, need enormous quantities of meat, and as old -horses and crippled steers were not always easy to get, we usually fed -them the cougar carcasses. On this occasion, when they had eaten until -they could eat no longer, I gave most of my lunch to Queen—Boxer, who -after his feast could hardly move, nevertheless waddling up with his -ears forward to beg a share. Queen evidently felt that the lunch was a -delicacy, for she ate it, and then trotted home behind us with the rest -of the dogs. Rather to my astonishment, next day she was all right, and -as eager to go with us as ever. Though one side of her head was much -swollen, in her work she showed no signs of her injuries. - -[Illustration: - - “BARKING TREED” - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Early the following morning, February 14th, the last day of my actual -hunting, we again started for Juniper Mountain, following the same -course on which we had started the previous day. Before we had gone a -mile, that is, only about half-way to where we had come across the -cougar track the preceding day, we crossed another, and as we deemed a -fresher, trail, which Goff pronounced to belong to a cougar even larger -than the one we had just killed. The hounds were getting both weary and -footsore, but the scent put heart into them and away they streamed. They -followed it across a sage-brush flat, and then worked along under the -base of a line of cliffs—cougar being particularly apt thus to travel at -the foot of cliffs. The pack kept well together, and it was pleasant, as -we cantered over the snowy plain beside them, to listen to their baying, -echoed back from the cliffs above. Then they worked over the hill and we -spurred ahead and turned to the left, up the same gorge or valley in -which we had killed the cougar the day before. The hounds followed the -trail straight to the cliff-shoulder where the day before the pack had -been puzzled until Boxer struck the fresh scent. Here they seemed to be -completely at fault, circling everywhere, and at one time following -their track of yesterday over to the pinyon-tree up which the cougar had -first gone. - -We made our way up the ravine to the head of the plateau, and then, -turning, came back along the ridge until we reached the top of the -shoulder where the dogs had been; but when we got there they had -disappeared. It did not seem likely that the cougar had crossed the -ravine behind us—although as a matter of fact this was exactly what had -happened—and we did not know what to make of the affair. - -We could barely hear the hounds; they had followed their back trail of -the preceding day, toward the place where we had first come across the -tracks of the cougar we had already killed. We were utterly puzzled, -even Goff being completely at fault, and we finally became afraid that -the track which the pack had been running was one which, instead of -having been made during the night, had been there the previous morning, -and had been made by the dead cougar. This meant, of course, that we had -passed it without noticing it, both going and coming, on the previous -day, and knowing Goff’s eye for a track I could not believe this. He, -however, thought we might have confused it with some of the big wolf -tracks, of which a number had crossed our path. After some hesitation, -he said that at any rate we could find out the truth by getting back -into the flat and galloping around to where we had begun our hunt the -day before; because if the dogs really had a fresh cougar before them he -must have so short a start that they were certain to tree him by the -time they got across the ridge crest. Accordingly we scrambled down the -precipitous mountain-side, galloped along the flat around the end of the -ridge and drew rein at about the place where we had first come across -the cougar trail on the previous day. Not a dog was to be heard -anywhere, and Goff’s belief that the pack was simply running a back -track became a certainty both in his mind and mine, when Jim suddenly -joined us, evidently having given up the chase. We came to the -conclusion that Jim, being wiser than the other dogs, had discovered his -mistake while they had not; “he just naturally quit,” said Goff. - -After some little work we found where the pack had crossed the broad -flat valley into a mass of very rough broken country, the same in which -I had shot my first big male by moonlight. Cantering and scrambling -through this stretch of cliffs and valleys, we began to hear the dogs, -and at first were puzzled because once or twice it seemed as though they -were barking treed or had something at bay; always, however, as we came -nearer we could again hear them running a trail, and when we finally got -up tolerably close we found that they were all scattered out. Boxer was -far behind, and Nellie, whose feet had become sore, was soberly -accompanying him, no longer giving tongue. The others were separated one -from the other, and we finally made out Tree’em all by himself, and not -very far away. In vain Goff called and blew his horn; Tree’em -disappeared up a high hillside, and with muttered comments on his -stupidity we galloped our horses along the valley around the foot of the -hill, hoping to intercept him. No sooner had we come to the other side, -however, than we heard Tree’em evidently barking treed. We looked at one -another, wondering whether he had come across a bobcat, or whether it -had really been a fresh cougar trail after all. - -Leaving our horses we scrambled up the canyon until we got in sight of a -large pinyon on the hillside, underneath which Tree’em was standing, -with his preposterous tail arched like a pump-handle, as he gazed -solemnly up in the tree, now and then uttering a bark at a huge cougar, -which by this time we could distinctly make out standing in the -branches. Turk and Queen had already left us and were running hard to -join Tree’em, and in another minute or two all of the hounds, except the -belated Boxer and Nellie, had also come up. The cougar having now -recovered his wind, jumped down and cantered off. He had been running -for three hours before the dogs and evidently had been overtaken again -and again, but had either refused to tree, or if he did tree had soon -come down and continued his flight, the hounds not venturing to meddle -with him, and he paying little heed to them. It was a different matter, -however, with Turk and Queen along. He went up the hill and came to bay -on the top of the cliffs, where we could see him against the sky-line. -The hounds surrounded him, but neither they nor Turk came to close -quarters. Queen, however, as soon as she arrived rushed straight in, and -the cougar knocked her a dozen feet off. Turk tried to seize him as soon -as Queen had made her rush; the cougar broke bay, and they all -disappeared over the hill-top, while we hurried after them. A quarter of -a mile beyond, on the steep hillside, they again had him up a -pinyon-tree. I approached as cautiously as possible so as not to alarm -him. He stood in such an awkward position that I could not get a fair -shot at the heart, but the bullet broke his back, and the dogs seized -him as he struck the ground. There was still any amount of fight in him, -and I ran in as fast as possible, jumping and slipping over the rocks -and the bushes as the cougar and dogs rolled and slid down the steep -mountain-side—for, of course, every minute’s delay meant the chance of a -dog being killed or crippled. It was a day of misfortunes for Jim, who -was knocked completely out of the fight by a single blow. The cougar was -too big for the dogs to master, even crippled as he was; but when I came -up close Turk ran in and got the great beast by one ear, stretching out -the cougar’s head, while he kept his own forelegs tucked way back so -that the cougar could not get hold of them. This gave me my chance and I -drove the knife home, leaping back before the creature could get round -at me. Boxer did not come up for half an hour, working out every inch of -the trail for himself, and croaking away at short intervals, while -Nellie trotted calmly beside him. Even when he saw us skinning the -cougar he would not hurry nor take a short cut, but followed the scent -to where the cougar had gone up the tree, and from the tree down to -where we were; then he meditatively bit the carcass, strolled off, and -lay down, satisfied. - -It was a very large cougar, fat and heavy, and the men at the ranch -believed it was the same one which had at intervals haunted the place -for two or three years, killing on one occasion a milch cow, on another -a steer, and on yet another a big work horse. Goff stated that he had on -two or three occasions killed cougars that were quite as long, and he -believed even an inch or two longer, but that he had never seen one as -large or as heavy. Its weight was 227 pounds, and as it lay stretched -out it looked like a small African lioness. It would be impossible to -wish a better ending to a hunt. - -The next day Goff and I cantered thirty miles into Meeker, and my -holiday was over. - - - - - CHAPTER II - A COLORADO BEAR HUNT - - -In mid-April, nineteen hundred and five, our party, consisting of Philip -B. Stewart, of Colorado Springs, and Dr. Alexander Lambert, of New York, -in addition to myself, left Newcastle, Col., for a bear hunt. As guides -and hunters we had John Goff and Jake Borah, than whom there are no -better men at their work of hunting bear in the mountains with hounds. -Each brought his own dogs; all told, there were twenty-six hounds, and -four half-blood terriers to help worry the bear when at bay. We -travelled in comfort, with a big pack-train, spare horses for each of -us, and a cook, packers, and horse-wranglers. I carried one of the new -model Springfield military rifles, a 30–40, with a soft-nosed bullet—a -very accurate and hard-hitting gun. - -[Illustration: - - STARTING FOR CAMP - - From a stereograph, copyright, 1905, by Underwood and Underwood -] - -This first day we rode about twenty miles to where camp was pitched on -the upper waters of East Divide Creek. It was a picturesque spot. At -this altitude it was still late winter and the snow lay in drifts, even -in the creek bottom, while the stream itself was not yet clear from ice. -The tents were pitched in a grove of leafless aspens and great spruces, -beside the rushing, ice-rimmed brook. The cook tent, with its stove, was -an attractive place on the cool mornings and in stormy weather. Fry, the -cook, a most competent man, had rigged up a table, and we had folding -camp-chairs—luxuries utterly unknown to my former camping trips. Each -day we breakfasted early and dined ten or twelve hours later, on -returning from the day’s hunt; and as we carried no lunch, the two meals -were enjoyed with ravenous pleasure by the entire company. The horses -were stout, tough, shaggy beasts, of wonderful staying power, and able -to climb like cats. The country was very steep and rugged; the -mountain-sides were greasy and slippery from the melting snow, while the -snow bucking through the deep drifts on their tops and on the north -sides was exhausting. Only sure-footed animals could avoid serious -tumbles, and only animals of great endurance could have lasted through -the work. Both Johnny Goff and his partner, Brick Wells, who often -accompanied us on the hunts, were frequently mounted on animals of -uncertain temper, with a tendency to buck on insufficient provocation; -but they rode them with entire indifference up and down any incline. One -of the riders, “Al,” a very good-tempered man, a tireless worker, had as -one of his horses a queer, big-headed dun beast, with a black stripe -down its back and traces of zebra-like bands on the backs of his front -legs. He was an atavistic animal, looking much as the horses must have -looked which an age or two ago lived in this very locality and were -preyed on by sabre-toothed tigers, hyenadons, and other strange and -terrible beasts of a long-vanished era. Lambert remarked to him: “Al, -you ought to call that horse of yours ‘Fossil’; he is a hundred thousand -years old.” To which Al, with immovable face, replied: “Gee! and that -man sold him to me for a seven-year-old! I’ll have the law on him!” - -The hounds were most interesting, and showed all the variations of -character and temper to be expected in such a pack; a pack in which -performance counted for everything and pedigree for nothing. One of the -best hounds was half fox terrier. Three of Johnny’s had been with us -four years before, when he and I hunted cougars together; these three -being Jim, now an old dog, who dropped behind in a hard run, but still -excellent on a cold trail; Tree’em, who, like Jim, had grown aged, but -was very sure; and Bruno, who had become one of the best of all the pack -on a hot trail, but who was apt to overrun it if it became at all -difficult and cold. The biggest dog of the pack, a very powerful animal, -was Badge, who was half foxhound and half what Johnny called Siberian -bloodhound—I suppose a Great Dane or Ulm dog. His full brother Bill came -next to him. There was a Rowdy in Jake’s pack and another Rowdy in -Johnny’s, and each got badly hurt before the hunt was through. Jake’s -Rowdy, as soon as an animal was killed, became very cross and wished to -attack any dog that came near. One of Jake’s best hounds was old Bruise, -a very sure, although not a particularly fast dog. All the members of -the pack held the usual wild-beast attitude toward one another. They -joined together for the chase and the fight, but once the quarry was -killed, their relations among themselves became those of active -hostility or selfish indifference. At feeding time each took whatever -his strength permitted, and each paid abject deference to whichever -animal was his known superior in prowess. Some of the younger dogs would -now and then run deer or coyote. But the older dogs paid heed only to -bear and bobcat; and the pack, as a body, discriminated sharply between -the hounds they could trust and those which would go off on a wrong -trail. The four terriers included a heavy, liver-colored half-breed -bulldog, a preposterous animal who looked as if his ancestry had -included a toadfish. He was a terrible fighter, but his unvarying -attitude toward mankind was one of effusive and rather foolish -affection. In a fight he could whip any of the hounds save Badge, and he -was far more willing than Badge to accept punishment. There was also a -funny little black and tan, named Skip, a most friendly little fellow, -especially fond of riding in front or behind the saddle of any one of us -who would take him up, although perfectly able to travel forty miles a -day on his own sturdy legs if he had to, and then to join in the worry -of the quarry when once it had been shot. Porcupines abounded in the -woods, and one or two of the terriers and half a dozen of the hounds -positively refused to learn any wisdom, invariably attacking each -porcupine they found; the result being that we had to spend many minutes -in removing the quills from their mouths, eyes, etc. A white -bull-terrier would come in from such a combat with his nose literally -looking like a glorified pincushion, and many of the spines we had to -take out with nippers. The terriers never ran with the hounds, but -stayed behind with the horses until they heard the hounds barking -“bayed” or “treed,” when they forthwith tore toward them. Skip adopted -me as his special master, rode with me whenever I would let him, and -slept on the foot of my bed at night, growling defiance at anything that -came near. I grew attached to the friendly, bright little fellow, and at -the end of the hunt took him home with me as a playmate for the -children. - -It was a great, wild country. In the creek bottoms there were a good -many ranches; but we only occasionally passed by these, on our way to -our hunting-grounds in the wilderness along the edge of the snow-line. -The mountains crowded close together in chain, peak, and tableland; all -the higher ones were wrapped in an unrent shroud of snow. We saw a good -many deer, and fresh sign of elk, but no elk themselves, although we -were informed that bands were to be found in the high spruce timber -where the snows were so deep that it would have been impossible to go on -horseback, while going on foot would have been inconceivably fatiguing. -The country was open. The high peaks were bare of trees. Cottonwoods, -and occasionally dwarfed birch or maple and willows, fringed the -streams; aspens grew in groves higher up. There were pinyons and cedars -on the slopes of the foothills; spruce clustered here and there in the -cooler ravines and valleys and high up the mountains. The dense oak -brush and thick-growing cedars were hard on our clothes, and sometimes -on our bodies. - -Bear and cougars had once been very plentiful throughout this region, -but during the last three or four years the cougars have greatly -diminished in numbers throughout northern Colorado, and the bears have -diminished also, although not to the same extent. The great grizzlies -which were once fairly plentiful here are now very rare, as they are in -most places in the United States. There remain plenty of the black and -brown bears, which are simply individual color phases of the same -species. - -Bears are interesting creatures and their habits are always worth -watching. When I used to hunt grizzlies my experience tended to make me -lay special emphasis on their variation in temper. There are savage and -cowardly bears, just as there are big and little ones; and sometimes -these variations are very marked among bears of the same district, and -at other times all the bears of one district will seem to have a common -code of behavior which differs utterly from that of the bears of another -district. Readers of Lewis and Clark do not need to be reminded of the -great difference they found in ferocity between the bears of the upper -Missouri and the bears of the Columbia River country; and those who have -lived in the upper Missouri country nowadays know how widely the bears -that still remain have altered in character from what they were as -recently as the middle of the last century. - -This variability has been shown in the bears which I have stumbled upon -at close quarters. On but one occasion was I ever regularly charged by a -grizzly. To this animal I had given a mortal wound, and without any -effort at retaliation he bolted into a thicket of what, in my hurry, I -thought was laurel (it being composed in reality, I suppose, of -thick-growing berry bushes). On my following him and giving him a second -wound, he charged very determinedly, taking two more bullets without -flinching. I just escaped the charge by jumping to one side, and he died -almost immediately after striking at me as he rushed by. This bear -charged with his mouth open, but made very little noise after the growl -or roar with which he greeted my second bullet. I mention the fact of -his having kept his mouth open, because one or two of my friends who -have been charged have informed me that in their cases they particularly -noticed that the bear charged with his mouth shut. Perhaps the fact that -my bear was shot through the lungs may account for the difference, or it -may simply be another example of individual variation. - -On another occasion, in a windfall, I got up within eight or ten feet of -a grizzly, which simply bolted off, paying no heed to a hurried shot -which I delivered as I poised unsteadily on the swaying top of an -overthrown dead pine. On yet another occasion, when I roused a big bear -from his sleep, he at the first moment seemed to pay little or no heed -to me, and then turned toward me in a leisurely way, the only sign of -hostility he betrayed being to ruffle up the hair on his shoulders and -the back of his neck. I hit him square between the eyes, and he dropped -like a pole-axed steer. - -[Illustration: - - AT DINNER - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -On another occasion I got up quite close to and mortally wounded a bear, -which ran off without uttering a sound until it fell dead; but another -of these grizzlies, which I shot from ambush, kept squalling and yelling -every time I hit him, making a great rumpus. On one occasion one of my -cow hands and myself were able to run down on foot a she grizzly bear -and her cub, which had obtained a long start of us, simply because of -the foolish conduct of the mother. The cub—or more properly the -yearling, for it was a cub of the second year—ran on far ahead, and -would have escaped if the old she had not continually stopped and sat up -on her hind legs to look back at us. I think she did this partly from -curiosity, but partly also from bad temper, for once or twice she -grinned and roared at us. The upshot of it was that I got within range -and put a bullet in the old she, who afterward charged my companion and -was killed; and we also got the yearling. - -One young grizzly which I killed many years ago dropped to the first -bullet, which entered its stomach. It then let myself and my companion -approach closely, looking up at us with alert curiosity, but making no -effort to escape. It was really not crippled at all, but we thought from -its actions that its back was broken, and my companion advanced to kill -it with his pistol. The pistol, however, did not inflict a mortal wound, -and the only effect was to make the young bear jump to its feet as if -unhurt, and race off at full speed through the timber; for though not -full-grown it was beyond cubhood, being probably about eighteen months -old. By desperate running I succeeded in getting another shot, and more -by luck than by anything else knocked it over, this time permanently. - -Black bear are not, under normal conditions, formidable brutes. If they -do charge and get home they may maul a man severely, and there are a -number of instances on record in which they have killed men. Ordinarily, -however, a black bear will not charge home, though he may bluster a good -deal. I once shot one very close up which made a most lamentable outcry, -and seemed to lose its head, its efforts to escape resulting in its -bouncing about among the trees with such heedless hurry that I was -easily able to kill it. Another black bear, which I also shot at close -quarters, came straight for my companions and myself, and almost ran -over the white hunter who was with me. This bear made no sound whatever -when I first hit it, and I do not think it was charging. I believe it -was simply dazed, and by accident ran the wrong way, and so almost came -into collision with us. However, when it found itself face to face with -the white hunter, and only four or five feet away, it prepared for -hostilities, and I think would have mauled him if I had not brained it -with another bullet; for I was myself standing but six feet or so to one -side of it. None of the bears shot on this Colorado trip made a sound -when hit; they all died silently, like so many wolves. - -Ordinarily, my experience has been that bears were not flurried when I -suddenly came upon them. They impressed me as if they were always -keeping in mind the place toward which they wished to retreat in the -event of danger, and for this place, which was invariably a piece of -rough ground or dense timber, they made off with all possible speed, not -seeming to lose their heads. - -[Illustration: - - THE PACK STRIKES THE FRESH BEAR TRAIL - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Frequently I have been able to watch bears for some time while myself -unobserved. With other game I have very often done this even when within -close range, not wishing to kill creatures needlessly, or without a good -object; but with bears, my experience has been that chances to secure -them come so seldom as to make it very distinctly worth while improving -any that do come, and I have not spent much time watching any bear -unless he was in a place where I could not get at him, or else was so -close at hand that I was not afraid of his getting away. On one occasion -the bear was hard at work digging up squirrel or gopher _caches_ on the -side of a pine-clad hill; while at this work he looked rather like a big -badger. On two other occasions the bear was fussing around a carcass -preparatory to burying it. On these occasions I was very close, and it -was extremely interesting to note the grotesque, half-human movements, -and giant, awkward strength of the great beast. He would twist the -carcass around with the utmost ease, sometimes taking it in his teeth -and dragging it, at other times grasping it in his forepaws and half -lifting, half shoving it. Once the bear lost his grip and rolled over -during the course of some movement, and this made him angry, and he -struck the carcass a savage whack, just as a pettish child will strike a -table against which it has knocked itself. At another time I watched a -black bear some distance off getting his breakfast under stumps and -stones. He was very active, turning the stone or log over, and then -thrusting his muzzle into the empty space to gobble up the small -creatures below before they recovered from their surprise and the sudden -inflow of light. From under one log he put a chipmunk, and danced hither -and thither with even more agility than awkwardness, slapping at the -chipmunk with his paw while it zigzagged about, until finally he scooped -it into his mouth. - -All this was in the old days when I was still-hunting, with only the -rifle. This Colorado trip was the first on which I hunted bears with -hounds. If we had run across a grizzly there would doubtless have been a -chance to show some prowess, at least in the way of hard riding. But the -black and brown bears cannot, save under exceptional circumstances, -escape from such a pack as we had with us; and the real merit of the -chase was confined to the hounds and to Jake and Johnny for their skill -in handling them. Perhaps I should add the horses, for their -extraordinary endurance and surefootedness. As for the rest of us, we -needed to do little more than to sit ten or twelve hours in the saddle -and occasionally lead the horses up or down the most precipitous and -cliff-like of the mountain-sides. But it was great fun, nevertheless, -and usually a chase lasted long enough to be interesting. - -The first day after reaching camp we rode for eleven hours over a very -difficult country, but without getting above the snow-line. Finally the -dogs got on the fresh trail of a bobcat, and away they went. A bobcat -will often give a good run, much better, on the average, than a cougar; -and this one puzzled the dogs not a little at first. It scrambled out of -one deep valley, crossing and recrossing the rock ledges where its scent -was hard to follow; then plunged into another valley. Meanwhile we had -ridden up on the high mountain spur between the two valleys, and after -scrambling and galloping to and fro as the cry veered from point to -point when the dogs changed directions, we saw them cross into the -second valley. Here again they took a good deal of time to puzzle out -the trail, and became somewhat scattered. We had dismounted and were -standing by the horses’ heads, listening to the baying and trying to -decide which way we should go, when Stewart suddenly pointed us out a -bear. It was on the other side of the valley from us, and perhaps half a -mile away, galloping down hill, with two of the hounds after it, and in -the sunlight its fur looked glossy black. In a minute or two it passed -out of sight in the thick-growing timber at the bottom of the valley; -and as we afterward found, the two hounds, getting momentarily thrown -out, and hearing the others still baying on the cat trail, joined the -latter. Jake started off to go around the head of the valley, while the -rest of us plunged down into it. We found from the track that the bear -had gone up the valley, and Jake found where he had come out on the high -divide, and then turned and retraced his steps. But the hounds were -evidently all after the cat. There was nothing for us to do but follow -them. Sometimes riding, sometimes leading the horses, we went up the -steep hillside, and as soon as we reached the crest heard the hounds -barking treed. Shorty and Skip, who always trotted after the horses -while the hounds were in full cry on a trail, recognized the change of -note immediately, and tore off in the direction of the bay, while we -followed as best we could, hoping to get there in time for Stewart and -Lambert to take photographs of the lynx in a tree. But we were too late. -Both Shorty and Skip could climb trees, and although Skip was too light -to tackle a bobcat by himself, Shorty, a heavy, formidable dog, of -unflinching courage and great physical strength, was altogether too much -for any bobcat. When we reached the place we found the bobcat in the top -of a pinyon, and Shorty steadily working his way up through the branches -and very near the quarry. Evidently the bobcat felt that the situation -needed the taking of desperate chances, and just before Shorty reached -it out it jumped, Shorty yelling with excitement as he plunged down -through the branches after it. But the cat did not jump far enough. One -of the hounds seized it by the hind leg and in another second everything -was over. - -Shorty was always the first of the pack to attack dangerous game, and in -attacking bear or cougar even Badge was much less reckless and more -wary. In consequence, Shorty was seamed over with scars; most of them -from bobcats, but one or two from cougars. He could speedily kill a -bobcat single-handed; for these small lynxes are not really formidable -fighters, although they will lacerate a dog quite severely. Shorty found -a badger a much more difficult antagonist than a bobcat. A bobcat in a -hole makes a hard fight, however. On this hunt we once got a bobcat -under a big rock, and Jake’s Rowdy in trying to reach it got so badly -mauled that he had to join the invalid class for several days. - -The bobcat we killed this first day was a male, weighing twenty-five -pounds. It was too late to try after the bear, especially as we had only -ten or a dozen dogs out, while the bear’s tracks showed it to be a big -one; and we rode back to camp. - -Next morning we rode off early, taking with us all twenty-six hounds and -the four terriers. We wished first to find whether the bear had gone out -of the country in which we had seen him, and so rode up a valley and -then scrambled laboriously up the mountain-side to the top of the -snow-covered divide. Here the snow was three feet deep in places, and -the horses plunged and floundered as we worked our way in single file -through the drifts. But it had frozen hard the previous night, so that a -bear could walk on the crust and leave very little sign. In consequence -we came near passing over the place where the animal we were after had -actually crossed out of the canyon-like ravine in which we had seen him -and gone over the divide into another set of valleys. The trail was so -faint that it puzzled us, as we could not be certain how fresh it was, -and until this point could be cleared up we tried to keep the hounds -from following it. Old Jim, however, slipped off to one side and -speedily satisfied himself that the trail was fresh. Along it he went, -giving tongue, and the other dogs were maddened by the sound, while Jim, -under such circumstances, paid no heed whatever to any effort to make -him come back. Accordingly, the other hounds were slipped after him, and -down they ran into the valley, while we slid, floundered, and scrambled -along the ridge crest parallel to them, until a couple of miles farther -on we worked our way down to some great slopes covered with dwarf -scrub-oak. At the edge of these slopes, where they fell off in abrupt -descent to the stream at the bottom of the valley, we halted. Opposite -us was a high and very rugged mountain-side covered with a growth of -pinyon—never a close-growing tree—its precipitous flanks broken by -ledges and scored by gullies and ravines. It was hard to follow the -scent across such a mountain-side, and the dogs speedily became much -scattered. We could hear them plainly, and now and then could see them, -looking like ants as they ran up and down hill and along the ledges. -Finally we heard some of them barking bayed. The volume of sound -increased steadily as the straggling dogs joined those which had first -reached the hunted animal. At about this time, to our astonishment, -Badge, usually a stanch fighter, rejoined us, followed by one or two -other hounds, who seemed to have had enough of the matter. Immediately -afterward we saw the bear, half-way up the opposite mountain-side. The -hounds were all around him, and occasionally bit at his hind quarters; -but he had evidently no intention of climbing a tree. When we first saw -him he was sitting up on a point of rock surrounded by the pack, his -black fur showing to fine advantage. Then he moved off, threatening the -dogs, and making what in Mississippi is called a walking bay. He was a -sullen, powerful beast, and his leisurely gait showed how little he -feared the pack, and how confident he was in his own burly strength. By -this time the dogs had been after him for a couple of hours, and as -there was no water on the mountain-side we feared they might be getting -exhausted, and rode toward them as rapidly as we could. It was a hard -climb up to where they were, and we had to lead the horses. Just as we -came in sight of him, across a deep gully which ran down the sheer -mountain-side, he broke bay and started off, threatening the foremost of -the pack as they dared to approach him. They were all around him, and -for a minute I could not fire; then as he passed under a pinyon I got a -clear view of his great round stern and pulled trigger. The bullet broke -both his hips, and he rolled down hill, the hounds yelling with -excitement as they closed in on him. He could still play havoc with the -pack, and there was need to kill him at once. I leaped and slid down my -side of the gully as he rolled down his; at the bottom he stopped and -raised himself on his fore quarters; and with another bullet I broke his -back between the shoulders. - -[Illustration: - - DEATH OF THE BIG BEAR - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -Immediately all the dogs began to worry the carcass, while their savage -baying echoed so loudly in the narrow, steep gully that we could with -difficulty hear one another speak. It was a wild scene to look upon, as -we scrambled down to where the dead bear lay on his back between the -rocks. He did not die wholly unavenged, for he had killed one of the -terriers and six other dogs were more or less injured. The chase of the -bear is grim work for the pack. Jim, usually a very wary fighter, had a -couple of deep holes in his thigh; but the most mishandled of the -wounded dogs was Shorty. With his usual dauntless courage he had gone -straight at the bear’s head. Being such a heavy, powerful animal, I -think if he had been backed up he could have held the bear’s head down, -and prevented the beast from doing much injury. As it was, the bear bit -through the side of Shorty’s head, and bit him in the shoulder, and -again in the hip, inflicting very bad wounds. Once the fight was over -Shorty lay down on the hillside, unable to move. When we started home we -put him beside a little brook, and left a piece of bear meat by him, as -it was obvious we could not get him to camp that day. Next day one of -the boys went back with a pack-horse to take him in; but half-way out -met him struggling toward camp, and returned. Late in the afternoon -Shorty turned up while we were at dinner, and staggered toward us, -wagging his tail with enthusiastic delight at seeing his friends. We fed -him until he could not hold another mouthful; then he curled up in a dry -corner of the cook tent and slept for forty-eight hours; and two or -three days afterward was able once more to go hunting. - -The bear was a big male, weighing three hundred and thirty pounds. On -examination at close quarters, his fur, which was in fine condition, was -not as black as it had seemed when seen afar off, the roots of the hairs -being brown. There was nothing whatever in his stomach. Evidently he had -not yet begun to eat, and had been but a short while out of his hole. -Bear feed very little when they first come out of their dens, sometimes -beginning on grass, sometimes on buds. Occasionally they will feed at -carcasses and try to kill animals within a week or two after they have -left winter quarters, but this is rare, and as a usual thing for the -first few weeks after they have come out they feed much as a deer would. -Although not hog fat, as would probably have been the case in the fall, -this bear was in good condition. In the fall, however, he would -doubtless have weighed over four hundred pounds. The three old females -we got on this trip weighed one hundred and eighty, one hundred and -seventy-five, and one hundred and thirty-five pounds apiece. The -yearlings weighed from thirty-one to forty pounds. The only other black -bears I ever weighed all belonged to the sub-species _Luteolus_, and -were killed on the Little Sunflower River, in Mississippi, in the late -fall of nineteen hundred and two. A big old male, in poor condition, -weighed two hundred and eighty-five pounds, and two very fat females -weighed two hundred and twenty and two hundred and thirty-five pounds -respectively. - -The next few days we spent in hunting perseveringly, but unsuccessfully. -Each day we were from six to twelve hours in the saddle, climbing with -weary toil up the mountains and slipping and scrambling down them. On -the tops and on the north slopes there was much snow, so that we had to -pick our trails carefully, and even thus the horses often floundered -belly-deep as we worked along in single file; the men on the horses -which were best at snow bucking took turns in breaking the trail. In the -worst places we had to dismount and lead the horses, often over such bad -ground that nothing less sure-footed than the tough mountain ponies -could even have kept their legs. The weather was cold, with occasional -sharp flurries of snow, and once a regular snow-storm. We found the -tracks of one or two bears, but in each case several days old, and it -was evident either that the bears had gone back to their dens, finding -the season so late, or else that they were lying quiet in sheltered -places, and travelling as little as possible. One day, after a long run -of certainly five or six miles through very difficult country, the dogs -treed a bobcat in a big cedar. It had run so far that it was badly out -of breath. Stewart climbed the tree and took several photographs of it, -pushing the camera up to within about four feet of where the cat sat. -Lambert obtained photographs of both Stewart and the cat. Shorty was at -this time still an invalid from his encounter with the bear, but Skip -worked his way thirty feet up the tree in his effort to get at the -bobcat. Lambert shot the latter with his revolver, the bobcat dying -stuck in the branches; and he then had to climb the tree to get both the -bobcat and Skip, as the latter was at such a height that we thought he -would hurt himself if he fell. Another bobcat when treed sealed his own -fate by stepping on a dead branch and falling right into the jaws of the -pack. - -At this camp, as everywhere, the tiny four-striped chipmunks were -plentiful and tame; they are cheerful, attractive little animals. We -also saw white-footed mice and a big meadow mouse around camp; and we -found a young brushy-tailed pack-rat. The snowshoe rabbits were still -white on the mountains, but in the lower valleys they had changed to the -summer pelage. On the mountains we occasionally saw woodchucks and rock -squirrels of two kinds, a large and a small—_Spermophilus grammurus_ and -_armatus_. The noisy, cheerful pine squirrels were common where the -woods were thick. There were eagles and ravens in the mountains, and -once we saw sandhill cranes soaring far above the highest peaks. The -long-crested jays came familiarly around camp, but on this occasion we -only saw the whiskey jacks, Clark’s nutcrackers and magpies, while off -in the mountains. Among the pinyons, we several times came across -straggling flocks of the queer pinyon jays or blue crows, with their -unmistakable calls and almost blackbird-like habits. There were hawks of -several species, and blue grouse, while the smaller birds included -flickers, robins, and the beautiful mountain bluebirds. Juncos and -mountain chickadees were plentiful, and the ruby-crowned kinglets were -singing with astonishing power for such tiny birds. We came on two nests -of the red-tailed hawk; the birds were brooding, and seemed tame and -unwary. - -[Illustration: - - STEWART AND THE BOBCAT - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -After a week of this we came to the conclusion that the snow was too -deep and the weather too cold for us to expect to get any more bear in -the immediate neighborhood, and accordingly shifted camp to where Clear -Creek joins West Divide Creek. - -The first day’s hunt from the new camp was successful. We were absent -about eleven hours and rode some forty miles. The day included four -hours’ steady snow bucking, for the bear, as soon as they got the -chance, went through the thick timber where the snow lay deepest. Some -two hours after leaving camp we found the old tracks of a she and a -yearling, but it took us a much longer time before we finally struck the -fresh trail made late the previous night or early in the morning. It was -Jake who first found this fresh track, while Johnny with the pack was a -couple of miles away, slowly but surely puzzling out the cold trail and -keeping the dogs up to their work. As soon as Johnny came up we put all -the hounds on the tracks, and away they went, through and over the snow, -yelling their eager delight. Meanwhile we had fixed our saddles and were -ready for what lay ahead. It was wholly impossible to ride at the tail -of the pack, but we did our best to keep within sound of the baying. -Finally, after much hard work and much point riding through snow, slush, -and deep mud, on the level, and along, up, and down sheer slopes, we -heard the dogs barking treed in the middle of a great grove of aspens -high up the mountain-side. The snow was too deep for the horses, and -leaving them, we trudged heavily up on foot. The yearling was in the top -of a tall aspen. Lambert shot it with his rifle and we then put the dogs -on the trail of the old she. Some of the young ones did not know what to -make of this, evidently feeling that the tracks must be those of the -bear that they had already killed; but the veterans were in full cry at -once. We scrambled after them up the steep mountain, and then downward -along ridges and spurs, getting all the clear ground we could. Finally -we had to take to the snow, and floundered and slid through the drifts -until we were in the valley. Most of the time the dogs were within -hearing, giving tongue as they followed the trail. Finally a total -change in the note showed that they were barking treed; and as rapidly -as possible we made our way toward the sound. Again we found ourselves -unable to bring the horses up to where the bear had treed, and scrambled -thither on foot through the deep snow. - -[Illustration: - - THE PACK BAYING THE BEAR - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -The bear was some thirty or forty feet up a tall spruce; it was a big -she, with a glossy black-brown coat. I was afraid that at our approach -she might come down; but she had been running hard for some four hours, -had been pressed close, and evidently had not the slightest idea of -putting herself of her own free will within the reach of the pack, which -was now frantically baying at the foot of the tree. I shot her through -the heart. As the bullet struck she climbed up through the branches with -great agility for six or eight feet; then her muscles relaxed, and down -she came with a thud, nearly burying herself in the snow. Little Skip -was one of the first dogs to seize her as she came down; and in another -moment he literally disappeared under the hounds as they piled on the -bear. As soon as possible we got off the skin and pushed campward at a -good gait, for we were a long way off. Just at nightfall we came out on -a bluff from which we could overlook the rushing, swirling brown -torrent, on the farther bank of which the tents were pitched. - -The stomach of this bear contained nothing but buds. Like the other shes -killed on this trip, she was accompanied by her yearling young, but had -no newly born cub; sometimes bear breed only every other year, but I -have found the mother accompanied not only by her cub but by her young -of the year before. The yearling also had nothing but buds in its -stomach. When its skin was taken off, Stewart looked at it, shook his -head, and turning to Lambert said solemnly, “Alex., that skin isn’t big -enough to use for anything but a doily.” From that time until the end of -the hunt the yearlings were only known as “doily bears.” - -Next morning we again went out, and this time for twelve hours steadily, -in the saddle, and now and then on foot. Most of the time we were in -snow, and it was extraordinary that the horses could get through it at -all, especially in working up the steep mountain-sides. But until it got -so deep that they actually floundered—that is, so long as they could get -their legs down to the bottom—I found that they could travel much faster -than I could. On this day some twenty good-natured, hard-riding young -fellows from the ranches within a radius of a dozen miles had joined our -party to “see the President kill a bear.” They were a cheerful and -eagerly friendly crowd, as hardy as so many young moose, and utterly -fearless horsemen; one of them rode his wild, nervous horse bareback, -because it had bucked so when he tried to put the saddle on it that -morning that he feared he would get left behind, and so abandoned the -saddle outright. Whenever they had a chance they all rode at headlong -speed, paying no heed to the slope of the mountain-side or the character -of the ground. In the deep snow they did me a real service, for of -course they had to ride their horses single file through the drifts, and -by the time my turn came we had a good trail. - -[Illustration: - - A DOILY BEAR - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -After a good deal of beating to and fro, we found where an old she-bear -with two yearlings had crossed a hill during the night and put the -hounds on their tracks. Johnny and Jake, with one or two of the cowboys, -followed the hounds over the exceedingly difficult hillside where the -trail led; or rather, they tried to follow them, for the hounds speedily -got clear away, as there were many places where they could run on the -crust of the snow, in which the horses wallowed almost helpless. The -rest of us went down to the valley, where the snow was light and the -going easier. The bear had travelled hither and thither through the -woods on the sidehill, and the dogs became scattered. Moreover, they -jumped several deer, and four or five of the young dogs took after one -of the latter. Finally, however, the rest of the pack put up the three -bears. We had an interesting glimpse of the chase as the bears quartered -up across an open spot of the hillside. The hounds were but a short -distance behind them, strung out in a long string, the more powerful, -those which could do best in the snow bucking, taking the lead. We -pushed up the mountain-side after them, horse after horse getting down -in the snow, and speedily heard the redoubled clamor which told us that -something had been treed. It was half an hour before we could make our -way to the tree, a spruce, in which the two yearlings had taken refuge, -while around the bottom the entire pack was gathered, crazy with -excitement. We could not take the yearlings alive, both because we -lacked the means of carrying them, and because we were anxious to get -after the old bear. We could not leave them where they were, because it -would have been well-nigh impossible to get the dogs away, and because, -even if we had succeeded in getting them away, they would not have run -any other trail as long as they knew the yearlings were in the tree. It -was therefore out of the question to leave them unharmed, as we should -have been glad to do, and Lambert killed them both with his revolver; -the one that was first hit immediately biting its brother. The ranchmen -took them home to eat. - -The hounds were immediately put on the trail of the old one and -disappeared over the snow. In a few minutes we followed. It was heavy -work getting up the mountain-side through the drifts, but once on top we -made our way down a nearly bare spur, and then turned to the right, -scrambled a couple of miles along a slippery sidehill, and halted. Below -us lay a great valley, on the farther side of which a spruce forest -stretched up toward the treeless peaks. Snow covered even the bottom of -the valley, and lay deep and solid in the spruce forest on the -mountain-side. The hounds were in full cry, evidently on a hot trail, -and we caught glimpses of them far on the opposite side of the valley, -crossing little open glades in the spruce timber. If the crust was hard -they scattered out. Where it was at all soft they ran in single file. We -worked our way down toward them, and on reaching the bottom of the -valley, went up it as fast as the snow would allow. Finally we heard the -pack again barking treed and started toward them. They had treed the -bear far up the mountain-side in the thick spruce timber, and a short -experiment showed us that the horses could not possibly get through the -snow. Accordingly, off we jumped and went toward the sound on foot, all -the young ranchmen and cowboys rushing ahead, and thereby again making -me an easy trail. On the way to the tree the rider of the bareback horse -pounced on a snowshoe rabbit which was crouched under a bush and caught -it with his hands. It was half an hour before we reached the tree, a big -spruce, up which the bear had gone to a height of some forty feet. I -broke her neck with a single bullet. She was smaller than the one I had -shot the day before, but full-grown. In her stomach, as in those of the -two yearlings, there were buds of rose-bushes and quaking aspens. One -yearling had also swallowed a mouse. It was a long ride to camp, and -darkness had fallen by the time we caught the gleam from the lighted -tents, across the dark stream. - -With neither of these last two bear had there been any call for prowess; -my part was merely to kill the bear dead at the first shot, for the sake -of the pack. But the days were very enjoyable, nevertheless. It was good -fun to be twelve hours in the saddle in such wild and beautiful country, -to look at and listen to the hounds as they worked, and finally to see -the bear treed and looking down at the maddened pack baying beneath. - -For the next two or three days I was kept in camp by a touch of Cuban -fever. On one of these days Lambert enjoyed the longest hunt we had on -the trip, after an old she-bear and three yearlings. The yearlings treed -one by one, each of course necessitating a stoppage, and it was seven in -the evening before the old bear at last went up a cottonwood and was -shot; she was only wounded, however, and in the fight she crippled -Johnny’s Rowdy before she was killed. When the hunters reached camp it -was thirteen hours since they had left it. The old bear was a very light -brown; the first yearling was reddish-brown, the second light -yellowish-brown, the third dark black-brown, though all were evidently -of the same litter. - -Following this came a spell of bad weather, snow-storm and blizzard -steadily succeeding one another. This lasted until my holiday was over. -Some days we had to stay in camp. On other days we hunted; but there was -three feet of new snow on the summits and foothills, making it difficult -to get about. We saw no more bear, and, indeed, no more bear-tracks that -were less than two or three weeks old. - -We killed a couple of bobcats. The chase of one was marked by several -incidents. We had been riding through a blizzard on the top of a -plateau, and were glad to plunge down into a steep sheer-sided valley. -By the time we reached the bottom there was a lull in the storm and we -worked our way with considerable difficulty through the snow, down -timber, and lava rock, toward Divide Creek. After a while the valley -widened a little, spruce and aspens fringing the stream at the bottom -while the sides were bare. Here we struck a fresh bobcat trail leading -off up one of the mountain-sides. The hounds followed it nearly to the -top, then turned and came down again, worked through the timber in the -bottom, and struck out on the hillside opposite. Suddenly we saw the -bobcat running ahead of them and doubling and circling. A few minutes -afterward the hounds followed the trail to the creek bottom and then -began to bark treed. But on reaching the point we found there was no cat -in the tree, although the dogs seemed certain that there was; and Johnny -and Jake speedily had them again running on the trail. After making its -way for some distance through the bottom, the cat had again taken to the -sidehill, and the hounds went after it hard. Again they went nearly to -the top, again they streamed down to the bottom and crossed the creek. -Soon afterward we saw the cat ahead of them. For the moment it threw -them off the track by making a circle and galloping around close to the -rearmost hounds. It then made for the creek bottom, where it climbed to -the top of a tall aspen. The hounds soon picked up the trail again, and -followed it full cry; but unfortunately just before they reached where -it had treed they ran on to a porcupine. When we reached the foot of the -aspen, in the top of which the bobcat crouched, with most of the pack -baying beneath, we found the porcupine dead and half a dozen dogs with -their muzzles and throats filled full of quills. Before doing anything -with the cat it was necessary to take these quills out. One of the -terriers, which always found porcupines an irresistible attraction, was -a really extraordinary sight, so thickly were the quills studded over -his face and chest. But a big hound was in even worse condition; the -quills were stuck in abundance into his nose, lips, cheeks, and tongue, -and in the roof of his mouth they were almost as thick as bristles in a -brush. Only by use of pincers was it possible to rid these two dogs of -the quills, and it was a long and bloody job. The others had suffered -less. - -[Illustration: - - THE BIG BEAR - - From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart -] - -The dogs seemed to have no sympathy with one another, and apparently all -that the rest of the pack felt was that they were kept a long time -waiting for the cat. They never stopped baying for a minute, and Shorty, -as was his habit, deliberately bit great patches of bark from the -aspens, to show his impatience; for the tree in which the cat stood was -not one which he could climb. After attending to the porcupine dogs one -of the men climbed the tree and with a stick pushed out the cat. It -dropped down through the branches forty or fifty feet, but was so quick -in starting and dodging that it actually rushed through the pack, -crossed the stream, and, doubling and twisting, was off up the creek -through the timber. It ran cunning, and in a minute or two lay down -under a bush and watched the hounds as they went by, overrunning its -trail. Then it took off up the hillside; but the hounds speedily picked -up its track, and running in single file, were almost on it. Then the -cat turned down hill, but too late, for it was overtaken within fifty -yards. This ended our hunting. - -One Sunday we rode down some six miles from camp to a little blue -school-house and attended service. The preacher was in the habit of -riding over every alternate Sunday from Rifle, a little town twenty or -twenty-five miles away; and the ranchmen with their wives and children, -some on horseback, some in wagons, had gathered from thirty miles round -to attend the service. The crowd was so large that the exercises had to -take place in the open air, and it was pleasant to look at the strong -frames and rugged, weather-beaten faces of the men; while as for the -women, one respected them even more than the men. - -In spite of the snow-storms spring was coming; some of the trees were -beginning to bud and show green, more and more flowers were in bloom, -and bird life was steadily increasing. In the bushes by the streams the -handsome white-crowned sparrows and green-tailed towhees were in full -song, making attractive music; although the song of neither can rightly -be compared in point of plaintive beauty with that of the white-throated -sparrow, which, except some of the thrushes, and perhaps the winter -wren, is the sweetest singer of the Northeastern forests. The spurred -towhees were very plentiful; and one morning a willow-thrush sang among -the willows like a veery. Both the crested jays and the Woodhouse jays -came around camp. Lower down the Western meadow larks were singing -beautifully, and vesper finches were abundant. Say’s flycatcher, a very -attractive bird, with pretty, soft-colored plumage, continually uttering -a plaintive single note, and sometimes a warbling twitter, flitted about -in the neighborhood of the little log ranch houses. Gangs of blackbirds -visited the corrals. I saw but one song sparrow, and curiously enough, -though I think it was merely an individual peculiarity, this particular -bird had a song entirely different from any I have heard from the -familiar Eastern bird—always a favorite of mine. - -While up in the mountains hunting, we twice came upon owls, which were -rearing their families in the deserted nests of the red-tailed hawk. One -was a long-eared owl, and the other a great horned owl, of the pale -Western variety. Both were astonishingly tame, and we found it difficult -to make them leave their nests, which were in the tops of cottonwood -trees. - -On the last day we rode down to where Glenwood Springs lies, hemmed in -by lofty mountain chains, which are riven in sunder by sheer-sided, -cliff-walled canyons. As we left ever farther behind us the wintry -desolation of our high hunting-grounds we rode into full spring. The -green of the valley was a delight to the eye; bird songs sounded on -every side, from the fields and from the trees and bushes beside the -brooks and irrigation ditches; the air was sweet with the spring-time -breath of many budding things. The sarvice bushes were white with bloom, -like shadblow on the Hudson; the blossoms of the Oregon grape made -yellow mats on the ground. We saw the chunky Say’s ground squirrel, -looking like a big chipmunk, with on each side a conspicuous white -stripe edged with black. In one place we saw quite a large squirrel, -grayish, with red on the lower back. I suppose it was only a pine -squirrel, but it looked like one of the gray squirrels of southern -Colorado. Mountain mockers and the handsome, bold Arkansaw king birds -were numerous. The blacktail sage sparrow was conspicuous in the -sage-brush, and high among the cliffs the white-throated swifts were -soaring. There were numerous warblers, among which I could only make out -the black-throated gray, Audubon’s, and McGillivray’s. In Glenwood -Springs itself the purple finches, house finches, and Bullock’s orioles -were in full song. Flocks of siskins passed with dipping flight. In one -rapid little stream we saw a water ousel. Humming-birds—I suppose the -broad-tailed—were common, and as they flew they made, intermittently and -almost rhythmically, a curious metallic sound; seemingly it was done -with their wings. - -But the thing that interested me most in the way of bird life was -something I saw in Denver. To my delight I found that the huge hotel at -which we took dinner was monopolized by the pretty, musical house -finches, to the exclusion of the ordinary city sparrows. The latter are -all too plentiful in Denver, as in every other city, and, as always, are -noisy, quarrelsome—in short, thoroughly unattractive and disreputable. -The house finch, on the contrary, is attractive in looks, in song, and -in ways. It was delightful to hear the males singing, often on the wing. -They went right up to the top stories of the high hotel, and nested -under the eaves and in the cornices. The cities of the Southwestern -States are to be congratulated on having this spirited, attractive -little songster as a familiar dweller around their houses and in their -gardens. - - - - - CHAPTER III - WOLF-COURSING - - -On April eighth, nineteen hundred and five, we left the town of -Frederick, Oklahoma, for a few days’ coyote coursing in the Comanche -Reserve. Lieut.-Gen. S. B. M. Young, U. S. A., retired, Lieutenant -Fortescue, U. S. A., formerly of my regiment, and Dr. Alexander Lambert, -of New York, were with me. We were the guests of Colonel Cecil Lyon, of -Texas, of Sloan Simpson, also of Texas, and formerly of my regiment, and -of two old-style Texas cattlemen, Messrs. Burnett and Wagner, who had -leased great stretches of wire-fenced pasture from the Comanches and -Kiowas; and I cannot sufficiently express my appreciation of the -kindness of these my hosts. Burnett’s brand, the Four Sixes, has been -owned by him for forty years. Both of them had come to this country -thirty years before, in the days of the buffalo, when all game was very -plentiful and the Indians were still on the warpath. Several other -ranchmen were along, including John Abernethy, of Tesca, Oklahoma, a -professional wolf hunter. There were also a number of cowhands of both -Burnett and Wagner; among them were two former riders for the Four -Sixes, Fi Taylor and Uncle Ed Gillis, who seemed to make it their -special mission to see that everything went right with me. Furthermore -there was Captain McDonald of the Texas Rangers, a game and true man, -whose name was one of terror to outlaws and violent criminals of all -kinds; and finally there was Quanah Parker, the Comanche chief, in his -youth a bitter foe of the whites, now painfully teaching his people to -travel the white man’s stony road. - -[Illustration: - - STARTING TOWARDS THE WOLF GROUNDS - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -We drove out some twenty miles to where camp was pitched in a bend of -Deep Red Creek, which empties into the Red River of the South. -Cottonwood, elm, and pecans formed a belt of timber along the creek; we -had good water, the tents were pitched on short, thick grass, and -everything was in perfect order. The fare was delicious. Altogether it -was an ideal camp, and the days we passed there were also ideal. -Cardinals and mocking-birds—the most individual and delightful of all -birds in voice and manner—sang in the woods; and the beautiful, -many-tinted fork-tailed fly-catchers were to be seen now and then, -perched in trees or soaring in curious zigzags, chattering loudly. - -In chasing the coyote only greyhounds are used, and half a dozen -different sets of these had been brought to camp. Those of Wagner, the -“Big D” dogs, as his cow-punchers called them, were handled by Bony -Moore, who, with Tom Burnett, the son of our host Burke Burnett, took -the lead in feats of daring horsemanship, even in that field of daring -horsemen. Bevins had brought both greyhounds and rough-haired staghounds -from his Texas ranch. So had Cecil Lyon, and though his dogs had chiefly -been used in coursing the black-tailed Texas jack-rabbit, they took -naturally to the coyote chases. Finally there were Abernethy’s dogs, -which, together with their master, performed the feats I shall hereafter -relate. Abernethy has a homestead of his own not far from Frederick, and -later I was introduced to his father, an old Confederate soldier, and to -his sweet and pretty wife, and their five little children. He had run -away with his wife when they were nineteen and sixteen respectively; but -the match had turned out a happy one. Both were particularly fond of -music, including the piano, horn, and violin, and they played duets -together. General Young, whom the Comanches called “War Bonnet,” went in -a buggy with Burke Burnett, and as Burnett invariably followed the -hounds at full speed in his buggy, and usually succeeded in seeing most -of the chase, I felt that the buggy men really encountered greater -hazards than anyone else. It was a thoroughly congenial company all -through. The weather was good; we were in the saddle from morning until -night; and our camp was in all respects all that a camp should be; so -how could we help enjoying ourselves? - -The coursing was done on the flats and great rolling prairies which -stretched north from our camp toward the Wichita Mountains and south -toward the Red River. There was a certain element of risk in the -gallops, because the whole country was one huge prairie-dog town, the -prairie-dogs being so numerous that the new towns and the abandoned -towns were continuous with one another in every direction. Practically -every run we had was through these prairie-dog towns, varied -occasionally by creeks and washouts. But as we always ran scattered out, -the wonderfully quick cow-ponies, brought up in this country and -spending all their time among the prairie-dog towns, were able, even -while running at headlong speed, to avoid the holes with a cleverness -that was simply marvellous. During our hunt but one horse stepped in a -hole; he turned a complete somerset, though neither he nor his rider was -hurt. Stunted mesquite bushes grew here and there in the grass, and -there was cactus. As always in prairie-dog towns, there were burrowing -owls and rattlesnakes. We had to be on our guard that the dogs did not -attack the latter. Once we thought a greyhound was certainly bitten. It -was a very fast blue bitch, which seized the rattler and literally shook -it to pieces. The rattler struck twice at the bitch, but so quick were -the bitch’s movements that she was not hit either time, and in a second -the snake was not merely dead, but in pieces. We usually killed the -rattlers with either our quirts or ropes. One which I thus killed was -over five feet long. - -By rights there ought to have been carts in which the greyhounds could -be drawn until the coyotes were sighted, but there were none, and the -greyhounds simply trotted along beside the horses. All of them were fine -animals, and almost all of them of recorded pedigree. Coyotes have sharp -teeth and bite hard, while greyhounds have thin skins, and many of them -were cut in the worries. This was due to the fact that only two or three -of them seized by the throat, the others taking hold behind, which of -course exposed them to retaliation. Few of them would have been of much -use in stopping a big wolf. Abernethy’s hounds, however, though they -could not kill a big wolf, would stop it, permitting their owner to -seize it exactly as he seized coyotes, as hereafter described. He had -killed but a few of the big gray wolves; one weighed ninety-seven -pounds. He said that there were gradations from this down to the -coyotes. A few days before our arrival, after a very long chase, he had -captured a black wolf, weighing between fifty and sixty pounds. - -These Southern coyotes or prairie-wolves are only about one-third the -size of the big gray timber wolves of the Northern Rockies. They are too -small to meddle with full-grown horses and cattle, but pick up young -calves and kill sheep, as well as any small domesticated animal that -they can get at. The big wolves flee from the neighborhood of anything -like close settlements, but coyotes hang around the neighborhood of man -much more persistently. They show a fox-like cunning in catching -rabbits, prairie-dogs, gophers, and the like. After nightfall they are -noisy, and their melancholy wailing and yelling are familiar sounds to -all who pass over the plains. The young are brought forth in holes in -cut banks or similar localities. Within my own experience I have known -of the finding of but two families. In one there was but a single family -of five cubs and one old animal, undoubtedly the mother; in the other -case there were ten or eleven cubs and two old females which had -apparently shared the burrow or cave, though living in separate pockets. -In neither case was any full-grown male coyote found in the -neighborhood; as regards these particular litters, the father seemingly -had nothing to do with taking care of or supporting the family. I am not -able to say whether this was accidental or whether it is a rule, that -only the mother lives with and takes care of the litter; I have heard -contrary statements about the matter from hunters who should know. -Unfortunately I have learned from long experience that it is only -exceptional hunters who can be trusted to give accurate descriptions of -the habits of any beast, save such as are connected with its chase. - -[Illustration: - - GREYHOUNDS RESTING AFTER A RUN - - From a photograph by W. Sloan Simpson -] - -Coyotes are sharp, wary, knowing creatures, and on most occasions take -care to keep out of harm’s way. But individuals among them have queer -freaks. On one occasion while Sloan Simpson was on the round-up he waked -at night to find something on the foot of his bed, its dark form -indistinctly visible against the white tarpaulin. He aroused a friend to -ask if it could be a dog. While they were cautiously endeavoring to find -out what it was, it jumped up and ran off; they then saw that it was a -coyote. In a short time it returned again, coming out of the darkness -toward one of the cowboys who was awake, and the latter shot it, fearing -it might have hydrophobia. But I doubt this, as in such case it would -not have curled up and gone to sleep on Simpson’s bedding. Coyotes are -subject to hydrophobia, and when under the spell of the dreadful disease -will fearlessly attack men. In one case of which I know, a mad coyote -coming into camp sprang on a sleeping man who was rolled in his bedding -and bit and worried the bedding in the effort to get at him. Two other -men hastened to his rescue, and the coyote first attacked them and then -suddenly sprang aside and again worried the bedding, by which time one -of them was able to get in a shot and killed it. All coyotes, like big -wolves, die silently and fight to the last. I had never weighed any -coyotes until on this trip. I weighed the twelve which I myself saw -caught, and they ran as follows: male, thirty pounds; female, -twenty-eight pounds; female, thirty-six pounds; male, thirty-two pounds; -male, thirty-four pounds; female, thirty pounds; female, twenty-seven -pounds; male, thirty-two pounds; male, twenty-nine pounds; young male, -twenty-two pounds; male, twenty-nine pounds; female, twenty-seven -pounds. Disregarding the young male, this makes an average of just over -thirty pounds.[2] Except the heaviest female, they were all gaunt and in -splendid running trim; but then I do not remember ever seeing a really -fat coyote. - -Footnote 2: - - I sent the skins and skulls to Dr. Hart Merriam, the head of the - Biological Survey. He wrote me about them: “All but one are the plains - coyote, _Canis nebracensis_. They are not perfectly typical, but are - near enough for all practical purposes. The exception is a yearling - pup of a much larger species. Whether this is _frustor_ I dare not say - in the present state of knowledge of the group.” - -The morning of the first day of our hunt dawned bright and beautiful, -the air just cool enough to be pleasant. Immediately after breakfast we -jogged off on horseback, Tom Burnett and Bony Moore in front, with six -or eight greyhounds slouching alongside, while Burke Burnett and “War -Bonnet” drove behind us in the buggy. I was mounted on one of Tom -Burnett’s favorites, a beautiful Kiowa pony. The chuck wagon, together -with the relay of greyhounds to be used in the afternoon, was to join us -about midday at an appointed place where there was a pool of water. - -We shuffled along, strung out in an irregular line, across a long flat, -in places covered with bright-green wild onions; and then up a gentle -slope where the stunted mesquite grew, while the prairie-dogs barked -spasmodically as we passed their burrows. The low crest, if such it -could be called, of the slope was reached only some twenty minutes after -we left camp, and hardly had we started down the other side than two -coyotes were spied three or four hundred yards in front. Immediately -horses and dogs were after them at a headlong, breakneck run, the -coyotes edging to the left where the creek bottom, with its deep banks -and narrow fringes of timber, was about a mile distant. The little -wolves knew their danger and ran their very fastest, while the long dogs -stretched out after them, gaining steadily. It was evident the chase -would be a short one, and there was no need to husband the horses, so -every man let his pony go for all there was in him. At such a speed, and -especially going down hill, there was not the slightest use in trying to -steer clear of the prairie-dog holes; it was best to let the veteran -cow-ponies see to that for themselves. They were as eager as their -riders, and on we dashed at full speed, curving to the left toward the -foot of the slope; we jumped into and out of a couple of broad, shallow -washouts, as we tore after the hounds, now nearing their quarry. The -rearmost coyote was overtaken just at the edge of the creek; the -foremost, which was a few yards in advance, made good its escape, as all -the dogs promptly tackled the rearmost, tumbling it over into a rather -deep pool. The scuffling and splashing told us what was going on, and we -reined our horses short up at the brink of the cut bank. The water had -hampered the dogs in killing their quarry, only three or four of them -being in the pool with him; and of those he had seized one by the nose -and was hanging on hard. In a moment one of the cowboys got hold of him, -dropped a noose over his head, and dragged him out on the bank, just as -the buggy came rattling up at full gallop. Burnett and the general, -taking advantage of the curve in our course, had driven across the chord -of the arc, and keeping their horses at a run, had seen every detail of -the chase and were in at the death. - -In a few minutes the coyote was skinned, the dogs rested, and we were -jogging on once more. Hour after hour passed by. We had a couple more -runs, but in each case the coyote had altogether too long a start and -got away; the dogs no longer being as fresh as they had been. As a rule, -although there are exceptions, if the greyhounds cannot catch the coyote -within two or three miles the chances favor the escape of the little -wolf. We found that if the wolf had more than half a mile start he got -away. As greyhounds hunt by sight, cut banks enable the coyote easily to -throw off his pursuers unless they are fairly close up. The greyhounds -see the wolf when he is far off, for they have good eyes; but in the -chase, if the going is irregular, they tend to lose him, and they do not -depend much on one another in recovering sight of him; on the contrary, -the dog is apt to quit when he no longer has the quarry in view. - -[Illustration: - - AT THE TAIL OF THE CHUCK WAGON - - From a photograph by W. Sloan Simpson -] - -At noon we joined the chuck wagon where it stood drawn up on a slope of -the treeless, bushless prairie; and the active round-up cook soon had -the meal ready. It was the Four Sixes wagon, the brand burned into the -wood of the chuck box. Where does a man take more frank enjoyment in his -dinner than at the tail end of a chuck wagon? - -Soon after eating we started again, having changed horses and dogs. I -was mounted on a Big D cow-pony, while Lambert had a dun-colored horse, -hard to hold, but very tough and swift. An hour or so after leaving camp -we had a four-mile run after a coyote, which finally got away, for it -had so long a start that the dogs were done out by the time they came -within fair distance. They stopped at a little prairie pool, some of -them lying or standing in it, panting violently; and thus we found them -as we came stringing up at a gallop. After they had been well rested we -started toward camp; but we were down in the creek bottom before we saw -another coyote. This one again was a long distance ahead, and I did not -suppose there was much chance of our catching him; but away all the dogs -and all the riders went at the usual run, and catch him we did, because, -as it turned out, the “morning” dogs, which were with the wagon, had -spied him first and run him hard, until he was in sight of the -“afternoon” dogs, which were with us. I got tangled in a washout, -scrambled out, and was galloping along, watching the country in front, -when Lambert passed me as hard as he could go; I saw him disappear into -another washout, and then come out on the other side, while the dogs -were driving the coyote at an angle down toward the creek. Pulling short -to the right, I got through the creek, hoping the coyote would cross, -and the result was that I galloped up to the worry almost as soon as the -foremost riders from the other side—a piece of good fortune for which I -had only luck to thank. The hounds caught the coyote as he was about -crossing the creek. From this point it was but a short distance into -camp. - -Again next morning we were off before the sun had risen high enough to -take away the cool freshness from the air. This day we travelled several -miles before we saw our first coyote. It was on a huge, gently sloping -stretch of prairie, which ran down to the creek on our right. We were -travelling across it strung out in line when the coyote sprang up a good -distance ahead of the dogs. They ran straight away from us at first. -Then I saw the coyote swinging to the right toward the creek and I -half-wheeled, riding diagonally to the line of the chase. This gave me -an excellent view of dogs and wolf, and also enabled me to keep nearly -abreast of them. On this particular morning the dogs were Bevin’s -greyhounds and staghounds. From where the dogs started they ran about -three miles, catching their quarry in the flat where the creek circled -around in a bend, and when it was not fifty yards from the timber. By -this time the puncher, Bony Moore, had passed me, most of the other -riders having been so far to the left when the run began that they were -unable to catch up. The little wolf ran well, and the greyhounds had -about reached their limit when they caught up with it. But they lasted -just long enough to do the work. A fawn-colored greyhound and a black -staghound were the first dogs up. The staghound tried to seize the -coyote, which dodged a little to one side; the fawn-colored greyhound -struck and threw it; and in another moment the other dogs were up and -the worry began. I was able to see the run so well, because Tom Burnett -had mounted me on his fine roan cutting horse. We sat around in a -semicircle on the grass until the dogs had been breathed, and then -started off again. After some time we struck another coyote, but rather -far off, and this time the dogs were not fresh. After running two or -three miles he pulled away and we lost him, the dogs refreshing -themselves by standing and lying in a shallow prairie pool. - -In the afternoon we again rode off, and this time Abernethy, on his -white horse, took the lead, his greyhounds trotting beside him. There -was a good deal of rivalry among the various owners of the hounds as to -which could do best, and a slight inclination among the cowboys to be -jealous of Abernethy. No better riders could be imagined than these same -cowboys, and their greyhounds were stanch and fast; but Abernethy, on -his tough white horse, not only rode with great judgment, but showed a -perfect knowledge of the coyote, and by his own exertions greatly -assisted his hounds. He had found out in his long experience that while -the greyhounds could outpace a coyote in a two or three mile run, they -would then fall behind; but that after going eight or ten miles, a -coyote in turn became exhausted, and if he had been able to keep his -hounds going until that time, they could, with his assistance, then stop -the quarry. - -[Illustration: - - THE BIG D. COW-PONY - - From a photograph by W. Sloan Simpson -] - -We had been shogging along for an hour or more when we put up a coyote -and started after it. I was riding the Big D pony I had ridden the -afternoon before. It was a good and stout horse, but one which my weight -was certain to distress if I tried to go too fast for too long a time. -Moreover, the coyote had a long start, and I made up my mind that he -would either get away or give us a hard run. Accordingly, as the cowboys -started off at their usual headlong pace, I rode behind at a gallop, -husbanding my horse. For a mile or so the going was very rough, up over -and down stony hills and among washouts. Then we went over gently -rolling country for another mile or two, and then came to a long broken -incline which swept up to a divide some four miles ahead of us. Lambert -had been riding alongside of Abernethy, at the front, but his horse -began to play out, and needed to be nursed along, so that he dropped -back level with me. By the time I had reached the foot of this incline -the punchers, riding at full speed, had shot their bolts, and one by one -I passed them, as well as most of the greyhounds. But Abernethy was far -ahead, his white horse loping along without showing any signs of -distress. Up the long slope I did not dare press my animal, and -Abernethy must have been a mile ahead of me when he struck the divide, -while where the others were I had no idea, except that they were behind -me. When I reached the divide I was afraid I might have missed -Abernethy, but to my delight he was still in sight, far ahead. As we -began to go down hill I let the horse fairly race; for by Abernethy’s -motions I could tell that he was close to the wolf and that it was no -longer running in a straight line, so that there was a chance of my -overtaking them. In a couple of miles I was close enough to see what was -going on. But one greyhound was left with Abernethy. The coyote was -obviously tired, and Abernethy, with the aid of his perfectly trained -horse, was helping the greyhound catch it. Twice he headed it, and this -enabled me to gain rapidly. They had reached a small unwooded creek by -the time I was within fifty yards; the little wolf tried to break back -to the left; Abernethy headed it and rode almost over it, and it gave a -wicked snap at his foot, cutting the boot. Then he wheeled and came -toward it; again it galloped back, and just as it crossed the creek the -greyhound made a rush, pinned it by the hind leg and threw it. There was -a scuffle, then a yell from the greyhound as the wolf bit it. At the -bite the hound let go and jumped back a few feet, and at the same moment -Abernethy, who had ridden his horse right on them as they struggled, -leaped off and sprang on top of the wolf. He held the reins of the horse -with one hand and thrust the other, with a rapidity and precision even -greater than the rapidity of the wolf’s snap, into the wolf’s mouth, -jamming his hand down crosswise between the jaws, seizing the lower jaw -and bending it down so that the wolf could not bite him. He had a stout -glove on his hand, but this would have been of no avail whatever had he -not seized the animal just as he did; that is, behind the canines, while -his hand pressed the lips against the teeth; with his knees he kept the -wolf from using its forepaws to break the hold, until it gave up -struggling. When he thus leaped on and captured this coyote it was -entirely free, the dog having let go of it; and he was obliged to keep -hold of the reins of his horse with one hand. I was not twenty yards -distant at the time, and as I leaped off the horse he was sitting -placidly on the live wolf, his hand between its jaws, the greyhound -standing beside him, and his horse standing by as placid as he was. In a -couple of minutes Fortescue and Lambert came up. It was as remarkable a -feat of the kind as I have ever seen. - -Through some oversight we had no straps with us, and Abernethy had lost -the wire which he usually carried in order to tie up the wolves’ -muzzles—for he habitually captured his wolves in this fashion. However, -Abernethy regarded the lack of straps as nothing more than a slight -bother. Asking one of us to hold his horse, he threw the wolf across in -front of the saddle, still keeping his grip on the lower jaw, then -mounted and rode off with us on the back track. The wolf was not tied in -any way. It was unhurt, and the only hold he had was on its lower jaw. I -was surprised that it did not strive to fight with its legs, but after -becoming satisfied that it could not bite, it seemed to resign itself to -its fate, was fairly quiet, and looked about with its ears pricked -forward. The wolves which I subsequently saw him capture, and, having -tied up their muzzles, hold before him on the saddle, acted in precisely -the same manner. - -The run had been about ten miles in an almost straight line. At the -finish no other riders were in sight, but soon after we crossed the -divide on our return, and began to come down the long slope toward the -creek, we were joined by Tom Burnett and Bony Moore; while some three or -four miles ahead on a rise of the prairie we could see the wagon in -which Burke Burnett was driving General Young. Other punchers and -straggling greyhounds joined us, and as the wolf, after travelling some -five miles, began to recover his wind and show a tendency to fight for -his freedom, Abernethy tied up his jaws with his handkerchief and handed -him over to Bony Moore, who packed him on the saddle with entire -indifference, the wolf himself showing a curious philosophy. Our horses -had recovered their wind and we struck into a gallop down the slope; -then as we neared the wagon we broke into a run, Bony Moore brandishing -aloft with one hand the live wolf, its jaws tied up with a handkerchief, -but otherwise unbound. We stopped for a few minutes with Burnett and the -general to tell particulars of the hunt. Then we loped off again toward -camp, which was some half dozen miles off. I shall always remember this -run and the really remarkable feat Abernethy performed. Colonel Lyon had -seen him catch a big wolf in the same way that he caught this coyote. It -was his usual method of catching both coyotes and wolves. Almost equally -noteworthy were the way in which he handled and helped his greyhounds, -and the judgment, resolution, and fine horsemanship he displayed. His -horse showed extraordinary endurance. - -The third day we started out as usual, the chuck wagon driving straight -to a pool far out on the prairie, where we were to meet it for lunch. -Chief Quanah’s three wives had joined him, together with a small boy and -a baby, and they drove in a wagon of their own. Meanwhile the riders and -hounds went south nearly to Red River. In the morning we caught four -coyotes and had a three miles run after one which started too far ahead -of the dogs, and finally got clean away. All the four that we got were -started fairly close up, and the run was a breakneck scurry, horses and -hounds going as hard as they could put feet to the ground. Twice the -cowboys distanced me; and twice the accidents of the chase, the sudden -twists and turns of the coyote in his efforts to take advantage of the -ground, favored me and enabled me to be close up at the end, when -Abernethy jumped off his horse and ran in to where the dogs had the -coyote. He was even quicker with his hands than the wolf’s snap, and in -a moment he always had the coyote by the lower jaw. - -Between the runs we shogged forward across the great reaches of rolling -prairie in the bright sunlight. The air was wonderfully clear, and any -object on the sky-line, no matter how small, stood out with startling -distinctness. There were few flowers on these dry plains; in sharp -contrast to the flower prairies of southern Texas, which we had left the -week before, where many acres for a stretch would be covered by masses -of red or white or blue or yellow blossoms—the most striking of all, -perhaps, being the fields of the handsome buffalo clover. As we plodded -over the prairie the sharp eyes of the punchers were scanning the ground -far and near, and sooner or later one of them would spy the motionless -form of a coyote, or all would have their attention attracted as it ran -like a fleeting gray or brown shadow among the grays and browns of the -desolate landscape. Immediately dogs and horses would stretch at full -speed after it, and everything would be forgotten but the wild -exhilaration of the run. - -[Illustration: - - ABERNETHY AND COYOTE - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -It was nearly noon when we struck the chuck wagon. Immediately the handy -round-up cook began to prepare a delicious dinner, and we ate as men -have a right to eat, who have ridden all the morning and are going to -ride fresh horses all the afternoon. Soon afterward the horse-wranglers -drove up the saddle band, while some of the cow-punchers made a rope -corral from the side of the wagon. Into this the horses were driven, one -or two breaking back and being brought into the bunch again only after a -gallop more exciting than most coyote chases. Fresh ponies were roped -out and the saddle band again turned loose. The dogs that had been used -during the morning then started campward with the chuck wagon. One of -the punchers was riding a young and partially broken horse; he had no -bridle, simply a rope around the horse’s neck. This man started to -accompany the wagon to the camp. - -The rest of us went off at the usual cow-pony trot or running walk. It -was an hour or two before we saw anything; then a coyote appeared a long -way ahead and the dogs raced after him. The first mile was up a gentle -slope; then we turned, and after riding a couple of miles on the level -the dogs had shot their bolt and the coyote drew away. When he got too -far in front the dogs and foremost riders stopped and waited for the -rest of us to overtake them, and shortly afterward Burke Burnett and the -general appeared in their buggy. One of the greyhounds was completely -done out and we took some time attending to it. Suddenly one of the men, -either Tom Burnett or Bony Moore, called out that he saw the coyote -coming back pursued by a horseman. Sure enough, the unfortunate little -wolf had run in sight of the wagons, and the puncher on the young -unbridled horse immediately took after him, and, in spite of a fall, -succeeded in heading him back and bringing him along in our direction, -although some three-quarters of a mile away. Immediately everyone jumped -into his saddle and away we all streamed down a long slope diagonally to -the course the coyote was taking. He had a long start, but the dogs were -rested, while he had been running steadily, and this fact proved fatal -to him. Down the slope to the creek bottom at its end we rode at a run. -Then there came a long slope upward, and the heavier among us fell -gradually to the rear. When we topped the divide, however, we could see -ahead of us the foremost men streaming after the hounds, and the latter -running in a way which showed that they were well up on their game. Even -a tired horse can go pretty well down hill, and by dint of hard running -we who were behind got up in time to see the worry when the greyhounds -caught the coyote, by some low ponds in a treeless creek bed. We had -gone about seven miles, the unlucky coyote at least ten. Our journey to -camp was enlivened by catching another coyote after a short run. - -Next day was the last of our hunt. We started off in the morning as -usual, but the buggy men on this occasion took with them some trail -hounds, which were managed by a sergeant of the regular army, a game -sportsman. They caught two coons in the timber of a creek two or three -miles to the south of the camp. Meanwhile the rest of us, riding over -the prairie, saw the greyhounds catch two coyotes, one after a rather -long run and one after a short one. Then we turned our faces toward -camp. I saw Abernethy, with three or four of his own hounds, riding off -to one side, but unfortunately I did not pay any heed to him, as I -supposed the hunting was at an end. But when we reached camp Abernethy -was not there, nor did he turn up until we were finishing lunch. Then he -suddenly appeared, his tired greyhounds trotting behind him, while he -carried before him on the saddle a live coyote, with its muzzle tied up, -and a dead coyote strapped behind his saddle. Soon after leaving us he -had found a coyote, and after a good run the dogs had stopped it and he -had jumped off and captured it in his usual fashion. Then while riding -along, holding the coyote before him on the saddle, he put up another -one. His dogs were tired, and he himself was of course greatly hampered -in such a full-speed run by having the live wolf on the saddle in front -of him. One by one the dogs gave out, but his encouragement and -assistance kept two of them to their work, and after a run of some seven -miles the coyote was overtaken. It was completely done out and would -probably have died by itself, even if the hounds had not taken part in -the killing. Hampered as he was, Abernethy could not take it alive in -his usual fashion. So when it was dead he packed it behind his horse and -rode back in triumph. The live wolf, as in every other case where one -was brought into camp, made curiously little effort to fight with its -paws, seeming to acquiesce in its captivity, and looking around, with -its ears thrust forward, as if more influenced by curiosity than by any -other feeling. - -After lunch we rode toward town, stopping at nightfall to take supper by -the bank of a creek. We entered the town after dark, some twenty of us -on horseback. Wagner was riding with us, and he had set his heart upon -coming into and through the town in true cowboy style; and it was he who -set the pace. We broke into a lope a mile outside the limits, and by the -time we struck the main street the horses were on a run and we tore down -like a whirlwind until we reached the train. Thus ended as pleasant a -hunting trip as any one could imagine. The party got seventeen coyotes -all told, for there were some runs which I did not see at all, as now -and then both men and dogs would get split into groups. - -On this hunt we did not see any of the big wolves, the so-called buffalo -or timber wolves, which I hunted in the old days on the Northern cattle -plains. Big wolves are found in both Texas and Oklahoma, but they are -rare compared to the coyotes; and they are great wanderers. Alone or in -parties of three or four or half a dozen they travel to and fro across -the country, often leaving a district at once if they are molested. -Coyotes are more or less plentiful everywhere throughout the West in -thinly settled districts, and they often hang about in the immediate -neighborhood of towns. They do enough damage to make farmers and -ranchers kill them whenever the chance offers. But this damage is not -appreciable when compared with the ravages of their grim big brother, -the gray wolf, which, wherever it exists in numbers, is a veritable -scourge to the stockmen. - -Colonel Lyon’s hounds were, as I have said, used chiefly after -jack-rabbits. He had frequently killed coyotes with them, however, and -on two or three occasions one of the big gray wolves. At the time when -he did most of his wolf-hunting he had with the greyhounds a huge -fighting dog, a Great Dane, weighing one hundred and forty-five pounds. -In spite of its weight this dog could keep up well in a short chase, and -its ferocious temper and enormous weight and strength made it invaluable -at the bay. Whether the quarry were a gray wolf or coyote mattered not -in the least to it, and it made its assaults with such headlong fury -that it generally escaped damage. On the two or three occasions when the -animal bayed was a big wolf the greyhounds did not dare tackle it, -jumping about in an irregular circle and threatening the wolf until the -fighting dog came up. The latter at once rushed in, seizing its -antagonist by the throat or neck and throwing it. Doubtless it would -have killed the wolf unassisted, but the greyhounds always joined in the -killing; and once thrown, the wolf could never get on his legs. In these -encounters the dog was never seriously hurt. Rather curiously, the only -bad wound it ever received was from a coyote; the little wolf, not -one-third of its weight, managing to inflict a terrific gash down its -huge antagonist’s chest, nearly tearing it open. But of course a coyote -against such a foe could not last much longer than a rat pitted against -a terrier. - -Big wolves and coyotes are found side by side throughout the Western -United States, both varying so in size that if a sufficient number of -specimens, from different localities, are examined it will be found that -there is a complete intergradation in both stature and weight. To the -northward the coyotes disappear, and the big wolves grow larger and -larger until in the arctic regions they become veritable giants. At -Point Barrow Mr. E. A. McIlhenny had six of the eight “huskies” of his -dog team killed and eaten by a huge white dog wolf. At last he shot it, -and found that it weighed one hundred and sixty-one pounds. - -Good trail hounds can run down a wolf. A year ago Jake Borah’s pack in -northwestern Colorado ran a big wolf weighing one hundred and fifteen -pounds to bay in but little over an hour. He then stood with his back to -a rock, and though the dogs formed a semicircle around him, they dared -not tackle him. Jake got up and shot him. Unless well trained and with -the natural fighting edge neither trail hounds (fox-hounds) nor -greyhounds can or will kill a big wolf, and under ordinary -circumstances, no matter how numerous, they make but a poor showing -against one. But big ninety-pound or one hundred-pound greyhounds, -specially bred and trained for the purpose, stand on an entirely -different footing. Three or four of these dogs, rushing in together and -seizing the wolf by the throat, will kill him, or worry him until he is -helpless. On several occasions the Colorado Springs greyhounds have -performed this feat. Johnny Goff owned a large, fierce dog, a cross -between what he called a Siberian bloodhound (I suppose some animal like -a Great Dane) and an ordinary hound, which, on one occasion when he had -shot at and broken the hind leg of a big wolf, ran it down and killed -it. On the other hand, wolves will often attack dogs. In March of the -present year—nineteen hundred and five—Goff’s dogs were scattered over a -hillside hunting a bobcat, when he heard one of them yell, and looking -up saw that two wolves were chasing it. The other dogs were so busy -puzzling out the cat’s trail that they never noticed what was happening. -Goff called aloud, whereupon the wolves stopped. He shot one and the -other escaped. He thinks that they would have overtaken and killed the -hound in a minute or two if he had not interfered. - -The big wolves shrink back before the growth of the thickly settled -districts, and in the Eastern States they often tend to disappear even -from districts that are uninhabited save by a few wilderness hunters. -They have thus disappeared almost entirely from Maine, the Adirondacks, -and the Alleghanies, although here and there they are said to be -returning to their old haunts. Their disappearance is rather mysterious -in some instances, for they are certainly not all killed off. The black -bear is much easier killed, yet the black bear holds its own in many -parts of the land from which the wolf has vanished. No animal is quite -so difficult to kill as is the wolf, whether by poison or rifle or -hound. Yet, after a comparatively few have been slain, the entire -species will perhaps vanish from certain localities. In some localities -even the cougar, the easiest of all game to kill with hounds, holds its -own better. This, however, is not generally true. - -But with all wild animals, it is a noticeable fact that a course of -contact with man continuing over many generations of animal life causes -a species so to adapt itself to its new surroundings that it can hold -its own far better than formerly. When white men take up a new country, -the game, and especially the big game, being entirely unused to contend -with the new foe, succumb easily, and are almost completely killed out. -If any individuals survive at all, however, the succeeding generations -are far more difficult to exterminate than were their ancestors, and -they cling much more tenaciously to their old homes. The game to be -found in old and long-settled countries is of course much more wary and -able to take care of itself than the game of an untrodden wilderness; it -is the wilderness life, far more than the actual killing of the -wilderness game, which tests the ability of the wilderness hunter. - -[Illustration: - - ABERNETHY RETURNS FROM THE HUNT - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -After a time, game may even, for the time being, increase in certain -districts where settlements are thin. This was true of the wolves -throughout the northern cattle country, in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, -and the western ends of the Dakotas. In the old days wolves were very -plentiful throughout this region, closely following the huge herds of -buffaloes. The white men who followed these herds as professional -buffalo-hunters were often accompanied by other men, known as wolfers, -who poisoned these wolves for the sake of their fur. With the -disappearance of the buffalo the wolves diminished in numbers so that -they also seemed to disappear. Then in the late eighties or early -nineties the wolves began again to increase in numbers until they became -once more as numerous as ever and infinitely more wary and difficult to -kill; though as they were nocturnal in their habits they were not often -seen. Along the Little Missouri and in many parts of Montana and Wyoming -this increase was very noticeable during the last decade of the -nineteenth century. They were at that time the only big animals of the -region which had increased in numbers. Such an increase following a -previous decrease in the same region was both curious and interesting. I -never knew the wolves to be so numerous or so daring in their assaults -upon stock in the Little Missouri country as in the years 1894 to 1896 -inclusive. I am unable wholly to account for these changes. The first -great diminution in the numbers of the wolves is only partially to be -explained by the poisoning; yet they seemed to disappear almost -everywhere and for a number of years continued scarce. Then they again -became plentiful, reappearing in districts from whence they had entirely -vanished, and appearing in new districts where they had been hitherto -unknown. Then they once more began to diminish in number. In -northwestern Colorado, in the White River country, cougars fairly -swarmed in the early nineties, while up to that time the big gray wolves -were almost or entirely unknown. Then they began to come in, and -increased steadily in numbers, while the cougars diminished, so that by -the winter of 1902–3 they much outnumbered the big cats, and committed -great ravages among the stock. The settlers were at their wits’ ends how -to deal with the pests. At last a trapper came in, a shiftless fellow, -but extraordinarily proficient in his work. He had some kind of scent, -the secret of which he would not reveal, which seemed to drive the -wolves nearly crazy with desire. In one winter in the neighborhood of -the Keystone Ranch he trapped forty-two big gray wolves; they still -outnumber the cougars, which in that neighborhood have been nearly -killed out, but they are no longer abundant. - -At present wolves are decreasing in numbers all over Colorado, as they -are in Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. In some localities traps have -been found most effective; in others, poison; and in yet others, hounds. -I am inclined to think that where they have been pursued in one manner -for a long time any new method will at first prove more efficacious. -After a very few wolves have been poisoned or trapped, the survivors -become so wary that only a master in the art can do anything with them, -while there are always a few wolves which cannot be persuaded to touch a -bait save under wholly exceptional circumstances. From association with -the old she-wolves the cubs learn as soon as they are able to walk to -avoid man’s traces in every way, and to look out for traps and poison. -They are so shy and show such extraordinary cunning in hiding and -slinking out of the way of the hunter that they are rarely killed with -the rifle. Personally I never shot but one. A bold and good rider on a -first-rate horse can, however, run down even a big gray wolf in fair -chase, and either rope or shoot it. I have known a number of -cow-punchers thus to rope wolves when they happened to run across them -after they had gorged themselves on their quarry. A former Colorado -ranchman, Mr. Henry N. Pancoast, who had done a good deal of -wolf-hunting, and had killed one which, judging by its skin, was a -veritable monster, wrote me as follows about his experiences: - -“I captured nearly all my wolves by running them down and then either -roped or shot them. I had one mount that had great endurance, and when -riding him never failed to give chase to a wolf if I had the time to -spare; and never failed to get my quarry but two or three times. I roped -four full-grown and two cubs and shot five full-grown and three cubs—the -large wolf in question being killed that way. And he was by far the -hardest proposition I ever tried, and I candidly think I run him twenty -miles before overhauling and shooting him (he showed too much fight to -use a rope). As it was almost dark, concluded to put him on horse and -skin at ranch, but had my hands full to get him on the saddle, was so -very heavy. My plan in running wolves down was to get about three -hundred yards from them, and then to keep that distance until the wolf -showed signs of fatigue, when a little spurt would generally succeed in -landing him. In the case of the large one, however, I reckoned without -my host, as the wolf had as much go left as the horse, so I tried -slowing down to a walk and let the wolf go; he ... came down to a little -trot and soon placed a half mile between us, and finally went out of -sight over a high hill. I took my time and on reaching top of hill saw -wolf about four hundred yards off, and as I now had a down grade managed -to get my tired horse on a lope and was soon up to the wolf, which -seemed all stiffened up, and one shot from my Winchester finished him. -We always had poison out, as wolves and coyotes killed a great many -calves. Never poisoned but two wolves, and those were caught with fresh -antelope liver and entrails (coyotes were easily poisoned).” - -[Illustration: - - BONY MOORE AND THE COYOTE - - From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -In the early nineties the ravages of the wolves along the Little -Missouri became so serious as thoroughly to arouse the stockmen. Not -only colts and calves, and young trail stock, but in midwinter -full-grown horses and steers were continually slain. The county -authorities put a bounty of three dollars each on wolf scalps, to which -the ranchmen of the neighborhood added a further bounty of five dollars. -This made eight dollars for every wolf, and as the skin was also worth -something, the business of killing wolves became profitable. Quite a -number of men tried poisoning or trapping, but the most successful wolf -hunter on the Little Missouri at that time was a man who did not rely on -poison at all, but on dogs. He was named Massingale, and he always had a -pack of at least twenty hounds. The number varied, for a wolf at bay is -a terrible fighter, with jaws like those of a steel trap, and teeth that -cut like knives, so that the dogs were continually disabled and -sometimes killed, and the hunter had always to be on the watch to add -animals to his pack. It was not a good-looking pack, but it was -thoroughly fit for its own work. Most of the dogs were greyhounds, -whether rough or smooth haired, but many of them were big mongrels, part -greyhound and part some other breed, such as bulldog, mastiff, -Newfoundland, bloodhound, or collie. The only two requisites were that -the dogs should run fast and fight gamely; and in consequence they -formed as wicked, hard-biting a crew as ever ran down and throttled a -wolf. They were usually taken out ten at a time, and by their aid -Massingale killed over two hundred wolves, including cubs. Of course -there was no pretence of giving the game fair play. The wolves were -killed as vermin, not for sport. The greatest havoc was in the -spring-time, when the she-wolves were followed to their dens. Some of -the hounds were very fast, and they could usually overtake a young or -weak wolf; but an old dog wolf, with a good start, unless run into at -once, would ordinarily get away if he were in running trim. Frequently, -however, he was caught when not in running trim, for the hunter was apt -to find him when he had killed a calf or taken part in dragging down a -horse or steer, and was gorged with meat. Under these circumstances he -could not run long before the pack. If possible, as with all such packs, -the hunter himself got up in time to end the worry by a stab of his -hunting-knife; but unless he was quick he had nothing to do, for the -pack was thoroughly competent to do its own killing. Grim fighter though -a great dog wolf is, he stands no show before the onslaught of ten such -hounds, agile and powerful, who rush on their antagonist in a body. -Massingale’s dogs possessed great power in their jaws, and unless he was -up within two or three minutes after the wolf was overtaken, they tore -him to death, though one or more of their number might be killed or -crippled in the fight. The wolf might be throttled without having the -hide on its neck torn; but when it was stretched out the dogs ripped -open its belly. Dogs do not get their teeth through the skin of an old -cougar; but they will tear up either a bobcat or coyote. - -In 1894 and 1896 I saw a number of wolves on the Little Missouri, -although I was not looking for them. I frequently came upon the remains -of sheep and young stock which they had killed; and once, upon the top -of a small plateau, I found the body of a large steer, while the torn -and trodden ground showed that he had fought hard for his life before -succumbing. There had been two wolves engaged in the work, and the -cunning beasts had evidently acted in concert. Apparently, while one -attracted the steer’s attention in front, the other, according to the -invariable wolf habit, attacked him from behind, hamstringing him and -tearing out his flanks. His body was still warm when I came up, but the -marauders had slunk off, either seeing or smelling me. There was no -mistaking the criminals, however, for, unlike bears, which usually -attack an animal at the withers, or cougars, which attack the throat or -head, wolves almost invariably attack their victim at the hind quarters -and begin first on the hams or flanks, if the animal is of any size. -Owing to their often acting in couples or in packs, the big wolves do -more damage to horned stock than cougars, but they are not as dangerous -to colts, and they are not nearly as expert as the big cats in catching -deer and mountain sheep. When food is plentiful, good observers say that -they will not try to molest foxes; but, if hungry, they certainly snap -them up as quickly as they would fawns. Ordinarily they show complete -tolerance of the coyotes; yet one bitter winter I knew of a coyote being -killed and eaten by a wolf. - -Not only do the habits of wild beasts change under changing conditions -as time goes on, but there seems to be some change even in their -appearance. Thus the early observers of the game of the Little Missouri, -those who wrote in the first half of the nineteenth century, spoke much -of the white wolves which were then so common in the region. These white -wolves represented in all probability only a color variety of the -ordinary gray wolf; and it is difficult to say exactly why they -disappeared. Yet when about the year 1890 wolves again grew common these -white wolves were very, very rare; indeed I never personally heard of -but one being seen. This was on the Upper Cannonball in 1892. A nearly -black wolf was killed not far from this spot in the year 1893. At the -present day black wolves are more common than white wolves, which are -rare indeed. But all these big wolves are now decreasing in numbers, and -in most places are decreasing rapidly. - -It will be noticed that on some points my observations about wolves are -in seeming conflict with those of other observers as competent as I am; -but I think the conflict is more seeming than real, and I have concluded -to let my words stand. The great book of nature contains many pages -which are hard to read, and at times conscientious students may well -draw different interpretations of the obscure and least-known texts. It -may not be that either observer is at fault, but what is true of an -animal in one locality may not be true of the same animal in another, -and even in the same locality two individuals of the same species may -differ widely in their traits and habits. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - HUNTING IN THE CATTLE COUNTRY; THE PRONGBUCK - - -The prongbuck is the most characteristic and distinctive of American -game animals. Zoologically speaking, its position is unique. It is the -only hollow-horned ruminant which sheds its horns, or rather the horn -sheaths. We speak of it as an antelope, and it does of course represent -on our prairies the antelopes of the Old World; but it stands apart from -all other horned animals. Its place in the natural world is almost as -lonely as that of the giraffe. In all its ways and habits it differs as -much from deer and elk as from goat and sheep. Now that the buffalo has -gone, it is the only game really at home on the wide plains. It is a -striking-looking little creature, with its prominent eyes, -single-pronged horns, and the sharply contrasted white, brown and -reddish of its coat. The brittle hair is stiff, coarse and springy; on -the rump it is brilliantly white, and is erected when the animal is -alarmed or excited, so as to be very conspicuous. In marked contrast to -deer, antelope never seek to elude observation; all they care for is to -be able themselves to see. As they have good noses and wonderful eyes, -and as they live by preference where there is little or no cover, shots -at them are usually obtained at far longer range than is the case with -other game; and yet, as they are easily seen, and often stand looking at -the hunter just barely within very long rifle-range, they are always -tempting their pursuer to the expenditure of cartridges. More shots are -wasted at antelope than at any other game. They would be even harder to -secure were it not that they are subject to fits of panic folly, or -excessive curiosity, which occasionally put them fairly at the mercy of -the rifle-bearing hunter. - -In the old days the prongbuck was found as soon as the westward-moving -traveller left the green bottom-lands of the Mississippi, and from -thence across to the dry, open valleys of California, and northward to -Canada and southward into Mexico. It has everywhere been gradually -thinned out, and has vanished altogether from what were formerly the -extreme easterly and westerly limits of its range. The rates of -extermination of the different kinds of big game have been very unequal -in different localities. Each kind of big game has had its own peculiar -habitat in which it throve best, and each has also been found more or -less plentifully in other regions where the circumstances were less -favorable; and in these comparatively unfavorable regions it early tends -to disappear before the advance of man. In consequence, where the ranges -of the different game animals overlap and are intertwined, one will -disappear first in one locality, and another will disappear first where -the conditions are different. Thus the whitetail deer had thrust forward -along the very narrow river bottoms into the domain of the mule-deer and -the prongbuck among the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and in these -places it was exterminated from the narrow strips which it inhabited -long before the mule-deer vanished from the high hills, or the prongbuck -from the great open plains. But along great portions of the Missouri -there are plenty of whitetails yet left in the river bottoms, while the -mule-deer that once dwelt in the broken hills behind them, and the -prongbuck which lived on the prairie just back of these bluffs, have -both disappeared. In the same way the mule-deer and the prongbuck are -often found almost intermingled through large regions in which plains, -hills, and mountains alternate. If such a region is mainly mountainous, -but contains a few valleys and table-lands, the prongbuck is sure to -vanish from the latter before the mule-deer vanishes from the broken -country. But if the region is one primarily of plains, with here and -there rows of rocky hills in which the mule-deer is found, the latter is -killed off long before the prongbuck can be hunted out of the great open -stretches. The same is true of the pronghorn and the wapiti. The size -and value of the wapiti make it an object of eager persecution on the -part of hunters. But as it can live in the forest-clad fastnesses of the -Rockies, into which settlement does not go, it outlasts over great -regions the pronghorn, whose abode is easily penetrated by sheep and -cattle men. Under anything like even conditions, however, the prongbuck, -of course, outlasts the wapiti. This was the case on the Little -Missouri. On that stream the bighorn also outlasted the wapiti. In 1881 -wapiti were still much more plentiful than bighorns. Within the next -decade they had almost totally disappeared, while the bighorn was still -to be found; I shot one and saw others in 1893, at which time I had not -authentic information of a single wapiti remaining anywhere on the river -in my neighborhood, although it is possible that one or two still lurked -in some out-of-the-way recess. In Colorado at one time the bighorn was -nearly exterminated, while the wapiti still withstood the havoc made -among its huge herds; then followed a period in which the rapidity of -destruction of the wapiti increased far beyond that of the bighorn. - -I mention these facts partly because they are of interest in themselves, -but chiefly because they tend to explain the widely different opinions -expressed by competent observers about what superficially seem to be -similar facts. It cannot be too often repeated that allowance must be -made for the individual variability in the traits and characters of -animals of the same species, and especially of the same species under -different circumstances and in different localities; and allowance must -also be made for the variability of the individual factor in the -observers themselves. Many seemingly contradictory observations of the -habits of deer, wapiti, and prongbuck will be found in books by the best -hunters. Take such questions as the keenness of sight of the deer as -compared with the prongbuck, and of the pugnacity of the wapiti, both -actual and relative, and a wide difference of opinion will be found in -three such standard works as Dodge’s “The Hunting-grounds of the Great -West,” Caton’s “Deer and Antelope of America,” and the contributions of -Mr. Grinnell to the “Century Book of Sports.” Sometimes the difference -will be in mere matters of opinion, as, for instance, in the belief as -to the relative worth of the sport furnished by the chase of the -different creatures; but sometimes there is a direct conflict of fact. -Colonel Dodge, for instance, has put it upon record that the wapiti is -an exceedingly gentle animal, less dangerous than a whitetail or -blacktail buck in a close encounter, and that the bulls hardly ever -fight among themselves. My own experience leads me to traverse in the -most emphatic manner every one of these conclusions, and all hunters -whom I have met feel exactly as I do; yet no one would question for a -moment Colonel Dodge’s general competency as an observer. In the same -way Mr. Grinnell has a high opinion of the deer’s keenness of sight. -Judge Caton absolutely disagrees with him, and my own experience tends -to agree with that of the Judge—at least to the extent of placing the -deer’s vision far below that of the prongbuck and even that of the -bighorn, and only on a par with that of the wapiti. Yet Mr. Grinnell is -an unusually competent observer, whose opinion on any such subject is -entitled to unqualified respect. - -Difference in habits may be due simply to difference of locality, or to -the need of adaptation to new conditions. The prongbuck’s habits about -migration offer examples of the former kind of difference. Over portions -of its range the prongbuck is not migratory at all. In other parts the -migrations are purely local. In yet other regions the migrations are -continued for great distances, immense multitudes of the animals going -to and fro in the spring and fall along well-beaten tracks. I know of -one place in New Mexico where the pronghorn herds are tenants of certain -great plains throughout the entire year. I know another region in -northwestern Colorado where the very few prongbucks still left, though -they shift from valley to valley, yet spend the whole year in the same -stretch of rolling, barren country. On the Little Missouri, however, -during the eighties and early nineties, there was a very distinct though -usually local migration. Before the Black Hills had been settled they -were famous wintering places for the antelope, which swarmed from great -distances to them when cold weather approached; those which had summered -east of the Big Missouri actually swam the river in great herds, on -their journey to the Hills. The old hunters around my ranch insisted -that formerly the prongbuck had for the most part travelled from the -Little Missouri Bad Lands into the Black Hills for the winter. - -[Illustration: - - ON THE LITTLE MISSOURI -] - -When I was ranching on that river, however, this custom no longer -obtained, for the Black Hills were too well settled, and the herds of -prongbuck that wintered there were steadily diminishing in numbers. At -that time, from 1883 to 1896, the seasonal change in habits, and shift -of position, of the prongbucks were well marked. As soon as the new -grass sprang they appeared in great numbers upon the plains. They were -especially fond of the green, tender blades that came up where the -country had been burned over. If the region had been devastated by -prairie fires in the fall, the next spring it was certain to contain -hundreds and thousands of prongbucks. All through the summer they -remained out on these great open plains, coming to drink at the little -pools in the creek beds, and living where there was no shelter of any -kind. As winter approached they began to gather in bands. Some of these -bands apparently had regular wintering places to the south of us, in -Pretty Buttes and beyond; and close to my ranch, at the crossing of the -creek called Beaver, there were certain trails which these antelope -regularly travelled, northward in the spring and southward in the fall. -But other bands would seek out places in the Bad Lands near by, -gathering together on some succession of plateaus which were protected -by neighboring hills from the deep drifts of snow. Here they passed the -winter, on short commons, it is true (they graze, not browsing like -deer), but without danger of perishing in the snowdrifts. On the other -hand, if the skin-hunters discovered such a wintering place, they were -able to butcher practically the entire band, if they so desired, as the -prongbucks were always most reluctant to leave such a chosen ground. - -Normally the prongbuck avoids both broken ground and timber. It is a -queer animal, with keen senses, but with streaks of utter folly in its -character. Time and again I have known bands rush right by me, when I -happened to surprise them feeding near timber or hills, and got between -them and the open plains. The animals could have escaped without the -least difficulty if they had been willing to go into the broken country, -or through even a few rods of trees and brush; and yet they preferred to -rush madly by me at close range, in order to get out to their favorite -haunts. But nowadays there are certain localities where the prongbucks -spend a large part of their time in the timber or in rough, hilly -country, feeding and bringing up their young in such localities. - -Typically, however, the prongbuck is preeminently a beast of the great -open plains, eating their harsh, dry pasturage, and trusting to its own -keen senses and speed for its safety. All the deer are fond of skulking; -the whitetail preeminently so. The prongbuck, on the contrary, never -endeavors to elude observation. Its sole aim is to be able to see its -enemies, and it cares nothing whatever about its enemies seeing it. Its -coloring is very conspicuous, and is rendered still more so by its habit -of erecting the white hair on its rump. It has a very erect carriage, -and when it thinks itself in danger it always endeavors to get on some -crest or low hill from which it can look all about. The big bulging -eyes, situated at the base of the horns, scan the horizon far and near -like twin telescopes. They pick out an object at such a distance that it -would entirely escape the notice of a deer. When suspicious, they have a -habit of barking, uttering a sound something like “kau,” and repeating -it again and again, as they walk up and down, endeavoring to find out if -danger lurks in the unusual object. They are extremely curious, and in -the old days it was often possible to lure them toward the hunter by -waving a red handkerchief to and fro on a stick, or even by lying on -one’s back and kicking the legs. Nowadays, however, there are very few -localities indeed in which they are sufficiently unsophisticated to make -it worth while trying these time-honored tricks of the long-vanished -trappers and hunters. - -Along the Little Missouri the fawns, sometimes one and sometimes two in -number, were dropped in May or early in June. At that time the antelope -were usually found in herds which the mother did not leave until she was -about to give birth to the fawn. During the first few days the fawn’s -safety is to be found only in its not attracting attention. During this -time it normally lies perfectly flat on the ground, with its head -outstretched, and makes no effort to escape. While out on the spring -round-up I have come across many of these fawns. Once, in company with -several cowboys, I was riding behind a bunch of cattle which, as we -hurried them, spread out in open order ahead of us. Happening to cast -down my eyes I saw an antelope fawn directly ahead of me. The bunch of -cattle had passed all around it, but it made not the slightest sign, not -even when I halted, got off my pony, and took it up in my arms. It was -useless to take it to camp and try to rear it, and so I speedily put it -down again. Scanning the neighborhood, I saw the doe hanging about some -half a mile off, and when I looked back from the next divide I could see -her gradually drawing near to the fawn. - -If taken when very young, antelope make cunning and amusing pets, and I -have often seen them around the ranches. There was one in the ranch of a -Mrs. Blank who had a station on the Deadwood stage line some eighteen -years ago. She was a great worker in buckskin, and I got her to make me -the buckskin shirt I still use. There was an antelope fawn that lived at -the house, wandering wherever it wished; but it would not permit me to -touch it. As I sat inside the house it would come in and hop up on a -chair, looking at me sharply all the while. No matter how cautiously I -approached, I could never put my hand upon it, as at the last moment it -would spring off literally as quick as a bird would fly. One of my -neighbors on the Little Missouri, Mr. Howard Eaton, had at one time upon -his ranch three little antelope whose foster-mother was a sheep, and who -were really absurdly tame. I was fond of patting them and of giving them -crusts, and the result was that they followed me about so closely that I -had to be always on the lookout to see that I did not injure them. They -were on excellent terms with the dogs, and were very playful. It was a -comic sight to see them skipping and hopping about the old ewe when -anything happened to alarm her and she started off at a clumsy waddle. -Nothing could surpass the tameness of the antelope that are now under -Mr. Hornaday’s care at the Bronx Zoological Garden in New York. The last -time that I visited the garden some repairs were being made inside the -antelope enclosure, and a dozen workmen had gone in to make them. The -antelope regarded the workmen with a friendliness and curiosity -untempered by the slightest touch of apprehension. When the men took off -their coats the little creatures would nose them over to see if they -contained anything edible, and they would come close up and watch the -men plying the pick with the utmost interest. Mr. Hornaday took us -inside, and they all came up in the most friendly manner. One or two of -the bucks would put their heads against our legs and try to push us -around, but not roughly. Mr. Hornaday told me that he was having great -difficulty, exactly as with the mule-deer, in acclimatizing the -antelope, especially as the food was so different from what they were -accustomed to in their native haunts. - -The wild fawns are able to run well a few days after they are born. They -then accompany the mother everywhere. Sometimes she joins a band of -others; more often she stays alone with her fawn, and perhaps one of the -young of the previous year, until the rut begins. Of all game the -prongbuck seems to me the most excitable during the rut. The males run -the does much as do the bucks of the mule and whitetail deer. If there -are no does present, I have sometimes watched a buck run to and fro by -himself. The first time I saw this I was greatly interested, and could -form no idea of what the buck was doing. He was by a creek bed in a -slight depression or shallow valley, and was grazing uneasily. After a -little while he suddenly started and ran just as hard as he could, off -in a straight direction, nearly away from me. I thought that somehow or -other he had discovered my presence; but he suddenly wheeled and came -back to the original place, still running at his utmost speed. Then he -halted, moved about with the white hairs on his rump outspread, and -again dashed off at full speed, halted, wheeled, and came back. Two or -three times he did this, and let me get very close to him before he -discovered me. I was too much interested in what he was doing to desire -to shoot him. - -In September, sometimes not earlier than October, the big bucks begin to -gather the does into harems. Each buck is then constantly on the watch -to protect his harem from outsiders, and steal another doe if he can get -a chance. I have seen a comparatively young buck who had appropriated a -doe, hustle her hastily out of the country as soon as he saw another -antelope in the neighborhood; while, on the other hand, a big buck, -already with a good herd of does, will do his best to appropriate any -other that comes in sight. The bucks fight fearlessly but harmlessly -among themselves, locking their horns and then pushing as hard as they -can. - -Although their horns are not very formidable weapons, they are bold -little creatures, and if given a chance will stand at bay before either -hound or coyote. A doe will fight most gallantly for her fawn, and is an -overmatch for a single coyote, but of course she can do but little -against a large wolf. The wolves are occasionally very destructive to -the herds. The cougar, however, which is a much worse foe than the wolf -to deer and mountain sheep, can but rarely molest the prongbuck, owing -to the nature of the latter’s haunts. Eagles, on occasion, take the -fawns, as they do those of deer. - -I have always been fond of the chase of the prongbuck. While I lived on -my ranch on the Little Missouri it was, next to the mule-deer, the game -which I most often followed, and on the long wagon strips which I -occasionally took from my ranch to the Black Hills, to the Big Horn -Mountains, or into eastern Montana, prongbuck venison was our usual -fresh meat, save when we could kill prairie-chickens and ducks with our -rifles, which was not always feasible. In my mind the prongbuck is -always associated with the open prairies during the spring, summer, or -early fall. It has happened that I have generally pursued the bighorn in -bitter weather; and when we laid in our stock of winter meat, mule-deer -was our usual game. Though I have shot prongbuck in winter, I never -liked to do so, as I felt the animals were then having a sufficiently -hard struggle for existence anyhow. But in the spring the meat of the -prongbuck was better than that of any other game, and, moreover, there -was not the least danger of mistaking the sexes, and killing a doe -accidentally, and accordingly I rarely killed anything but pronghorns at -that season. In those days we never got any fresh meat, whether on the -ranch or while on the round-up or on a wagon trip, unless we shot it, -and salt pork became a most monotonous diet after a time. - -Occasionally I killed the prongbuck in a day’s hunt from my ranch. If I -started with the intention of prongbuck hunting, I always went on -horseback; but twice I killed them on foot when I happened to run across -them by accident while looking for mule-deer. I shall always remember -one of these occasions. I was alone in the Elkhorn ranch-house at the -time, my foreman and the only cow-puncher who was not on the round-up -having driven to Medora, some forty miles away, in order to bring down -the foreman’s wife and sister, who were going to spend the summer with -him. It was the fourth day of his absence. I expected him in the evening -and wanted to have fresh meat, and so after dinner I shouldered my rifle -and strolled off through the hills. It was too early in the day to -expect to see anything, and my intention was simply to walk out until I -was five or six miles from the ranch, and then work carefully home -through a likely country toward sunset, as by this arrangement I would -be in a good game region at the very time that the animals were likely -to stir abroad. It was a glaring, late-spring day, and in the hot sun of -mid-afternoon I had no idea that anything would be moving, and was not -keeping a very sharp lookout. After an hour or two’s steady tramping I -came into a long, narrow valley, bare of trees and brushwood, and -strolled along it, following a cattle trail that led up the middle. The -hills rose steeply into a ridge crest on each side, sheer clay shoulders -breaking the mat of buffalo-grass which elsewhere covered the sides of -the valley as well as the bottom. It was very hot and still, and I was -paying but little attention to my surroundings, when my eye caught a -sudden movement on the ridge crest to my right, and, dropping on one -knee as I wheeled around, I saw the head and neck of a prongbuck rising -above the crest. The animal was not above a hundred yards off, and stood -motionless as it stared at me. At the crack of the rifle the head -disappeared; but as I sprang clear of the smoke I saw a cloud of dust -rise on the other side of the ridge crest, and felt convinced that the -quarry had fallen. I was right. On climbing the ridge crest I found that -on the other side it sank abruptly in a low cliff of clay, and at the -foot of this, thirty feet under me, the prongbuck lay with its neck -broken. After dressing it I shouldered the body entire, thinking that I -should like to impress the new-comers by the sight of so tangible a -proof of my hunting prowess as whole prongbuck hanging up in the -cottonwoods by the house. As it was a well-grown buck the walk home -under the hot sun was one of genuine toil. - -The spot where I ran across this prongbuck was miles away from the -nearest plains, and it was very unusual to see one in such rough -country. In fact, the occurrence was wholly exceptional; just as I once -saw three bighorn rams, which usually keep to the roughest country, -deliberately crossing the river bottom below my ranch, and going for -half a mile through the thick cottonwood timber. Occasionally, however, -parties of prongbuck came down the creek bottoms to the river. Once I -struck a couple of young bucks in the bottom of a creek which led to the -Chimney Butte ranch-house, and stalked them without difficulty; for as -prongbuck make no effort to hide, if there is good cover even their -sharp eyes do not avail them. On another occasion several does and -fawns, which we did not molest, spent some time on what we called “the -corral bottom,” which was two or three miles above the ranch-house. In -the middle of this bottom we had built a corral for better convenience -in branding the calves when the round-up came near our ranch—as the -bottom on which the ranch-house stood was so thickly wooded as to make -it difficult to work cattle thereon. The does and fawns hung around the -corral bottom for some little time, and showed themselves very curious -and by no means shy. - -When I went from the ranch for a day’s prongbuck hunting of set purpose, -I always rode a stout horse and started by dawn. The prongbucks are -almost the only game that can be hunted as well during the heat of the -day as at any other time. They occasionally lie down for two or three -hours about noon in some hollow where they cannot be seen, but usually -there is no place where they are sure they can escape observation even -when resting; and when this is the case they choose a somewhat -conspicuous station and trust to their own powers of observation, -exactly as they do when feeding. There is therefore no necessity, as -with deer, of trying to strike them at dawn or dusk. The reason why I -left the ranch before sunrise and often came back long after dark was -because I had to ride at least a dozen miles to get out to the ground -and a dozen to get back, and if after industrious walking I failed at -first to find my game, I would often take the horse again and ride for -an hour or two to get into new country. Prongbuck water once a day, -often travelling great distances to or from some little pool or spring. -Of course, if possible, I liked to leave the horse by such a pool or -spring. On the great plains to which I used to make these excursions -there was plenty of water in early spring, and it would often run, here -and there, in the upper courses of some of the creeks—which, however, -usually contained running water only when there had been a cloudburst or -freshet. As the season wore on the country became drier and drier. Water -would remain only in an occasional deep hole, and few springs were left -in which there was so much as a trickle. In a strange country I could -not tell where these water-holes were, but in the neighborhood of the -ranch I of course knew where I was likely to find them. Often, however, -I was disappointed; and more than once after travelling many miles to -where I hoped to find water, there would be nothing but sun-cracked mud, -and the horse and I would have eighteen hours of thirst in consequence. -A ranch horse, however, is accustomed to such incidents, and of course -when a man spends half the time riding, it is merely a matter of slight -inconvenience to go so long without a drink. - -Nevertheless, if I did reach a spring, it turned the expedition into -pleasure instead of toil. Even in the hot weather the ride toward the -plains over the hills was very lovely. It was beautiful to see the red -dawn quicken from the first glimmering gray in the east, and then to -watch the crimson bars glint on the tops of the fantastically shaped -barren hills when the sun flamed, burning and splendid, above the -horizon. In the early morning the level beams threw into sharp relief -the strangely carved and channelled cliff walls of the buttes. There was -rarely a cloud to dim the serene blue of the sky. By the time the heat -had grown heavy I had usually reached the spring or pool, where I -unsaddled the horse, watered him, and picketed him out to graze. Then, -under the hot sun, I would stride off for the hunting proper. On such -occasions I never went to where the prairie was absolutely flat. There -were always gently rolling stretches broken by shallow watercourses, -slight divides, and even low mounds, sometimes topped with strangely -shaped masses of red scoria or with petrified trees. My object, of -course, was, either with my unaided eyes or with the help of my glasses, -to catch sight of the prongbucks before they saw me. I speedily found, -by the way, that if they were too plentiful this was almost impossible. -The more abundant deer are in a given locality the more apt one is to -run across them, and of course if the country is sufficiently broken, -the same is true of prongbucks; but where it is very flat and there are -many different bands in sight at the same time, it is practically -impossible to keep out of sight of all of them, and as they are also all -in sight of one another, if one flees the others are certain to take the -alarm. Under such circumstances I have usually found that the only -pronghorns I got were obtained by accident, so to speak; that is, by -some of them unexpectedly running my way, or by my happening to come -across them in some nook where I could not see them, or they me. - -Prongbucks are very fast runners indeed, even faster than deer. They -vary greatly in speed, however, precisely as is the case with deer; in -fact, I think that the average hunter makes altogether too little -account of this individual variation among different animals of the same -kind. Under the same conditions different deer and antelope vary in -speed and wariness, exactly as bears and cougars vary in cunning and -ferocity. When in perfect condition a full-grown buck antelope, from its -strength and size, is faster and more enduring than an old doe; but a -fat buck, before the rut has begun, will often be pulled down by a -couple of good greyhounds much more speedily than a flying yearling or -two-year-old doe. Under favorable circumstances, when the antelope was -jumped near by, I have seen one overhauled and seized by a first-class -greyhound; and, on the other hand, I have more than once seen a -pronghorn run away from a whole pack of just as good dogs. With a fair -start, and on good ground, a thoroughbred horse, even though handicapped -by the weight of a rider, will run down an antelope; but this is a feat -which should rarely be attempted, because such a race, even when carried -to a successful issue, is productive of the utmost distress to the -steed. - -Ordinary horses will sometimes run down an antelope which is slower than -the average. I once had on my ranch an under-sized old Indian pony named -White Eye, which, when it was fairly roused, showed a remarkable turn of -speed, and had great endurance. One morning on the round-up, when for -some reason we did not work the cattle, I actually ran down an antelope -in fair chase on this old pony. It was a nursing doe, and I came over -the crest of the hill, between forty and fifty yards away from it. As it -wheeled to start back, the old cayuse pricked up his ears with great -interest, and the moment I gave him a sign was after it like a shot. -Whether, being a cow-pony, he started to run it just as if it were a -calf or a yearling trying to break out of the herd, or whether he was -overcome by dim reminiscences of buffalo-hunting in his Indian youth, I -know not. At any rate, after the doe he went, and in a minute or two I -found I was drawing up to her. I had a revolver, but of course did not -wish to kill her, and so got my rope ready to try to take her alive. She -ran frantically, but the old pony, bending level to the ground, kept up -his racing lope and closed right in beside her. As I came up she fairly -bleated. An expert with the rope would have captured her with the utmost -ease; but I missed, sending the coil across her shoulders. She again -gave an agonized bleat, or bark, and wheeled around like a shot. The -cow-pony stopped almost, but not quite, as fast, and she got a slight -start, and it was some little time before I overhauled her again. When I -did I repeated the performance, and this time when she wheeled she -succeeded in getting on some ground where I could not follow, and I was -thrown out. - -Normally, a horseman without greyhounds can hope for nothing more than -to get within fair shooting range; and this only by taking advantage of -the prongbucks’ peculiarity of running straight ahead in the direction -in which they are pointed, when once they have settled into their pace. -Usually, as soon as they see a hunter they run straight away from him; -but sometimes they make their flight at an angle, and as they do not -like to change their course when once started, it is thus possible, with -a good horse, to cut them off from the point toward which they are -headed, and get a reasonably close shot. - -I have done a good deal of coursing with greyhounds at one time or -another, but always with scratch packs. There are a few ranchmen who -keep leashes of greyhounds of pure blood, bred and trained to antelope -coursing, and who do their coursing scientifically, carrying the dogs -out to the hunting-grounds in wagons and exercising every care in the -sport; but these men are rare. The average man who dwells where antelope -are sufficiently abundant to make coursing a success, simply follows the -pursuit at odd moments, with whatever long-legged dogs he and his -neighbors happen to have; and his methods of coursing are apt to be as -rough as his outfit. My own coursing was precisely of this character. At -different times I had on my ranch one or two high-classed greyhounds and -Scotch deerhounds, with which we coursed deer and antelope, as well as -jack-rabbits, foxes, and coyotes; and we usually had with them one or -two ordinary hounds, and various half-bred dogs. I must add, however, -that some of the latter were very good. I can recall in particular one -fawn-colored beast, a cross between a greyhound and a foxhound, which -ran nearly as fast as the former, though it occasionally yelped in -shrill tones. It could also trail well, and was thoroughly game; on one -occasion it ran down and killed a coyote single-handed. - -On going out with these dogs, I rarely chose a day when I was actually -in need of fresh meat. If this was the case, I usually went alone with -the rifle; but if one or two other men were at the ranch, and we wanted -a morning’s fun, we would often summon the dogs, mount our horses, and -go trooping out to the antelope-ground. As there was good deer-country -between the ranch bottom and the plains where we found the prongbuck, it -not infrequently happened that we had a chase after blacktail or -whitetail on the way. Moreover, when we got out to the ground, before -sighting antelope, it frequently happened that the dogs would jump a -jack-rabbit or a fox, and away the whole set would go after it, -streaking through the short grass, sometimes catching their prey in a -few hundred yards, and sometimes having to run a mile or so. In -consequence, by the time we reached the regular hunting-ground the dogs -were apt to have lost a good deal of their freshness. We would get them -in behind the horses and creep cautiously along, trying to find some -solitary prongbuck in a suitable place, where we could bring up the dogs -from behind a hillock and give them a fair start. Usually we failed to -get the dogs near enough for a good start; and in most cases their -chases after unwounded prongbuck resulted in the quarry running clean -away from them. Thus the odds were greatly against them; but, on the -other hand, we helped them wherever possible with the rifle. We usually -rode well scattered out, and if one of us put up an antelope, or had a -chance at one when driven by the dogs, he always fired, and the pack -were saved from the ill effects of total discouragement by so often -getting these wounded beasts. It was astonishing to see how fast an -antelope with a broken leg could run. If such a beast had a good start, -and especially if the dogs were tired, it would often lead them a hard -chase, and the dogs would be utterly exhausted after it had been killed; -so that we would have to let them lie where they were for a long time -before trying to lead them down to some stream-bed. If possible, we -carried water for them in canteens. - -There were red-letter days, however, on which our dogs fairly ran down -and killed unwounded antelope—days when the weather was cool, and when -it happened that we got our dogs out to the ground without their being -tired by previous runs, and found our quarry soon, and in favorable -places for slipping the hounds. I remember one such chase in particular. -We had at the time a mixed pack, in which there was only one dog of my -own, the others being contributed from various sources. It included two -greyhounds, a rough-coated deerhound, a foxhound, and the fawn-colored -cross-bred mentioned above. - -We rode out in the early morning, the dogs trotting behind us; and, -coming to a low tract of rolling hills, just at the edge of the great -prairie, we separated and rode over the crest of the nearest ridge. Just -as we topped it, a fine buck leaped up from a hollow a hundred yards -off, and turned to look at us for a moment. All the dogs were instantly -spinning toward him down the grassy slope. He apparently saw those at -the right, and, turning, raced away from us in a diagonal line, so that -the left-hand greyhound, which ran cunning and tried to cut him off, was -very soon almost alongside. He saw her, however—she was a very fast -bitch—just in time, and, wheeling, altered his course to the right. As -he reached the edge of the prairie, this alteration nearly brought him -in contact with the cross-bred, which had obtained a rather poor start, -on the extreme right of the line. Around went the buck again, evidently -panic-struck and puzzled to the last degree, and started straight off -across the prairie, the dogs literally at his heels, and we, urging our -horses with whip and spur, but a couple of hundred yards behind. For -half a mile the pace was tremendous, when one of the greyhounds made a -spring at his ear, but failing to make good his hold, was thrown off. -However, it halted the buck for a moment, and made him turn quarter -round, and in a second the deerhound had seized him by the flank and -thrown him, and all the dogs piled on top, never allowing him to rise. - -Later we again put up a buck not far off. At first it went slowly, and -the dogs hauled up on it; but when they got pretty close, it seemed to -see them, and letting itself out, went clean away from them almost -without effort. - -Once or twice we came upon bands of antelope, and the hounds would -immediately take after them. I was always rather sorry for this, -however, because the frightened animals, as is generally the case when -beasts are in a herd, seemed to impede one another, and the chase -usually ended by the dogs seizing a doe, for it was of course impossible -to direct them to any particular beast. - -It will be seen that with us coursing was a homely sport. Nevertheless -we had good fun, and I shall always have enjoyable memories of the rapid -gallops across the prairie, on the trail of a flying prongbuck. - -Usually my pronghorn hunting has been done while I have been off with a -wagon on a trip intended primarily for the chase, or else while -travelling for some other purpose. - -[Illustration: - - CAMPING ON THE ANTELOPE GROUNDS -] - -All life in the wilderness is so pleasant that the temptation is to -consider each particular variety, while one is enjoying it, as better -than any other. A canoe trip through the great forests, a trip with a -pack-train among the mountains, a trip on snowshoes through the silent, -mysterious fairyland of the woods in winter—each has its peculiar charm. -To some men the sunny monotony of the great plains is wearisome; -personally there are few things I have enjoyed more than journeying over -them where the game was at all plentiful. Sometimes I have gone off for -three or four days alone on horseback, with a slicker or oilskin coat -behind the saddle, and some salt and hardtack as my sole provisions. But -for comfort on a trip of any length it was always desirable to have a -wagon. My regular outfit consisted of a wagon and team driven by one man -who cooked, together with another man and four riding ponies, two of -which we rode, while the other two were driven loose or led behind the -wagon. While it is eminently desirable that a hunter should be able to -rough it, and should be entirely willing to put up with the bare minimum -of necessities, and to undergo great fatigue and hardship, it is yet not -at all necessary that he should refrain from comfort of a wholesome sort -when it is obtainable. By taking the wagon we could carry a tent to put -up if there was foul weather. I had a change of clothes to put on if I -was wet, two or three books to read—and nothing adds more to the -enjoyment of a hunting trip—as well as plenty of food; while having two -men made me entirely foot-loose as regards camp, so that I could hunt -whenever I pleased, and, if I came in tired, I simply rested, instead of -spending two or three hours in pitching camp, cooking, tethering horses, -and doing the innumerable other little things which in the aggregate -amount to so much. - -On such a trip, when we got into unknown country, it was of course very -necessary to stay near the wagon, especially if we had to hunt for -water. But if we knew the country at all, we would decide in the morning -about where the camp was to be made in the afternoon, and then I would -lope off on my own account, while the wagon lumbered slowly across the -rough prairie sward straight toward its destination. Sometimes I took -the spare man with me, and sometimes not. It was convenient to have him, -for there are continually small emergencies in which it is well to be -with a companion. For instance, if one jumps off for a sudden shot, -there is always a slight possibility that any but a thoroughly trained -horse will get frightened and gallop away. On some of my horses I could -absolutely depend, but there were others, and very good ones too, which -would on rare occasions fail me; and few things are more disheartening -than a long stern chase after one’s steed under such circumstances, with -the unpleasant possibility of seeing him leave the country entirely and -strike out for the ranch fifty or sixty miles distant. If there is a -companion with one, all danger of this is over. Moreover, in galloping -at full speed after the game it is impossible now and then to avoid a -tumble, as the horse may put his leg into a prairie-dog hole or badger -burrow; and on such occasions a companion may come in very handily. On -the other hand, there is so great a charm in absolute solitude, in the -wild, lonely freedom of the great plains, that often I would make some -excuse and go off entirely by myself. - -Such rides had a fascination of their own. Hour after hour the wiry pony -shuffled onward across the sea of short, matted grass. On every side the -plains stretched seemingly limitless. Sometimes there would be no object -to break the horizon; sometimes across a score of miles there would loom -through the clear air the fantastic outlines of a chain of buttes, -rising grim and barren. Occasionally there might be a slightly marked -watercourse, every drop of moisture long dried; and usually there would -not be as much as the smallest sage-brush anywhere in sight. As the sun -rose higher and higher the shadows of horse and rider shortened, and the -beams were reflected from the short, bleached blades until in the hot -air all the landscape afar off seemed to dance and waver. Often on such -trips days went by without our coming across another human being, and -the loneliness and vastness of the country seemed as unbroken as if the -old vanished days had returned—the days of the wild wilderness -wanderers, and the teeming myriads of game they followed, and the -scarcely wilder savages against whom they warred. - -Now and then prongbuck would appear, singly or in bands; and their sharp -bark of alarm or curiosity would come to me through the still, hot air -over great distances, as they stood with head erect looking at me, the -white patches on their rumps shining in the sun, and the bands and -markings on their heads and necks showing as if they were in livery. -Scan the country as carefully as I would, they were far more apt to see -me than I was them, and once they had seen me, it was normally hopeless -to expect to get them. But their strange freakishness of nature -frequently offsets the keenness of their senses. At least half of the -prongbucks which I shot were obtained, not by stalking, but by coming -across them purely through their own fault. Though the prairie seemed -level, there was really a constant series of undulations, shallow and of -varying width. Now and then as I topped some slight rise I would catch a -glimpse of a little band of pronghorns feeding, and would slip off my -horse before they could see me. A hasty determination as to where the -best chance of approaching them lay would be followed by a half-hour’s -laborious crawl, a good part of the time flat on my face. They might -discover me when I was still too far for a shot; or by taking advantage -of every little inequality I might get within long range before they got -a glimpse of me, and then in a reasonable proportion of cases I would -bag my buck. At other times the buck would come to me. Perhaps one would -suddenly appear over a divide himself, and his curiosity would cause him -to stand motionless long enough to give me a shot; while on other -occasions I have known one which was out of range to linger around, -shifting his position as I shifted mine, until by some sudden gallop or -twist I was able to get close enough to empty my magazine at him. - -When the shadows had lengthened, but before any coolness had come into -the air, I would head for the appointed camping-place. Sometimes this -would be on the brink of some desolate little pool under a low, treeless -butte, or out on the open prairie where the only wood was what we had -brought with us. At other times I would find the wagon drawn up on the -edge of some shrunken plains river, under a line of great cottonwoods -with splintered branches and glossy leaves that rustled all day long. -Such a camp was always comfortable, for there was an abundance of wood -for the fire, plenty of water, and thick feed in which the horses -grazed—one or two being picketed and the others feeding loose until -night came on. If I had killed a prongbuck, steaks were speedily -sizzling in the frying-pan over the hot coals. If I had failed to get -anything, I would often walk a mile or two down or up the river to see -if I could not kill a couple of prairie-chickens or ducks. If the -evening was at all cool, we built a fire as darkness fell, and sat -around it, while the leaping flames lit up the trunks of the cottonwoods -and gleamed on the pools of water in the half-dry river bed. Then I -would wrap myself in my blanket and lie looking up at the brilliant -stars until I fell asleep. - -In both 1893 and 1894 I made trips to a vast tract of rolling prairie -land, some fifty miles from my ranch, where I had for many years enjoyed -the keen pleasure of hunting the prongbuck. In 1893 the prong-horned -bands were as plentiful in this district as I have ever seen them -anywhere. Lambert was with me; and in a week’s trip, including the -journey out and back, we easily shot all the antelope we felt we had any -right to kill; for we only shot to get meat, or an unusually fine head. -Lambert did most of the shooting; and I have never seen a professional -hunter do better in stalking antelope on the open prairie. I myself -fired at only two antelope, both of which had already been missed. In -each case a hard run and much firing at long ranges, together with in -one case some skilful manœuvring, got me my game; yet one buck cost ten -cartridges and the other eight. In 1894 I had exactly the reverse -experience. I killed five antelope for thirty-six shots, but each one -that I killed was killed with the first bullet, and in not one case -where I missed the first time did I hit with any subsequent shot. These -five antelope were killed at an average distance of about 150 yards. -Those that I missed were, of course, much farther off on an average, and -I usually emptied my magazine at each. The number of cartridges spent -would seem extraordinary to a tyro; and an unusually skilful shot, or -else a very timid shot who fears to take risks, will of course make a -better showing per head killed; but I doubt if men with experience in -antelope hunting, who keep an accurate account of the cartridges they -expend, will see anything much out of the way in the performance. - -During the years I have hunted in the West I have always, where -possible, kept a record of the number of cartridges expended for every -head of game killed, and of the distances at which it was shot. I have -found that with bison, bear, moose, elk, caribou, bighorn and white -goat, where the animals shot at were mostly of large size and usually -stationary, and where the mountainous or wooded country gave chance for -a close approach, the average distance at which I have killed the game -has been eighty yards, and the average number of cartridges expended per -head slain, three; one of these representing the death-shot, and the -others standing either for misses outright, of which there were not -many, or else for wounding game which escaped, or which I afterward -overtook, or for stopping cripples or charging beasts. I have killed but -two peccaries, using but one cartridge for each; they were close up. My -experiences with cougar have already been narrated. At wolves and -coyotes I have generally had to take running shots at very long range, -and I have shot but two—one of each—for fifty cartridges. Blacktail deer -I have generally shot at about ninety yards, at an expenditure of about -four cartridges apiece. Whitetail I have killed at shorter range; but -the shots were generally running, often taken under difficult -circumstances, so that my expenditure of cartridges was rather larger. -Antelope, on the other hand, I have on the average shot at a little -short of 150 yards, and they have cost me about nine cartridges apiece. -This, of course, as I have explained above, does not mean that I have -missed eight out of nine antelope, for often the entire nine cartridges -would be spent at an antelope which I eventually got. It merely means -that, counting all the shots of every description fired at antelope, I -had one head to show for each nine cartridges expended. - -Thus, the first antelope I shot in 1893 cost me ten cartridges, of which -three hit him, while the seven that missed were fired at over 400 yards’ -distance while he was running. We saw him while we were with the wagon. -As we had many miles to go before sunset, we cared nothing about -frightening other game, and, as we had no fresh meat, it was worth while -to take some chances to procure it. When I first fired, the prongbuck -had already been shot at and was in full flight. He was beyond all -reasonable range, but some of our bullets went over him and he began to -turn. By running to one side I got a shot at him at a little over 400 -paces, as he slowed to a walk, bewildered by the firing, and the bullet -broke his hip. I missed him two or three times as he plunged off, and -then by hard running down a watercourse got a shot at 180 paces and -broke his shoulder, and broke his neck with another bullet when I came -up. - -This one was shot while going out to the hunting-ground. While there -Lambert killed four others. I did not fire again until on our return, -when I killed another buck one day while we were riding with the wagon. -The day was gray and overcast. There were slight flurries of snow, and -the cold wind chilled us as it blew across the endless reaches of -sad-colored prairie. Behind us loomed Sentinel Butte, and all around the -rolling surface was broken by chains of hills, by patches of bad lands, -or by isolated, saddle-shaped mounds. The ranch wagon jolted over the -uneven sward, and plunged in and out of the dry beds of the occasional -water courses; for we were following no road, but merely striking -northward across the prairie toward the P. K. ranch. We went at a good -pace, for the afternoon was bleak, the wagon was lightly loaded, and the -Sheriff of the county, whose deputy I had been, and who was serving for -the nonce as our teamster and cook, kept the two gaunt, wild-looking -horses trotting steadily. Lambert and I rode to one side on our unkempt -cow-ponies, our rifles slung across the saddle bows. - -Our stock of fresh meat was getting low and we were anxious to shoot -something; but in the early hours of the afternoon we saw no game. Small -parties of horned larks ran along the ground ahead of the wagon, -twittering plaintively as they rose, and now and then flocks of -long-spurs flew hither and thither; but of larger life we saw nothing, -save occasional bands of range horses. The drought had been severe and -we were far from the river, so that we saw no horned stock. Horses can -travel much farther to water than cattle, and, when the springs dry up, -they stay much farther out on the prairie. - -At last we did see a band of four antelope, lying in the middle of a -wide plain, but they saw us before we saw them, and the ground was so -barren of cover that it was impossible to get near them. Moreover, they -were very shy and ran almost as soon as we got our eyes on them. For an -hour or two after this we jogged along without seeing anything, while -the gray clouds piled up in the west and the afternoon began to darken; -then, just after passing Saddle Butte, we struck a rough prairie road, -which we knew led to the P. K. ranch—a road very faint in places, while -in others the wheels had sunk deep in the ground and made long, parallel -ruts. - -Almost immediately after striking this road, on topping a small rise, we -discovered a young prongbuck standing off a couple of hundred yards to -one side, gazing at the wagon with that absorbed curiosity which in this -game so often conquers its extreme wariness and timidity, to a certain -extent offsetting the advantage conferred upon it by its marvellous -vision. The little antelope stood broadside on, gazing at us out of its -great bulging eyes, the sharply contrasted browns and whites of its coat -showing plainly. Lambert and I leaped off our horses immediately, and I -knelt and pulled trigger; but the cartridge snapped, and the little -buck, wheeling round, cantered off, the white hairs on its rump standing -erect. There was a strong cross-wind, almost a gale, blowing, and -Lambert’s bullet went just behind him; off he went at a canter, which -changed to a breakneck gallop, as we again fired; and he went out of -sight unharmed, over the crest of the rising ground in front. We ran -after him as hard as we could pelt up the hill, into a slight valley, -and then up another rise, and again got a glimpse of him standing, but -this time farther off than before; and again our shots went wild. - -However, the antelope changed its racing gallop to a canter while still -in sight, going slower and slower, and, what was rather curious, it did -not seem much frightened. We were naturally a good deal chagrined at our -shooting and wished to retrieve ourselves, if possible; so we ran back -to the wagon, got our horses and rode after the buck. He had continued -his flight in a straight line, gradually slackening his pace, and a -mile’s brisk gallop enabled us to catch a glimpse of him, far ahead and -merely walking. The wind was bad, and we decided to sweep off and try to -circle round ahead of him. Accordingly, we dropped back, turned into a -slight hollow to the right, and galloped hard until we came to the foot -of a series of low buttes, when we turned more to the left; and, when we -judged that we were about across the antelope’s line of march, leaped -from our horses, threw the reins over their heads, and left them -standing, while we stole up the nearest rise; and, when close to the -top, took off our caps and pushed ourselves forward, flat on our faces -to peep over. We had judged the distance well, for we saw the antelope -at once, now stopping to graze. Drawing back, we ran along some little -distance nearer, then drew up over the same rise. He was only about 125 -yards off, and this time there was no excuse for my failing to get him; -but fail I did, and away the buck raced again, with both of us shooting. -My first two shots were misses, but I kept correcting my aim and holding -farther in front of the flying beast. My last shot was taken just as the -antelope reached the edge of the broken country, in which he would have -been safe; and almost as I pulled the trigger I had the satisfaction of -seeing him pitch forward and, after turning a complete somerset, lie -motionless. I had broken his neck. He had cost us a good many -cartridges, and, though my last shot was well aimed, there was doubtless -considerable chance in my hitting him, while there was no excuse at all -for at least one of my previous misses. Nevertheless, all old hunters -know that there is no other kind of shooting in which so many cartridges -are expended for every head of game bagged. - -As we knelt down to butcher the antelope, the clouds broke and the rain -fell. Hastily we took off the saddle and hams, and, packing them behind -us on our horses, loped to the wagon in the teeth of the cold storm. -When we overtook it, after some sharp riding, we threw in the meat, and -not very much later, when the day was growing dusky, caught sight of the -group of low ranch buildings toward which we had been headed. We were -received with warm hospitality, as one always is in a ranch country. We -dried our streaming clothes inside the warm ranch-house and had a good -supper, and that night we rolled up in our blankets and tarpaulins, and -slept soundly in the lee of a big haystack. The ranch-house stood in the -winding bottom of a creek; the flanking hills were covered with stunted -cedar, while dwarf cottonwood and box-elder grew by the pools in the -half-dried creek bed. - -Next morning we had risen by dawn. The storm was over, and it was clear -and cold. Before sunrise we had started. We were only some thirty miles -away from my ranch, and I directed the Sheriff how to go there, by -striking east until he came to the main divide, and then following that -down till he got past a certain big plateau, when a turn to the right -down any of the coulees would bring him into the river bottom near the -ranch-house. We wished ourselves to ride off to one side and try to pick -up another antelope. However, the Sheriff took the wrong turn after -getting to the divide, and struck the river bottom some fifteen miles -out of his way, so that we reached the ranch a good many hours before he -did. - -When we left the wagon we galloped straight across country, looking out -from the divide across the great rolling landscape, every feature -standing clear through the frosty air. Hour after hour we paced and -loped on and on over the grassy seas in the glorious morning. Once we -stopped, and I held the horses while Lambert stalked and shot a fine -prongbuck; then we tied his head and hams to our saddles and again -pressed forward along the divide. We had hoped to get lunch at a spring -that I knew of some twelve miles from my ranch, but when we reached it -we found it dry and went on without halting. Early in the afternoon we -came out on the broad, tree-clad bottom on which the ranch-house stands, -and, threading our way along the cattle trails soon drew up in front of -the gray empty buildings. - - -Just as we were leaving the hunting-grounds on this trip, after having -killed all the game we felt we had a right to kill, we encountered bands -of Sioux Indians from the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River reservations -coming in to hunt, and I at once felt that the chances for much future -sport in that particular district were small. Indians are not good -shots, but they hunt in large numbers, killing everything, does, fawns -and bucks alike, and they follow the wounded animals with the utmost -perseverance, so that they cause much destruction of game. - -Accordingly, in 1894, when I started for these same grounds, it was with -some misgivings; but I had time only to make a few days’ hunt, and I -knew of no other accessible grounds where prongbuck were plentiful. My -foreman was with me, and, as usual, we took the ranch wagon, driven this -time by a cowboy who had just come up over the trail with cattle from -Colorado. On reaching our happy hunting-grounds of the previous season, -I found my fears sadly verified; and one unforeseen circumstance, also -told against me. Not only had the Indians made a great killing of -antelope the season before, but in the spring one or two sheep men had -moved into the country. We found that the big flocks had been moving -from one spring pool to another, eating the pasturage bare, while the -shepherds whom we met—wild-looking men on rough horses, each accompanied -by a pair of furtive sheep dogs—had taken every opportunity to get a -shot at antelope, so as to provide themselves with fresh meat. Two days -of fruitless hunting in this sheep-ridden region was sufficient to show -that the antelope were too scarce and shy to give us hope for sport, and -we shifted quarters, a long day’s journey, to the head of another creek; -and we had to go to yet another before we found much game. As so often -happens on such a trip, when we started to have bad luck we had plenty. -One night two of the three saddle horses stampeded and went straight as -the crow flies back to the home range, so that we did not get them until -on our return from the trip. On another occasion the team succeeded in -breaking the wagon pole; and as there was an entire absence of wood -where we were at the time, we had to make a splice for it with the two -tent poles and the picket ropes. Nevertheless, it was very enjoyable out -on the great grassy plains. Although we had a tent with us, I always -slept in the open in my buffalo bag, with the tarpaulin to pull over me -if it rained. On each night before going to sleep, I lay for many -minutes gazing at the stars above, or watching the rising of the red -moon, which was just at or past the full. - -We had plenty of fresh meat—prairie fowl and young sage fowl at first, -and antelope venison afterward. We camped by little pools, generally -getting fair water; and from the camps where there was plenty of wood we -took enough to build the fires at those where there was none. The nights -were frosty, and the days cool and pleasant, and from sunrise to sunset -we were off riding or walking among the low hills and over the uplands, -so that we slept well and ate well, and felt the beat of hardy life in -our veins. - -Much of the time we were on a high divide between two creek systems, -from which we could see the great landmarks of all the regions -roundabout, Sentinel Butte, Square Butte and Middle Butte, far to the -north and east of us. Nothing could be more lonely and nothing more -beautiful than the view at nightfall across the prairies to these huge -hill masses, when the lengthening shadows had at last merged into one -and the faint afterglow of the red sunset filled the west. The endless -waves of rolling prairie, sweeping, vast and dim, to the feet of the -great hills, grew purple as the evening darkened, and the buttes loomed -into vague, mysterious beauty as their sharp outlines softened in the -twilight. - -Even when we got out of reach of the sheep men we never found antelope -very plentiful, and they were shy, and the country was flat, so that the -stalking was extremely difficult; yet I had pretty good sport. The first -animal I killed was a doe, shot for meat, because I had twice failed to -get bucks at which I emptied my magazine at long range, and we were all -feeling hungry for venison. After that I killed nothing but bucks. Of -the five antelope killed, one I got by a headlong gallop to cut off his -line of flight. As sometimes happens with this queer, erratic animal, -when the buck saw that I was trying to cut off his flight he simply -raced ahead just as hard as he knew how, and, as my pony was not fast, -he got to the little pass for which he was headed 200 yards ahead of me. -I then jumped off, and his curiosity made him commit the fatal mistake -of halting for a moment to look round at me. He was standing end on, and -offered a very small mark at 200 yards; but I made a good line shot, -and, though I held a trifle too high, I hit him in the head, and down he -came. Another buck I shot from under the wagon early one morning as he -was passing just beyond the picketed horses. I have several times shot -antelope which unexpectedly came into camp in this fashion. The other -three I got after much manœuvring and long, tedious stalks. - -In some of the stalks, after infinite labor, and perhaps after crawling -on all-fours for an hour, or pulling myself flat on my face among some -small sage-brush for ten or fifteen minutes, the game took alarm and -went off. Too often, also, when I finally did get a shot, it was under -such circumstances that I missed. Sometimes the game was too far; -sometimes it had taken alarm and was already in motion; sometimes the -trouble could only be ascribed to lack of straight powder, and I was -covered with shame as with a garment. Once in the afternoon I had to -spend so much time waiting for the antelope to get into a favorable -place that, when I got up close, I found the light already so bad that -my front sight glimmered indistinctly, and the bullet went wild. Another -time I met with one of those misadventures which are especially -irritating. It was at midday, and I made out at a long distance a band -of antelope lying for their noon rest in a slight hollow. A careful -stalk brought me up within fifty yards of them. I was crawling flat on -my face, for the crest of the hillock sloped so gently that this was the -only way to get near them. At last, peering through the grass, I saw the -head of a doe. In a moment she saw me and jumped to her feet, and up -stood the whole band, including the buck. I immediately tried to draw a -bead on the latter, and to my horror found that, lying flat as I was, -and leaning on my elbows, I could not bring the rifle above the tall -shaking grass, and was utterly unable to get a sight. In another second -away tore all the antelope. I jumped to my feet, took a snap shot at the -buck as he raced round a low-cut bank and missed, and then walked -drearily home, chewing the cud of my ill-luck. Yet again in more than -one instance, after making a good stalk upon a band seen at some -distance, I found it contained only does and fawns, and would not shoot -at them. - -Three times, however, the stalk was successful. Twice I was out alone; -the other time my foreman was with me, and held my horse while I -manœuvred hither and thither, and finally succeeded in getting into -range. In both the first instances I got a standing shot, but on this -last occasion, when my foreman was with me, two of the watchful does -which were in the band saw me before I could get a shot at the old buck. -I was creeping up a low washout, and, by ducking hastily down again and -running back and up a side coulee, I managed to get within long range of -the band as they cantered off, not yet thoroughly alarmed. The buck was -behind, and I held just ahead of him. He plunged to the shot, but went -off over the hill-crest. When I had panted up to the ridge I found him -dead just beyond. - -One of the antelope I killed while I was out on foot toward nightfall, a -couple of miles from the wagon. I saw the prongbuck quite half a mile -off, and though I dropped at once I was uncertain whether he had seen -me. He was in a little hollow or valley. A long, smoothly sloping -plateau led up to one edge of it. Across this plateau I crawled, and -when I thought I was near the run I ventured slowly to look up, and -almost immediately saw vaguely through the tops of the long grasses what -I took to be the head and horns of the buck, looking in my direction. -There was no use in going back, and I dropped flat on my face again and -crawled another hundred yards, until it was evident that I was on the -rise from which the plateau sank into the shallow valley beyond. Raising -my head inch by inch, I caught sight of the object toward which I had -been crawling, and after a moment’s hesitation recognized it as a dead -sunflower, the stalks and blossoms so arranged as to be in a V shape. -Completely puzzled, I started to sit up, when by sheer good luck I -caught sight of the real prongbuck, still feeding, some three hundred -yards off, and evidently unaware of my presence. It was feeding toward a -slight hill to my left. I crept off until behind this, and then walked -up until I was in line with a big bunch of weeds on its shoulder. -Crawling on all-fours to the weeds, I peeped through and saw the -prongbuck still slowly feeding my way. When he was but seventy yards -off, I sat up and shot him; and trudged back to the wagon, carrying the -saddle and hams. - -In packing an antelope or deer behind the saddle, I cut slashes through -the sinews of the legs just above the joints; then I put the buck behind -the saddle, run the picket rope from the horn of the saddle, under the -belly of the horse, through the slashes in the legs on the other side, -bring the end back, swaying well down on it, and fasten it to the horn; -then I repeat the same feat for the other side. Packed in this way, the -carcass always rides steady, and cannot shake loose, no matter what -antics the horse may perform. - - -In the fall of 1896 I spent a fortnight on the range with the ranch -wagon. I was using for the first time one of the new small calibre, -smokeless-powder rifles, with the usual soft-nosed bullet. While -travelling to and fro across the range we usually moved camp each day, -not putting up the tent at all during the trip; but at one spot we spent -three nights. It was in a creek bottom, bounded on either side by rows -of grassy hills, beyond which stretched the rolling prairie. The creek -bed, which at this season was of course dry in most places, wound in -S-shaped curves, with here and there a pool and here and there a fringe -of stunted wind-beaten timber. We were camped near a little grove of -ash, box-elder, and willow, which gave us shade at noonday; and there -were two or three pools of good water in the creek bed—one so deep that -I made it my swimming-bath. - -The first day that I was able to make a hunt I rode out with my foreman, -Sylvane Ferris. I was mounted on Muley. Twelve years before, when Muley -was my favorite cutting pony on the round-up, he never seemed to tire or -lose his dash, but Muley was now sixteen years old, and on ordinary -occasions he liked to go as soberly as possible; yet the good old pony -still had the fire latent in his blood, and at the sight of game—or, -indeed, of cattle or horses—he seemed to regain for the time being all -the headlong courage of his vigorous and supple youth. - -On the morning in question it was two or three hours before Sylvane and -I saw any game. Our two ponies went steadily forward at a single-foot or -shack, as the cow-punchers term what Easterners call a “fox trot.” Most -of the time we were passing over immense grassy flats, where the mat of -short curled blades lay brown and parched under the bright sunlight. -Occasionally we came to ranges of low barren hills, which sent off -gently rounded spurs into the plain. - -It was on one of these ranges that we first saw our game. As we were -travelling along the divide we spied eight antelope far ahead of us. -They saw us as soon as we saw them, and the chance of getting to them -seemed small; but it was worth an effort, for by humoring them when they -started, so as to let them wheel and zigzag before they became really -frightened, and then, when they had settled into their run, by galloping -toward them at an angle oblique to their line of flight, there was -always some little chance of getting a shot. Sylvane was on a light -buckskin horse, and I left him on the ridge crest to occupy their -attention while I cantered off to one side. The pronghorns became uneasy -as I galloped away, and ran off the ridge crest in a line nearly -parallel to mine. They did not go very fast, and I held in Muley, who -was all on fire at the sight of the game. After crossing two or three -spurs, the antelope going at half speed, they found I had come closer to -them, and turning, they ran up one of the valleys between two spurs. Now -was my chance, and wheeling at right angles to my former course, I -galloped Muley as hard as I knew how up the valley nearest and parallel -to where the antelope had gone. The good old fellow ran like a -quarter-horse, and when we were almost at the main ridge crest I leaped -off, and ran ahead with my rifle at the ready, crouching down as I came -to the sky-line. Usually on such occasions I find that the antelope have -gone on, and merely catch a glimpse of them half a mile distant, but on -this occasion everything went right. The band had just reached the ridge -crest about 220 yards from me across the head of the valley, and had -halted for a moment to look around. They were starting as I raised my -rifle, but the trajectory is very flat with these small-bore -smokeless-powder weapons, and taking a coarse front sight I fired at a -young buck which was broadside to me. There was no smoke, and as the -band raced away I saw him sink backward, the ball having broken his -hips. - -We packed him bodily behind Sylvane on the buckskin and continued our -ride, as there was no fresh meat in camp, and we wished to bring in a -couple of bucks if possible. For two or three hours we saw nothing. The -unshod feet of the horses made hardly any noise on the stretches of -sun-cured grass, but now and then we passed through patches of thin -weeds, their dry stalks rattling curiously, making a sound like that of -a rattlesnake. At last, coming over a gentle rise of ground, we spied -two more prongbucks, half a mile ahead of us and to our right. - -Again there seemed small chance of bagging our quarry, but again fortune -favored us. I at once cantered Muley ahead, not toward them, but so as -to pass them well on one side. After some hesitation they started, not -straight away, but at an angle to my own course. For some moments I kept -at a hand gallop, until they got thoroughly settled in their line of -flight; then I touched Muley, and he went as hard as he knew how. -Immediately the two panic-stricken and foolish beasts seemed to feel -that I was cutting off their line of retreat, and raced forward at mad -speed. They went much faster than I did, but I had the shorter course, -and when they crossed me they were not fifty yards ahead—by which time I -had come nearly a mile. At the pull of the rein Muley stopped short, -like the trained cow-pony he is; I leaped off, and held well ahead of -the rearmost and largest buck. At the crack of the little rifle down he -went with his neck broken. In a minute or two he was packed behind me on -Muley, and we bent our steps toward camp. - -During the remainder of my trip we were never out of fresh meat, for I -shot three other bucks—one after a smart chase on horseback, and the -other two after careful stalks; and I missed two running shots. - -The game being both scarce and shy, I had to exercise much care, and -after sighting a band I would sometimes have to wait and crawl round for -two or three hours before they would get into a position where I had any -chance of approaching. Even then they were more apt to see me and go off -than I was to get near them. - -Antelope are the only game that can be hunted as well at noonday as in -the morning or evening, for their times for sleeping and feeding are -irregular. They never seek shelter from the sun, and when they lie down -for a noonday nap they are apt to choose a hollow, so as to be out of -the wind; in consequence, if the band is seen at all at this time, it is -easier to approach them than when they are up and feeding. They -sometimes come down to water in the middle of the day, sometimes in the -morning or evening. On this trip I came across bands feeding and resting -at almost every hour of the day. They seemed usually to rest for a -couple of hours, then began feeding again. - -The last shot I got was when I was out with Joe Ferris, in whose company -I had killed my first buffalo, just thirteen years before, and not very -far from this same spot. We had seen two or three bands that morning, -and in each case, after a couple of hours of useless effort, I failed to -get near enough. At last, toward midday, after riding and tramping over -a vast extent of broken sun-scorched country, we got within range of a -small band lying down in a little cup-shaped hollow in the middle of a -great flat. I did not have a close shot, for they were running about 180 -yards off. The buck was rearmost, and at him I aimed; the bullet struck -him in the flank, coming out of the opposite shoulder, and he fell in -his next bound. As we stood over him, Joe shook his head, and said, “I -guess that little rifle is the ace;” and I told him I guessed so too. - - - - - CHAPTER V - A SHOT AT A MOUNTAIN SHEEP - - -In the fall of 1893 I was camped on the Little Missouri, some ten miles -below my ranch. The bottoms were broad and grassy, and were walled in by -curving rows of high, steep bluffs. Back of them lay a mass of broken -country, in many places almost impassable for horses. The wagon was -drawn up on the edge of the fringe of tall cottonwoods which stretched -along the brink of the shrunken river. The weather had grown cold, and -at night the frost gathered thickly on our sleeping-bags. Great flocks -of sandhill cranes passed overhead from time to time, the air resounding -with their strange, musical, guttural clangor. - -For several days we had hunted perseveringly, but without success, -through the broken country. We had come across tracks of mountain sheep, -but not the animals themselves, and the few blacktail which we had seen -had seen us first and escaped before we could get within shot. The only -thing killed had been a young whitetail, which Lambert, who was with me, -had knocked over by a very pretty shot as we were riding through a long, -heavily-timbered bottom. Four men in stalwart health and taking much -outdoor exercise have large appetites, and the flesh of the whitetail -was almost gone. - -One evening Lambert and I hunted nearly to the head of one of the creeks -which opened close to our camp, and, in turning to descend what we -thought was one of the side coulees leading into it, we contrived to get -over the divide into the coulees of an entirely different creek system, -and did not discover our error until it was too late to remedy it. We -struck the river about nightfall, and were not quite sure where, and had -six miles’ tramp in the dark along the sandy river bed and through the -dense timber bottoms, wading the stream a dozen times before we finally -struck camp, tired and hungry, and able to appreciate to the full the -stew of hot venison and potatoes, and afterward the comfort of our -buffalo and caribou hide sleeping-bags. The next morning the Sheriff’s -remark of “Look alive, you fellows, if you want any breakfast,” awoke -the other members of the party shortly after dawn. It was bitterly cold -as we scrambled out of our bedding, and, after a hasty wash, huddled -around the fire, where the venison was sizzling and the coffee-pot -boiling, while the bread was kept warm in the Dutch oven. About a third -of a mile away to the west the bluffs, which rose abruptly from the -river bottom, were crowned by a high plateau, where the grass was so -good that overnight the horses had been led up and picketed on it, and -the man who had led them up had stated the previous evening that he had -seen what he took to be fresh footprints of a mountain sheep crossing -the surface of a bluff fronting our camp. From the footprints it -appeared that the animal had been there since the camp was pitched. The -face of the bluff on this side was very sheer, the path by which the -horses scrambled to the top being around a shoulder and out of sight of -camp. - -[Illustration: - - RANCH WAGON RETURNING FROM HUNT -] - -While sitting close around the fire finishing breakfast, and just as the -first level sunbeams struck the top of the plateau, we saw on this cliff -crest something moving, and at first supposed it to be one of the horses -which had broken loose from its picket pin. Soon the thing, whatever it -was, raised its head, and we were all on our feet in a moment, -exclaiming that it was a deer or a sheep. It was feeding in plain sight -of us only about a third of a mile distant, and the horses, as I -afterward found, were but a few rods beyond it on the plateau. The -instant I realized that it was game of some kind I seized my rifle, -buckled on my cartridge-belt, and slunk off toward the river bed. As -soon as I was under the protection of the line of cottonwoods, I trotted -briskly toward the cliff, and when I got up to where it impinged on the -river I ran a little to the left, and, selecting what I deemed to be a -favorable place, began to make the ascent. The animal was on a grassy -bench, some eight or ten feet below the crest, when I last saw it; but -it was evidently moving hither and thither, sometimes on this bench and -sometimes on the crest itself, cropping the short grass and browsing on -the young shrubs. The cliff was divided by several shoulders or ridges, -there being hollows like vertical gullies between them, and up one of -these I scrambled, using the utmost caution not to dislodge earth or -stones. Finally I reached the bench just below the sky-line, and then, -turning to the left, wriggled cautiously along it, hat in hand. The -cliff was so steep and bulged so in the middle, and, moreover, the -shoulders or projecting ridges in the surface spoken of above were so -pronounced, that I knew it was out of the question for the animal to -have seen me, but I was afraid it might have heard me. The air was -absolutely still, and so I had no fear of its sharp nose. Twice in -succession I peered with the utmost caution around shoulders of the -cliff, merely to see nothing beyond save another shoulder some forty or -fifty yards distant. Then I crept up to the edge and looked over the -level plateau. Nothing was in sight excepting the horses, and these were -close up to me, and, of course, they all raised their heads to look. I -nervously turned half round, sure that if the animal, whatever it was, -was in sight, it would promptly take the alarm. However, by good luck, -it appeared that at this time it was below the crest on the terrace or -bench already mentioned, and, on creeping to the next shoulder, I at -last saw it—a yearling mountain sheep—walking slowly away from me, and -evidently utterly unsuspicious of any danger. I straightened up, -bringing my rifle to my shoulder, and as it wheeled I fired, and the -sheep made two or three blind jumps in my direction. So close was I to -the camp, and so still was the cold morning, that I distinctly heard one -of the three men, who had remained clustered about the fire eagerly -watching my movements, call, “By George, he’s missed! I saw the bullet -strike the cliff.” I had fired behind the shoulders, and the bullet, -going through, had buried itself in the bluff beyond. The wound was -almost instantaneously fatal, and the sheep, after striving in vain to -keep its balance, fell heels over head down a crevice, where it jammed. -I descended, released the carcass, and pitched it on ahead of me, only -to have it jam again near the foot of the cliff. Before I got it loose I -was joined by my three companions, who had been running headlong toward -me through the brush ever since the time they had seen the animal fall. - -I never obtained another sheep under circumstances which seemed to me -quite so remarkable as these; for sheep are, on the whole, the wariest -of game. Nevertheless, with all game there is an immense amount of -chance in the chase, and it is perhaps not wholly uncharacteristic of a -hunter’s luck that, after having hunted faithfully in vain and with much -hard labor for several days through a good sheep country, we should at -last have obtained one within sight and earshot of camp. Incidentally I -may mention that I have never tasted better mutton, or meat of any kind, -than that furnished by this tender yearling. - -The nomenclature and exact specific relationships of American sheep, -deer and antelope offer difficulties not only to the hunter but to the -naturalist. As regards the nomenclature, we share the trouble -encountered by all peoples of European descent who have gone into -strange lands. The incomers are almost invariably men who are not -accustomed to scientific precision of expression. Like other people, -they do not like to invent names if they can by any possibility make use -of those already in existence, and so in a large number of cases they -call the new birds and animals by names applied to entirely different -birds and animals of the Old World to which, in the eyes of the -settlers, they bear some resemblance. In South America the Spaniards, -for instance, christened “lion” and “tiger” the great cats which are -properly known as cougar and jaguar. In South Africa the Dutch settlers, -who came from a land where all big game had long been exterminated, gave -fairly grotesque names to the great antelopes, calling them after the -European elk, stag, and chamois. The French did but little better in -Canada. Even in Ceylon the English, although belonging for the most part -to the educated classes, did no better than the ordinary pioneer -settlers, miscalling the sambur stag an elk, and the leopard a cheetah. -Our own pioneers behaved in the same way. Hence it is that we have no -distinctive name at all for the group of peculiarly American game birds -of which the bobwhite is the typical representative; and that, when we -could not use the words quail, partridge, or pheasant, we went for our -terminology to the barn-yard, and called our fine grouse, fool-hens, -sage-hens, and prairie-chickens. The bear and wolf our people recognized -at once. The bison they called a buffalo, which was no worse than the -way in which in Europe the Old World bison was called an aurochs. The -American true elk and reindeer were rechristened moose and -caribou—excellent names, by the way, derived from the Indian. The huge -stag was called an elk. The extraordinary antelope of the high Western -peaks was christened the white goat; not unnaturally, as it has a most -goatlike look. The prongbuck of the plains, an animal standing entirely -alone among ruminants, was simply called antelope. Even when we invented -names for ourselves, we applied them loosely. The ordinary deer is -sometimes known as the red deer, sometimes as the Virginia deer, and -sometimes as the whitetail deer—the last being by far the best and most -distinctive term. - -In the present condition of zoological research it is not possible to -state accurately how many “species” of deer and sheep there are in North -America, both because mammalogists have not at hand a sufficient amount -of material in the way of large series of specimens from different -localities, and because they are not agreed among themselves as to the -value of “species,” or indeed as to exactly what is denoted by the term. -Of course, if we had a complete series of specimens of extinct and -fossil deer before us, there would be a perfect intergradation among all -the existing forms through their long-vanished ancestral types, as the -existing gaps have been created by the extinction and transformation of -those former types. Where the gap is very broad and well marked no -difficulty exists in using terms which shall express the difference. -Thus the gap separating the moose, the caribou, and the wapiti from one -another, and from the smaller American deer, is so wide, and there is so -complete a lack of transitional forms, that the differences among them -are expressed by naturalists by the use of different generic terms. The -gap between the whitetail and the different forms of blacktail, though -much less, is also clearly marked. But when we come to consider the -blacktail among themselves, we find two very distinct types which yet -show a certain tendency to intergrade; and with the whitetail very wide -differences exist, even in the United States, both individually among -the deer of certain localities, and also as between all the deer of one -locality when compared with all the deer of another. Our present -knowledge of the various forms hardly justifies us in dogmatizing as to -their exact relative worth; and even if our knowledge was more complete, -naturalists are as yet wholly at variance as to the laws which should -govern specific nomenclature. However, the hunter, the mere field -naturalist, and the lover of outdoor life, are only secondarily -interested in the niceness of these distinctions. - -In addition to being a true sportsman and not a game butcher, in -addition to being a humane man as well as keen-eyed, strong-limbed, and -stout-hearted, the big game hunter should be a field naturalist. If -possible, he should be an adept with the camera; and hunting with the -camera will tax his skill far more than hunting with the rifle, while -the results in the long run give much greater satisfaction. Wherever -possible he should keep a note-book, and should carefully study and -record the habits of the wild creatures, especially when in some remote -regions to which trained scientific observers but rarely have access. If -we could only produce a hunter who would do for American big game what -John Burroughs has done for the smaller wild life of hedgerow and -orchard, farm and garden and grove, we should indeed be fortunate. Yet -even though a man does not possess the literary faculty and the powers -of trained observation necessary for such a task, he can do his part -toward adding to our information by keeping careful notes of all the -important facts which he comes across. Such note-books would show the -changed habits of game with the changed seasons, their abundance at -different times and different places, the melancholy data of their -disappearance, the pleasanter facts as to their change of habits which -enable them to continue to exist in the land, and, in short, all their -traits. A real and lasting service would thereby be rendered not only to -naturalists, but to all who care for nature. - -Along the Little Missouri there have been several curious changes in the -fauna within my own knowledge. Thus magpies have greatly decreased in -numbers. This is, I believe, owing to the wolf hunters, for magpies -often come around carcasses and pick up poisoned baits. I have seen as -many as seven lying dead around a bait. They are much less plentiful -than they formerly were. In 1894 I was rather surprised at meeting a -porcupine, usually a beast of the timber, at least twenty miles from -trees. He was grubbing after sage-brush roots on the edge of a cut bank -by a half-dried creek. I was stalking an antelope at the time, and -stopped to watch him for about five minutes. He paid no heed to me, -though I was within three or four paces of him. Porcupines are easily -exterminated; and they have diminished in numbers in this neighborhood. -Both the lucivee, or northern lynx, and the wolverene have been found on -the Little Missouri, near the Kildeer Mountains, but I do not know of a -specimen of either that has been killed there for some years past. -Bobcats are still not uncommon. The blackfooted ferret was always rare, -and is rare now. But few beaver are left; they were very abundant in -1880, but were speedily trapped out when the Indians vanished and the -Northern Pacific Railroad was built. While this railroad was building, -the beaver frequently caused much trouble by industriously damming the -culverts. - -With us the first animal to disappear was the buffalo. In the old days, -say from 1870 to 1880, the buffalo were probably the most abundant of -all animals along the Little Missouri in the region that I know, -ranging, say, from Pretty Buttes to the Kildeer Mountains. They were -migratory, and at times almost all of them might leave; but, on the -whole, they were the most abundant of the game animals. In 1881 they -were still almost as numerous as ever. In 1883 all were killed but a few -stragglers, and the last of these stragglers that I heard of as seen in -our immediate neighborhood was in 1885. The second game animal in point -of abundance was the blacktail. It did not go out on the prairies, but -in the broken country adjoining the river it was far more plentiful than -any other kind of game. Blacktail were not much slaughtered until the -buffalo began to give out, say in 1882; but by 1896 they were not a -twentieth—probably not a fiftieth—as plentiful as they had been in 1882. -A few are still found in out-of-the-way places, where the ground is very -rough. Elk were plentiful in 1880, though never anything like as -abundant as the buffalo and the blacktail. Only straggling parties or -individuals have been seen since 1883. The last I shot near my ranch was -in 1886; but two or three have been shot since, and a cow and calf were -seen, chased and almost roped by the riders on the round-up in the fall -of 1892. Whitetail were never as numerous as the other game, but they -held their own better, and a few can be shot yet. In 1883 probably -twenty blacktail were killed for every one whitetail; in 1896 the -numbers were about equal. Antelope were plentiful in the old days, -though not nearly so much so as the buffalo and blacktail. The hunters -did not molest them while the buffalo and elk lasted, and they then -turned their attention to the blacktail. For some years after 1883 I -think the pronghorn in our neighborhood positively increased in numbers. -In 1886 I thought them more plentiful than I had ever known them before. -Then they decreased; after 1893 the decrease was rapid. A few still -remain. Mountain sheep were never very plentiful, and decreased -proportionately with less rapidity than any other game; but they are now -almost exterminated. Bears likewise were never plentiful, and cougars -were always scarce. - -There were two stages of hunting in this country, as in almost all other -countries similarly situated. In 1880 the Northern Pacific Railroad was -built nearly to the edge of the Bad Lands, and the danger of Indian war -was totally eliminated. A great inrush of hunters followed. In 1881, -1882 and 1883 buffalo, elk and blacktail were slaughtered in enormous -numbers, and a good many whitetail and prongbuck were killed too. By -1884 the game had been so thinned out that hide-hunting and meat-hunting -ceased to pay. A few professional hunters remained, but most of them -moved elsewhere, or were obliged to go into other business. From that -time the hunting has chiefly been done by ranchers and occasional small -grangers. In consequence, for six or eight years the game about held its -own—the antelope, as I have said above, at one time increasing; but the -gradual growth in the number of actual settlers then began to tell, and -the game became scarce. Nowadays settlers along the Little Missouri can -kill an occasional deer or antelope; but it can hardly be called a game -country. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - THE WHITETAIL DEER - - -The whitetail deer is now, as it always has been, the most plentiful and -most widely distributed of American big game. It holds its own in the -land better than any other species, because it is by choice a dweller in -the thick forests and swamps, the places around which the tide of -civilization flows, leaving them as islets of refuge for the wild -creatures which formerly haunted all the country. The range of the -whitetail is from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Canadian to -the Mexican borders, and somewhat to the north and far to the south of -these limits. The animal shows a wide variability, both individually and -locally, within these confines; from the hunter’s standpoint it is not -necessary to try to determine exactly the weight that attaches to these -local variations. - -There is also a very considerable variation in habits. As compared with -the mule-deer, the whitetail is not a lover of the mountains. As -compared with the prongbuck, it is not a lover of the treeless plains. -Yet in the Alleghanies and the Adirondacks, at certain seasons -especially, and in some places at all seasons, it dwells high among the -densely wooded mountains, wandering over their crests and sheer sides, -and through the deep ravines; while in the old days there were parts of -Texas and the Indian Territory where it was found in great herds far out -on the prairie. Moreover, the peculiar nature of its chosen habitat, -while generally enabling it to resist the onslaught of man longer than -any of its fellows, sometimes exposes it to speedy extermination. To the -westward of the rich bottom-lands and low prairies of the Mississippi -Valley proper, when the dry plains country is reached, the natural -conditions are much less favorable for whitetail than for other big -game. The black bear, which in the East has almost precisely the same -habitat as the whitetail, disappears entirely on the great plains, and -reappears in the Rockies in regions which the whitetail does not reach. -All over the great plains, into the foothills of the Rockies, the -whitetail is found, but only in the thick timber of the river bottoms. -Throughout the regions of the Upper Missouri and Upper Platte, the Big -Horn, Powder, Yellowstone, and Cheyenne, over all of which I have -hunted, the whitetail lives among the cottonwood groves and dense brush -growth that fringe the river beds and here and there extend some -distance up the mouths of the large creeks. In these places the -whitetail and the mule-deer may exist in close proximity; but normally -neither invades the haunts of the other. - -Along the ordinary plains river, such as the Little Missouri, where I -ranched for many years, there are three entirely different types of -country through which a man passes as he travels away from the bed of -the river. There is first the alluvial river bottom covered with -cottonwood and box-elder, together with thick brush. These bottoms may -be a mile or two across, or they may shrink to but a few score yards. -After the extermination of the wapiti, which roamed everywhere, the only -big game animal found in them was the whitetail deer. Beyond this level -alluvial bottom the ground changes abruptly to bare, rugged hills or -fantastically carved and shaped Bad Lands rising on either side of the -river, the ravines, coulees, creeks, and canyons twisting through them -in every direction. Here there are patches of ash, cedar, pine, and -occasionally other trees, but the country is very rugged, and the cover -very scanty. This is the home of the mule-deer, and, in the roughest and -wildest parts, of the bighorn. The absolutely clear and sharply defined -line of demarkation between this rough, hilly country, flanking the -river, and the alluvial river bottom, serves as an equally clearly -marked line of demarkation between the ranges of the whitetail and the -mule-deer. This belt of broken country may be only a few hundred yards -in width; or it may extend for a score of miles before it changes into -the open prairies, the high plains proper. As soon as these are reached, -the prongbuck’s domain begins. - -As the plains country is passed, and the vast stretches of mountainous -region entered, the river bottoms become narrower, and the plains on -which the prongbuck is found become of very limited extent, shrinking to -high valleys and plateaus, while the mass of rugged foothills and -mountains add immensely to the area of the mule-deer’s habitat. - -Given equal areas of country, of the three different types alluded to -above, that in which the mule-deer is found offers the greatest chance -of success to the rifle-bearing hunter, because there is enough cover to -shield him and not enough to allow his quarry to escape by stealth and -hiding. On the other hand, the thick river bottoms offer him the -greatest difficulty. In consequence, where the areas of distribution of -the different game animals are about equal, the mule-deer disappears -first before the hunter, the prongbuck next, while the whitetail holds -out the best of all. I saw this frequently on the Yellowstone, the -Powder, and the Little Missouri. When the ranchmen first came into this -country the mule-deer swarmed, and yielded a far more certain harvest to -the hunter than did either the prongbuck or the whitetail. They were the -first to be thinned out, the prongbuck lasting much better. The cowboys -and small ranchmen, most of whom did not at the time have hounds, then -followed the prongbuck; and this, in its turn, was killed out before the -whitetail. But in other places a slight change in the conditions -completely reversed the order of destruction. In parts of Wyoming and -Montana the mountainous region where the mule-deer dwelt was of such -vast extent, and the few river bottoms on which the whitetail were found -were so easily hunted, that the whitetail was completely exterminated -throughout large districts where the mule-deer continued to abound. -Moreover, in these regions the table-lands and plains upon which the -prongbuck was found were limited in extent, and although the prongbuck -outlasted the whitetail, it vanished long before the herds of the -mule-deer had been destroyed from among the neighboring mountains. - -The whitetail was originally far less common in the forests of northern -New England than was the moose, for in the deep snows the moose had a -much better chance to escape from its brute foes and to withstand cold -and starvation. But when man appeared upon the scene he followed the -moose so much more eagerly than he followed the deer that the conditions -were reversed and the moose was killed out. The moose thus vanished -entirely from the Adirondacks, and almost entirely from Maine; but the -excellent game laws of the latter State, and the honesty and efficiency -with which they have been executed during the last twenty years, have -resulted in an increase of moose during that time. During the same -period the whitetail deer has increased to an even greater extent. It is -doubtless now more plentiful in New York and New England than it was a -quarter of a century ago. Stragglers are found in Connecticut, and, what -is still more extraordinary, even occasionally come into wild parts of -densely populated little Rhode Island—my authority for the last -statement being Mr. C. Grant La Farge. Of all our wild game, the -whitetail responds most quickly to the efforts for its protection, and -except the wapiti, it thrives best in semi-domestication; in -consequence, it has proved easy to preserve it, even in such places as -Cape Cod in Massachusetts and Long Island in New York; while it has -increased greatly in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and has more -than held its own in the Adirondacks. Mr. James R. Sheffield, of New -York City, in the summer of 1899, spent several weeks on a fishing trip -through northern Maine. He kept count of the moose and deer he saw, and -came across no less than thirty-five of the former and over five hundred -and sixty of the latter. In the most lonely parts of the forest deer -were found by the score, feeding in broad daylight on the edges of the -ponds. Deer are still plentiful in many parts of the Alleghany -Mountains, from Pennsylvania southward, and also in the swamps and -canebrakes of the South Atlantic and Gulf States. - -Where the differences in habitat and climate are so great there are many -changes of habits, and some of them of a noteworthy kind. Mr. John A. -McIlhenny, of Avery’s Island, Louisiana, formerly a lieutenant in my -regiment, lives in what is still a fine game country. His plantation is -in the delta of the Mississippi, among the vast marshes, north of which -lie the wooded swamps. Both the marshes and the swamps were formerly -literally thronged with whitetail deer, and the animals are still -plentiful in them. Mr. McIlhenny has done much deer-hunting, always -using hounds. He informs me that the breeding times are unexpectedly -different from those of the northern deer. In the North, in different -localities, the rut takes place in October or November, and the fawns -are dropped in May or June. In the Louisiana marshes around Avery’s -Island the rut begins early in July and the fawns are dropped in -February. In the swamps immediately north of these marshes the dates are -fully a month later. The marshes are covered with tall reeds and grass -and broken by bayous, while there are scattered over them what are -called “islands” of firmer ground overgrown with timber. In this -locality the deer live in the same neighborhood all the year round, just -as, for instance, they do on Long Island. So on the Little Missouri, in -the neighborhood of my ranch, they lived in exactly the same localities -throughout the entire year. Occasionally they would shift from one river -bottom to another, or go a few miles up or down stream because of -scarcity of food. But there was no general shifting. - -On the Little Missouri, in one place where they were not molested, I -knew a particular doe and fawn with whose habits I became quite -intimately acquainted. When the moon was full they fed chiefly by night, -and spent most of the day lying in the thick brush. When there was -little or no moon they would begin to feed early in the morning, then -take a siesta, and then—what struck me as most curious of all—would go -to a little willow-bordered pool about noon to drink, feeding for some -time both before and after drinking. After another siesta they would -come out late in the afternoon and feed until dark. - -In the Adirondacks the deer often completely alter their habits at -different seasons. Soon after the fawns are born they come down to the -water’s edge, preferring the neighborhood of the lakes, but also -haunting the stream banks. The next three months, during the hot -weather, they keep very close to the water, and get a large proportion -of their food by wading in after the lilies and other aquatic plants. -Where they are much hunted, they only come to the water’s edge after -dark, but in regions where they are little disturbed they are quite as -often diurnal in their habits. I have seen dozens feeding in the -neighborhood of a lake, some of them two or three hundred yards out in -shallow places, up to their bellies; and this after sunrise, or two or -three hours before sunset. Before September the deer cease coming to the -water, and go back among the dense forests and on the mountains. There -is no genuine migration, as in the case of the mule-deer, from one big -tract to another, and no entire desertion of any locality. But the food -supply which drew the animals to the water’s edge during the summer -months shows signs of exhaustion toward fall; the delicate water-plants -have vanished, the marsh-grass is dying, and the lilies are less -succulent. An occasional deer still wanders along the shores or out into -the lake, but most of them begin to roam the woods, eating the berries -and the leaves and twig ends of the deciduous trees, and even of some of -the conifers—although a whitetail is fond of grazing, especially upon -the tips of the grass. I have seen moose feeding on the tough old lily -stems and wading after them when the ice had skimmed the edges of the -pool. But the whitetail has usually gone back into the woods long before -freezing-time. - -From Long Island south there is not enough snow to make the deer alter -their habits in the winter. As soon as the rut is over, which in -different localities may be from October to December, whitetail are apt -to band together—more apt than at any other season, although even then -they are often found singly or in small parties. While nursing, the does -have been thin, and at the end of the rut the bucks are gaunt, with -their necks swollen and distended. From that time on bucks and does -alike put on flesh very rapidly in preparation for the winter. Where -there is no snow, or not enough to interfere with their travelling, they -continue to roam anywhere through the woods and across the natural -pastures and meadows, eating twigs, buds, nuts, and the natural hay -which is cured on the stalk. - -In the Northern woods they form yards during the winter. These yards are -generally found in a hardwood growth which offers a supply of winter -food, and consist simply of a tangle of winding trails beaten out -through the snow by the incessant passing and repassing of the animal. -The yard merely enables the deer to move along the various paths in -order to obtain food. If there are many deer together, the yards may -connect by interlacing paths, so that a deer can run a considerable -distance through them. Often, however, each deer will yard by itself, as -food is the prime consideration, and a given locality may only have -enough to support a single animal. When the snows grow deep the deer is -wholly unable to move, once the yard is left, and hence it is absolutely -at the mercy of a man on snowshoes, or of a cougar or a wolf, if found -at such times. The man on snowshoes can move very comfortably; and the -cougar and the wolf, although hampered by the snow, are not rendered -helpless like the deer. I have myself scared a deer out of a yard, and -seen it flounder helplessly in a great drift before it had gone thirty -rods. When I came up close it ploughed its way a very short distance -through the drifts, making tremendous leaps. But as the snow was over -six feet deep, so that the deer sank below the level of the surface at -each jump, and yet could not get its feet on the solid ground, it became -so exhausted that it fell over on its side and bleated in terror as I -came up. After looking at it I passed on. Hide-hunters and frontier -settlers sometimes go out after the deer on snowshoes when there is a -crust, and hence this method of killing is called crusting. It is simple -butchery, for the deer cannot, as the moose does, cause its pursuer a -chase which may last days. No self-respecting man would follow this -method of hunting save from the necessity of having meat. - -In very wild localities deer sometimes yard on the ice along the edges -of lakes, eating off all the twigs and branches, whether of hardwood -trees or of conifers, which they can reach. - -At the beginning of the rut the does flee from the bucks, which follow -them by scent at full speed. The whitetail buck rarely tries to form a -herd of does, though he will sometimes gather two or three. The mere -fact that his tactics necessitate a long and arduous chase after each -individual doe prevents his organizing herds as the wapiti bull does. -Sometimes two or three bucks will be found strung out one behind the -other, following the same doe. The bucks wage desperate battle among -themselves during this season, coming together with a clash, and then -pushing and straining for an hour or two at a time, with their mouths -open, until the weakest gives way. As soon as one abandons the fight he -flees with all possible speed, and usually escapes unscathed. While head -to head there is no opportunity for a disabling thrust, but if, in the -effort to retreat, the beaten buck gets caught, he may be killed. Owing -to the character of the antlers, whitetail bucks are peculiarly apt to -get them interlocked in such a fight, and if the efforts of the two -beasts fail to disentangle them, both ultimately perish by starvation. I -have several times come across a pair of skulls with interlocked -antlers. The same thing occurs, though far less frequently, to the -mule-deer and even the wapiti. - -The whitetail is the most beautiful and graceful of all our game animals -when in motion. I have never been able to agree with Judge Caton that -the mule-deer is clumsy and awkward in his gait. I suppose all such -terms are relative. Compared to the moose or caribou the mule-deer is -light and quick in his movements, and to me there is something very -attractive in the poise and power with which one of the great bucks -bounds off, all four legs striking the earth together and shooting the -body upward and forward as if they were steel springs. But there can be -no question as to the infinitely superior grace and beauty of the -whitetail when he either trots or runs. The mule-deer and blacktail -bound, as already described. The prongbuck gallops with an even gait, -and so does the bighorn, when it happens to be caught on a flat; but the -whitetail moves with an indescribable spring and buoyancy. If surprised -close up, and much terrified, it simply runs away as hard as it can, at -a gait not materially different from that of any other game animal under -like circumstances, while its head is thrust forward and held down, and -the tail is raised perpendicularly. But normally its mode of -progression, whether it trots or gallops, is entirely unique. In -trotting, the head and tail are both held erect, and the animal throws -out its legs with a singularly proud and free motion, bringing the feet -well up, while at every step there is an indescribable spring. In the -canter or gallop the head and tail are also held erect, the flashing -white brush being very conspicuous. Three or four low, long, -marvellously springy bounds are taken, and then a great leap is made -high in the air, which is succeeded by three or four low bounds, and -then by another high leap. A whitetail going through the brush in this -manner is a singularly beautiful sight. It has been my experience that -they are not usually very much frightened by an ordinary slow -track-hound, and I have seen a buck play along in front of one, -alternately trotting and cantering, head and flag up, and evidently -feeling very little fear. - -To my mind the chase of the whitetail, as it must usually be carried on, -offers less attraction than the chase of any other kind of our large -game. But this is a mere matter of taste, and such men as Judge Caton -and Mr. George Bird Grinnell have placed it above all others as a game -animal. Personally I feel that the chase of any animal has in it two -chief elements of attraction. The first is the chance given to be in the -wilderness; to see the sights and hear the sounds of wild nature. The -second is the demand made by the particular kind of chase upon the -qualities of manliness and hardihood. As regards the first, some kinds -of game, of course, lead the hunter into particularly remote and wild -localities; and the farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is -the attraction of its lonely freedom. Yet to camp out at all implies -some measure of this delight. The keen, fresh air, the breath of the -pine forests, the glassy stillness of the lake at sunset, the glory of -sunrise among the mountains, the shimmer of the endless prairies, the -ceaseless rustle of the cottonwood leaves where the wagon is drawn up on -the low bluff of the shrunken river—all these appeal intensely to any -man, no matter what may be the game he happens to be following. But -there is a wide variation, and indeed contrast, in the qualities called -for in the chase itself, according as one quarry or another is sought. - -The qualities that make a good soldier are, in large part, the qualities -that make a good hunter. Most important of all is the ability to shift -for one’s self, the mixture of hardihood and resourcefulness which -enables a man to tramp all day in the right direction, and, when night -comes, to make the best of whatever opportunities for shelter and warmth -may be at hand. Skill in the use of the rifle is another trait; -quickness in seeing game, another; ability to take advantage of cover, -yet another; while patience, endurance, keenness of observation, -resolution, good nerves, and instant readiness in an emergency, are all -indispensable to a really good hunter. - -If a man lives on a ranch, or is passing some weeks in a lodge in a game -country, and starts out for two or three days, he will often do well to -carry nothing whatever but a blanket, a frying-pan, some salt pork, and -some hardtack. If the hunting-ground is such that he can use a wagon or -a canoe, and the trip is not to be too long, he can carry about anything -he chooses, including a tent, any amount of bedding, and if it is very -cold, a small, portable stove, not to speak of elaborate cooking -apparatus. If he goes with a pack-train, he will also be able to carry a -good deal; but in such a case he must rely on the judgment of the -trained packers, unless he is himself an expert in the diamond hitch. If -it becomes necessary to go on foot for any length of time, he must be -prepared to do genuine roughing, and must get along with the minimum of -absolute necessities. - -It is hardly necessary to point out that the hunter worthy of the name -should be prepared to shift for himself in emergencies. A ranchman, or -any other man whose business takes him much in the mountains and out on -the great plains or among the forests, ought to be able to get along -entirely on his own account. But this cannot usually be done by those -whose existence is habitually more artificial. When a man who normally -lives a rather over-civilized life, an over-luxurious life—especially in -the great cities—gets off for a few weeks’ hunting, he cannot expect to -accomplish much in the way of getting game without calling upon the -services of a trained guide, woodsman, plainsman, or mountain man, whose -life-work it has been to make himself an adept in all the craft of the -wilderness. Until a man unused to wilderness life, even though a good -sportsman, has actually tried it, he has no idea of the difficulties and -hardships of shifting absolutely for himself, even for only two or three -days. Not only will the local guide have the necessary knowledge as to -precisely which one of two seemingly similar places is most apt to -contain game; not only will he possess the skill in packing horses, or -handling a canoe in rough water, or finding his way through the -wilderness, which the amateur must lack; but even the things which the -amateur does, the professional will do so much more easily and rapidly, -as in the one case to leave, and in the other case not to leave, ample -time for the hunting proper. Therefore the ordinary amateur sportsman, -especially if he lives in a city, must count upon the services of -trained men, possibly to help him in hunting, certainly to help him in -travelling, cooking, pitching camp, and the like; and this he must do, -if he expects to get good sport, no matter how hardy he may be, and no -matter how just may be the pride he ought to take in his own craft, -skill, and capacity to undergo fatigue and exposure. But while normally -he must take advantage of the powers of others, he should certainly make -a point of being able to shift for himself whenever the need arises; and -he can only be sure of possessing this capacity by occasionally -exercising it. It ought to be unnecessary to point out that the -wilderness is not a place for those who are dependent upon luxuries, and -above all for those who make a camping trip an excuse for debauchery. -Neither the man who wants to take a French cook and champagne on a -hunting trip, nor his equally objectionable though less wealthy brother -who is chiefly concerned with filling and emptying a large whiskey jug, -has any place whatever in the real life of the wilderness. - -The chase of an animal should rank according as it calls for the -exercise in a high degree of a large number of these qualities. The -grizzly is almost our only dangerous game, and under certain conditions -shooting the grizzly calls for considerable courage on the part of the -hunter. Disregarding these comparatively rare occasions, the chase of -mountain game, especially the bighorn, demands more hardihood, power of -endurance, and moral and physical soundness than any other kind of -sport, and so must come first. The wapiti and mule-deer rank next, for -they too must be killed by stalking as a result of long tramps over very -rough ground. To kill a moose by still hunting is a feat requiring a -high degree of skill, and entailing severe fatigue. When game is -followed on horseback, it means that the successful hunter must ride -well and boldly. - -The whitetail is occasionally found where it yields a very high quality -of sport. But normally it lives in regions where it is extremely -difficult to kill it legitimately, as the wapiti and mule-deer are -killed, and yet comparatively easy to kill it under circumstances which -make no demand for any particular prowess on the part of the hunter. It -is far more difficult to still hunt successfully in the dense brushy -timber frequented by the whitetail than in the open glades, the -mountains, and the rocky hills, through which the wapiti and mule-deer -wander. The difficulty arises, however, because the chief requirement is -stealth, noiselessness. The man who goes out into the hills for a -mule-deer must walk hard and far, must be able to bear fatigue, and -possibly thirst and hunger, must have keen eyes, and be a good shot. He -does not need to display the extraordinary power of stealthy advance -which is necessary to the man who would creep up to and kill a whitetail -in thick timber. Now, the qualities of hardihood and endurance are -better than the quality of stealth, and though all three are necessary -in both kinds of chase, yet it is the chase of the mule-deer which most -develops the former, and the chase of the whitetail which most develops -the latter. When the woods are bare and there is some snow on the -ground, however, still hunting the whitetail becomes not only possible, -but a singularly manly and attractive kind of sport. Where the whitetail -can be followed with horse and hound, the sport is also of a very high -order. To be able to ride through woods and over rough country at full -speed, rifle or shotgun in hand, and then to leap off and shoot at a -running object, is to show that one has the qualities which made the -cavalry of Forrest so formidable in the Civil War. There could be no -better training for the mounted rifleman, the most efficient type of -modern soldier. - -By far the easiest way to kill the whitetail is in one or other of -certain methods which entail very little work or skill on the part of -the hunter. The most noxious of these, crusting in the deep snows, has -already been spoken of. No sportsman worthy of the name would ever -follow so butcherly a method. Fire hunting must also normally be ruled -out. It is always mere murder if carried on by a man who sits up at a -lick, and is not much better where the hunter walks through the -fields—not to mention the fact that on such a walk he is quite as apt to -kill stock as to kill a deer. But fire hunting from a boat, or jacking, -as it is called, though it entails absolutely no skill in the hunter, -and though it is, and ought to be, forbidden, as it can best be carried -on at the season when nursing does are particularly apt to be the -victims, nevertheless has a certain charm of its own. The first deer I -ever killed, when a boy, was obtained in this way, and I have always -been glad to have had the experience, though I have never been willing -to repeat it. I was at the time camped out in the Adirondacks. - -Two or three of us, all boys of fifteen or sixteen, had been enjoying -what was practically our first experience in camping out, having gone -out with two guides, Hank Martin and Mose Sawyer, from Paul Smith’s on -Lake St. Regis. My brother and cousin were fond of fishing and I was -not, so I was deputed to try to bring in a deer. I had a -double-barrelled 12–bore gun, French pinfire, with which I had -industriously collected “specimens” on a trip to Egypt and Palestine and -on Long Island; except for three or four enthralling but not -over-successful days after woodcock and quail, I had done no game -shooting. As to every healthy boy with a taste for outdoor life, the -Northern forests were to me a veritable land of enchantment. We were -encamped by a stream among the tall pines, and I had enjoyed everything; -poling and paddling the boat, tramping through the woods, the cries of -chickaree and chipmunk, of jay, woodpecker, chickadee, nuthatch, and -cross-bill, which broke the forest stillness; and, above all, the great -reaches of sombre woodland themselves. The heart-shaped footprints which -showed where the deer had come down to drink and feed on the marshy -edges of the water made my veins thrill; and the nights around the -flickering camp-fire seemed filled with romance. - -My first experiment in jacking was a failure. The jack, a bark lantern, -was placed upon a stick in the bow of the boat, and I sat in a cramped -huddle behind it, while Mose Sawyer plied the paddle with noiseless -strength and skill in the stern. I proved unable to respond even to the -very small demand made upon me, for when we actually did come upon a -deer I failed to see it until it ran, when I missed it; and on the way -back capped my misfortune by shooting a large owl which perched on a log -projecting into the water, looking at the lantern with two glaring eyes. - -All next day I was miserably conscious of the smothered disfavor of my -associates, and when night fell was told I would have another chance to -redeem myself. This time we started across a carry, the guide carrying -the light boat, and launched it in a quiet little pond about a mile off. -Dusk was just turning into darkness when we reached the edge of the -little lake, which was perhaps a mile long by three-quarters of a mile -across, with indented shores. We did not push off for half an hour or -so, until it was entirely dark; and then for a couple of hours we saw no -deer. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the ghostly, mysterious, -absolutely silent night ride over the water. Not the faintest splash -betrayed the work of the paddler. The boat glided stealthily alongshore, -the glare of the lantern bringing out for one moment every detail of the -forest growth on the banks, which the next second vanished into absolute -blackness. Several times we saw muskrats swimming across the lane of -light cut by the lantern through the darkness, and two or three times -their sudden plunging and splashing caused my heart to leap. Once when -we crossed the lake we came upon a loon floating buoyantly right out in -the middle of it. It stayed until we were within ten yards, so that I -could see the minute outlines of the feathers and every movement of the -eye. Then it swam off, but made no cry. At last, while crossing the -mouth of a bay we heard a splashing sound among the lilies inshore, -which even my untrained ears recognized as different from any of the -other noises we had yet heard, and a jarring motion of the paddle showed -that the paddler wished me to be on the alert. Without any warning, the -course of the boat was suddenly changed, and I was aware that we were -moving stern foremost. Then we swung around, and I could soon make out -that we were going down the little bay. The forest-covered banks -narrowed; then the marsh at the end was lighted up, and on its hither -edge, knee-deep among the water-lilies, appeared the figure of a -yearling buck still in the red. It stood motionless, gazing at the light -with a curiosity wholly unmixed with alarm, and at the shot wheeled and -fell at the water’s edge. We made up our mind to return to camp that -night, as it was before midnight. I carried the buck and the torch, and -the guide the boat, and the mile walk over the dim trail, occasionally -pitching forward across a stump or root, was a thing to be remembered. -It was my first deer, and I was very glad to get it; but although only a -boy, I had sense enough to realize that it was not an experience worth -repeating. The paddler in such a case deserves considerable credit, but -the shooter not a particle, even aside from the fact to which I have -already alluded, that in too many cases such shooting results in the -killing of nursing does. No matter how young a sportsman is, if he has a -healthy mind, he will not long take pleasure in any method of hunting in -which somebody else shows the skill and does the work so that his share -is only nominal. The minute that sport is carried on on these terms it -becomes a sham, and a sham is always detrimental to all who take part in -it. - -Whitetail are comparatively easily killed with hounds, and there are -very many places where this is almost the only way they can be killed at -all. Formerly in the Adirondacks this method of hunting was carried on -under circumstances which rendered those who took part in it objects of -deserved contempt. The sportsman stood in a boat while his guides put -out one or two hounds in the chosen forest side. After a longer or -shorter run the deer took to the water; for whitetail are excellent -swimmers, and when pursued by hounds try to shake them off by wading up -or down stream or by swimming across a pond, and, if tired, come to bay -in some pool or rapid. Once the unfortunate deer was in the water, the -guide rowed the boat after it. If it was yet early in the season, and -the deer was still in the red summer coat, it would sink when shot, and -therefore the guide would usually take hold of its tail before the -would-be Nimrod butchered it. If the deer was in the blue, the carcass -would float, so it was not necessary to do anything quite so palpably -absurd. But such sport, so far as the man who did the shooting was -concerned, had not one redeeming feature. The use of hounds has now been -prohibited by law. - -In regions where there are no lakes, and where the woods are thick, the -shooters are stationed at runways by which it is supposed the deer may -pass when the hounds are after them. Under such circumstances the man -has to show the skill requisite to hit the running quarry, and if he -uses the rifle, this means that he must possess a certain amount of -address in handling the weapon. But no other quality is called for, and -so even this method, though often the only possible one (and it may be -necessary to return to it in the Adirondacks), can never rank high in -the eyes of men who properly appreciate what big game hunting should be. -It is the usual method of killing deer on Long Island, during the three -or four days of each year when they can be legally hunted. The deer are -found along the south and centre of the eastern half of the island; they -were nearly exterminated a dozen years ago, but under good laws they -have recently increased greatly. The extensive grounds of the various -sportsmen’s clubs, and the forests of scrub-oak in the sparsely settled -inland region, give them good harbors and sanctuaries. On the days when -it is legal to shoot them, hundreds of hunters turn out from the -neighborhood, and indeed from all the island and from New York. On such -a day it is almost impossible to get any work done; for the sport is -most democratic, and is shared by everybody. The hunters choose their -position before dawn, lying in lines wherever deer are likely to pass, -while the hounds are turned into every patch of thick cover. A most -lively day follows, the fusillade being terrific; some men are -invariably shot, and a goodly number of deer are killed, mostly by wily -old hunters who kill ducks and quail for a living in the fall. - -When the horse is used together with the hounds the conditions are -changed. To ride a horse over rough country after game always implies -hardihood and good horsemanship, and therefore makes the sport a worthy -one. In very open country—in such country, for instance, as the -whitetail formerly frequented both in Texas and the Indian Territory—the -horseman could ride at the tail of the pack until the deer was fairly -run down. But nowadays I know of no place where this is possible, for -the whitetail’s haunts are such as to make it impracticable for any -rider to keep directly behind the hounds. What he must do is to try to -cut the game off by riding from point to point. He then leaps off the -horse and watches his chance for a shot. This is the way in which Mr. -McIlhenny has done most of his deer-hunting, in the neighborhood of his -Louisiana plantation. - -Around my ranch I very rarely tried to still-hunt whitetail, because it -was always easier to get mule-deer or prongbuck, if I had time to go off -for an all-day’s hunt. Occasionally, however, we would have at the ranch -hounds, usually of the old black-and-tan Southern type, and then if we -needed meat, and there was not time for a hunt back in the hills, we -would turn out and hunt one or two of the river bottoms with these -hounds. If I rode off to the prairies or the hills I went alone, but if -the quarry was a whitetail, our chance of success depended upon our -having a sufficient number of guns to watch the different passes and -runways. Accordingly, my own share of the chase was usually limited to -the fun of listening to the hounds, and of galloping at headlong speed -from one point where I thought the deer would not pass to some other, -which, as a matter of fact, it did not pass either. The redeeming -feature of the situation was that if I did get a shot, I almost always -got my deer. Under ordinary circumstances to merely wound a deer is -worse than not hitting it; but when there are hounds along they are -certain to bring the wounded animal to bay, and so on these hunts we -usually got venison. - -[Illustration: - - ELKHORN RANCH -] - -Of course, I occasionally got a whitetail when I was alone, whether with -the hounds or without them. There were whitetail on the very bottom on -which the ranch-house stood, as well as on the bottom opposite, and on -those to the right and left up and down stream. Occasionally I have -taken the hounds out alone, and then as they chevied the whitetail -around the bottom, have endeavored by rapid running on foot or on -horseback to get to some place from which I could obtain a shot. The -deer knew perfectly well that the hounds could not overtake them, and -they would usually do a great deal of sneaking round and round through -the underbrush and cottonwoods before they finally made up their minds -to leave the bottom. On one occasion a buck came sneaking down a game -trail through the buck brush where I stood, going so low that I could -just see the tips of his antlers, and though I made desperate efforts I -was not able to get into a position from which I could obtain a shot. On -another occasion, while I was looking intently into a wood through which -I was certain a deer would pass, it deliberately took to the open ground -behind me, and I did not see it until it was just vanishing. Normally, -the end of my efforts was that the deer went off and the hounds -disappeared after it, not to return for six or eight hours. Once or -twice things favored me; I happened to take the right turn or go in the -right direction, and the deer happened to blunder past me; and then I -returned with venison for supper. Two or three times I shot deer about -nightfall or at dawn, in the immediate neighborhood of the ranch, -obtaining them by sneaking as noiselessly as possible along the cattle -trails through the brush and timber, or by slipping along the edge of -the river bank. Several times I saw deer while I was sitting on the -piazza or on the doorstep of the ranch, and on one occasion I stepped -back into the house, got the rifle, and dropped the animal from where I -stood. - -On yet other occasions I obtained whitetail which lived not on the river -bottoms but among the big patches of brush and timber in the larger -creeks. When they were found in such country I hunted them very much as -I hunted the mule-deer, and usually shot one when I was expecting as -much to see a mule-deer as a whitetail. When the game was plentiful I -would often stay on my horse until the moment of obtaining the shot, -especially if it was in the early morning or late evening. My method -then was to ride slowly and quietly down the winding valleys and across -the spurs, hugging the bank, so that, if deer were feeding in the open, -I would get close up before either of us saw the other. Sometimes the -deer would halt for a moment when it saw me, and sometimes it would -bound instantly away. In either case my chance lay in the speed with -which I could jump off the horse and take my shot. Even in favorable -localities this method was of less avail with whitetail than mule-deer, -because the former were so much more apt to skulk. - -As soon as game became less plentiful my hunting had to be done on foot. -My object was to be on the hunting-ground by dawn, or else to stay out -there until it grew too dark to see the sights of my rifle. Often all I -did was to keep moving as quietly as possible through likely ground, -ever on the alert for the least trace of game; sometimes I would select -a lookout and carefully scan a likely country to see if I could not -detect something moving. On one occasion I obtained an old whitetail -buck by the simple exercise of patience. I had twice found him in a -broad basin, composed of several coulees, all running down to form the -head of a big creek, and all of them well timbered. He dodged me on both -occasions, and I made up my mind that I would spend a whole day in -watching for him from a little natural ambush of sage-bush and cedar on -a high point which overlooked the entire basin. I crept up to my ambush -with the utmost caution early in the morning, and there I spent the -entire day, with my lunch and a water-bottle, continually scanning the -whole region most carefully with the glasses. The day passed less -monotonously than it sounds, for every now and then I would catch a -glimpse of wild life; once a fox, once a coyote, and once a badger; -while the little chipmunks had a fine time playing all around me. At -last, about mid-afternoon, I suddenly saw the buck come quietly out of -the dense thicket in which he had made his midday bed, and deliberately -walk up a hillside and lie down in a thin clump of ash where the sun -could get at him—for it was in September, just before the rut began. -There was no chance of stalking him in the place he had chosen, and all -I could do was to wait. It was nearly sunset before he moved again, -except that I occasionally saw him turn his head. Then he got up, and -after carefully scrutinizing all the neighborhood, moved down into a -patch of fairly thick brush, where I could see him standing and -occasionally feeding, all the time moving slowly up the valley. I now -slipped most cautiously back and trotted nearly a mile until I could -come up behind one of the ridges bounding the valley in which he was. -The wind had dropped and it was almost absolutely still when I crawled -flat on my face to the crest, my hat in my left hand, my rifle in my -right. There was a big sage-bush conveniently near, and under this I -peered. There was a good deal of brush in the valley below, and if I had -not known that the buck was there, I would never have discovered him. As -it was, I watched for a quarter of an hour, and had about made up my -mind that he must have gone somewhere else, when a slight movement -nearly below me attracted my attention, and I caught a glimpse of him -nearly three hundred yards off, moving quietly along by the side of a -little dry watercourse which was right in the middle of the brush. I -waited until he was well past, and then again slipped back with the -utmost care, and ran on until I was nearly opposite the head of the -coulee, when I again approached the ridge-line. Here there was no -sage-bush, only tufts of tall grass, which were stirring in the little -breeze which had just sprung up, fortunately in the right direction. -Taking advantage of a slight inequality in the soil, I managed to get -behind one of these tufts, and almost immediately saw the buck. Toward -the head of the coulee the brush had become scanty and low, and he was -now walking straight forward, evidently keeping a sharp lookout. The sun -had just set. His course took him past me at a distance of eighty yards. -When directly opposite I raised myself on my elbows, drawing up the -rifle, which I had shoved ahead of me. The movement of course caught his -eye at once; he halted for one second to look around and see what it -was, and during that second I pulled the trigger. Away he went, his -white flag switching desperately, and though he galloped over the hill, -I felt he was mine. However, when I got to the top of the rise over -which he had gone, I could not see him, and as there was a deep though -narrow coulee filled with brush on the other side, I had a very ugly -feeling that I might have lost him, in spite of the quantity of blood he -had left along his trail. It was getting dark, and I plunged quickly -into the coulee. Usually a wounded deer should not be followed until it -has had time to grow stiff, but this was just one of the cases where the -rule would have worked badly; in the first place, because darkness was -coming on, and in the next place, because the animal was certain to die -shortly, and all that I wanted was to see where he was. I followed his -trail into the coulee, and expected to find that he had turned down it, -but a hurried examination in the fading light showed me that he had -taken the opposite course, and I scrambled hastily out on the other -side, and trotted along, staring into the brush, and now and then -shouting or throwing in a clod of earth. When nearly at the head there -was a crackling in the brush, and out burst the wounded buck. He -disappeared behind a clump of elms, but he had a hard hill to go up, and -the effort was too much for him. When I next saw him he had halted, and -before I could fire again down he came. - -On another occasion I spied a whole herd of whitetail feeding in a -natural meadow, right out in the open, in mid-afternoon, and was able to -get up so close that when I finally shot a yearling buck (which was one -of the deer farthest away from me, there being no big buck in the -outfit), the remaining deer, all does and fawns, scattered in every -direction, some galloping right past me in their panic. Once or twice I -was able to perform a feat of which I had read, but in which I scarcely -believed. This was, to creep up to a deer while feeding in the open, by -watching when it shook its tail, and then remaining motionless. I cannot -say whether the habit is a universal one, but on two occasions at least -I was able thus to creep up to the feeding deer, because before lifting -its head it invariably shook its tail, thereby warning me to stay -without moving until it had lifted its head, scrutinized the landscape, -and again lowered its head to graze. The eyesight of the whitetail, as -compared with that of the pronghorn antelope, is poor. It notes whatever -is in motion, but it seems unable to distinguish clearly anything that -is not in motion. On the occasions in question no antelope that I have -ever seen would have failed to notice me at once and to take alarm. But -the whitetail, although it scrutinized me narrowly, while I lay -motionless with my head toward it, seemed in each case to think that I -must be harmless, and after a while it would go on feeding. In one -instance the animal fed over a ridge and walked off before I could get a -shot; in the other instance I killed it. - -In 1894, on the last day I spent at the ranch, and with the last bullet -I fired from my rifle, I killed a fine whitetail buck. I left the -ranch-house early in the afternoon on my favorite pony, Muley, my -foreman, Sylvane Ferris, riding with me. We forded the shallow river and -rode up a long winding coulee, with belts of timber running down its -bottom. After going a couple of miles, by sheer good luck we stumbled on -three whitetail—a buck, a doe and a fawn. When we saw them they were -trying to sneak off, and immediately my foreman galloped toward one end -of the belt of timber in which they were, and started to ride down -through it, while I ran Muley to the other end to intercept them. They -were, of course, quite likely to break off to one side; but this -happened to be one of the occasions when everything went right. When I -reached the spot from which I covered the exits from the timber, I -leaped off, and immediately afterward heard a shout from my foreman that -told me the deer were on foot. Muley was a pet horse, and enjoyed -immensely the gallop after game; but his nerves invariably failed him at -the shot. On this occasion he stood snorting beside me, and finally, as -the deer came in sight, away he tore—only to go about 200 yards, -however, and stand and watch us, snorting, with his ears pricked forward -until, when I needed him, I went for him. At the moment, however, I paid -no heed to Muley, for a cracking in the brush told me the game was -close, and I caught the shadowy outlines of the doe and the fawn as they -scudded through the timber. By good luck, the buck, evidently flurried, -came right on the edge of the woods next to me, and as he passed, -running like a quarter-horse, I held well ahead of him and pulled -trigger. The bullet broke his neck and down he went—a fine fellow with a -handsome ten-point head, and fat as a prize sheep; for it was just -before the rut. Then we rode home, and I sat in a rocking-chair on the -ranch-house veranda, looking across the wide, sandy river bed at the -strangely shaped buttes and the groves of shimmering cottonwoods until -the sun went down and the frosty air bade me go in. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - THE MULE-DEER, OR ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACKTAIL - - -This is the largest and finest of our three smaller deer. Throughout its -range it is known as the blacktail deer, and it has as good a historic -claim to the title as its Pacific coast kinsman, the coast or true -blacktail. In writing purely of this species, it seems like pedantry to -call it by its book name of mule-deer, a name which conveys little or no -meaning to the people who live in its haunts and who hunt it; but it is -certainly very confusing to know two distinct types of deer by one name, -and as both the Rocky Mountain blacktail and Coast blacktail are thus -known, and as the former is occasionally known as mule-deer, I shall, -for convenience’ sake, speak of it under this name—a name given it -because of its great ears, which rather detract from its otherwise very -handsome appearance. - -The mule-deer is a striking and beautiful animal. As is the case with -our other species, it varies greatly in size, but is on the average -heavier than either the whitetail or the true blacktail. The horns also -average longer and heavier, and in exceptional heads are really -noteworthy trophies. Ordinarily a full-grown buck has a head of ten -distinct and well-developed points, eight of which consist of the -bifurcations of the two main prongs into which each antler divides, -while in addition there are two shorter basal or frontal points. But the -latter are very irregular, being sometimes missing; while sometimes -there are two or three of them on each antler. When missing it usually -means that the antlers are of young animals that have not attained their -full growth. A yearling will sometimes have merely a pair of spikes, and -sometimes each spike will be bifurcated so as to make two points. A -two-year-old may develop antlers which, though small, possess the normal -four points. Occasionally, where unusually big heads are developed, -there are a number of extra points. If these are due to deformity, they -simply take away from the beauty of the head; but where they are -symmetrical, while at the same time the antlers are massive, they add -greatly to the beauty. All the handsomest and largest heads show this -symmetrical development of extra points. It is rather hard to lay down a -hard-and-fast rule for counting them. The largest and finest antlers are -usually rough, and it is not easy to say when a particular point in -roughness has developed so that it may legitimately be called a prong. -The largest head I ever got to my own rifle had twenty-eight points, -symmetrically arranged, the antlers being rough and very massive as well -as very long. The buck was an immense fellow, but no bigger than other -bucks I have shot which possessed ordinary heads. - -The mule-deer is found from the rough country which begins along the -eastern edges of the great plains, across the Rocky Mountains to the -eastern slopes of the coast ranges, and into southern California. It -extends into Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. On the west it -touches, and here and there crosses, the boundaries of the Coast -blacktail. The whitetail is found in places throughout its habitat from -east to west and from north to south. But there are great regions in -this territory which are peculiarly fitted for the mule-deer, but in -which the whitetail is never found, as the habits of the two are -entirely different. In the mountains of western Colorado and Wyoming, -for instance, the mule-deer swarms, but the whole region is unfit for -the whitetail, which is accordingly only found in a very few narrowly -restricted localities. - -The mule-deer does not hold its own as well as the whitetail in the -presence of man, but it is by no means as quickly exterminated as the -wapiti. The outside limits of its range have not shrunk materially in -the century during which it has been known to white hunters. It was -never found until the fertile, moist country of the Mississippi Valley -was passed and the dry plains region to the west of it reached, and it -still exists in some numbers here and there in this country, as, for -instance, in the Bad Lands along the Little Missouri, and in the Black -Hills. But although its limits of distribution have not very sensibly -diminished, there are large portions of the range within these limits -from which it has practically vanished, and in most places its numbers -have been woefully thinned. It holds its own best among the more -inaccessible mountain masses of the Rockies, and from Chihuahua to -Alberta there are tracts where it is still abundant. Yet even in these -places the numbers are diminishing, and this process can be arrested -only by better laws, and above all, by a better administration of the -law. The national Government could do much by establishing its forest -reserves as game reserves, and putting on a sufficient number of forest -rangers who should be empowered to prevent all hunting on the reserves. -The State governments can do still more. Colorado has good laws, but -they are not well enforced. The easy method of accounting for this fact -is to say that it is due to the politicians; but in reality the -politicians merely represent the wishes, or more commonly the -indifference, of the people. As long as the good citizens of a State are -indifferent to game protection, or take but a tepid interest in it, the -politicians, through their agents, will leave the game laws unenforced. -But if the people of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana come to feel the -genuine interest in the enforcement of these laws that the people of -Maine and Vermont have grown to take during the past twenty years, that -the people of Montana and Wyoming who dwell alongside the Yellowstone -Park are already taking—then not only will the mule-deer cease to -diminish, but it will positively increase. It is a mistake to suppose -that such a change would only be to the advantage of well-to-do -sportsmen. Men who are interested in hunting for hunting’s sake, men who -come from the great cities remote from the mountains in order to get -three or four weeks’ healthy, manly holiday, would undoubtedly be -benefited; but the greatest benefit would be to the people of the -localities, of the neighborhoods round about. The presence of the game -would attract outsiders who would leave in the country money, or its -equivalent, which would many times surpass in value the game they -actually killed; and furthermore, the preservation of the game would -mean that the ranchmen and grangers who live near its haunts would have -in perpetuity the chance of following the pleasantest and healthiest of -all out-of-door pastimes; whereas, if through their short-sightedness -they destroy, or permit to be destroyed, the game, they are themselves -responsible for the fact that their children and children’s children -will find themselves forever debarred from a pursuit which must under -such circumstances become the amusement only of the very rich. If we are -really alive to our opportunities under our democratic social and -political system, we can keep for ourselves—and by “ourselves” I mean -the enormous bulk of men whose means range from moderate to very -small—ample opportunity for the enjoyment of hunting and shooting, of -vigorous and blood-stirring out-of-doors sport. If we fail to take -advantage of our possibilities, if we fail to pass, in the interest of -all, wise game laws, and to see that these game laws are properly -enforced, we shall then have to thank ourselves if in the future the -game is only found in the game preserves of the wealthy; and under such -circumstances only these same wealthy people will have the chance to -hunt it. - -The mule-deer differs widely from the whitetail in its habits, and -especially in its gait, and in the kind of country which it frequents. -Although in many parts of its range it is found side by side with its -whitetail cousin, the two do not actually associate together, and their -propinquity is due simply to the fact, that the river bottoms being a -favorite haunt of the whitetail, long tongues of the distribution area -of this species are thrust into the domain of its bolder, less stealthy -and less crafty kinsman. Throughout the plains country the whitetail is -the deer of the river bottoms, where the rank growth gives it secure -hiding-places, as well as ample food. The mule-deer, on the contrary, -never comes down into the dense growths of the river bottoms. Throughout -the plains country it is the deer of the broken Bad Lands which fringe -these river bottoms on either side, and of the rough ravines which wind -their way through the Bad Lands to the edge of the prairie country which -lies back of them. The broken hills, their gorges filled with patches of -ash, buck brush, cedar, and dwarf pine, form a country in which the -mule-deer revels. The whitetail will, at times, wander far out on the -prairies where the grass is tall and rank; but it is not nearly so bold -or fond of the open as the mule-deer. The latter is frequently found in -hilly country where the covering is so scanty that the animal must be -perpetually on the watch, as if it were a bighorn or prongbuck, in order -to spy its foes at a distance and escape before they can come near; -whereas the whitetail usually seeks to elude observation by hiding—by -its crouching, stealthy habits. - -It must be remembered, however, that with the mule-deer, as with all -other species of animals, there is a wide variability in habits under -different conditions. This is often forgotten even by trained -naturalists, who accept the observations made in one locality as if they -applied throughout the range of the species. Thus in the generally good -account of the habits of this species in Mr. Lydeker’s book on the “Deer -of All Lands” it is asserted that mule-deer never dwell permanently in -the forest, and feed almost exclusively on grass. The first statement is -entirely, the second only partly, true of the mule-deer of the plains -from the Little Missouri westward to the headwaters of the Platte, the -Yellowstone, and the Big Horn; but there are large parts of the Rockies -in which neither statement applies at all. In the course of several -hunting trips among the densely wooded mountains of western Montana, -along the water-shed separating the streams that flow into Clarke’s Fork -of the Columbia from those that ultimately empty into Kootenay Lake, I -found the mule-deer plentiful in many places where practically the whole -country was covered by dense forest, and where the opportunities for -grazing were small indeed, as we found to our cost in connection with -our pack-train. In this region the mule-deer lived the entire time among -the timber, and subsisted for the most part on browse. Occasionally they -would find an open glade and graze; but the stomachs of those killed -contained not grass, but blueberries and the leaves and delicate tips of -bushes. I was not in this country in winter, but it was evident that -even at that season the deer must spend their time in the thick timber. -There was no chance for them to go above the timber line, because the -mountains were densely wooded to their summits, and the white goats of -the locality also lived permanently in the timber.[3] It was far harder -to get the mule-deer than it was to get the white goats, for the latter -were infinitely more conspicuous, were slower in their movements, and -bolder and less shy. Almost the only way we succeeded in killing the -deer was by finding one of their well-trodden paths and lying in wait -beside it very early in the morning or quite late in the afternoon. The -season was August and September, and the deer were astir long before -sunset. They usually, but not always, lay high up on the mountain-sides, -and while they sometimes wandered to and fro browsing on the mountains, -they often came down to feed in the valleys, where the berries were -thicker. Their paths were well beaten, although, like all game trails, -after being as plainly marked as a pony track for a quarter of a mile or -so, they would suddenly grow faint and vanish. The paths ran nearly -straight up and down hill, and even when entirely undisturbed, the deer -often came down them at a great rate, bouncing along in a way that -showed that they had no fear of developing the sprung knees which we -should fear for a domestic animal which habitually tried the same -experiment. - -Footnote 3: - - I call particular attention to this fact concerning the white goat, as - certain recent writers, including Mr. Madison Grant, have erroneously - denied it. - -In other habits also the deer vary widely in different localities. For -instance, there is an absolute contrast as regards their migratory -habits between the mule-deer which live in the Bad Lands along the -Little Missouri, and those which live in northwestern Colorado; and this -difference is characteristic generally of the deer which in the summer -dwell in the high mountains, as contrasted with those which bear and -rear their young in the low, broken hill-country. Along the Little -Missouri there was no regular or clearly defined migration of the -mule-deer in a mass. Some individuals, or groups of individuals, shifted -their quarters for a few miles, so that in the spring, for instance, a -particular district of a few square miles, in which they had been -abundant before, might be wholly without them. But there were other -districts, which happened to afford at all times sufficient food and -shelter, in which they were to be found the year round; and the animals -did not band and migrate as the prongbucks did in the same region. In -the immediate neighborhood of my ranch there were groups of high hills -containing springs of water, good grass, and an abundance of cedar, ash, -and all kinds of brush in which the mule-deer were permanent residents. -There were big dry creeks, with well-wooded bottoms, lying among rugged -hills, in which I have found whitetail and mule-deer literally within a -stone’s throw of one another. I once started from two adjoining pockets -in this particular creek two does, each with a fawn, one being a -mule-deer and the other a whitetail. On another occasion, on an early -spring afternoon, just before the fawns were born, I came upon a herd of -twenty whitetails, does, and young of the preceding year, grazing -greedily on the young grass; and half a mile up the creek, in an almost -exactly similar locality, I came upon just such a herd of mule-deer. In -each case the animals were so absorbed in the feasting, which was to -make up for their winter privations, that I was able to stalk to within -fifty yards, though of course I did not shoot. - -In northwestern Colorado the conditions are entirely different. -Throughout this region there are no whitetail and never have been, -although in the winter range of the mule-deer there are a few prongbuck; -and the wapiti once abounded. The mule-deer are still plentiful. They -make a complete migration summer and winter, so that in neither season -is a single individual to be found in the haunts they frequent during -the other season. In the summer they live and bring forth their young -high up in the main chain of the mountains, in a beautiful country of -northern forest growth, dotted with trout-filled brooks and clear lakes. -The snowfall is so deep in these wooded mountains that the deer would -run great risk of perishing if they stayed therein, and indeed could -only winter there at all in very small numbers. Accordingly, when the -storms begin in the fall, usually about the first of October, just -before the rut, the deer assemble in bands and move west and south to -the lower, drier country, where the rugged hills are here and there -clothed with an open growth of pinyon and cedar, instead of the tall -spruces and pines of the summer range. The migrating bands follow one -another along definite trails over mountains, through passes and -valleys, and across streams; and their winter range swarms with them a -few days after the forerunners have put in their appearance in what has -been, during the summer, an absolutely deerless country. - -In January and February, 1901, I spent five weeks north of the White -River, in northwestern Colorado. It was in the heart of the wintering -ground of the great Colorado mule-deer herd. Forty miles away to the -east, extending north, lay the high mountains in which these deer had -spent the summer. The winter range, in which I was at the time hunting -cougars, is a region of comparatively light snowfall, though the cold is -bitter. On several occasions during my stay the thermometer went down to -twenty degrees below zero. The hills, or low mountains, for it was -difficult to know which to call them, were steep and broken, and -separated by narrow flats covered with sage-brush. The ordinary trees -were the pinyon and cedar, which were scattered in rather open groves -over the mountain-sides and the spurs between the ravines. There were -also patches of quaking asp, scrub-oak, and brush. The entire country -was thinly covered with ranches, and there were huge pastures enclosed -by wire fences. I have never seen the mule-deer so numerous anywhere as -they were in this country at this time; although in 1883, on the Little -Missouri, they were almost as plentiful. There was not a day we did not -see scores, and on some days we saw hundreds. Frequently they were found -in small parties of two or three, or a dozen individuals, but on -occasions we saw bands of thirty or forty. Only rarely were they found -singly. The fawns were of course well grown, being eight or nine months -old, and long out of the spotted coat. They were still accompanying -their mothers. Ordinarily a herd would consist of does, fawns, and -yearlings, the latter carrying their first antlers. But it was not -possible to lay down a universal rule. Again and again I saw herds in -which there were one or two full-grown bucks associating with the -females and younger deer. At other times we came across small bands of -full-grown bucks by themselves, and occasionally a solitary buck. -Considering the extent to which these deer must have been persecuted, I -did not think them shy. We were hunting on horseback, and had hounds -with us, so we made no especial attempt to avoid noise. Yet very -frequently we would come close on the deer before they took alarm; and -even when alarmed they would sometimes trot slowly off, halting and -looking back. On one occasion, in some bad lands, we came upon four -bucks which had been sunning themselves on the face of a clay wall. They -jumped up and went off one at a time, very slowly, passing diagonally by -us, certainly not over seventy yards off. All four could have been shot -without effort, and as they had fine antlers I should certainly have -killed one, had it been the open season. - -When we came on these Colorado mule-deer suddenly, they generally -behaved exactly as their brethren used to in the old days on the Little -Missouri; that is, they would run off at a good speed for a hundred -yards or so, then slow up, halt, gaze inquisitively at us for some -seconds, and again take to flight. While the sun was strong they liked -to lie out in the low brush on slopes where they would get the full -benefit of the heat. During the heavy snow-storms they usually retreated -into some ravine where the trees grew thicker than usual, not stirring -until the weight of the storm was over. Most of the night, especially if -it was moonlight, they fed; but they were not at all regular about this. -I frequently saw them standing up and grazing, or more rarely browsing, -in the middle of the day, and in the late afternoon they often came down -to graze on the flats within view of the different ranch houses where I -happened to stop. The hours for feeding and resting, however, always -vary accordingly as the deer are or are not persecuted. In wild -localities I have again and again found these deer grazing at all hours -of the day, and coming to water at high noon; whereas, where they have -been much persecuted, they only begin to feed after dusk, and come to -water after dark. Of course during this winter weather they could get no -water, snow supplying its place. - -I was immensely interested with the way they got through the wire -fences. A mule-deer is a great jumper; I have known them to clear with -ease high timber corral fences surrounding hayricks. If the animals had -chosen, they could have jumped any of the wire fences I saw; yet never -in a single instance did I see one of them so jump a fence, nor did I -ever find in the tell-tale snow tracks which indicated their having done -so. They paid no heed whatever to the fences, so far as I could see, and -went through them at will; but they always got between the wires, or -went under the lowest wire. The dexterity with which they did this was -extraordinary. When alarmed they would run full speed toward a wire -fence, would pass through it, often hardly altering their stride, and -never making any marks in the snow which looked as though they had -crawled. Twice I saw bands thus go through a wire fence, once at speed, -the other time when they were not alarmed. On both occasions they were -too far off to allow me to see exactly their mode of procedure, but on -examining the snow where they had passed, there was not the slightest -mark of their bodies, and the alteration in their gait, as shown by the -footprints, was hardly perceptible. In one instance, however, where I -scared a young buck which ran over a hill and through a wire fence on -the other side, I found one of his antlers lying beside the fence, it -having evidently been knocked off by the wire. Their antlers were -getting very loose, and toward the end of our stay they had begun to -shed them. - -The deer were preyed on by many foes. Sportsmen and hide-hunters had -been busy during the fall migrations, and the ranchmen of the -neighborhood were shooting them occasionally for food, even when we were -out there. The cougars at this season were preying upon them practically -to the exclusion of everything else. We came upon one large fawn which -had been killed by a bobcat. The gray wolves were also preying upon -them. A party of these wolves can sometimes run down even an unwounded -blacktail; I have myself known of their performing this feat. Twice on -this very hunt we came across the carcasses of blacktail which had thus -been killed by wolves, and one of the cow-punchers at a ranch where we -were staying came in and reported to us that while riding among the -cattle that afternoon he had seen two coyotes run a young mule-deer to a -standstill, and they would without doubt have killed it had they not -been frightened by his approach. Still the wolf is very much less -successful than the cougar in killing these deer, and even the cougar -continually fails in his stalks. But the deer were so plentiful that at -this time all the cougars we killed were very fat, and evidently had no -difficulty in getting as much venison as they needed. The wolves were -not as well off, and now and then made forays on the young stock of the -ranchmen, which at this season the cougar let alone, reserving his -attention to them for the summer season when the deer had vanished. - -In the Big Horn Mountains, where I also saw a good deal of the -mule-deer, their habits were intermediate between those of the species -that dwell on the plains and those that dwell in the densely timbered -regions of the Rockies farther to the northwest. In the summer time they -lived high up on the plateaus of the Big Horn, sometimes feeding in the -open glades and sometimes in the pine forests. In the fall they browsed -on certain of the bushes almost exclusively. In winter they came down -into the low country. South of the Yellowstone Park, where the wapiti -swarmed, the mule-deer were not numerous. I believe that by choice they -prefer rugged, open country, and they certainly care comparatively -little for bad weather, as they will often visit bleak, wind-swept -ridges in midwinter, as being places where they can best get food at -that season, when the snow lies deep in the sheltered places. -Nevertheless, many of the species pass their whole life in thick timber. - -[Illustration: - - THE RANCH-HOUSE -] - -My chief opportunities for observing the mule-deer were in the eighties, -when I spent much of my time on my ranch on the Little Missouri. -Mule-deer were then very plentiful, and I killed more of them than of -all other game put together. At that time in the cattle country no -ranchman ever thought of killing beef, and if we had fresh meat at all -it was ordinarily venison. In the fall we usually tried to kill enough -deer to last out the winter. Until the settlers came in, the Little -Missouri country was an ideal range for mule-deer, and they fairly -swarmed; while elk were also plentiful, and the restless herds of the -buffalo surged at intervals through the land. After 1882 and 1883 the -buffalo and elk were killed out, the former completely, and the latter -practically, and by that time the skin-hunters, and then the ranchers, -turned their attention chiefly to the mule-deer. It lived in open -country where there was cover for the stalker, and so it was much easier -to kill than either the whitetail, which was found in the dense cover of -the river bottoms, or the prongbuck, which was found far back from the -river, on the flat prairies where there was no cover at all. I have been -informed of other localities in which the antelope has disappeared long -before the mule-deer, and I believe that in the Rockies the mule-deer -has a far better chance of survival than the antelope has on the plains; -but on the Little Missouri the antelope continued plentiful long after -the mule-deer had become decidedly scarce. In 1886 I think the antelope -were fully as abundant as ever they were, while the mule-deer had -woefully diminished. In the early nineties there were still regions -within thirty or forty miles of my ranch where the antelope were very -plentiful—far more so than the mule-deer were at that time. Now they are -both scarce along the Little Missouri, and which will outlast the other -I cannot say. - -In the old days, as I have already said, it was by no means infrequent -to see both the whitetail and the mule-deer close together, and when, -under such circumstances, they were alarmed, one got a clear idea of the -extraordinary gait which is the mule-deer’s most striking -characteristic. It trots well, gallops if hard pressed, and is a good -climber, though much inferior to the mountain sheep. But its normal gait -consists of a series of stiff-legged bounds, all four feet leaving and -striking the ground at the same time. This gait differs more from the -gait of bighorn, prongbuck, whitetail, and wapiti than the gaits of -these latter animals differ among themselves. The wapiti, for instance, -rarely gallops, but when he does, it is a gallop of the ordinary type. -The prongbuck runs with a singularly even gait; whereas the whitetail -makes great bounds, some much higher than others. But fundamentally in -all cases the action is the same, and has no resemblance to the -stiff-legged buck jumping which is the ordinary means of progression of -the mule-deer. These jumps carry it not only on the level, but up and -down hill at a great speed. It is said to be a tiresome gait for the -animal, if hunted for any length of time on the level; but of this I -cannot speak with full knowledge. - -Compared to the wapiti, the mule-deer, like our other small deer, is a -very silent animal. For a long time I believed it uttered no sound -beyond the snort of alarm and the rare bleat of the doe to her fawn; but -one afternoon I heard two bucks grunting or barking at one another in a -ravine back of the ranch-house, and crept up and shot them. I was still -uncertain whether this was an indication of a regular habit; but a -couple of years later, on a moonlight night just after sunset, I heard a -big buck travelling down a ravine and continually barking, evidently as -a love challenge. I have been informed by some hunters that the bucks at -the time of the rut not infrequently thus grunt and bark; but most -hunters are ignorant of this habit; and it is certainly not a common -practice. - -The species is not nearly as gregarious as the wapiti or caribou. During -the winter the bucks are generally found singly, or in small parties by -themselves, although occasionally one will associate with a party of -does and of young deer. When in May or June—for the exact time varies -with the locality—the doe brings forth her young, she retires to some -lonely thicket. Sometimes one and sometimes two fawns are brought forth. -They lie very close for the first few days. I have picked them up and -handled them without their making the slightest effort to escape, while -the mother hung about a few hundred yards off. On one occasion I by -accident surprised a doe in the very act of giving birth to two fawns. -One had just been born and the other was born as the doe made her first -leap away. She ran off with as much speed and unconcern as if nothing -whatever had happened. I passed on immediately, lest she should be so -frightened as not to come back to the fawns. It has happened that where -I have found the newly born fawns I have invariably found the doe to be -entirely alone, but her young of the previous year must sometimes at -least be in the neighborhood, for a little later I have frequently seen -the doe and her fawn or fawns, and either one or two young of the -previous year, together. Often, however, these young deer will be alone, -or associated with an older doe which is barren. The bucks at the same -time go to secluded places; sometimes singly, while sometimes an old -buck will be accompanied by a younger one, or a couple of old bucks will -lie together. They move about as little as possible while their horns -are growing, and if a hunter comes by, they will lie far closer than at -any other time of the year, squatting in the dense thickets as if they -were whitetails. - -When in the Bad Lands of the Western Dakotas the late September breezes -grow cold, then the bucks, their horns already clean of velvet which -they have thrashed off on the bushes and saplings, feel their necks -begin to swell; and early in October—sometimes not until November—they -seek the does. The latter, especially the younger ones, at first flee in -frantic haste. As the rut goes on the bucks become ever bolder and more -ardent. Not only do they chase the does by night, but also by day. I -have sat on the side of a ravine in the Bad Lands at noon and seen a -young doe race past me as if followed by a wolf. When she was out of -sight a big buck appeared on her trail, following it by scent, also at -speed. When he had passed I got up, and the motion frightened a younger -buck which was following two or three hundred yards in the rear of the -big one. After a while the doe yields, and the buck then accompanies -her. If, however, it is early in the season, he may leave her entirely -in order to run after another doe. Later in the season he will have a -better chance of adding the second doe to his harem, or of robbing -another buck of the doe or does which he has accumulated. I have often -seen merely one doe and one buck together, and I have often seen a -single doe which for several days was accompanied by several bucks, one -keeping off the others. But generally the biggest bucks collect each for -himself several does, yearlings also being allowed in the band. The -exact amount of companionship with the does allowed these young bucks -depends somewhat upon the temper of the master buck. In books by -imperfectly informed writers we often see allusions to the buck as -protecting the doe, or even taking care of the fawn. Charles Dudley -Warner, for instance, in describing with great skill and pathos an -imaginary deer hunt, after portraying the death of the doe, portrays the -young fawn as following the buck when the latter comes back to it in the -evening.[4] As a matter of fact, while the fawn is so young as to be -wholly dependent upon the doe, the buck never comes near either. -Moreover, during the period when the buck and the doe are together, the -buck’s attitude is merely that of a brutal, greedy, and selfish tyrant. -He will unhesitatingly rob the doe of any choice bit of food, and though -he will fight to keep her if another buck approaches, the moment that a -dangerous foe appears his one thought is for his own preservation. He -will not only desert the doe, but if he is an old and cunning buck, he -will try his best to sacrifice her by diverting the attention of the -pursuer to her and away from him. - -Footnote 4: - - While the situation thus described was an impossible one, the purpose - of Mr. Warner’s article was excellent, it being intended as a protest - against hunting deer while the fawns are young, and against killing - them in the water. - -By the end of the rut the old bucks are often exhausted, their sides are -thin, their necks swollen; though they are never as gaunt as wapiti -bulls at this time. They then rest as much as possible, feeding all the -time to put on fat before winter arrives, and rapidly attaining a very -high condition. - -Except in dire need no one would kill a deer after the hard weather of -winter begins or before the antlers of the buck are full-grown and the -fawns are out of the spotted coat. Even in the old days we, who lived in -the ranch country, always tried to avoid killing deer in the spring or -early summer, though we often shot buck antelope at those times. The -close season for deer varies in different States, and now there is -generally a limit set to the number any one hunter can kill; for the old -days of wasteful plenty are gone forever. - -To my mind there is a peculiar fascination in hunting the mule-deer. By -the time the hunting season has arrived the buck is no longer the -slinking beast of the thicket, but a bold and yet wary dweller in the -uplands. Frequently he can be found clear of all cover, often at midday, -and his habits at this season are, from the hunter’s standpoint, rather -more like those of the wapiti than of the whitetail; but each band, -though continually shifting its exact position, stays permanently in the -same tract of country, whereas wapiti are apt to wander. - -In the old days, when mule-deer were plentiful in country through which -a horse could go at a fair rate of speed, it was common for the hunter -to go on horseback, and not to dismount save at the moment of the shot. -In the early eighties, while on my ranch on the Little Missouri, this -was the way in which I usually hunted. When I first established my ranch -I often went out, in the fall, after the day’s work was over, and killed -a deer before dark. If it was in September, I would sometimes start -after supper. Later in the year I would take supper when I got back. -Under such circumstances my mode of procedure was simple. Deer were -plentiful. Every big tangle of hills, every set of grassy coulees -winding down to a big creek bottom, was sure to contain them. The time -being short, with at most only an hour or two of light, I made no effort -to find the tracks of a deer or to spy one afar off. I simply rode -through the likely places, across the heads of the ravines or down the -winding valleys, until I jumped a deer close enough up to give me a -shot. The unshod hoofs of the horse made but little noise as he shuffled -along at the regular cow-pony fox trot, and I kept him close into the -bank or behind cover, so as to come around each successive point without -warning. If the ground was broken and rugged, I made no attempt to go -fast. If, on the other hand, I struck a smooth ravine with gentle -curves, I would often put the pony to a sharp canter or gallop, so as to -come quickly on any deer before it could quite make up its mind what -course was best to follow. Sooner or later, as I passed a thick clump of -young ash or buck brush, or came abruptly around a sharp bend, there -would be a snort, and then the thud, thud, thud, of four hoofs striking -the ground exactly in unison, and away would go a mule-deer with the -peculiar bounding motion of its kind. The pony, well accustomed to the -work, stopped short, and I was off its back in an instant. If the deer -had not made out exactly what I was, it would often show by its gait -that it was not yet prepared to run straight out of sight. Under such -circumstances I would wait until it stopped and turned round to look -back. If it was going very fast, I took the shot running. Once I put up -a young buck from some thick brush in the bottom of a winding washout. I -leaped off the pony, standing within ten yards of the washout. The buck -went up a hill on my left, and as he reached the top and paused for a -second on the sky-line, I fired. At the shot there was a great -scrambling and crashing in the washout below me, and another and larger -buck came out and tore off in frantic haste. I fired several shots at -him, finally bringing him down. Meanwhile, the other buck had -disappeared, but there was blood on his trail, and I found him lying -down in the next coulee, and finished him. This was not much over a mile -from the ranch-house, and after dressing the deer, I put one behind the -saddle and one on it, and led the pony home. - -Such hunting, though great fun, does not imply any particular skill -either in horsemanship, marksmanship, or plains-craft and knowledge of -the animal’s habits; and it can of course be followed only where the -game is very plentiful. Ordinarily the mule-deer must be killed by long -tramping among the hills, skilful stalking, and good shooting. The -successful hunter should possess good eyes, good wind, and good muscles. -He should know how to take cover and how to use his rifle. The work is -sufficiently rough to test any man’s endurance, and yet there is no such -severe and intense toil as in following true mountain game, like the -bighorn or white goat. As the hunter’s one aim is to see the deer before -it sees him, he can only use the horse to take him to the -hunting-ground. Then he must go through the most likely ground and from -every point of vantage scan with minute care the landscape round about, -while himself unseen. If the country is wild and the deer have not been -much molested, he will be apt to come across a band that is feeding. -Under such circumstances it is easy to see them at once. But if lying -down, it is astonishing how the gray of their winter coats fits in with -the color of their surroundings. Too often I have looked carefully over -a valley with my glasses until, thinking I had searched every nook, I -have risen and gone forward, only to see a deer rise and gallop off out -of range from some spot which I certainly thought I had examined with -all possible precaution. If the hunter is not himself hidden, he will -have his labor for his pains. Neither the mule-deer nor the whitetail is -by any means as keen-sighted as the pronghorn antelope, and men -accustomed chiefly to antelope shooting are quite right in speaking of -the sight of deer as poor by comparison. But this is only by comparison. -A motionless object does not attract the deer’s gaze as it attracts the -telescopic eye of a prongbuck; but any motion is seen at once, and as -soon as this has occurred, the chances of the hunter are usually at an -end. On the other hand, from the nature of its haunts the mule-deer -usually offers fairly good opportunities for stalking. It is not as big -or as valuable as the elk, and therefore it is not as readily seen or as -eagerly followed, and in consequence holds its own better. But though -the sport it yields calls normally for a greater amount of hardihood and -endurance in the hunter than is the case with the sport yielded by the -prongbuck, and especially by the whitetail, yet when existing in like -numbers it is easier to kill than either of these two animals. - -Sometimes in the early fall, when hunting from the ranch, I have spent -the night in some likely locality, sleeping rolled up in a blanket on -the ground so as to be ready to start at the first streak of dawn. On -one such occasion a couple of mule-deer came to where my horse was -picketed just before I got up. I heard them snort or whistle, and very -slowly unwrapped myself from the blanket, turned over, and crawled out, -rifle in hand. Overhead the stars were paling in the faint gray light, -but the ravine in which the deer were was still so black that, watch as -I would, I could not see them. I feared to move around lest I might -disturb them, but after wiggling toward a little jutting shoulder I lay -still to wait for the light. They went off, however, while it was still -too dusk to catch more than their dim and formless outlines, and though -I followed them as rapidly and cautiously as possible, I never got a -shot at them. On other occasions fortune has favored me, and before the -sun rose I have spied some buck leisurely seeking his day bed, and have -been able either to waylay him or make a running stalk on him from -behind. - -[Illustration: - - THE RANCH VERANDA -] - -In the old days it was the regular thing with most ranchmen to take a -trip in the fall for the purpose of laying in the winter’s supply of -venison. I frequently took such trips myself, and though occasionally we -killed wapiti, bighorn, prongbuck, and whitetail, our ordinary game was -the mule-deer. Around my ranch it was not necessary to go very far. A -day’s journey with the wagon would usually take us to where a week’s -hunting would enable us to return with a dozen deer or over. If there -was need of more, I would repeat the hunt later on. I have several times -killed three of these deer in a day, but I do not now recall ever -killing a greater number. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that every -scrap of flesh was used. - -These hunts were always made late in the fall, usually after the close -of the rut. The deer were then banded, and were commonly found in -parties of from three or four to a score, although the big bucks might -be lying by themselves. The weather was apt to be cold, and the deer -evidently liked to sun themselves, so that at midday they could be found -lying sometimes in thin brush and sometimes boldly out on the face of a -cliff or hill. If they were unmolested, they would feed at intervals -throughout the day, and not until the bands had been decimated by -excessive hunting did they ever spend the hours of daylight in hiding. - -On such a hunt our proceedings were simple. The nights were longer than -the days, and therefore we were away from camp at the first streak of -dawn, and might not return until long after darkness. All the time -between was spent in climbing and walking through the rugged hills, -keeping a sharp lookout for our game. Only too often we were seen before -we ourselves saw the quarry, and even when this was not the case the -stalks were sometimes failures. Still blank days were not very common. -Probably every hunter remembers with pride some particular stalk. I -recall now outwitting a big buck which I had seen and failed to get on -two successive days. He was hanging about a knot of hills with brush on -their shoulders, and was not only very watchful, but when he lay down -always made his bed at the lower end of a brush patch, whence he could -see into the valley below, while it was impossible to approach him from -above, through the brush, without giving the alarm. On the third day I -saw him early in the morning, while he was feeding. He was very -watchful, and I made no attempt to get near him, simply peeping at him -until he finally went into a patch of thin brush and lay down. As I knew -what he was I could distinctly make him out. If I had not seen him go -in, I certainly never would have imagined that he was a deer, even had -my eyes been able to pick him out at all among the gray shadows and -small dead tree-tops. Having waited until he was well settled down, I -made a very long turn and came up behind him, only to find that the -direction of the wind and the slope of the hill rendered it an absolute -impossibility to approach him unperceived. After careful study of the -ground I abandoned the effort, and returned to my former position, -having spent several hours of considerable labor in vain. It was now -about noon, and I thought I would lie still to see what he would do when -he got up, and accordingly I ate my lunch stretched at full length in -the long grass which sheltered me from the wind. From time to time I -peered cautiously between two stones toward where the buck lay. It was -nearly mid-afternoon before he moved. Sometimes mule-deer rise with a -single motion, all four legs unbending like springs, so that the four -hoofs touch the ground at once. This old buck, however, got up very -slowly, looked about for certainly five minutes, and then came directly -down the hill and toward me. When he had nearly reached the bottom of -the valley between us he turned to the right and sauntered rapidly down -it. I slipped back and trotted as fast as I could without losing my -breath along the hither side of the spur which lay between me and the -buck. While I was out of sight he had for some reason made up his mind -to hurry, and when I was still fifty yards from the end of the spur he -came in sight just beyond it, passing at a swinging trot. I dropped on -one knee so quickly that for a moment he evidently could not tell what I -was—my buckskin shirt and gray slouch-hat fading into the color of the -background—and halted, looking sharply around. Before he could break -into flight my bullet went through his shoulders. - -Twice I have killed two of these deer at a shot; once two bucks, and -once a doe and a buck. - -It has proved difficult to keep the mule-deer in captivity, even in -large private parks or roomy zoological gardens. I think this is because -hitherto the experiment has been tried east of the Mississippi in an -alien habitat. The wapiti and whitetail are species that are at home -over most of the United States, East and West, in rank, wet prairies, -dense woodland, and dry mountain regions alike; but the mule-deer has a -far more sharply localized distribution. In the Bronx Zoological -Gardens, in New York, Mr. Hornaday informs me that he has comparatively -little difficulty in keeping up the stock alike of wapiti and whitetail -by breeding—as indeed any visitor can see for himself. The same is true -in the game preserves in the wilder regions of New York and New England; -but hitherto the mule-deer has offered an even more difficult problem in -captivity than the pronghorn antelope. Doubtless the difficulty would be -minimized if the effort at domestication were made in the neighborhood -of the Rocky Mountains. - -The true way to preserve the mule-deer, however, as well as our other -game, is to establish on the nation’s property great nurseries and -wintering grounds, such as the Yellowstone Park, and then to secure fair -play for the deer outside these grounds by a wisely planned and -faithfully executed series of game laws. This is the really democratic -method of solving the problem. Occasionally even yet some one will -assert that the game “belongs to the people, and should be given over to -them”—meaning, thereby, that there should be no game laws, and that -every man should be at liberty indiscriminately to kill every kind of -wild animal, harmless, useless, or noxious, until the day when our woods -become wholly bereft of all the forms of higher animal life. Such an -argument can only be made from the standpoint of those big game dealers -in the cities who care nothing for the future, and desire to make money -at the present day by a slaughter which in the last analysis only -benefits the wealthy people who are able to pay for the game; for once -the game has been destroyed, the livelihood of the professional gunner -will be taken away. Most emphatically wild game not on private property -_does_ belong to the people, and the only way in which the people can -secure their ownership is by protecting it in the interest of all -against the vandal few. As we grow older I think most of us become less -keen about that part of the hunt which consists in the killing. I know -that as far as I am concerned I have long gone past the stage when the -chief end of a hunting trip was the bag. One or two bucks, or enough -grouse and trout to keep the camp supplied, will furnish all the sport -necessary to give zest and point to a trip in the wilderness. When -hunters proceed on such a plan they do practically no damage to the -game. Those who are not willing to act along these lines of their own -free will, should be made to by the State. The people of Montana, -Wyoming, and Colorado, and of the States near by, can do a real service, -primarily to themselves, but secondarily to others also, by framing and -executing laws which will keep these noble deer as permanent denizens of -their lofty mountains and beautiful valleys. There are other things much -more important than game laws; but it will be a great mistake to -imagine, because until recently in Europe game laws have been -administered in the selfish interest of one class and against the -interest of the people as a whole, that here in this country, and under -our institutions, they would not be beneficial to all of our people. So -far from game laws being in the interest of the few, they are -emphatically in the interest of the many. The very rich man can stock a -private game preserve, or journey afar off to where game is still -plentiful; but it is only where the game is carefully preserved by the -State that the man of small means has any chance to enjoy the keen -delight of the chase. - -There are many sides to the charm of big game hunting; nor should it be -regarded as being without its solid advantages from the standpoint of -national character. Always in our modern life, the life of a highly -complex industrialism, there is a tendency to softening of fibre. This -is true of our enjoyments; and it is no less true of very many of our -business occupations. It is not true of such work as railroading, a -purely modern development, nor yet of work like that of those who man -the fishing fleets; but it is preeminently true of all occupations which -cause men to lead sedentary lives in great cities. For these men it is -especially necessary to provide hard and rough play. Of course, if such -play is made a serious business, the result is very bad; but this does -not in the least affect the fact that within proper limits the play -itself is good. Vigorous athletic sports carried on in a sane spirit are -healthy. The hardy out-of-door sports of the wilderness are even -healthier. It is a mere truism to say that the qualities developed by -the hunter are the qualities needed by the soldier; and a curious -feature of the changed conditions of modern warfare is that they call, -to a much greater extent than during the two or three centuries -immediately past, for the very qualities of individual initiative, -ability to live and work in the open, and personal skill in the -management of horse and weapons, which are fostered by a hunter’s life. -No training in the barracks or on the parade-ground is as good as the -training given by a hard hunting trip in which a man really does the -work for himself, learns to face emergencies, to study country, to -perform feats of hardihood, to face exposure and undergo severe labor. -It is an excellent thing for any man to be a good horseman and a good -marksman, to be bold and hardy, and wonted to feats of strength and -endurance, to be able to live in the open, and to feel a self-reliant -readiness in any crisis. Big game hunting tends to produce or develop -exactly these physical and moral traits. To say that it may be pursued -in a manner or to an extent which is demoralizing, is but to say what -can likewise be said of all other pastimes and of almost all kinds of -serious business. That it can be abused either in the way in which it is -done, or the extent to which it is carried, does not alter the fact that -it is in itself a sane and healthy recreation. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - THE WAPITI, OR ROUND-HORNED ELK - - -The wapiti is the largest and stateliest deer in the world. A full-grown -bull is as big as a steer. The antlers are the most magnificent trophies -yielded by any game animal of America, save the giant Alaskan moose. -When full-grown they are normally of twelve tines; frequently the tines -are more numerous, but the increase in their number has no necessary -accompaniment in increase in the size of the antlers. The length, -massiveness, roughness, spread, and symmetry of the antlers must all be -taken into account in rating the value of a head. Antlers over fifty -inches in length are large; if over sixty, they are gigantic. Good heads -are getting steadily rarer under the persecution which has thinned out -the herds. - -Next to the bison the wapiti is of all the big game animals of North -America the one whose range has most decreased. Originally it was found -from the Pacific coast east across the Alleghanies, through New York to -the Adirondacks, through Pennsylvania into western New Jersey, and far -down into the mid-country of Virginia and the Carolinas. It extended -northward into Canada, from the Great Lakes to Vancouver; and southward -into Mexico, along the Rockies. Its range thus corresponded roughly with -that of the bison, except that it went farther west and not so far -north. In the early colonial days so little heed was paid by writers to -the teeming myriads of game that it is difficult to trace the wapiti’s -distribution in the Atlantic coast region. It was certainly killed out -of the Adirondacks long before the period when the backwoodsmen were -settling the valleys of the Alleghany Mountains; there they found the -elk abundant, and the stately creatures roamed in great bands over -Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana when the first settlers made -their way into what are now these States, at the outbreak of the -Revolution. These first settlers were all hunters, and they followed the -wapiti (or, as they always called it, the elk) with peculiar eagerness. -In consequence its numbers were soon greatly thinned, and about the -beginning of the present century it disappeared from that portion of its -former range lying south of the Great Lakes and between the Alleghanies -and the Mississippi. In the northern Alleghanies it held its own much -longer, the last individual of which I have been able to get record -having been killed in Pennsylvania in 1869. In the forests of northern -Wisconsin, northern Michigan, and Minnesota wapiti existed still longer, -and a very few individuals may still be found. A few are left in -Manitoba. When Lewis and Clark and Pike became the pioneers among the -explorers, army officers, hunters, and trappers who won for our people -the great West, they found countless herds of wapiti throughout the high -plains country from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. -Throughout this region it was exterminated almost as rapidly as the -bison, and by the early eighties there only remained a few scattered -individuals, in bits of rough country such as the Black Hills, the -sand-hills of Nebraska, and certain patches of Bad Lands along the -Little Missouri. Doubtless stragglers exist even yet in one or two of -these localities. But by the time the great buffalo herds of the plains -were completely exterminated, in 1883, the wapiti had likewise ceased to -be a plains animal; the peculiar Californian form had also been -well-nigh exterminated. - -The nature of its favorite haunts was the chief factor in causing it to -suffer more than any other game in America, save the bison, from the -persecution of hunters and settlers. The boundaries of its range have -shrunk in far greater proportion than in the case of any of our other -game animals, save only the great wild ox, with which it was once so -commonly associated. The moose, a beast of the forest, and the caribou, -which, save in the far North, is also a beast of the forest, have in -most places greatly diminished in numbers, and have here and there been -exterminated altogether from outlying portions of their range; but the -wapiti, which, when free to choose, preferred to frequent the plains and -open woods, has completely vanished from nine-tenths of the territory -over which it roamed a century and a quarter ago. Although it was never -found in any one place in such enormous numbers as the bison and the -caribou, it nevertheless went in herds far larger than the herds of any -other American game save the two mentioned, and was formerly very much -more abundant within the area of its distribution than was the moose -within the area of its distribution. - -This splendid deer affords a good instance of the difficulty of deciding -what name to use in treating of our American game. On the one hand, it -is entirely undesirable to be pedantic; and on the other hand, it seems -a pity, at a time when speech is written almost as much as spoken, to -use terms which perpetually require explanation in order to avoid -confusion. The wapiti is not properly an elk at all; the term wapiti is -unexceptionable, and it is greatly to be desired that it should be -generally adopted. But unfortunately it has not been generally adopted. -From the time when our backwoodsmen first began to hunt the animal among -the foothills of the Appalachian chains to the present day, it has been -universally known as elk wherever it has been found. In ordinary speech -it is never known as anything else, and only an occasional settler or -hunter would understand what the word wapiti referred to. The book name -is a great deal better than the common name; but after all, it is only a -book name. The case is almost exactly parallel to that of the buffalo, -which was really a bison, but which lived as the buffalo, died as the -buffalo, and left its name imprinted on our landscape as the buffalo. -There is little use in trying to upset a name which is imprinted in our -geography in hundreds of such titles as Elk Ridge, Elk Mountain, Elkhorn -River. Yet in the books it is often necessary to call it the wapiti in -order to distinguish it both from its differently named close kinsfolk -of the Old World, and from its more distant relatives with which it -shares the name of elk. - -Disregarding the Pacific coast form of Vancouver and the Olympian -Mountains, the wapiti is now a beast of the Rocky Mountain region -proper, especially in western Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Throughout -these mountains its extermination, though less rapid than on the plains, -has nevertheless gone on with melancholy steadiness. In the early -nineties it was still as abundant as ever in large regions in western -Wyoming and Montana and northwestern Colorado. In northwestern Colorado -the herds are now represented by only a few hundred individuals. In -western Montana they are scattered over a wider region and are protected -by the denser timber, but are nowhere plentiful. They have nearly -vanished from the Big Horn Mountains. They are still abundant in and -around their great nursery and breeding-ground, the Yellowstone National -Park. If this park could be extended so as to take in part of the winter -range to the south, it would help to preserve them, to the delight of -all lovers of nature, and to the great pecuniary benefit of the people -of Wyoming and Montana. But at present the winter range south of the -park is filling up with settlers, and unless the conditions change, -those among the Yellowstone wapiti which would normally go south will -more and more be compelled to winter among the mountains, which will -mean such immense losses from starvation and deep snow that the southern -herds will be woefully thinned.[5] Surely all men who care for nature, -no less than all men who care for big game hunting, should combine to -try to see that not merely the States but the Federal authorities make -every effort, and are given every power, to prevent the extermination of -this stately and beautiful animal, the lordliest of the deer kind in the -entire world. - -Footnote 5: - - Steps in the direction indicated are now being taken by the Federal - authorities. - -The wapiti, like the bison, and even more than the whitetail deer, can -thrive in widely varying surroundings. It is at home among the high -mountains, in the deep forests, and on the treeless, level plains. It is -rather omnivorous in its tastes, browsing and grazing on all kinds of -trees, shrubs and grasses. These traits, and its hardihood, make it -comparatively easy to perpetuate in big parks and forest preserves in a -semi-wild condition; and it has thriven in such preserves and parks in -many of the Eastern States. As it does not, by preference, dwell in such -tangled forests as are the delight of the moose and the whitetail deer, -it vanishes much quicker than either when settlers appear in the land. -In the mountains and foothills its habitat is much the same as that of -the mule-deer, the two animals being often found in the immediate -neighborhood of each other. In such places the superior size and value -of the wapiti put it at a disadvantage in the keen struggle for life, -and when the rifle-bearing hunter appears upon the scene, it is killed -out long before its smaller kinsman. - -Moreover, the wapiti is undoubtedly subject to queer freaks of panic -stupidity, or what seems like a mixture of tameness and of puzzled -terror. At these times a herd will remain almost motionless, the -individuals walking undecidedly to and fro, and neither flinching nor -giving any other sign even when hit with a bullet. In the old days it -was not uncommon for a professional hunter to destroy an entire herd of -wapiti when one of these fits of confusion was on them. Even nowadays -they sometimes behave in this way. In 1897, Mr. Ansley Wilcox, of -Buffalo, was hunting in the Teton basin. He came across a small herd of -wapiti, the first he had ever seen, and opened fire when a hundred and -fifty yards distant. They paid no heed to the shots, and after taking -three or four at one bull, with seemingly no effect, he ran in closer -and emptied his magazine at another, also seemingly without effect, -before the herd slowly disappeared. After a few rods, both bulls fell; -and on examination it was found that all nine bullets had hit them. - -To my mind, the venison of the wapiti is, on the whole, better than that -of any other wild game, though its fat, when cooled, at once hardens, -like mutton tallow. - -In its life habits the wapiti differs somewhat from its smaller -relatives. It is far more gregarious, and is highly polygamous. During -the spring, while the bulls are growing their great antlers, and while -the cows have very young calves, both bulls and cows live alone, each -individual for itself. At such time each seeks the most secluded -situation, often going very high up on the mountains. Occasionally a -couple of bulls lie together, moving around as little as possible. The -cow at this time realizes that her calf’s chance of life depends upon -her absolute seclusion, and avoids all observation. - -As the horns begin to harden the bulls thrash the velvet off against -quaking asp, or ash, or even young spruce, splintering and battering the -bushes and small trees. The cows and calves begin to assemble; the bulls -seek them. But the bulls do not run the cows as among the smaller deer -the bucks run the does. The time of the beginning of the rut varies in -different places, but it usually takes place in September, about a month -earlier than that of the deer in the same locality. The necks of the -bulls swell and they challenge incessantly, for, unlike the smaller -deer, they are very noisy. Their love and war calls, when heard at a -little distance amid the mountains, have a most musical sound. -Frontiersmen usually speak of their call as “whistling,” which is not an -appropriate term. The call may be given in a treble or in a bass, but -usually consists of two or three bars, first rising and then falling, -followed by a succession of grunts. The grunts can only be heard when -close up. There can be no grander or more attractive chorus than the -challenging of a number of wapiti bulls when two great herds happen to -approach one another under the moonlight or in the early dawn. The -pealing notes echo through the dark valleys as if from silver bugles, -and the air is filled with the wild music. Where little molested the -wapiti challenge all day long. - -They can be easiest hunted during the rut, the hunter placing them, and -working up to them, by the sound alone. The bulls are excessively -truculent and pugnacious. Each big one gathers a herd of cows about him -and drives all possible rivals away from his immediate neighborhood, -although sometimes spike bulls are allowed to remain with the herd. -Where wapiti are very abundant, however, many of these herds may join -together and become partially welded into a mass that may contain -thousands of animals. In the old days such huge herds were far from -uncommon, especially during the migrations; but nowadays there only -remain one or two localities in which wapiti are sufficiently plentiful -ever to come together in bands of any size. The bulls are incessantly -challenging and fighting one another, and driving around the cows and -calves. Each keeps the most jealous watch over his own harem, treating -its members with great brutality, and is selfishly indifferent to their -fate the instant he thinks his own life in jeopardy. During the rut the -erotic manifestations of the bull are extraordinary. - -[Illustration: - - THE PACK-TRAIN -] - -One or two fawns are born about May. In the mountains the cow usually -goes high up to bring forth her fawn. Personally I have only had a -chance to observe the wapiti in spring in the neighborhood of my ranch -in the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri. Here the cow invariably -selected some wild, lonely bit of very broken country in which there -were dense thickets and some water. There was one such patch some -fifteen miles from my ranch, in which for many years wapiti regularly -bred. The breeding cow lay by herself, although sometimes the young of -the preceding year would lurk in the neighborhood. For the first few -days the calf hardly left the bed, and would not move even when handled. -Then it began to follow the mother. In this particular region the grass -was coarse and rank, save for a few patches in the immediate -neighborhood of little alkali springs. Accordingly, it was not much -visited by the cattle or by the cowboys. Doubtless in the happier days -of the past, when man was merely an infrequent interloper, the wapiti -cows had made their nurseries in pleasanter and more fruitful valleys. -But in my time the hunted creatures had learned that their only chance -was to escape observation. I have known not only cows with young calves, -but cows when the calves were out of the spotted coat, and even -yearlings, to try to escape by hiding—the great beasts lying like -rabbits in some patch of thick brush, while I rode close by. The best -hunting horse I ever had, old Manitou, in addition to his other useful -qualities, would serve as a guard on such occasions. I would leave him -on a little hillock to one side of such a patch of brush, and as he -walked slowly about, grazing and rattling his bridle chains, he would -prevent the wapiti breaking cover on that side, and give me an -additional chance of slipping around toward them—although if the animal -was a cow, I never molested it unless in dire need of meat. - -Most of my elk-hunting was done among the stupendous mountain masses of -the Rockies, which I usually reached after a long journey, with wagon or -pack-train, over the desolate plains. Ordinarily I planned to get to the -hunting-ground by the end of August, so as to have ample time. By that -date the calves were out of the spotted coat, the cows and the young of -the preceding year had banded, and the big bulls had come down to join -them from the remote recesses in which they had been lying, solitary or -in couples, while their antlers were growing. Many bulls were found -alone, or, if young, in small parties; but the normal arrangement was -for each big bull to have his own harem, around the outskirts of which -there were to be found lurking occasional spike bulls or two-year-olds -who were always venturing too near and being chased off by the master -bull. Frequently several such herds joined together into a great band. -Before the season was fairly on, when the bulls had not been worked into -actual frenzy, there was not much fighting in these bands. Later they -were the scenes of desperate combats. Each master bull strove to keep -his harem under his own eyes, and was always threatening and fighting -the other master bulls, as well as those bulls whose prowess had proved -insufficient hitherto to gain them a band, or who, after having gained -one, had been so exhausted and weakened as to succumb to some new -aspirant for the leadership. The bulls were calling and challenging all -the time, and there was ceaseless turmoil, owing to their fights and -their driving the cows around. The cows were more wary than the bulls, -and there were so many keen noses and fairly good eyes that it was -difficult to approach a herd; whereas the single bulls were so noisy, -careless, and excited that it was comparatively easy to stalk them. A -rutting wapiti bull is as wicked-looking a creature as can be imagined, -swaggering among the cows and threatening the young bulls, his jaws -mouthing and working in a kind of ugly leer. - -The bulls fight desperately with one another. The two combatants come -together with a resounding clash of antlers, and then push and strain -with their mouths open. The skin on their necks and shoulders is so -thick and tough that the great prongs cannot get through or do more than -inflict bruises. The only danger comes when the beaten party turns to -flee. The victor pursues at full speed. Usually the beaten one gets off; -but if by accident he is caught where he cannot escape, he is very apt -to be gored in the flank and killed. Mr. Baillie-Grohman has given a -very interesting description of one such fatal duel of which he was an -eye-witness on a moonlight night in the mountains. I have never known of -the bull trying to protect the cow from any enemy. He battles for her -against rivals with intense ferocity; but his attitude toward her, once -she is gained, is either that of brutality or of indifference. She will -fight for her calf against any enemy which she thinks she has a chance -of conquering, although of course not against man. But the bull leaves -his family to their fate the minute he thinks there is any real danger. -During the rut he is greatly excited, and does not fear a dog or a -single wolf, and may join with the rest of the herd of both sexes in -trying to chase off one or the other, should he become aware of its -approach. But if there is serious danger, his only thought is for -himself, and he has no compunctions about sacrificing any of his family. -When on the move a cow almost always goes first, while the bull brings -up the rear. - -In domestication the bulls are very dangerous to human beings, and will -kill a man at once if they can get him at a disadvantage; but in a state -of nature they rarely indeed overcome their abject terror of humanity, -even when wounded and cornered. Of course, if the man comes straight up -to him where he cannot get away, a wapiti will fight as, under like -circumstances, a blacktail or whitetail will fight, and equally, of -course, he is then far more dangerous than his smaller kinsfolk; but he -is not nearly so apt to charge as a bull moose. I have never known but -two authentic instances of their thus charging. One happened to a hunter -named Bennett, on the Little Missouri; the other to a gentleman I met, a -doctor, in Meeker, Colorado. The doctor had wounded his wapiti, and as -it was in the late fall, followed him easily in the snow. Finally he -came upon the wapiti standing where the snow was very deep at the bottom -of a small valley, and on his approach the wapiti deliberately started -to break his way through the snow toward him, and had almost reached him -when he was killed. But for every one such instance of a wapiti’s -charging there are a hundred in which a bull moose has charged. Senator -Redfield Proctor was charged most resolutely by a mortally hurt bull -moose which fell in the death throes just before reaching him; and I -could cite case after case of the kind. - -The wapiti’s natural gaits are a walk and a trot. It walks very fast -indeed, especially if travelling to reach some given point. More than -once I have sought to overtake a travelling bull, and have found myself -absolutely unable to do so, although it never broke its walk. Of course, -if I had not been obliged to pay any heed to cover or wind, I could have -run up on it; but the necessity for paying heed to both handicapped me -so that I was actually unable to come up to the quarry as it swung -steadily on through woodland and open, over rough ground and smooth. -Wapiti have a slashing trot, which they can keep up for an indefinite -time and over any kind of country. Only a good pony can overtake them -when they have had any start and have settled into this trot. If much -startled they break into a gallop—the young being always much more -willing to gallop than the old. Their gallop is very fast, especially -downhill. But they speedily tire under it. A yearling or a two-year-old -can keep it up for a couple of miles. A heavy old bull will be done out -after a few hundred yards. I once saw a band of wapiti frightened into a -gallop down a steep incline where there were also a couple of mule-deer. -I had not supposed that wapiti ran as fast as mule-deer, but this -particular band actually passed the deer, though the latter were -evidently doing their best; the wapiti were well ahead, when, after -thundering down the steep, broken incline, they all disappeared into a -belt of woodland. In spite of their size, wapiti climb well and go -sure-footedly over difficult and dangerous ground. They have a habit of -coming out to the edges of cliffs, or on mountain spurs, and looking -over the landscape beneath, almost as though they enjoyed the scenery. -What their real object is on such occasions I do not know. - -The nose of the wapiti is very keen. Its sight is much inferior to that -of the antelope, but about as good as a deer’s. Its hearing is also much -like that of a deer. When in country where it is little molested, it -feeds and moves about freely by day, lying down to rest at intervals, -like cattle. Wapiti offer especial attractions to the hunter, and next -to the bison are more quickly exterminated than any other kind of game. -Only the fact that they possessed a far wider range of habitat than -either the mule-deer, the prongbuck, or the moose, has enabled them -still to exist. Their gregariousness is also against them. Even after -the rut the herds continue together until in midspring the bulls shed -their antlers—for they keep their antlers at least two months longer -than deer. During the fall, winter, and early spring wapiti are roving, -restless creatures. Their habit of migration varies with locality, as -among mule-deer. Along the little Missouri, as in the plains country -generally, there was no well-defined migration. Up to the early -eighties, when wapiti were still plentiful, the bands wandered far and -wide, but fitfully and irregularly, wholly without regard to the season, -save that they were stationary from May to August. After 1883 there were -but a few individuals left, although as late as 1886 I once came across -a herd of nine. These surviving individuals had learned caution. The -bulls only called by night, and not very frequently then, and they spent -the entire year in the roughest and most out-of-the-way places, having -the same range both winter and summer. They selected tracts where the -ground was very broken and there was much shrubbery and patches of small -trees. This tree and bush growth gave them both shelter and food; for -they are particularly fond of browsing on the leaves and tender twig -ends, though they also eat weeds and grass. - -Wherever wapiti dwell among the mountains they make regular seasonal -migrations. In northwestern Wyoming they spend the summer in the -Yellowstone National Park, but in winter some go south to Jackson’s -Hole, while others winter in the park to the northeast. In northwestern -Colorado their migrations followed much the same line as those of the -mule-deer. In different localities the length of the migration, and even -the time, differed. There were some places where the shift was simply -from the high mountains down to their foothills. In other places great -herds travelled a couple of hundred miles, so that localities absolutely -barren one month would be swarming with wapiti the next. In some places -the shift took place as early as the month of August; in others not -until after the rut, in October or even November; and in some places the -rut took place during the migration. - -No chase is more fascinating than that of the wapiti. In the old days, -when the mighty antlered beasts were found upon the open plains, they -could be followed upon horseback, with or without hounds. Nowadays, when -they dwell in the mountains, they are to be killed only by the -rifle-bearing still-hunter. Needless butchery of any kind of animal is -repulsive, but in the case of the wapiti it is little short of criminal. -He is the grandest of the deer kind throughout the world, and he has -already vanished from most of the places where he once dwelt in his -pride. Every true sportsman should feel it incumbent upon him to do all -in his power to preserve so noble a beast of the chase from extinction. -No harm whatever comes to the species from killing a certain number of -bulls; but an excessive number should never be killed, and no cow or -calf should under any circumstances be touched. Formerly, when wapiti -were plentiful, it would have been folly for hunters and settlers in the -unexplored wilderness not to kill wild game for their meat, and -occasionally a cow or a calf had to be thus slain; but there is no -excuse nowadays for a hunting party killing anything but a full-grown -bull. - -In a civilized and cultivated country wild animals only continue to -exist at all when preserved by sportsmen. The excellent people who -protest against all hunting, and consider sportsmen as enemies of wild -life, are ignorant of the fact that in reality the genuine sportsman is -by all odds the most important factor in keeping the larger and more -valuable wild creatures from total extermination. Of course, if wild -animals were allowed to breed unchecked, they would, in an incredibly -short space of time, render any country uninhabitable by man—a fact -which ought to be a matter of elementary knowledge in any community -where the average intelligence is above that of certain portions of -Hindoostan. Equally, of course, in a purely utilitarian community all -wild animals are exterminated out of hand. In order to preserve the wild -life of the wilderness at all, some middle ground must be found between -brutal and senseless slaughter and the unhealthy sentimentalism which -would just as surely defeat its own end by bringing about the eventual -total extinction of the game. It is impossible to preserve the larger -wild animals in regions thoroughly fit for agriculture; and it is -perhaps too much to hope that the larger carnivores can be preserved for -merely æsthetic reasons. But throughout our country there are large -regions entirely unsuited for agriculture, where, if the people only -have foresight, they can, through the power of the State, keep the game -in perpetuity. There is no hope of preserving the bison permanently, -save in large private parks; but all other game, including not merely -deer, but the pronghorn, the splendid bighorn, and the stately and -beautiful wapiti, can be kept on the public lands, if only the proper -laws are passed, and if only these laws are properly enforced. - -Most of us, as we grow older, grow to care relatively less for sport -than for the splendid freedom and abounding health of outdoor life in -the woods, on the plains, and among the great mountains; and to the true -nature lover it is melancholy to see the wilderness stripped of the wild -creatures which gave it no small part of its peculiar charm. It is -inevitable, and probably necessary, that the wolf and the cougar should -go; but the bighorn and white goat among the rocks, the blacktail and -wapiti grouped on the mountain-side, the whitetail and moose feeding in -the sedgy ponds—these add beyond measure to the wilderness landscape, -and if they are taken away they leave a lack which nothing else can -quite make good. So it is of those true birds of the wilderness, the -eagle and the raven, and, indeed, of all the wild things, furred, -feathered, and finned. - -A peculiar charm in the chase of the wapiti comes from the wild beauty -of the country in which it dwells. The moose lives in marshy forests; if -one would seek the white goat or caribou of the northern Rockies, he -must travel on foot, pack on back; while the successful chase of the -bighorn, perhaps on the whole the manliest of all our sports, means -heart-breaking fatigue for any but the strongest and hardiest. The -prongbuck, again, must be followed on the desolate, sun-scorched plains. -But the wapiti now dwells amid lofty, pine-clad mountains, in a region -of lakes and streams. A man can travel in comfort while hunting it, -because he can almost always take a pack-train with him, and the country -is usually sufficiently open to enable the hunter to enjoy all the charm -of distant landscapes. Where the wapiti lives the spotted trout swarm in -the brooks, and the woodgrouse fly upward to perch among the tree-tops -as the hunter passes them. When hunting him there is always sweet cold -water to be drunk at night, and beds of aromatic fir boughs on which to -sleep, with the blankets drawn over one to keep out the touch of the -frost. He must be followed on foot, and the man who follows him must be -sound in limb and wind. But his pursuit does not normally mean such -wearing exhaustion as is entailed by climbing cliffs all day long after -the white goat. Whoever has hunted the wapiti, as he looks at his -trophies will always think of the great mountains with the snow lying in -the rifts in their sides; of the splashing murmur of rock-choked -torrents; of the odorous breath of the pine branches; of tents pitched -in open glades; of long walks through cool, open forests; and of great -camp-fires, where the pitchy stumps flame like giant torches in the -darkness. - -In the old days, of course, much of the hunting was done on the open -plains or among low, rugged hills. The wapiti that I shot when living at -my Little Missouri ranch were killed under exactly the same conditions -as mule-deer. When I built my ranch-house, wapiti were still not -uncommon, and their shed antlers were very numerous both on the bottoms -and in places among the hills. There was one such place a couple of -miles from my ranch in a stretch of comparatively barren but very broken -hill-country in which there were many score of these shed antlers. -Evidently a few years before this had been a great gathering-place for -wapiti toward the end of winter. My ranch itself derived its name, “The -Elkhorn,” from the fact that on the ground where we built it were found -the skulls and interlocked antlers of two wapiti bulls who had perished -from getting their antlers fastened in a battle. I never, however, -killed a wapiti while on a day’s hunt from the ranch itself. Those that -I killed were obtained on regular expeditions, when I took the wagon and -drove off to spend a night or two on ground too far for me to hunt it -through in a single day from the ranch. Moreover, the wapiti on the -Little Missouri had been so hunted that they had entirely abandoned the -diurnal habits of their kind, and it was a great advantage to get on the -ground early. This hunting was not carried on amid the glorious mountain -scenery which marks the home of the wapiti in the Rockies; but the -surroundings had a charm of their own. All really wild scenery is -attractive. The true hunter, the true lover of the wilderness, loves all -parts of the wilderness, just as the true lover of nature loves all -seasons. There is no season of the year when the country is not more -attractive than the city; and there is no portion of the wilderness, -where game is found, in which it is not a keen pleasure to hunt. Perhaps -no other kind of country quite equals that where snow lies on the lofty -mountain peaks, where there are many open glades in the pine forests, -and clear mountain lakes and rushing trout-filled torrents. But the -fantastic desolation of the Bad Lands, and the endless sweep of the -brown prairies, alike have their fascination for the true lover of -nature and lover of the wilderness who goes through them on foot or on -horseback. As for the broken hill-country in which I followed the wapiti -and the mule-deer along the Little Missouri, it would be strange indeed -if any one found it otherwise than attractive in the bright, sharp fall -weather. Long, grassy valleys wound among the boldly shaped hills. The -basins were filled with wind-beaten trees and brush, which generally -also ran alongside of the dry watercourses down the middle of each -valley. Cedars clustered in the sheer ravines, and here and there groups -of elm and ash grew to a considerable height in the more sheltered -places. At the first touch of the frost the foliage turned russet or -yellow—the Virginia creepers crimson. Under the cloudless blue sky the -air was fresh and cool, and as we lay by the camp-fire at night the -stars shone with extraordinary brilliancy. Under such conditions the -actual chase of the wapiti was much like that of the mule-deer. They had -been so hunted that they showed none of the foolish traits which they -are prone to exhibit when bands are found in regions where they have -been little persecuted; and they were easier to kill than mule-deer -simply because they were more readily tracked and more readily seen, and -offered a larger, and on the whole a steadier, mark at which to shoot. -When a small band had visited a pool their tracks could be identified at -once, because in the soft ground the flexible feet spread and yielded so -as to leave the marks of the false hoofs. On ordinary ground it was -difficult to tell their footprints from those of the yearling and -two-year-old ranch cattle. - -[Illustration: - - TROPHIES OF A SUCCESSFUL HUNT -] - -But the mountains are the true ground for the wapiti. Here he must be -hunted on foot, and nowadays, since he has grown wiser, skill and -patience, and the capacity to endure fatigue and exposure, must be shown -by the successful hunter. My own wapiti-hunting has been done in -September and early October during the height of the rut, and therefore -at a time when the conditions were most favorable for the hunter. I have -hunted them in many places throughout the Rockies, from the Big Horn in -western Wyoming to the Big Hole Basin in western Montana, close to the -Idaho line. Where I hunted, the wapiti were always very noisy both by -day and by night, and at least half of the bulls that I killed attracted -my attention by their calling before I saw either them or their tracks. -At night they frequently passed close to camp, or came nearly up to the -picketed horses, challenging all the time. More than once I slipped out, -hoping to kill one by moonlight, but I never succeeded. Occasionally, -when they were plentiful, and were restless and always roving about, I -simply sat still on a log, until one gave me a chance. Sometimes I came -across them while hunting through likely localities, going up or across -wind, keeping the sharpest lookout, and moving with great care and -caution, until I happened to strike the animals I was after. More than -once I took the trail of a band, when out with some first-class -woodsman, and after much running, dodging, and slipping through the -timber, overtook the animals—though usually when thus merely following -the trail I failed to come up with them. On two different occasions I -followed and came up to bands, attracted by their scent. Wapiti have a -strong, and, on the whole, pleasing scent, like that of Alderney cattle, -although in old bulls it becomes offensively strong. This scent is very -penetrating. I once smelt a herd which was lying quite still taking its -noonday siesta, certainly half a mile to the windward of me; and -creeping up I shot a good bull as he lay. On another occasion, while -working through the tangled trees and underbrush at the bottom of a -little winding valley, I suddenly smelt wapiti ahead, and without paying -any further attention to the search for tracks, I hunted cautiously up -the valley, and when it forked was able to decide by the smell alone -which way the wapiti had gone. He was going up wind ahead of me, and his -ground-covering walk kept me at a trot in order to overtake him. Finally -I saw him, before he saw me, and then, by making a run to one side, got -a shot at him when he broke cover, and dropped him. - -It is exciting to creep up to a calling wapiti. If it is a solitary -bull, he is apt to be travelling, seeking the cows, or on the lookout -for some rival of weaker thews. Under such circumstances only hard -running will enable the hunter to overtake him, unless there is a chance -to cut him off. If, however, he hears another bull, or has a herd under -him, the chances are that he is nearly stationary, or at least is moving -slowly, and the hunter has every opportunity to approach. In a herd the -bull himself is usually so absorbed both with his cows and with his -rivals that he is not at all apt to discover the approaching hunter. The -cows, however, are thoroughly awake, and it is their eyes and keen noses -for which the hunter must look out. A solitary bull which is answering -the challenge of another is the easiest of all to approach. Of course, -if there has been much hunting, even such a bull is wary and is on the -lookout for harm. But in remote localities he becomes so absorbed in -finding out the whereabouts of his rival, and is so busy answering the -latter’s challenges and going through motions of defiance, that with -proper care it is comparatively easy to approach him. Once, when within -seventy yards of such a bull, he partly made me out and started toward -me. Evidently he could not tell exactly what I was—my buckskin shirt -probably helping to puzzle him—and in his anger and eagerness he did not -think of danger until it was too late. On another occasion I got up to -two bulls that were fighting, and killed both. In the fights, weight of -body seems to count for more than size of antlers. - -Once I spent the better part of a day in following a wapiti bull before -I finally got him. Generally when hunting wapiti I have been with either -one of my men from the ranch or a hunter like Tazewell Woody, or John -Willis. On this particular occasion, however, I happened to be alone; -and though I have rarely been as successful alone as when in the company -of some thoroughly trained and experienced plainsman or mountainman, yet -when success does come under such circumstances it is always a matter of -peculiar pride. - -At the time, I was camped in a beautiful valley high among the mountains -which divide southwestern Montana from Idaho. The weather was cold, and -there were a couple of inches of snow on the ground, so that the -conditions were favorable for tracking and stalking. The country was -well wooded, but the forest was not dense, and there were many open -glades. Early one morning, just about dawn, the cook, who had been up -for a few minutes, waked me, to say that a bull wapiti was calling not -far off. I rolled out of my bed and was dressed in short order. The bull -had by this time passed the camp, and was travelling toward a range of -mountains on the other side of the stream which ran down the valley -bottom. He was evidently not alarmed, for he was still challenging. I -gulped down a cup of hot coffee, munched a piece of hardtack, and thrust -four or five other pieces and a cold elk tongue into my hunting-shirt, -and then, as it had grown light enough to travel, started after the -wapiti. I supposed that in a few minutes I should either have overtaken -him or abandoned the pursuit, and I took the food with me simply because -in the wilderness it never pays to be unprepared for emergencies. The -wisdom of such a course was shown in this instance by the fact that I -did not see camp again until long after dark. - -I at first tried to cut off the wapiti by trotting through the woods -toward the pass for which I supposed he was headed. The morning was -cold, and, as always happens at the outset when one starts to take -violent exercise under such circumstances, the running caused me to -break into a perspiration; so that the first time I stopped to listen -for the wapiti a regular fog rose over my glasses and then froze on -them. I could not see a thing, and after wiping them found I had to keep -gently moving in order to prevent them from clouding over again. It is -on such cold mornings, or else in very rainy weather, that the man who -has not been gifted with good eyes is most sensible of his limitations. -I once lost a caribou which I had been following at speed over the snow -because when I came into sight and halted the moisture instantly formed -and froze on my glasses so that I could not see anything, and before I -got them clear the game had vanished. Whatever happened, I was bound -that I should not lose this wapiti from a similar accident. - -However, when I next heard him he had evidently changed his course and -was going straight away from me. The sun had now risen, and following -after him I soon found his tracks. He was walking forward with the -regular wapiti stride, and I made up my mind I had a long chase ahead of -me. We were going up hill, and though I walked hard, I did not trot -until we topped the crest. Then I jogged along at a good gait, and as I -had on moccasins, and the woods were open, I did not have to exercise -much caution. Accordingly I gained, and felt I was about to come up with -him, when the wind brought down from very far off another challenge. My -bull heard it before I did, and instantly started toward the spot at a -trot. There was not the slightest use of my attempting to keep up with -this, and I settled down into a walk. Half an hour afterward I came over -a slight crest, and immediately saw a herd of wapiti ahead of me, across -the valley and on an open hillside. The herd was in commotion, the -master bull whistling vigorously and rounding up his cows, evidently -much excited at the new bull’s approach. There were two or three -yearlings and two-year-old bulls on the outskirts of the herd, and the -master bull, whose temper had evidently not been improved by the coming -of the stranger, occasionally charged these and sent them rattling off -through the bushes. The ground was so open between me and them that I -dared not venture across it, and I was forced to lie still and await -developments. The bull I had been following and the herd bull kept -challenging vigorously, but the former probably recognized in the latter -a heavier animal, and could not rouse his courage to the point of -actually approaching and doing battle. It by no means follows that the -animal with the heaviest body has the best antlers, but the hesitation -thus shown by the bull I was following made me feel that the other would -probably yield the more valuable trophies, and after a couple of hours I -made up my mind to try to get near the herd, abandoning the animal I had -been after. - -The herd showed but little symptoms of moving, the cows when let alone -scattering out to graze, and some of them even lying down. Accordingly I -did not hurry myself, and spent considerably over an hour in slipping -off to the right and approaching through a belt of small firs. -Unfortunately, however, the wind had slightly shifted, and while I was -out of sight of the herd they had also come down toward the spot from -whence I had been watching them. Accordingly, just as I was beginning to -creep forward with the utmost caution, expecting to see them at any -moment, I heard a thumping and cracking of branches that showed they -were on the run. With wapiti there is always a chance of overtaking them -after they have first started, because they tack and veer and halt to -look around. Therefore I ran forward as fast as I could through the -woods; but when I came to the edge of the fir belt I saw that the herd -were several hundred yards off. They were clustered together and looking -back, and saw me at once. - -Off they started again. The old bull, however, had neither seen me nor -smelt me, and when I heard his whistle of rage I knew he had -misinterpreted the reason for the departure of his cows, and in another -moment he came in sight, evidently bent on rounding them up. On his way -he attacked and drove off one of the yearlings, and then took after the -cows, while the yearling ran toward the outlying bull. The latter -evidently failed to understand what had happened; at least he showed no -signs of alarm. Neither, however, did he attempt to follow the fleeing -herd, but started off again on his own line. - -I was sure the herd would not stop for some miles, and accordingly I -resumed my chase of the single bull. He walked for certainly three miles -before he again halted, and I was then half a mile behind him. On this -occasion he struck a small belt of woodland and began to travel to and -fro through it, probably with an idea of lying down. I was able to get -up fairly close by crawling on all-fours through the snow for part of -the distance; but just as I was about to fire he moved slightly, and -though my shot hit him, it went a little too far back. He plunged over -the hill-crest and was off at a gallop, and after running forward and -failing to overtake him in the first rush, I sat down to consider -matters. The snow had begun to melt under the sun, and my knees and the -lower parts of my sleeves were wet from my crawl, and I was tired and -hungry and very angry at having failed to kill the wapiti. It was, -however, early in the afternoon, and I thought that if I let the wapiti -alone for an hour, he would lie down, and then grow stiff and reluctant -to get up; while in the snow I was sure I could easily follow his -tracks. Therefore I ate my lunch, and then swallowed some mouthfuls of -snow in lieu of drinking. - -[Illustration: - - TROPHIES IN THE WHITE HOUSE DINING-ROOM -] - -An hour afterward I took the trail. It was evident the bull was hard -hit, but even after he had changed his plunging gallop for a trot he -showed no signs of stopping; fortunately his trail did not cross any -other. The blood signs grew infrequent, and two or three times he went -up places which made it difficult for me to believe he was much hurt. At -last, however, I came to where he had lain down; but he had risen again -and gone forward. For a moment I feared that my approach had alarmed -him, but this was evidently not the case, for he was now walking. I left -the trail, and turning to one side below the wind I took a long circle -and again struck back to the bottom of the valley down which the wapiti -had been travelling. The timber here was quite thick, and I moved very -cautiously, continually halting and listening for five or ten minutes. -Not a sound did I hear, and I crossed the valley bottom and began to -ascend the other side without finding the trail. Unless he had turned -off up the mountains I knew that this meant he must have lain down; so I -retraced my steps and with extreme caution began to make my way up the -valley. Finally I came to a little opening, and after peering about for -five minutes I stepped forward, and instantly heard a struggling and -crashing in a clump of young spruce on the other side. It was the wapiti -trying to get on his feet. I ran forward at my best pace, and as he was -stiff and slow in his movements I was within seventy yards before he got -fairly under way. Dropping on one knee, I fired and hit him in the -flank. At the moment I could not tell whether or not I had missed him, -for he gave no sign; but, running forward very fast, I speedily saw him -standing with his head down. He heard me and again started, but at the -third bullet down he went in his tracks, the antlers clattering loudly -on the branches of a dead tree. - -The snow was melting fast, and for fear it might go off entirely, so -that I could not follow my back track, I went up the hillside upon which -the wapiti lay, and taking a dead tree dragged it down to the bottom, -leaving a long furrow. I then repeated the operation on the opposite -hillside, thus making a trace which it was impossible for any one coming -up or down the valley to overlook; and having conned certain landmarks -by which the valley itself could be identified, I struck toward camp at -a round trot; for I knew that if I did not get into the valley where the -tent lay before dark, I should have to pass the night out. However, the -last uncertain light of dusk just enabled me to get over a spur from -which I could catch a glimpse of the camp-fire, and as I stumbled toward -it through the forest I heard a couple of shots, which showed that the -cook and packer were getting anxious as to my whereabouts. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - WILDERNESS RESERVES; THE YELLOWSTONE PARK - - -The most striking and melancholy feature in connection with American big -game is the rapidity with which it has vanished. When, just before the -outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the rifle-bearing hunters of the -backwoods first penetrated the great forests west of the Alleghanies, -deer, elk, black bear, and even buffalo, swarmed in what are now the -States of Kentucky and Tennessee, and the country north of the Ohio was -a great and almost virgin hunting-ground. From that day to this the -shrinkage has gone on, only partially checked here and there, and never -arrested as a whole. As a matter of historical accuracy, however, it is -well to bear in mind that many writers, in lamenting this extinction of -the game, have from time to time anticipated or overstated the facts. -Thus as good an author as Colonel Richard Irving Dodge spoke of the -buffalo as practically extinct, while the great Northern herd still -existed in countless thousands. As early as 1880 sporting authorities -spoke not only of the buffalo, but of the elk, deer, and antelope as no -longer to be found in plenty; and recently one of the greatest of living -hunters has stated that it is no longer possible to find any American -wapiti bearing heads comparable with the red deer of Hungary. As a -matter of fact, in the early eighties there were still large regions -where every species of game that had ever been known within historic -times on our continent was still to be found as plentifully as ever. In -the early nineties there were still big tracts of wilderness in which -this was true of all game except the buffalo; for instance, it was true -of the elk in portions of northwestern Wyoming, of the blacktail in -northwestern Colorado, of the whitetail here and there in the Indian -Territory, and of the antelope in parts of New Mexico. Even at the -present day there are smaller, but still considerable, regions where -these four animals are yet found in abundance; and I have seen antlers -of wapiti shot since 1900 far surpassing any of which there is record -from Hungary. In New England and New York, as well as New Brunswick and -Nova Scotia, the whitetail deer is more plentiful than it was thirty -years ago, and in Maine (and to an even greater extent in New Brunswick) -the moose, and here and there the caribou, have, on the whole, increased -during the same period. There is yet ample opportunity for the big game -hunter in the United States, Canada and Alaska. - -While it is necessary to give this word of warning to those who, in -praising time past, always forget the opportunities of the present, it -is a thousandfold more necessary to remember that these opportunities -are, nevertheless, vanishing; and if we are a sensible people, we will -make it our business to see that the process of extinction is arrested. -At the present moment the great herds of caribou are being butchered, as -in the past the great herds of bison and wapiti have been butchered. -Every believer in manliness, and therefore in manly sport, and every -lover of nature, every man who appreciates the majesty and beauty of the -wilderness and of wild life, should strike hands with the far-sighted -men who wish to preserve our material resources, in the effort to keep -our forests and our game beasts, game birds, and game fish—indeed, all -the living creatures of prairie, and woodland, and seashore—from wanton -destruction. - -Above all, we should realize that the effort toward this end is -essentially a democratic movement. It is entirely in our power as a -nation to preserve large tracts of wilderness, which are valueless for -agricultural purposes and unfit for settlement, as playgrounds for rich -and poor alike, and to preserve the game so that it shall continue to -exist for the benefit of all lovers of nature, and to give reasonable -opportunities for the exercise of the skill of the hunter, whether he is -or is not a man of means. But this end can only be achieved by wise laws -and by a resolute enforcement of the laws. Lack of such legislation and -administration will result in harm to all of us, but most of all in harm -to the nature lover who does not possess vast wealth. Already there have -sprung up here and there through the country, as in New Hampshire and -the Adirondacks, large private preserves. These preserves often serve a -useful purpose, and should be encouraged within reasonable limits; but -it would be a misfortune if they increased beyond a certain extent or if -they took the place of great tracts of wild land, which continue as such -either because of their very nature, or because of the protection of the -State exerted in the form of making them State or national parks or -reserves. It is foolish to regard proper game laws as undemocratic, -unrepublican. On the contrary, they are essentially in the interests of -the people as a whole, because it is only through their enactment and -enforcement that the people as a whole can preserve the game and can -prevent its becoming purely the property of the rich, who are able to -create and maintain extensive private preserves. The wealthy man can get -hunting anyhow, but the man of small means is dependent solely upon wise -and well-executed game laws for his enjoyment of the sturdy pleasure of -the chase. In Maine, in Vermont, in the Adirondacks, even in parts of -Massachusetts and on Long Island, people have waked up to this fact, -particularly so far as the common whitetail deer is concerned, and in -Maine also as regards the moose and caribou. The effect is shown in the -increase in these animals. Such game protection results, in the first -place, in securing to the people who live in the neighborhood permanent -opportunities for hunting; and in the next place, it provides no small -source of wealth to the locality because of the visitors which it -attracts. A deer wild in the woods is worth to the people of the -neighborhood many times the value of its carcass, because of the way it -attracts sportsmen, who give employment and leave money behind them. - -True sportsmen, worthy of the name, men who shoot only in season and in -moderation, do no harm whatever to game. The most objectionable of all -game destroyers is, of course, the kind of game-butcher who simply kills -for the sake of the record of slaughter, who leaves deer and ducks and -prairie-chickens to rot after he has slain them. Such a man is wholly -obnoxious; and, indeed, so is any man who shoots for the purpose of -establishing a record of the amount of game killed. To my mind this is -one very unfortunate feature of what is otherwise the admirably -sportsmanlike English spirit in these matters. The custom of shooting -great bags of deer, grouse, partridges, and pheasants, the keen rivalry -in making such bags, and their publication in sporting journals, are -symptoms of a spirit which is most unhealthy from every standpoint. It -is to be earnestly hoped that every American hunting or fishing club -will strive to inculcate among its own members, and in the minds of the -general public, that anything like an excessive bag, any destruction for -the sake of making a record, is to be severely reprobated. - -But after all, this kind of perverted sportsman, unworthy though he be, -is not the chief actor in the destruction of our game. The professional -skin or market hunter is the real offender. Yet he is of all others the -man who would ultimately be most benefited by the preservation of the -game. The frontier settler, in a thoroughly wild country, is certain to -kill game for his own use. As long as he does no more than this, it is -hard to blame him; although if he is awake to his own interests he will -soon realize that to him, too, the live deer is worth far more than the -dead deer, because of the way in which it brings money into the -wilderness. The professional market hunter who kills game for the hide, -or for the feathers, or for the meat, or to sell antlers and other -trophies; the market men who put game in cold storage; and the rich -people, who are content to buy what they have not the skill to get by -their own exertions—these are the men who are the real enemies of game. -Where there is no law which checks the market hunters, the inevitable -result of their butchery is that the game is completely destroyed, and -with it their own means of livelihood. If, on the other hand, they were -willing to preserve it, they could make much more money by acting as -guides. In northwestern Colorado, at the present moment, there are still -blacktail deer in abundance, and some elk are left. Colorado has fairly -good game laws, but they are indifferently enforced. The country in -which the game is found can probably never support any but a very sparse -population, and a large portion of the summer range is practically -useless for settlement. If the people of Colorado generally, and above -all the people of the counties in which the game is located, would -resolutely cooperate with those of their own number who are already -alive to the importance of preserving the game, it could, without -difficulty, be kept always as abundant as it now is, and this beautiful -region would be a permanent health resort and playground for the people -of a large part of the Union. Such action would be a benefit to every -one, but it would be a benefit most of all to the people of the -immediate locality. - -The practical common sense of the American people has been in no way -made more evident during the last few years than by the creation and use -of a series of large land reserves—situated for the most part on the -great plains and among the mountains of the West—intended to keep the -forests from destruction, and therefore to conserve the water supply. -These reserves are, and should be, created primarily for economic -purposes. The semi-arid regions can only support a reasonable population -under conditions of the strictest economy and wisdom in the use of the -water supply, and in addition to their other economic uses the forests -are indispensably necessary for the preservation of the water supply and -for rendering possible its useful distribution throughout the proper -seasons. In addition, however, to this economic use of the wilderness, -selected portions of it have been kept here and there in a state of -nature, not merely for the sake of preserving the forests and the water, -but for the sake of preserving all its beauties and wonders unspoiled by -greedy and short-sighted vandalism. What has been actually accomplished -in the Yellowstone Park affords the best possible object-lesson as to -the desirability and practicability of establishing such wilderness -reserves. This reserve is a natural breeding-ground and nursery for -those stately and beautiful haunters of the wilds which have now -vanished from so many of the great forests, the vast lonely plains, and -the high mountain ranges, where they once abounded. - -On April 8, 1903, John Burroughs and I reached the Yellowstone Park, and -were met by Major John Pitcher of the Regular Army, the Superintendent -of the Park. The Major and I forthwith took horses; he telling me that -he could show me a good deal of game while riding up to his house at the -Mammoth Hot Springs. Hardly had we left the little town of Gardiner and -gotten within the limits of the Park before we saw prongbuck. There was -a band of at least a hundred feeding some distance from the road. We -rode leisurely toward them. They were tame compared to their kindred in -unprotected places; that is, it was easy to ride within fair rifle range -of them; and though they were not familiar in the sense that we -afterwards found the bighorn and the deer to be familiar, it was -extraordinary to find them showing such familiarity almost literally in -the streets of a frontier town. It spoke volumes for the good sense and -law-abiding spirit of the people of the town. During the two hours -following my entry into the Park we rode around the plains and lower -slopes of the foothills in the neighborhood of the mouth of the Gardiner -and we saw several hundred—probably a thousand all told—of these -antelopes. Major Pitcher informed me that all the pronghorns in the Park -wintered in this neighborhood. Toward the end of April or the first of -May they migrate back to their summering homes in the open valleys along -the Yellowstone and in the plains south of the Golden Gate. While -migrating they go over the mountains and through forests if occasion -demands. Although there are plenty of coyotes in the Park, there are no -big wolves, and save for very infrequent poachers the only enemy of the -antelope, as indeed the only enemy of all the game, is the cougar. - -[Illustration: - - ANTELOPE IN THE STREETS OF GARDINER -] - -Cougars, known in the Park, as elsewhere through the West,as “mountain -lions,” are plentiful, having increased in numbers of recent years. -Except in the neighborhood of the Gardiner River, that is within a few -miles of Mammoth Hot Springs, I found them feeding on elk, which in the -Park far outnumber all other game put together, being so numerous that -the ravages of the cougars are of no real damage to the herds. But in -the neighborhood of the Mammoth Hot Springs the cougars are noxious -because of the antelope, mountain sheep, and deer which they kill; and -the Superintendent has imported some hounds with which to hunt them. -These hounds are managed by Buffalo Jones, a famous old plainsman, who -is now in the Park taking care of the buffalo. On this first day of my -visit to the Park I came across the carcasses of a deer and of an -antelope which the cougars had killed. On the great plains cougars -rarely get antelope, but here the country is broken so that the big cats -can make their stalks under favorable circumstances. To deer and -mountain sheep the cougar is a most dangerous enemy—much more so than -the wolf. - -The antelope we saw were usually in bands of from twenty to one hundred -and fifty, and they travelled strung out almost in single file, though -those in the rear would sometimes bunch up. I did not try to stalk them, -but got as near them as I could on horseback. The closest approach I was -able to make was to within about eighty yards of two which were by -themselves—I think a doe and a last year’s fawn. As I was riding up to -them, although they looked suspiciously at me, one actually lay down. -When I was passing them at about eighty yards’ distance the big one -became nervous, gave a sudden jump, and away the two went at full speed. - -Why the prongbucks were so comparatively shy I do not know, for right on -the ground with them we came upon deer, and, in the immediate -neighborhood, mountain sheep, which were absurdly tame. The mountain -sheep were nineteen in number, for the most part does and yearlings with -a couple of three-year-old rams, but not a single big fellow—for the big -fellows at this season are off by themselves, singly or in little -bunches, high up in the mountains. The band I saw was tame to a degree -matched by but few domestic animals. - -They were feeding on the brink of a steep washout at the upper edge of -one of the benches on the mountain-side just below where the abrupt -slope began. They were alongside a little gully with sheer walls. I rode -my horse to within forty yards of them, one of them occasionally looking -up and at once continuing to feed. Then they moved slowly off and -leisurely crossed the gully to the other side. I dismounted, walked -around the head of the gully, and moving cautiously, but in plain sight, -came closer and closer until I was within twenty yards, when I sat down -on a stone and spent certainly twenty minutes looking at them. They paid -hardly any attention to my presence—certainly no more than well-treated -domestic creatures would pay. One of the rams rose on his hind legs, -leaning his fore-hoofs against a little pine tree, and browsed the ends -of the budding branches. The others grazed on the short grass and -herbage or lay down and rested—two of the yearlings several times -playfully butting at one another. Now and then one would glance in my -direction without the slightest sign of fear—barely even of curiosity. I -have no question whatever but that with a little patience this -particular band could be made to feed out of a man’s hand. Major Pitcher -intends during the coming winter to feed them alfalfa—for game animals -of several kinds have become so plentiful in the neighborhood of the Hot -Springs, and the Major has grown so interested in them, that he wishes -to do something toward feeding them during the severe weather. After I -had looked at the sheep to my heart’s content, I walked back to my -horse, my departure arousing as little interest as my advent. - -Soon after leaving them we began to come across blacktail deer, singly, -in twos and threes, and in small bunches of a dozen or so. They were -almost as tame as the mountain sheep, but not quite. That is, they -always looked alertly at me, and though if I stayed still they would -graze, they kept a watch over my movements and usually moved slowly off -when I got within less than forty yards of them. Up to that distance, -whether on foot or on horseback, they paid but little heed to me, and on -several occasions they allowed me to come much closer. Like the bighorn, -the blacktails at this time were grazing, not browsing; but I -occasionally saw them nibble some willow buds. During the winter they -had been browsing. As we got close to the Hot Springs we came across -several whitetail in an open, marshy meadow. They were not quite as tame -as the blacktail, although without any difficulty I walked up to within -fifty yards of them. Handsome though the blacktail is, the whitetail is -the most beautiful of all deer when in motion, because of the springy, -bounding grace of its trot and canter, and the way it carries its head -and white flag aloft. - -Before reaching the Mammoth Hot Springs we also saw a number of ducks in -the little pools and on the Gardiner. Some of them were rather shy. -Others—probably those which, as Major Pitcher informed me, had spent the -winter there—were as tame as barn-yard fowls. - -Just before reaching the post the Major took me into the big field where -Buffalo Jones had some Texas and Flathead Lake buffalo—bulls and -cows—which he was tending with solicitous care. The original stock of -buffalo in the Park have now been reduced to fifteen or twenty -individuals, and their blood is being recruited by the addition of -buffalo purchased out of the Flathead Lake and Texas Panhandle herds. -The buffalo were at first put within a wire fence, which, when it was -built, was found to have included both blacktail and whitetail deer. A -bull elk was also put in with them at one time, he having met with some -accident which made the Major and Buffalo Jones bring him in to doctor -him. When he recovered his health he became very cross. Not only would -he attack men, but also buffalo, even the old and surly master bull, -thumping them savagely with his antlers if they did anything to which he -objected. The buffalo are now breeding well. - -[Illustration: - - BLACKTAIL DEER ON PARADE-GROUND -] - -When I reached the post and dismounted at the Major’s house, I supposed -my experiences with wild beasts were ended for the day; but this was an -error. The quarters of the officers and men and the various hotel -buildings, stables, residences of the civilian officials, etc., almost -completely surround the big parade-ground at the post, near the middle -of which stands the flag-pole, while the gun used for morning and -evening salutes is well off to one side. There are large gaps between -some of the buildings, and Major Pitcher informed me that throughout the -winter he had been leaving alfalfa on the parade-grounds, and that -numbers of blacktail deer had been in the habit of visiting it every -day, sometimes as many as seventy being on the parade-ground at once. As -spring-time came on the numbers diminished. However, in mid-afternoon, -while I was writing in my room in Major Pitcher’s house, on looking out -of the window I saw five deer on the parade-ground. They were as tame as -so many Alderney cows, and when I walked out I got within twenty yards -of them without any difficulty. It was most amusing to see them as the -time approached for the sunset gun to be fired. The notes of the -trumpeter attracted their attention at once. They all looked at him -eagerly. One of them resumed feeding, and paid no attention whatever -either to the bugle, the gun or the flag. The other four, however, -watched the preparations for firing the gun with an intent gaze, and at -the sound of the report gave two or three jumps; then instantly -wheeling, looked up at the flag as it came down. This they seemed to -regard as something rather more suspicious than the gun, and they -remained very much on the alert until the ceremony was over. Once it was -finished, they resumed feeding as if nothing had happened. Before it was -dark they trotted away from the parade-ground back to the mountains. - -The next day we rode off to the Yellowstone River, camping some miles -below Cottonwood Creek. It was a very pleasant camp. Major Pitcher, an -old friend, had a first-class pack-train, so that we were as comfortable -as possible, and on such a trip there could be no pleasanter or more -interesting companion than John Burroughs—“Oom John,” as we soon grew to -call him. Where our tents were pitched the bottom of the valley was -narrow, the mountains rising steep and cliff-broken on either side. -There were quite a number of blacktail in the valley, which were tame -and unsuspicious, although not nearly as much so as those in the -immediate neighborhood of the Mammoth Hot Springs. One mid-afternoon -three of them swam across the river a hundred yards above our camp. But -the characteristic animals of the region were the elk—the wapiti. They -were certainly more numerous than when I was last through the Park -twelve years before. - -In the summer the elk spread all over the interior of the Park. As -winter approaches they divide, some going north and others south. The -southern bands, which, at a guess, may possibly include ten thousand -individuals, winter out of the Park, for the most part in Jackson’s -Hole—though of course here and there within the limits of the Park a few -elk may spend both winter and summer in an unusually favorable location. -It was the members of the northern band that I met. During the winter -time they are nearly stationary, each band staying within a very few -miles of the same place, and from their size and the open nature of -their habitat it is almost as easy to count them as if they were cattle. -From a spur of Bison Peak one day, Major Pitcher, the guide Elwood -Hofer, John Burroughs and I spent about four hours with the glasses -counting and estimating the different herds within sight. After most -careful work and cautious reduction of estimates in each case to the -minimum the truth would permit, we reckoned three thousand head of elk, -all lying or feeding and all in sight at the same time. An estimate of -some fifteen thousand for the number of elk in these Northern bands -cannot be far wrong. These bands do not go out of the Park at all, but -winter just within its northern boundary. At the time when we saw them, -the snow had vanished from the bottoms of the valleys and the lower -slopes of the mountains, but remained as continuous sheets farther up -their sides. The elk were for the most part found up on the snow slopes, -occasionally singly or in small gangs—more often in bands of from fifty -to a couple of hundred. The larger bulls were highest up the mountains -and generally in small troops by themselves, although occasionally one -or two would be found associating with a big herd of cows, yearlings, -and two-year-olds. Many of the bulls had shed their antlers; many had -not. During the winter the elk had evidently done much browsing, but at -this time they were grazing almost exclusively, and seemed by preference -to seek out the patches of old grass which were last left bare by the -retreating snow. The bands moved about very little, and if one were seen -one day it was generally possible to find it within a few hundred yards -of the same spot the next day, and certainly not more than a mile or two -off. There were severe frosts at night, and occasionally light flurries -of snow; but the hardy beasts evidently cared nothing for any but heavy -storms, and seemed to prefer to lie in the snow rather than upon the -open ground. They fed at irregular hours throughout the day, just like -cattle; one band might be lying down while another was feeding. While -travelling they usually went almost in single file. Evidently the winter -had weakened them, and they were not in condition for running; for on -the one or two occasions when I wanted to see them close up I ran right -into them on horseback, both on level plains and going up hill along the -sides of rather steep mountains. One band in particular I practically -rounded up for John Burroughs, finally getting them to stand in a huddle -while he and I sat on our horses less than fifty yards off. After they -had run a little distance they opened their mouths wide and showed -evident signs of distress. - -We came across a good many carcasses. Two, a bull and a cow, had died -from scab. Over half the remainder had evidently perished from cold or -starvation. The others, including a bull, three cows and a score of -yearlings, had been killed by cougars. In the Park the cougar is at -present their only animal foe. The cougars were preying on nothing but -elk in the Yellowstone Valley, and kept hanging about the neighborhood -of the big bands. Evidently they usually selected some outlying -yearling, stalked it as it lay or as it fed, and seized it by the head -and throat. The bull which they killed was in a little open valley by -himself, many miles from any other elk. The cougar which killed it, -judging from its tracks, was a big male. As the elk were evidently -rather too numerous for the feed, I do not think the cougars were doing -any damage. - -Coyotes are plentiful, but the elk evidently have no dread of them. One -day I crawled up to within fifty yards of a band of elk lying down. A -coyote was walking about among them, and beyond an occasional look they -paid no heed to him. He did not venture to go within fifteen or twenty -paces of any one of them. In fact, except the cougar, I saw but one -living thing attempt to molest the elk. This was a golden eagle. We saw -several of these great birds. On one occasion we had ridden out to the -foot of a sloping mountain-side, dotted over with bands and strings of -elk amounting in the aggregate probably to a thousand head. Most of the -bands were above the snow-line—some appearing away back toward the ridge -crests, and looking as small as mice. There was one band well below the -snow-line, and toward this we rode. While the elk were not shy or wary, -in the sense that a hunter would use the words, they were by no means as -familiar as the deer; and this particular band of elk, some twenty or -thirty in all, watched us with interest as we approached. When we were -still half a mile off they suddenly started to run toward us, evidently -frightened by something. They ran quartering, and when about four -hundred yards away we saw that an eagle was after them. Soon it swooped, -and a yearling in the rear, weakly, and probably frightened by the -swoop, turned a complete somersault, and when it recovered its feet -stood still. The great bird followed the rest of the band across a -little ridge, beyond which they disappeared. Then it returned, soaring -high in the heavens, and after two or three wide circles, swooped down -at the solitary yearling, its legs hanging down. We halted at two -hundred yards to see the end. But the eagle could not quite make up its -mind to attack. Twice it hovered within a foot or two of the yearling’s -head, again flew off and again returned. Finally the yearling trotted -off after the rest of the band, and the eagle returned to the upper air. -Later we found the carcass of a yearling, with two eagles, not to -mention ravens and magpies, feeding on it; but I could not tell whether -they had themselves killed the yearling or not. - -Here and there in the region where the elk were abundant we came upon -horses, which for some reason had been left out through the winter. They -were much wilder than the elk. Evidently the Yellowstone Park is a -natural nursery and breeding-ground of the elk, which here, as said -above, far outnumber all the other game put together. In the winter, if -they cannot get to open water, they eat snow; but in several places -where there had been springs which kept open all winter, we could see by -the tracks that they had been regularly used by bands of elk. The men -working at the new road along the face of the cliffs beside the -Yellowstone River near Tower Falls informed me that in October enormous -droves of elk coming from the interior of the Park and travelling -northward to the lower lands had crossed the Yellowstone just above -Tower Falls. Judging by their description, the elk had crossed by -thousands in an uninterrupted stream, the passage taking many hours. In -fact nowadays these Yellowstone elk are, with the exception of the -Arctic caribou, the only American game which at times travel in immense -droves like the buffalo of the old days. - -[Illustration: - - ELK IN SNOW -] - -A couple of days after leaving Cottonwood Creek—where we had spent -several days—we camped at the Yellowstone Canyon below Tower Falls. Here -we saw a second band of mountain sheep, numbering only eight—none of -them old rams. We were camped on the west side of the canyon; the sheep -had their abode on the opposite side, where they had spent the winter. -It has recently been customary among some authorities, especially the -English hunters and naturalists who have written of the Asiatic sheep, -to speak as if sheep were naturally creatures of the plains rather than -mountain climbers. I know nothing of the Old World sheep, but the Rocky -Mountain bighorn is to the full as characteristic a mountain animal, in -every sense of the word, as the chamois, and, I think, as the ibex. -These sheep were well known to the road builders, who had spent the -winter in the locality. They told me they never went back on the plains, -but throughout the winter had spent their days and nights on the top of -the cliff and along its face. This cliff was an alternation of sheer -precipices and very steep inclines. When coated with ice it would be -difficult to imagine an uglier bit of climbing; but throughout the -winter, and even in the wildest storms, the sheep had habitually gone -down it to drink at the water below. When we first saw them they were -lying sunning themselves on the edge of the canyon, where the rolling -grassy country behind it broke off into the sheer descent. It was -mid-afternoon and they were under some pines. After a while they got up -and began to graze, and soon hopped unconcernedly down the side of the -cliff until they were half-way to the bottom. They then grazed along the -sides, and spent some time licking at a place where there was evidently -a mineral deposit. Before dark they all lay down again on a steeply -inclined jutting spur midway between the top and bottom of the canyon. - -Next morning I thought I would like to see them close up, so I walked -down three or four miles below where the canyon ended, crossed the -stream, and came up the other side until I got on what was literally the -stamping-ground of the sheep. Their tracks showed that they had spent -their time for many weeks, and probably for all the winter, within a -very narrow radius. For perhaps a mile and a half, or two miles at the -very outside, they had wandered to and fro on the summit of the canyon, -making what was almost a well-beaten path; always very near and usually -on the edge of the cliff, and hardly ever going more than a few yards -back into the grassy plain-and-hill country. Their tracks and dung -covered the ground. They had also evidently descended into the depths of -the canyon wherever there was the slightest break or even lowering in -the upper line of the basalt cliffs. Although mountain sheep often -browse in winter, I saw but few traces of browsing here; probably on the -sheer cliff side they always get some grazing. - -When I spied the band they were lying not far from the spot in which -they had lain the day before, and in the same position on the brink of -the canyon. They saw me and watched me with interest when I was two -hundred yards off, but they let me get up within forty yards and sit -down on a large stone to look at them, without running off. Most of them -were lying down, but a couple were feeding steadily throughout the time -I watched them. Suddenly one took the alarm and dashed straight over the -cliff, the others all following at once. I ran after them to the edge in -time to see the last yearling drop off the edge of the basalt cliff and -stop short on the sheer slope below, while the stones dislodged by his -hoofs rattled down the canyon. They all looked up at me with great -interest, and then strolled off to the edge of a jutting spur and lay -down almost directly underneath me and some fifty yards off. That -evening on my return to camp we watched the band make its way right down -to the river bed, going over places where it did not seem possible a -four-footed creature could pass. They halted to graze here and there, -and down the worst places they went very fast with great bounds. It was -a marvellous exhibition of climbing. - -After we had finished this horseback trip we went on sleds and skis to -the upper Geyser Basin and the Falls of the Yellowstone. Although it was -the third week in April, the snow was still several feet deep, and only -thoroughly trained snow horses could have taken the sleighs along, while -around the Yellowstone Falls it was possible to move only on snowshoes. -There was little life in those woods. In the upper basin I caught a -meadow mouse on the snow; I afterwards sent it to Hart Merriam, who told -me it was of a species he had described from Idaho, _Microtus nanus_; it -had not been previously found in the Yellowstone region. We saw an -occasional pine squirrel, snowshoe rabbit or marten; and in the open -meadows around the hot waters there were Canada geese and ducks of -several species, and now and then a coyote. Around camp Clark’s crows -and Stellar’s jays, and occasionally magpies, came to pick at the -refuse; and of course they were accompanied by the whiskey jacks, which -behaved with their usual astounding familiarity. At Norris Geyser Basin -there was a perfect chorus of bird music from robins, western purple -finches, juncos and mountain bluebirds. In the woods there were mountain -chickadees and pygmy nuthatches, together with an occasional woodpecker. -In the northern country we had come across a very few blue grouse and -ruffed grouse, both as tame as possible. We had seen a pygmy owl no -larger than a robin sitting on the top of a pine in broad daylight, and -uttering at short intervals a queer un-owl-like cry. - -[Illustration: - - OOM JOHN -] - -The birds that interested us most were the solitaires, and especially -the dippers or water-ousels. We were fortunate enough to hear the -solitaires sing not only when perched on trees, but on the wing, soaring -over a great canyon. They are striking birds in every way, and their -habit of singing while soaring, and their song, are alike noteworthy. -Once I heard a solitaire singing at the top of a canyon, and an ousel -also singing but a thousand feet below him; and in this case I thought -the ousel sang better than his unconscious rival. The ousels are to my -mind well-nigh the most attractive of all our birds, because of their -song, their extraordinary habits, their whole personality. They stay -through the winter in the Yellowstone because the waters are in many -places open. We heard them singing cheerfully, their ringing melody -having a certain suggestion of the winter wren’s. Usually they sang -while perched on some rock on the edge or in the middle of the stream; -but sometimes on the wing; and often just before dipping under the -torrent, or just after slipping out from it onto some ledge of rock or -ice. In the open places the Western meadow lark was uttering its -beautiful song; a real song as compared to the plaintive notes of its -Eastern brother, and though short, yet with continuity and tune as well -as melody. I love to hear the Eastern meadow lark in the early spring; -but I love still more the song of the Western meadow lark. No bird -escaped John Burroughs’ eye; no bird note escaped his ear. - -I cannot understand why the Old World ousel should have received such -comparatively scant attention in the books, whether from nature writers -or poets; whereas our ousel has greatly impressed all who know him. John -Muir’s description comes nearest doing him justice. To me he seems a -more striking bird than for instance the skylark; though of course I not -only admire but am very fond of the skylark. There are various pipits -and larks in our own country which sing in highest air, as does the -skylark, and their songs, though not as loud, are almost as sustained; -and though they lack the finer kind of melody, so does his. The ousel, -on the contrary, is a really brilliant singer, and in his habits he is -even farther removed from the commonplace and the uninteresting than the -lark himself. Some birds, such as the ousel, the mocking-bird, the -solitaire, show marked originality, marked distinction; others do not; -the chipping sparrow, for instance, while in no way objectionable (like -the imported house sparrow), is yet a hopelessly commonplace little bird -alike in looks, habits and voice. - -[Illustration: - - BEARS AND TOURISTS -] - -On the last day of my stay it was arranged that I should ride down from -Mammoth Hot Springs to the town of Gardiner, just outside the Park -limits, and there make an address at the laying of the corner-stone of -the arch by which the main road is to enter the Park. Some three -thousand people had gathered to attend the ceremonies. A little over a -mile from Gardiner we came down out of the hills to the flat plain; from -the hills we could see the crowd gathered around the arch waiting for me -to come. We put spurs to our horses and cantered rapidly toward the -appointed place, and on the way we passed within forty yards of a score -of blacktails, which merely moved to one side and looked at us, and -within almost as short a distance of half a dozen antelope. To any lover -of nature it could not help being a delightful thing to see the wild and -timid creatures of the wilderness rendered so tame; and their tameness -in the immediate neighborhood of Gardiner, on the very edge of the Park, -spoke volumes for the patriotic good sense of the citizens of Montana. -At times the antelope actually cross the Park line to Gardiner, which is -just outside, and feed unmolested in the very streets of the town; a -fact which shows how very far advanced the citizens of Gardiner are in -right feeling on this subject; for of course the Federal laws cease to -protect the antelope as soon as they are out of the Park. Major Pitcher -informed me that both the Montana and Wyoming people were cooperating -with him in zealous fashion to preserve the game and put a stop to -poaching. For their attitude in this regard they deserve the cordial -thanks of all Americans interested in these great popular playgrounds, -where bits of the old wilderness scenery and the old wilderness life are -to be kept unspoiled for the benefit of our children’s children. Eastern -people, and especially Eastern sportsmen, need to keep steadily in mind -the fact that the westerners who live in the neighborhood of the forest -preserves are the men who in the last resort will determine whether or -not these preserves are to be permanent. They cannot in the long run be -kept as forest and game reservations unless the settlers roundabout -believe in them and heartily support them; and the rights of these -settlers must be carefully safeguarded, and they must be shown that the -movement is really in their interest. The Eastern sportsman who fails to -recognize these facts can do little but harm by advocacy of forest -reserves. - -It was in the interior of the Park, at the hotels beside the lake, the -falls, and the various geyser basins, that we would have seen the bears -had the season been late enough; but unfortunately the bears were still -for the most part hibernating. We saw two or three tracks, but the -animals themselves had not yet begun to come about the hotels. Nor were -the hotels open. No visitors had previously entered the Park in the -winter or early spring, the scouts and other employees being the only -ones who occasionally traverse it. I was sorry not to see the bears, for -the effect of protection upon bear life in the Yellowstone has been one -of the phenomena of natural history. Not only have they grown to realize -that they are safe, but, being natural scavengers and foul feeders, they -have come to recognize the garbage heaps of the hotels as their special -sources of food supply. Throughout the summer months they come to all -the hotels in numbers, usually appearing in the late afternoon or -evening, and they have become as indifferent to the presence of men as -the deer themselves—some of them very much more indifferent. They have -now taken their place among the recognized sights of the Park, and the -tourists are nearly as much interested in them as in the geysers. In -mussing over the garbage heaps they sometimes get tin cans stuck on -their paws, and the result is painful. Buffalo Jones and some of the -other scouts in extreme cases rope the bear, tie him up, cut the tin can -off his paw, and let him go again. It is not an easy feat, but the -astonishing thing is that it should be performed at all. - -It was amusing to read the proclamations addressed to the tourists by -the Park management, in which they were solemnly warned that the bears -were really wild animals, and that they must on no account be either fed -or teased. It is curious to think that the descendants of the great -grizzlies which were the dread of the early explorers and hunters should -now be semi-domesticated creatures, boldly hanging around crowded hotels -for the sake of what they can pick up, and quite harmless so long as any -reasonable precaution is exercised. They are much safer, for instance, -than any ordinary bull or stallion, or even ram, and, in fact, there is -no danger from them at all unless they are encouraged to grow too -familiar or are in some way molested. Of course among the thousands of -tourists there is a percentage of fools; and when fools go out in the -afternoon to look at the bears feeding they occasionally bring -themselves into jeopardy by some senseless act. The black bears and the -cubs of the bigger bears can readily be driven up trees, and some of the -tourists occasionally do this. Most of the animals never think of -resenting it; but now and then one is run across which has its feelings -ruffled by the performance. In the summer of 1902 the result proved -disastrous to a too inquisitive tourist. He was travelling with his -wife, and at one of the hotels they went out toward the garbage pile to -see the bears feeding. The only bear in sight was a large she, which, as -it turned out, was in a bad temper because another party of tourists a -few minutes before had been chasing her cubs up a tree. The man left his -wife and walked toward the bear to see how close he could get. When he -was some distance off she charged him, whereupon he bolted back toward -his wife. The bear overtook him, knocked him down and bit him severely. -But the man’s wife, without hesitation, attacked the bear with that -thoroughly feminine weapon, an umbrella, and frightened her off. The man -spent several weeks in the Park hospital before he recovered. Perhaps -the following telegram sent by the manager of the Lake Hotel to Major -Pitcher illustrates with sufficient clearness the mutual relations of -the bears, the tourists, and the guardians of the public weal in the -Park. The original was sent me by Major Pitcher. It runs: - -“Lake. 7–27–’03. Major Pitcher, Yellowstone: As many as seventeen bears -in an evening appear on my garbage dump. To-night eight or ten. Campers -and people not of my hotel throw things at them to make them run away. I -cannot, unless there personally, control this. Do you think you could -detail a trooper to be there every evening from say six o’clock until -dark and make people remain behind danger line laid out by Warden Jones? -Otherwise I fear some accident. The arrest of one or two of these -campers might help. My own guests do pretty well as they are told. James -Barton Key. 9 A. M.” - -Major Pitcher issued the order as requested. - -At times the bears get so bold that they take to making inroads on the -kitchen. One completely terrorized a Chinese cook. It would drive him -off and then feast upon whatever was left behind. When a bear begins to -act in this way or to show surliness it is sometimes necessary to shoot -it. Other bears are tamed until they will feed out of the hand, and will -come at once if called. Not only have some of the soldiers and scouts -tamed bears in this fashion, but occasionally a chambermaid or waiter -girl at one of the hotels has thus developed a bear as a pet. - -[Illustration: - - GRIZZLY BEAR AND COOK -] - -The accompanying photographs not only show bears very close up, with men -standing by within a few yards of them, but they also show one bear -being fed from the piazza by a cook, and another standing beside a -particular friend, a chambermaid in one of the hotels. In these -photographs it will be seen that some are grizzlies and some black -bears. - -This whole episode of bear life in the Yellowstone is so extraordinary -that it will be well worth while for any man who has the right powers -and enough time, to make a complete study of the life and history of the -Yellowstone bears. Indeed, nothing better could be done by some of our -outdoor faunal naturalists than to spend at least a year in the -Yellowstone, and to study the life habits of all the wild creatures -therein. A man able to do this, and to write down accurately and -interestingly what he had seen, would make a contribution of permanent -value to our nature literature. - -In May, after leaving the Yellowstone, I visited the Grand Canyon of the -Colorado, and then went through the Yosemite Park with John Muir—the -companion above all others for such a trip. It is hard to make -comparisons among different kinds of scenery, all of them very grand and -very beautiful; but nothing that I have ever seen has impressed me quite -as much as the desolate and awful sublimity of the Grand Canyon of the -Colorado. I earnestly wish that Congress would make it a national park, -and I am sure that such course would meet the approbation of the people -of Arizona. The people of California with wise and generous forethought -have given the Yosemite Valley to the National Government to be kept as -a national park, just as the surrounding country, including some of the -groves of giant trees, has been kept. The flower-clad slopes of the -Sierras—golden with the blazing poppy, brilliant with lilies and tulips -and red-stemmed Manzinita bush—are unlike anything else in this country. -As for the giant trees, no words can describe their majesty and beauty. - -John Muir and I, with two packers and three pack mules, spent a -delightful three days in the Yosemite. The first night was clear, and we -lay in the open, on beds of soft fir boughs, among the huge, -cinnamon-colored trunks of the sequoias. It was like lying in a great -solemn cathedral, far vaster and more beautiful than any built by hand -of man. Just at nightfall I heard, among other birds, thrushes which I -think were Rocky Mountain hermits—the appropriate choir for such a place -of worship. Next day we went by trail through the woods, seeing some -deer—which were not wild—as well as mountain quail and blue grouse. -Among the birds which we saw was a white-headed woodpecker; the -interesting carpenter woodpeckers were less numerous than lower down. In -the afternoon we struck snow, and had considerable difficulty in -breaking our trails. A snow-storm came on toward evening, but we kept -warm and comfortable in a grove of splendid silver firs—rightly named -“magnificent”—near the brink of the wonderful Yosemite Valley. Next day -we clambered down into it and at nightfall camped in its bottom, facing -the giant cliffs over which the waterfalls thundered. - -[Illustration: - - THE BEAR AND THE CHAMBERMAID -] - -Surely our people do not understand even yet the rich heritage that is -theirs. There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the -Yosemite, the groves of giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the -Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our -people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and -their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty all -unmarred. - - - - - CHAPTER X - BOOKS ON BIG GAME - - -The nineteenth century was, beyond all others, the century of big game -hunters, and of books about big game. From the days of Nimrod to our own -there have been mighty hunters before the Lord, and most warlike and -masterful races have taken kindly to the chase, as chief among those -rough pastimes which appeal naturally to men with plenty of red blood in -their veins. But until the nineteenth century the difficulties of travel -were so great that men of our race with a taste for sport could rarely -gratify this taste except in their own neighborhood. The earlier among -the great conquering kings of Egypt and Assyria, when they made their -forays into Syria and the region of the Upper Euphrates, hunted the -elephant and the wild bull, as well as the lions with which the country -swarmed; and Tiglath-Pileser the First, as overlord of Phœnicia, -embarked on the Mediterranean, and there killed a “sea-monster,” -presumably a whale—a feat which has been paralleled by no sport-loving -sovereign of modern times, save by that stout hunter, the German Kaiser; -though I believe the present English King, like several members of his -family, has slain both elephants and tigers before he came to the -throne. But the elephant disappeared from Eastern Asia a thousand years -before our era; and the lion had become rare or unknown in lands where -the dwellers were of European stock, long before the days of written -records. - -There was good hunting in Macedonia in the days of Alexander the Great; -there was good hunting in the Hercynian Forest when Frank and Bergund -were turning Gaul into France; there was good hunting in Lithuania and -Poland as late as the days of Sobiéski; but the most famous kings and -nobles of Europe, within historic times, though they might kill the -aurochs and the bison, the bear and the boar, had no chance to test -their prowess against the mightier and more terrible beasts of the -tropics. - -No modern man could be more devoted to the chase than were the -territorial lords of the Middle Ages. Two of the most famous books of -the chase ever written were the _Livre de Chasse_ of Count Gaston de -Foix—Gaston Phœbus, well known to all readers of Froissart—and the -translation or adaptation and continuation of the same, the “Master of -Game,” by that Duke of York who “died victorious” at Agincourt. Mr. -Baillie-Grohman, himself a hunter and mountaineer of wide experience, a -trained writer and observer, and a close student of the hunting lore of -the past, has edited and reproduced the “Master of Game,” in form which -makes it a delight to every true lover of books no less than to every -true lover of sport. A very interesting little book is Clamorgan’s -_Chasse du Loup_, dedicated to Charles the Ninth of France; my copy is -of the edition of 1566. The text and the illustrations are almost -equally attractive. - -As the centuries passed it became more and more difficult to obtain -sport in the thickly settled parts of Europe save in the vast game -preserves of the Kings and great lords. These magnates of Continental -Europe, down to the beginning of the last century, followed the chase -with all the ardor of Gaston Phœbus; indeed, they erred generally on the -side of fantastic extravagance and exaggeration in their favorite -pursuit, turning it into a solemn and rather ridiculous business instead -of a healthy and vigorous pastime; but they could hunt only the beasts -of their own forests. The men who went on long voyages usually had quite -enough to do simply as travellers; the occupation of getting into -unknown lands, and of keeping alive when once in them, was in itself -sufficiently absorbing and hazardous to exclude any chance of combining -with it the role of sportsman. - -With the last century all this had changed. Even in the eighteenth -century it began to change. The Dutch settlers at the Cape of Good Hope, -and the English settlers on the Atlantic coast of North America, found -themselves thrown back into a stage of life where hunting was one of the -main means of livelihood, as well as the most exciting and adventurous -of pastimes. These men knew the chase as men of their race had not known -it since the days before history dawned; and until the closing decades -of the last century the Americans and the Afrikanders of the frontier -largely led the lives of professional hunters. Oom Paul and Buffalo Bill -led very different careers after they reached middle age; but in their -youth warfare against wild beasts and wild men was the most serious part -of the life-work of both. They and their fellows did the rough pioneer -work of civilization, under conditions which have now vanished for ever, -and their type will perish with the passing of the forces that called it -into being. But the big game hunter, whose campaigns against big game -are not simply incidents in his career as a pioneer settler, will remain -with us for some time longer; and it is of him and his writings that we -wish to treat. - -Toward the end of the eighteenth century this big game hunter had -already appeared, although, like all early types, he was not yet -thoroughly specialized. Le Vaillant hunted in South Africa, and his -volumes are excellent reading now. A still better book is that of Bruce, -the Abyssinian explorer, who was a kind of Burton of his days, with a -marvellous faculty for getting into quarrels, but an even more -marvellous faculty for doing work which no other man could do. He really -opened a new world to European men of letters and science; who thereupon -promptly united in disbelieving all he said, though they were credulous -enough toward people who really should have been distrusted. But his -tales have been proved true by many an explorer since then, and his book -will always possess interest for big game hunters, because of his -experiences in the chase. Sometimes he shot merely in self-defense or -for food, but he also made regular hunting trips in company with the -wild lords of the shifting frontier between dusky Christian and dusky -infidel. He feasted in their cane palaces, where the walls were hung -with the trophies of giant game, and in their company, with horse and -spear, he attacked and overcame the buffalo and the rhinoceros. - -By the beginning of the nineteenth century the hunting book proper -became differentiated, as it were, from the book of the explorer. One of -the earliest was Williamson’s “Oriental Field Sports.” This is to the -present day a most satisfactory book, especially to sporting parents -with large families of small children. The pictures are all in colors, -and the foliage is so very green, and the tigers are so very red, and -the boars so very black, and the tragedies so uncommonly vivid and -startling, that for the youthful mind the book really has no formidable -rival outside of the charmed circle where Slovenly Peter stands first. - -Since then multitudes of books have been written about big game hunting. -Most of them are bad, of course, just as most novels and most poems are -bad; but some of them are very good indeed, while a few are entitled to -rank high in literature—though it cannot be said that as yet big game -hunters as a whole have produced such writers as those who dwell on the -homelier and less grandiose side of nature. They have not produced a -White or Burroughs, for instance. What could not Burroughs have done if -only he had cared for adventure and for the rifle, and had roamed across -the Great Plains and the Rockies, and through the dim forests, as he has -wandered along the banks of the Hudson and the Potomac! Thoreau, it is -true, did go to the Maine Woods; but then Thoreau was a -transcendentalist and slightly anæmic. A man must feel the beat of hardy -life in his veins before he can be a good big game hunter. Fortunately, -Richard Jeffries has written an altogether charming little volume on the -Red Deer, so that there is at least one game animal which has been fully -described by a man of letters, who was also both a naturalist and a -sportsman; but it is irritating to think that no one has done as much -for the lordlier game of the wilderness. Not only should the hunter be -able to describe vividly the chase, and the life habits of the quarry, -but he should also draw the wilderness itself, and the life of those who -dwell or sojourn therein. We wish to see before us the cautious stalk -and the headlong gallop; the great beasts as they feed or rest or run or -make love or fight; the wild hunting camps; the endless plains -shimmering in the sunlight; the vast, solemn forests; the desert and the -marsh and the mountain chain; and all that lies hidden in the lonely -lands through which the wilderness wanderer roams and hunts game. - -But there remain a goodly number of books which are not merely filled -with truthful information of importance, but which are also absorbingly -interesting; and if a book is both truthful and interesting it is surely -entitled to a place somewhere in general literature. Unfortunately, the -first requisite bars out a great many hunting-books. There are not a few -mighty hunters who have left long records of their achievements, and who -undoubtedly did achieve a great deal, but who contrive to leave in the -mind of the reader the uncomfortable suspicion, that besides their -prowess with the rifle they were skilled in the use of that more archaic -weapon, the long bow. “The Old Shekarry,” who wrote of Indian and -African sport, was one of these. Gerard was a great lion-killer, but -some of his accounts of the lives, deaths, and especially the -courtships, of lions, bear much less relation to actual facts than do -the novels of Dumas. Not a few of the productions of hunters of this -type should be grouped under the head-lines used by the newspapers of -our native land in describing something which they are perfectly sure -hasn’t happened—“Important, if True.” The exactly opposite type is -presented in another Frenchman, M. Foa, a really great hunter who also -knows how to observe and to put down what he has observed. His two books -on big game hunting in Africa have permanent value. - -If we were limited to the choice of one big game writer, who was merely -such, and not in addition a scientific observer, we should have to -choose Sir Samuel Baker, for his experiences are very wide, and we can -accept without question all that he says in his books. He hunted in -India, in Africa, and in North America; he killed all the chief kinds of -heavy and dangerous game; and he followed them on foot and on horseback, -with the rifle and the knife, and with hounds. For the same reason, if -we could choose but one work, it would have to be the volumes of “Big -Game Shooting,” in the Badminton Library, edited by Mr. Phillipps -Wolley—himself a man who has written well of big game hunting in -out-of-the-way places, from the Caucasus to the Cascades. These volumes -contain pieces by many different authors; but they differ from most -volumes of the kind in that all the writers are trustworthy and -interesting; though the palm must be given to Oswell’s delightful -account of his South African hunting. The book on the game beasts of -Africa edited by Mr. Bryden is admirable in every way. - -[Illustration: - - THE NORTH ROOM AT SAGAMORE HILL -] - -In all these books the one point to be insisted on is that a big game -hunter has nothing in common with so many of the men who delight to call -themselves sportsmen. Sir Samuel Baker has left a very amusing record of -the horror he felt for the Ceylon sportsmen who, by the term “sport,” -meant horse-racing instead of elephant shooting. Half a century ago, -Gordon-Cumming wrote of “the life of the wild hunter, so far preferable -to that of the mere sportsman”; and his justification for this somewhat -sneering reference to the man who takes his sport in too artificial a -manner, may be found in the pages of a then noted authority on such -sports as horse-racing and fox-hunting; for in Apperly’s “Nimrod -Abroad,” in the course of an article on the game of the American -wilderness, there occurs this delicious sentence: “A damper, however, is -thrown over all systems of deer-stalking in Canada by the necessity, -which is said to be unavoidable, of bivouacking in the woods instead of -in well-aired sheets!” Verily, there was a great gulf between the two -men. - -In the present century the world has known three great hunting-grounds: -Africa, from the equator to the southernmost point; India, both farther -and hither; and North America west of the Mississippi, from the Rio -Grande to the Arctic Circle. The latter never approached either of the -former in the wealth and variety of the species, or in the size and -terror of the chief beasts of the chase; but it surpassed India in the -countless numbers of the individual animals, and in the wild and unknown -nature of the hunting-grounds, while the climate and surroundings made -the conditions under which the hunter worked pleasanter and healthier -than those in any other land. - -South Africa was the true hunter’s paradise. If the happy -hunting-grounds were to be found anywhere in this world, they lay -between the Orange and the Zambesi, and extended northward here and -there to the Nile countries and Somaliland. Nowhere else were there such -multitudes of game, representing so many and such widely different kinds -of animals, of such size, such beauty, such infinite variety. We should -have to go back to the fauna of the Pleistocene to find its equal. Never -before did men enjoy such hunting as fell to the lot of those roving -adventurers, who first penetrated its hidden fastnesses, camped by its -shrunken rivers, and galloped over its sun-scorched wastes; and, alas -that it should be written, no man will ever see the like again. -Fortunately, its memory will forever be kept alive in some of the books -that the great hunters have written about it, such as Cornwallis Harris’ -“Wild Sports of South Africa,” Gordon-Cumming’s “Hunter’s Life in South -Africa,” Baldwin’s “African Hunting,” Drummond’s “Large Game and Natural -History of South Africa,” and, best of all, Selous’ two books, “A -Hunter’s Wanderings in South Africa” and “Travel and Adventure in -Southeast Africa.” Selous was the last of the great hunters of South -Africa, and no other has left books of such value as his. In central -Africa the game has lasted to our own time; the hunting described by -Alfred Neumann and Vaughn Kirby in the closing years of the nineteenth -century was almost as good as any enjoyed by their brothers who fifty -years before steered their ox-drawn wagons across the “high veldt” of -the south land. - -Moreover, the pencil has done its part as well as the pen. Harris, who -was the pioneer of all the hunters, published an admirable illustrated -folio entitled “The Game and Wild Animals of South Africa.” It is -perhaps of more value than any other single work of the kind. J. G. -Millais, in “A Breath from the Veldt,” has rendered a unique service, -not only by his charming descriptions, but by his really extraordinary -sketches of the South African antelopes, both at rest, and in every -imaginable form of motion. Nearly at the other end of the continent -there is an admirable book on lion-hunting in Somaliland, by Captain C. -J. Melliss. Much information about big game can be taken from the books -of various missionaries and explorers; Livingstone and Du Chaillu doing -for Africa in this respect what Catlin did for North America. - -As we have said before, one great merit of these books is that they are -interesting. Quite a number of men who are good sportsmen, as well as -men of means, have written books about their experiences in Africa; but -the trouble with too many of these short and simple annals of the rich -is, that they are very dull. They are not literature, any more than -treatises on farriery and cooking are literature. To read a mere -itinerary is like reading a guide-book. No great enthusiasm in the -reader can be roused by such a statement as “this day walked -twenty-three miles, shot one giraffe and two zebras; porter deserted -with the load containing the spare boots”; and the most exciting events, -if chronicled simply as “shot three rhinos and two buffalo; the first -rhino and both buffalo charged,” become about as thrilling as a -paragraph in Baedeker. There is no need of additional literature of the -guide-book and cookery-book kind. “Fine writing” is, of course, -abhorrent in a way that is not possible for mere baldness of statement, -and would-be “funny” writing is even worse, as it almost invariably -denotes an underbred quality of mind; but there is need of a certain -amount of detail, and of vivid and graphic, though simple, description. -In other words, the writer on big game should avoid equally Carlyle’s -theory and Carlyle’s practice in the matter of verbosity. Really good -game books are sure to contain descriptions which linger in the mind -just like one’s pet passages in any other good book. One example is -Selous’ account of his night watch close to the wagon, when in the -pitchy darkness he killed three of the five lions which had attacked his -oxen; or his extraordinary experience while hunting elephants on a -stallion which turned sulky, and declined to gallop out of danger. The -same is true of Drummond’s descriptions of the camps of native hunting -parties, of tracking wounded buffalo through the reeds, and of waiting -for rhinos by a desert pool under the brilliancy of the South African -moon; descriptions, by the way, which show that the power of writing -interestingly is not dependent upon even approximate correctness in -style, for some of Mr. Drummond’s sentences, in point of length and -involution, would compare not unfavorably with those of a Populist -Senator discussing bimetallism. Drummond is not as trustworthy an -observer as Selous. - -The experiences of a hunter in Africa, with its teeming wealth of -strange and uncouth beasts, must have been, and in places must still be, -about what one’s experience would be if one could suddenly go back a few -hundred thousand years for a hunting trip in the Pliocene or -Pleistocene. In Mr. Astor Chanler’s book, “Through Jungle and Desert,” -the record of his trip through the melancholy reed beds of the Guaso -Nyiro, and of his return journey, carrying his wounded companion, -through regions where the caravan was perpetually charged by rhinoceros, -reads like a bit out of the unreckoned ages of the past, before the huge -and fierce monsters of old had vanished from the earth, or acknowledged -man as their master. An excellent book of mixed hunting and scientific -exploration is Mr. Donaldson Smith’s “Through Unknown African -Countries.” If anything, the hunting part is unduly sacrificed to some -of the minor scientific work. Full knowledge of a new breed of -rhinoceros, or a full description of the life history and chase of -almost any kind of big game, is worth more than any quantity of matter -about new spiders and scorpions. Small birds and insects remain in the -land, and can always be described by the shoal of scientific -investigators who follow the first adventurous explorers; but it is only -the pioneer hunter who can tell us all about the far more interesting -and important beasts of the chase, the different kinds of big game, and -especially dangerous big game; and it is a mistake in any way to -subordinate the greater work to the lesser. - -Books on big game hunting in India are as plentiful, and as good, as -those about Africa. Forsyth’s “Highlands of Central India,” Sanderson’s -“Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of India,” Shakespeare’s “Wild -Sports of India,” and Kinloch’s “Large Game Shooting,” are perhaps the -best; but there are many other writers, like Markham, Baldwin, Rice, -Macintyre, and Stone, who are also very good. Indeed, to give even a -mere list of the titles of the good books on Indian shooting would read -too much like the Homeric catalogue of ships, or the biblical -generations of the Jewish patriarchs. The four books singled out for -special reference are interesting reading for anyone; particularly the -accounts of the deaths of man-eating tigers at the hands of Forsyth, -Shakespeare, and Sanderson, and some of Kinloch’s Himalayan stalks. It -is indeed royal sport which the hunter has among the stupendous mountain -masses of the Himalayas, and in the rank jungles and steamy tropical -forests of India. - -Hunting should go hand in hand with the love of natural history, as well -as with descriptive and narrative power. Hornaday’s “Two Years in the -Jungle” is especially interesting to the naturalist; but he adds not a -little to our knowledge of big game. It is earnestly to be wished that -some hunter will do for the gorilla what Hornaday has done for the great -East Indian ape, the mias or orang. - -There are many good books on American big game, but, rather curiously, -they are for the most part modern. Until within the present generation -Americans only hunted big game if they were frontier settlers, -professional trappers, Southern planters, army officers, or explorers. -The people of the cities of the old States were bred in the pleasing -faith that anything unconcerned with business was both a waste of time -and presumably immoral. Those who travelled went to Europe instead of to -the Rocky Mountains. - -Throughout the pioneer stages of American history, big game hunting was -not merely a pleasure, but a business, and often a very important and in -fact vital business. At different times many of the men who rose to -great distinction in our after history took part in it as such: men like -Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston, for instance. Moreover, aside from these -pioneers who afterward won distinction purely as statesmen or soldiers, -there were other members of the class of professional hunters—men who -never became eminent in the complex life of the old civilized regions, -who always remained hunters, and gloried in the title—who, nevertheless, -through and because of their life in the wilderness, rose to national -fame and left their mark on our history. The three most famous men of -this class were Daniel Boone, David Crockett, and Kit Carson, who were -renowned in every quarter of the Union for their skill as game-killers, -Indian-fighters, and wilderness explorers, and whose deeds are still -stock themes in the floating legendary lore of the border. They stand -for all time as types of the pioneer settlers who won our land; the -bridge-builders, the road-makers the forest-fellers, the explorers, the -land-tillers, the mighty men of their hands, who laid the foundations of -this great commonwealth. - -There are good descriptions of big game hunting in the books of writers -like Catlin, but they come in incidentally. Elliott’s “South Carolina -Field Sports” is a very interesting and entirely trustworthy record of -the sporting side of existence on the old Southern plantations, and not -only commemorates how the planters hunted bear, deer, fox, and wildcat -on the uplands and in the canebrakes, but also gives a unique -description of harpooning the great devil-fish in the warm Southern -waters. John Palliser, an Englishman, in his “Solitary Hunter,” has -given us the best descriptions of hunting in the far West, when it was -still an untrodden wilderness. Another Englishman, Ruxton, in two -volumes, has left us a most vivid picture of the old hunters and -trappers themselves. Unfortunately, these old hunters and trappers, the -men who had most experience in the life of the wilderness, were utterly -unable to write about it; they could not tell what they had seen or -done. Occasional attempts have been made to get noted hunters to write -books, either personally or by proxy, but these attempts have not as a -rule been successful. Perhaps the best of the books thus produced is -Hittell’s “Adventures of James Capen Adams, Mountaineer and Grizzly Bear -Hunter.” - -The first effort to get men of means and cultivation in the Northern and -Eastern States of the Union to look at field sports in the right light -was made by an Englishman who wrote over the signature of Frank -Forrester. He did much for the shotgun men; but, unfortunately, he was a -true cockney, who cared little for really wild sports, and he was -afflicted with that dreadful pedantry which pays more heed to ceremonial -and terminology than to the thing itself. He was sincerely distressed -because the male of the ordinary American deer was called a buck instead -of a stag; and it seemed to him to be a matter of moment whether one -spoke of a “gang” or a “herd” of elk. - -There are plenty of excellent books nowadays, however. The best book -upon the old plains country was Colonel Richard Irving Dodge’s -“Hunting-Grounds of the Great West,” which dealt with the chase of most -kinds of plains game proper. Judge Caton, in his “Antelope and Deer of -America,” gave a full account of not only the habits and appearance, but -the methods of chase and life histories of the prongbuck, and of all the -different kinds of deer found in the United States. Dr. Allen, in his -memoir on the bisons of America, and Hornaday, in his book upon their -extermination, have rendered similar service for the vast herds of -shaggy-maned wild cattle which have vanished with such melancholy -rapidity during the lifetime of the present generation. Mr. Van Dyke’s -“Still-Hunter” is a noteworthy book, which, for the first time, -approaches the still-hunter and his favorite game, the deer, from what -may be called the standpoint of the scientific sportsman. It is one of -the few hunting-books which should really be studied by the beginner -because of what he can learn therefrom in reference to the hunter’s -craft. The Century Co.’s volume “Sport With Gun and Rod” contains -accounts of the chase of most of the kinds of American big game, -although there are two or three notable omissions, such as the elk, the -grizzly bear, and the white goat. Warburton Pike, Caspar Whitney, and -Frederick Schwatka have given fairly full and very interesting accounts -of boreal sport; and Pendarves Vivian and Baillie-Grohman of hunting -trips in the Rockies. A new and most important departure, that of -photographing wild animals in their homes, was marked by Mr. Wallihan’s -“Camera Shots at Big Game.” This is a noteworthy volume. Mr. Wallihan -was the pioneer in a work which is of the utmost importance to the -naturalist, the man of science; and what he accomplished was far more -creditable to himself, and of far more importance to others, than any -amount of game-killing. Finally, in Parkman’s “Oregon Trail” and -Irving’s “Trip on the Prairie,” two great writers have left us a lasting -record of the free life of the rifle-bearing wanderers who first hunted -in the wild Western lands. - -Though not hunting-books, John Burroughs’ writings and John Muir’s -volumes on the Sierras should be in the hands of every lover of outdoor -life, and therefore in the hands of every hunter who is a nature lover, -and not a mere game-butcher. - -Of course, there are plenty of books on European game. Scrope’s “Art of -Deerstalking,” Bromley Davenport’s “Sport,” and all the books of Charles -St. John, are classic. The chase of the wolf and boar is excellently -described by an unnamed writer in “Wolf-Hunting and Wild Sports of -Brittany.” Baillie-Grohman’s “Sport in the Alps” is devoted to the -mountain game of Central Europe, and is, moreover, a mine of curious -hunting lore, most of which is entirely new to men unacquainted with the -history of the chase in Continental Europe during the last few -centuries. An entirely novel type of adventure was set forth in Lamont’s -“Seasons with the Sea Horses,” wherein he described his hunting in -arctic waters with rifle and harpoon. Lloyd’s “Scandinavian Adventures” -and “Northern Field Sports,” and Whishaw’s “Out of Doors in Tsar Land,” -tell of the life and game of the snowy northern forests. Chapman has -done excellent work for both Norway and Spain. It would be impossible -even to allude to the German and French books on the chase, such as the -admirable but rather technical treatises of Le Couteulx de Canteleu. -Moreover, these books for the most part belong rather in the category -which includes English fox-hunting literature, not in that which deals -with big game and the life of the wilderness. This is merely to state a -difference—not to draw a comparison; for the artificial sports of highly -civilized countries are strongly to be commended for their effect on -national character in making good the loss of certain of the rougher -virtues which tend to disappear with the rougher conditions. - -In Mr. Edward North Buxton’s two volumes of “Short Stalks” we find the -books of a man who is a hardy lover of nature, a skilled hunter, but not -a game-butcher; a man who has too much serious work on hand ever to let -himself become a mere globe-trotting rifleman. His volumes teach us just -what a big game hunter, a true sportsman, should be. But the best recent -book on the wilderness is Herr C. G. Schilling’s “Mit Blitzlicht und -Büchse,” giving the writer’s hunting adventures, and above all his acute -scientific observations and his extraordinary photographic work among -the teeming wild creatures of German East Africa. Mr. Schilling is a -great field naturalist, a trained scientific observer, as well as a -mighty hunter; and no mere hunter can ever do work even remotely -approaching in value that which he has done. His book should be -translated into English at once. Every effort should be made to turn the -modern big game hunter into the Schilling type of adventure-loving field -naturalist and observer. - -I am not disposed to undervalue manly outdoor sports, or to fail to -appreciate the advantage to a nation, as well as to an individual, of -such pastimes; but they must be pastimes, and not business, and they -must not be carried to excess. There is much to be said for the life of -a professional hunter in lonely lands; but the man able to be something -more, should be that something more—an explorer, a naturalist, or else a -man who makes his hunting trips merely delightful interludes in his life -work. As for excessive game-butchery, it amounts to a repulsive debauch. -The man whose chief title to glory is that, during an industrious career -of destruction, he has slaughtered 200,000 head of deer and partridges, -stands unpleasantly near those continental kings and nobles who, during -the centuries before the French Revolution, deified the chase of the -stag, and made it into a highly artificial cult, which they followed to -the exclusion of State-craft and war-craft and everything else. James, -the founder of the ignoble English branch of the Stuart kings, as -unkingly a man as ever sat on a throne, was fanatical in his devotion to -the artificial kind of chase which then absorbed the souls of the -magnates of continental Europe. - -There is no need to exercise much patience with men who protest against -field sports, unless, indeed, they are logical vegetarians of the -flabbiest Hindoo type. If no deer or rabbits were killed, no crops could -be cultivated. If it is morally right to kill an animal to eat its body, -then it is morally right to kill it to preserve its head. A good -sportsman will not hesitate as to the relative value he puts upon the -two, and to get the one he will go a long time without eating the other. -No nation facing the unhealthy softening and relaxation of fibre which -tend to accompany civilization can afford to neglect anything that will -develop hardihood, resolution, and the scorn of discomfort and danger. -But if sport is made an end instead of a means, it is better to avoid it -altogether. The greatest stag-hunter of the seventeenth century was the -Elector of Saxony. During the Thirty Years’ War he killed some 80,000 -deer and boar. Now, if there ever was a time when a ruler needed to -apply himself to serious matters, it was during the Thirty Years’ War in -Germany, and if the Elector in question had eschewed hunting he might -have compared more favorably with Gustavus Adolphus in his own -generation, or the Great Elector of Brandenburg in the next generation. -The kings of the House of Savoy have shown that the love of hardy field -sports in no way interferes with the exercise of the highest kind of -governmental ability. - -Wellington was fond of fox-hunting, but he did very little of it during -the period of the Peninsular War. Grant cared much for fine horses, but -he devoted his attention to other matters when facing Lee before -Richmond. Perhaps as good an illustration as could be wished of the -effects of the opposite course is furnished by poor Louis XVI. He took -his sport more seriously than he did his position as ruler of his -people. On the day when the revolutionary mob came to Versailles, he -merely recorded in his diary that he had “gone out shooting, and had -killed eighty-one head when he was interrupted by events.” The -particular event to which this “interruption” led up was the guillotine. -Not many sportsmen have to face such a possibility; but they do run the -risk of becoming a curse to themselves and to everyone else, if they -once get into the frame of mind which can look on the business of life -as merely an interruption to sport. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - AT HOME - - -Only a few men, comparatively speaking, lead their lives in the -wilderness; only a few others, again speaking comparatively, are able to -take their holidays in the shape of hunting trips in the wilderness. But -all who live in the country, or who even spend a month now and then in -the country, can enjoy outdoor life themselves, and can see that their -children enjoy it in the hardy fashion which will do them good. Camping -out, and therefore the cultivation of the capacity to live in the open, -and the education of the faculties which teach observation, -resourcefulness, self-reliance, are within the reach of all who really -care for the life of the woods, the fields, and the waters. Marksmanship -with the rifle can be cultivated with small cost or trouble; and if any -one passes much time in the country he can, if only he chooses, learn -much about horsemanship. - -But aside from any such benefit, it is an incalculable added pleasure to -any one’s sum of happiness if he or she grows to know, even slightly and -imperfectly, how to read and enjoy the wonder-book of nature. All -hunters should be nature lovers. It is to be hoped that the days of mere -wasteful, boastful slaughter, are past, and that from now on the hunter -will stand foremost in working for the preservation and perpetuation of -the wild life, whether big or little. - -[Illustration: - - RENOWN - - From a photograph by Arthur Hewitt -] - -The Audubon Society and kindred organizations have done much for the -proper protection of birds and of wild creatures generally; they have -taken the lead in putting a stop to wanton or short-sighted destruction, -and in giving effective utterance to the desires of those who wish to -cultivate a spirit as far removed as possible from that which brings -about such destruction. Sometimes, however, in endeavoring to impress -upon a not easily aroused public the need for action, they in their zeal -overstate this need. This is a very venial error compared to the good -they have done; but in the interest of scientific accuracy it is to be -desired that their cause should not be buttressed in such manner. Many -of our birds have diminished lamentably in numbers, and there is every -reason for taking steps to preserve them. There are water birds, shore -birds, game birds, and an occasional conspicuous bird of some other -kind, which can only be preserved by such agitation. It is also most -desirable to prevent the slaughter of small birds in the neighborhood of -towns. But I question very much whether there has been any diminution of -small-bird life throughout the country at large. Certainly no such -diminution has taken place during the past thirty years in any region of -considerable size with which I am personally acquainted. Take Long -Island, for instance. During this period there has been a lamentable -decrease in the waders—the shore-birds—which used to flock along its -southern shore. But in northern Long Island, in the neighborhood of my -own home, birds, taken as a whole, are quite as plentiful as they were -when I was a boy. There are one or two species which have decreased in -numbers, notably the woodcock; while the passenger pigeon, which was -then a rarely seen straggler, does not now appear at all. Bobwhites are -less plentiful. On the other hand, some birds have certainly increased -in numbers. This is true, for instance, of the conspicuously beautiful -and showy scarlet tanager. I think meadow larks are rather more -plentiful than they were, and wrens less so. Bluebirds have never been -common with us, but are now rather more common than formerly. It seems -to me as if the chickadees were more numerous than formerly. Purple -grackles are more plentiful than when I was a boy, and the far more -attractive redwing blackbirds less so. But these may all be, and -doubtless some must be, purely local changes, which apply only to our -immediate neighborhood. As regards most of the birds, it would be hard -to say that there has been any change. Of course, obvious local causes -will now and then account for a partial change. Thus, while the little -green herons are quite as plentiful as formerly in our immediate -neighborhood, the white-crowned night herons are not as plentiful, -because they abandoned their big heronry on Lloyd’s Neck upon the -erection of a sand-mill close by. The only ducks which are now, or at -any time during the last thirty years have been, abundant in our -neighborhood are the surf-ducks or scoters, and the old-squaws, -sometimes known as long-tailed or sou’-sou’-southerly ducks. From late -fall until early spring the continuous musical clangor of the great -flocks of sou’-sou’-southerlies, sounding across the steel-gray, wintry -waves, is well known to all who sail the waters of the Sound. - -Neither the birds nor the flowers are as numerous on Long Island, or at -any rate in my neighborhood, as they are, for instance, along the Hudson -and near Washington. It is hard to say exactly why flowers and birds are -at times so local in their distribution. For instance, the bobolinks -hardly ever come around us at Sagamore Hill. Within a radius of three or -four miles of the house I do not remember to have ever seen more than -two or three couples breeding. Sharp-tailed finches are common in the -marsh which lies back of our beach; but the closely allied seaside -finches and the interesting and attractive little marsh wrens, both of -which are common in various parts of Long Island, are not found near our -home. Similarly, I know of but one place near our house where the -bloodroot grows; the may-flowers are plentiful, but among hillsides to -all appearance equally favored, are found on some, and not on others. -For wealth of bloom, aside from the orchards, we must rely chiefly upon -the great masses of laurel and the many groves of locusts. The bloom of -the locust is as evanescent as it is fragrant. During the short time -that the trees are in flower the whole air is heavy with the sweet -scent. In the fall, in the days of the aster and the golden-rod, there -is no such brilliant coloring on Long Island as farther north, for we -miss from among the forest hues the flaming crimsons and scarlets of the -northern maples. - -[Illustration: - - HIS FIRST BUCK -] - -Among Long Island singers the wood thrushes are the sweetest; they nest -right around our house, and also in the more open woods of oak, hickory, -and chestnut, where their serene, leisurely songs ring through the leafy -arches all day long, but especially at daybreak and in the afternoons. -Baltimore orioles, beautiful of voice and plumage, hang their nests in a -young elm near a corner of the porch; robins, catbirds, valiant -kingbirds, song-sparrows, chippies, bright colored thistle-finches, nest -within a stone’s throw of the house, in the shrubbery or among the -birches and maples; grasshopper sparrows, humble little creatures with -insect-like voices, nest almost as close, in the open field, just beyond -the line where the grass is kept cut; humming-birds visit the -honeysuckles and trumpet-flowers; chimney swallows build in the -chimneys; barn swallows nest in the stable and old barn, wrens in the -bushes near by. Downy woodpeckers and many other birds make their homes -in the old orchard; during the migrations it is alive with warblers. -Towhees, thrashers, and Maryland yellow-throats build and sing in the -hedges by the garden; bush sparrows and dainty little prairie warblers -in the cedar-grown field beyond. Red-wing blackbirds haunt the wet -places. Chickadees wander everywhere; the wood-pewees, red-eyed vireos, -and black-and-white creepers keep to the tall timber, where the wary, -thievish jays chatter, and the great-crested fly-catchers flit and -scream. In the early spring, when the woods are still bare, when the -hen-hawks cry as they soar high in the upper air, and the flickers call -and drum on the dead trees, the strong, plaintive note of the meadow -lark is one of the most noticeable and most attractive sounds. On the -other hand, the cooing of the mourning doves is most noticeable in the -still, hot summer days. In the thick tangles chats creep and flutter and -jerk, and chuckle and whoop as they sing; I have heard them sing by -night. The cedar birds offer the most absolute contrast to the chats, in -voice, manner, and habits. They never hide, they are never fussy or -noisy; they always behave as if they were so well-bred that it is -impossible to resent the inroads the soft, quiet, pretty creatures make -among the cherries. One flicker became possessed of a mania to dig its -hole in one corner of the house, just under the roof. It hammered -lustily at boards and shingles, and returned whenever driven away; until -at last we were reluctantly forced to decree its death. Oven-birds are -very plentiful, and it seems to me that their flight song is more -frequently given after dusk than in daylight. It is sometimes given when -the whippoorwills are calling. In late June evenings, especially by -moonlight, but occasionally even when the night is dark, we hear this -song from the foot of the hill where the woods begin. There seems to be -one particular corner where year after year one or more oven-birds dwell -which possess an especial fondness for this night-singing in the air. It -is a pity the little eared owl is called screech-owl. Its tremulous, -quavering cry is not a screech at all, and has an attraction of its own. -These little owls come up to the house after dark, and are fond of -sitting on the elk antlers over the gable. When the moon is up, by -choosing one’s position, the little owl appears in sharp outline against -the bright disk, seated on his many-tined perch. - -[Illustration: - - ALGONQUIN AND SKIP -] - -The neighborhood of Washington abounds in birds no less than in flowers. -There have been one or two rather curious changes among its birds since -John Burroughs wrote of them forty years ago. He speaks of the -red-headed woodpecker as being then one of the most abundant of all -birds—even more so than the robin. It is not uncommon now, and a pair -have for three years nested in the White House grounds; but it is at -present by no means an abundant bird. On the other hand, John Burroughs -never saw any mocking-birds, whereas during the last few years these -have been increasing in numbers, and there are now several places within -easy walking or riding distance where we are almost sure to find them. -The mocking-bird is as conspicuous as it is attractive, and when at its -best it is the sweetest singer of all birds; though its talent for -mimicry, and a certain odd perversity in its nature, often combine to -mar its performances. The way it flutters and dances in the air when -settling in a tree-top, its alert intelligence, its good looks, and the -comparative ease with which it can be made friendly and familiar, all -add to its charm. I am sorry to say that it does not nest in the White -House grounds. Neither does the wood thrush, which is so abundant in -Rock Creek Park, within the city limits. Numbers of robins, -song-sparrows, sputtering, creaking purple grackles—crow blackbirds—and -catbirds nest in the grounds. So, I regret to say, do crows, the sworn -foes of all small birds, and as such entitled to no mercy. The hearty, -wholesome, vigorous songs of the robins, and the sweet, homelike strains -of the song-sparrows are the first to be regularly heard in the grounds, -and they lead the chorus. The catbirds chime in later; they are queer, -familiar, strongly individual birds, and are really good singers; but -they persist in interrupting their songs with catlike squalling. Two or -three pairs of flickers nest with us, as well as the red-headed -woodpeckers above mentioned; and a pair of furtive cuckoos. A pair of -orchard orioles nested with us one spring, but not again; the redstarts, -warbling vireos, and summer warblers have been more faithful. Baltimore -orioles frequently visit us, as do the scarlet tanagers and tufted -titmice, but for some reason they have not nested here. This spring a -cardinal bird took up his abode in the neighborhood of the White House, -and now and then waked us in the morning by his vigorous whistling in a -magnolia tree just outside our windows. A Carolina wren also spent the -winter with us, and sang freely. In both spring and fall the -white-throated sparrows sing while stopping over in the course of their -migrations. Their delicate, plaintive, musical notes are among the most -attractive of bird sounds. In the early spring we sometimes hear the -fox-sparrows and tree-sparrows, and of course the twittering snow-birds. -Later warblers of many kinds throng the trees around the house. Rabbits -breed in the grounds, and every now and then possums wander into them. -Gray squirrels are numerous, and some of them so tame that they will eat -out of our hands. In spring they cut the flowers from the stately tulip -trees. In the hot June days the indigo birds are especially in evidence -among the singers around Washington; they do not mind the heat at all, -but perch in the tops of little trees in the full glare of the sun, and -chant their not very musical, but to my ears rather pleasing, song -throughout the long afternoons. This June two new guests came to the -White House in the shape of two little saw-whet owls; little bits of -fellows, with round heads, and no head tufts, or “ears.” I think they -were the young of the year; they never uttered the saw-whet sound, but -made soft snoring noises. They always appeared after nightfall, when we -were sitting on the south porch, in the warm, starlit darkness. They -were fearless and unsuspicious. Sometimes they flew noiselessly to and -fro, and seemingly caught big insects on the wing. At other times they -would perch on the iron awning-bars, directly overhead. Once one of them -perched over one of the windows, and sat motionless, looking exactly -like an owl of Pallas Athene. - -[Illustration: - - PETER RABBIT - - From a photograph, copyright, 1904, by E. S. Curtis -] - -At Sagamore Hill we like to have the wood-folk and field-folk familiar; -but there are necessary bounds to such familiarity where chickens are -kept for use and where the dogs are valued family friends. The rabbits -and gray squirrels are as plenty as ever. The flying squirrels and -chipmunks still hold their own; so do the muskrats in the marshes. The -woodchucks, which we used to watch as we sat in rocking-chairs on the -broad veranda, have disappeared; but recently one has made himself a -home under the old barn, where we are doing our best to protect him. A -mink which lived by the edge of the bay under a great pile of lumber had -to be killed; its lair showed the remains not only of chickens and -ducks, but of two muskrats, and, what was rather curious, of two skates -or flatfish. A fox which lived in the big wood lot evidently disliked -our companionship and abandoned his home. Of recent years I have -actually seen but one fox near Sagamore Hill. This was early one -morning, when I had spent the night camping on the wooded shores near -the mouth of Huntington Harbor. The younger children were with me, this -being one of the camping-out trips, in rowboats, on the Sound, taken -especially for their benefit. We had camped the previous evening in a -glade by the edge of a low sea-bluff, far away from any house; and while -the children were intently watching me as I fried strips of beefsteak -and thin slices of potatoes in bacon fat, we heard a fox barking in the -woods. This gave them a delightfully wild feeling, and with refreshing -confidence they discussed the likelihood of seeing it next morning; and -to my astonishment see it we did, on the shore, soon after we started to -row home. - -[Illustration: - - THE GUINEA PIGS -] - -One pleasant fall morning in 1892 I was writing in the gun-room, on the -top floor of the house, from the windows of which one can see far over -the Sound. Suddenly my small boy of five bustled up in great excitement -to tell me that the hired-man had come back from the wood-pile pond—a -muddy pool in a beech and hickory grove a few hundred yards from the -house—to say that he had seen a coon and that I should come down at once -with my rifle; for Davis, the colored gardener, had been complaining -much about the loss of his chickens and did not know whether the -malefactor was a coon or a mink. Accordingly, I picked up a rifle and -trotted down to the pond holding it in one hand, while the little boy -trotted after me, affectionately clasping the butt. Sure enough, in a -big blasted chestnut close to the pond was the coon, asleep in a shallow -hollow of the trunk, some forty feet from the ground. It was a very -exposed place for a coon to lie during the day-time, but this was a bold -fellow and seemed entirely undisturbed by our voices. He was altogether -too near the house, or rather the chicken-coops, to be permitted to stay -where he was—especially as but a short time before I had, with mistaken -soft-heartedness, spared a possum I found on the place—and accordingly I -raised my rifle; then I remembered for the first time that the rear -sight was off, as I had taken it out for some reason; and in consequence -I underwent the humiliation of firing two or three shots in vain before -I got the coon. As he fell out of the tree the little boy pounced -gleefully on him; fortunately he was dead, and we walked back to the -house in triumph, each holding a hind leg of the quarry. - -The possum spoken of above was found in a dogwood tree not more than -eighty yards from the house, one afternoon when we were returning from a -walk in the woods. As something had been killing the hens, I felt that -it was at least under suspicion and that I ought to kill it, but a -possum is such an absurd creature that I could not resist playing with -it for some time; after that I felt that to kill it in cold-blood would -be too much like murder, and let it go. This tender-heartedness was -regarded as much misplaced both by farmer and gardener; hence the coon -suffered. - -A couple of years later, on a clear, cold Thanksgiving Day, we had -walked off some five miles to chop out a bridle-path which had become -choked with down-timber; the two elder of our little boys were with us. -The sun had set long ere our return; we were walking home on a road -through our own woods and were near the house. We had with us a stanch -friend, a large yellow dog, which one of the children, with fine -disregard for considerations of sex, had named Susan. Suddenly Susan -gave tongue off in the woods to one side and we found he had treed a -possum. This time I was hardhearted and the possum fell a victim; the -five-year-old boy explaining to the seven-year-old that “it was the -first time he had ever seen a fellow killed.” - -Susan was one of many dogs whose lives were a joy and whose deaths were -a real grief to the family; among them and their successors are or have -been Sailor Boy, the Chesapeake Bay dog, who not only loves guns, but -also fireworks and rockets, and who exercises a close and delighted -supervision over every detail of each Fourth of July celebration; Alan -and Jessie, the Scotch terriers; and Jack, the most loved of all, a -black smooth-haired Manchester terrier. Jack lived in the house; the -others outside, ever on the lookout to join the family in rambles -through the woods. Jack was human in his intelligence and affection; he -learned all kinds of tricks, was a high-bred gentleman, never brawled, -and was a dauntless fighter. Besides the family, his especial friend, -playfellow, and teacher was colored Charles, the footman at Washington. -Skip, the little black-and-tan terrier that I brought back from the -Colorado bear hunt, changed at once into a real little-boy’s dog. He -never lets his small master out of his sight, and rides on every horse -that will let him—by preference on Algonquin the sheltie, whose nerves -are of iron. - -[Illustration: - - FAMILY FRIENDS -] - -The first night possum hunt in which I ever took part was at Quantico, -on the Virginia side of the Potomac, some twenty miles below Washington. -It was a number of years ago, and several of us were guests of a loved -friend, Hallett Phillips, since dead. Although no hunter, Phillips was -devoted to outdoor life. I think it was at this time that Rudyard -Kipling had sent him the manuscript of “The Feet of the Young Men,” -which he read aloud to us. - -Quantico is an island, a quaint, delightful place, with a club-house. We -started immediately after dark, going across to the mainland, -accompanied by a dozen hounds, with three or four negroes to manage them -and serve as axemen. Each member of the party carried a torch, as -without one it was impossible to go at any speed through the woods. The -dogs, of course, have to be specially trained not to follow either fox -or rabbit. It was dawn before we got back, wet, muddy, and weary, -carrying eleven possums. All night long we rambled through the woods and -across the fields, the dogs working about us as we followed in single -file. After a while some dog would strike a trail. It might take some -time to puzzle it out; then the whole pack would be away, and all the -men ran helter-skelter after them, plunging over logs and through -swamps, and now and then taking headers in the darkness. We were never -fortunate enough to strike a coon, which would have given a good run and -a fight at the end of it. When the unfortunate possum was overtaken on -the ground he was killed before we got up. Otherwise he was popped alive -into one of the big bags carried by the axemen. Two or three times he -got into a hollow log or hole and we dug or chopped him out. Generally, -however, he went up a tree. It was a picturesque sight, in the -flickering glare of the torches, to see the dogs leaping up around the -trunk of a tree and finally to make out the possum clinging to the trunk -or perched on some slender branch, his eyes shining brightly through the -darkness; or to watch the muscular grace with which the darky axemen, -ragged and sinewy, chopped into any tree if it had too large and smooth -a trunk to climb. A possum is a queer, sluggish creature, whose brain -seems to work more like that of some reptile than like a mammal’s. When -one is found in a tree there is no difficulty whatever in picking it off -with the naked hand. Two or three times during the night I climbed the -tree myself, either going from branch to branch or swarming up some -tangle of grape-vines. The possum opened his mouth as I approached and -looked as menacing as he knew how; but if I pulled him by the tail he -forgot everything except trying to grab with all four feet, and then I -could take him by the back of the neck and lift him off—either carrying -him down, held gingerly at arm’s length, or dropping him into the open -mouth of a bag if I felt sufficiently sure of my aim. - -In the spring of 1903, while in western Kansas, a little girl gave me a -baby badger, captured by her brother, and named after him, Josiah. I -took Josiah home to Sagamore Hill, where the children received him -literally with open arms, while even the dogs finally came to tolerate -him. He grew apace, and was a quaint and on the whole a friendly—though -occasionally short-tempered—pet. He played tag with us with -inexhaustible energy, looking much like a small mattress with a leg at -each corner; he dug holes with marvellous rapidity; and when he grew -snappish we lifted him up by the back of the neck, which rendered him -harmless. He ate bread and milk, dead mice and birds, and eggs; he would -take a hen’s egg in his mouth, break it, and avoid spilling any of the -contents. When angered, he hissed, and at other times he made low -guttural sounds. The nine-year-old boy became his especial friend. Now -and then he nipped the little boy’s legs, but this never seemed to -interrupt the amicable relations between the two; as the little boy -normally wore neither shoes nor stockings, and his blue overalls were -thin, Josiah probably found the temptation at times irresistible. If on -such occasions the boy was in Josiah’s wire-fenced enclosure, he sat on -a box with his legs tucked under him; if the play was taking place -outside, he usually climbed into the hammock, while Josiah pranced and -capered clumsily beneath, tail up and head thrown back. But Josiah never -bit when picked up; although he hissed like a teakettle as the little -boy carried him about, usually tightly clasped round where his waist -would have been if he had had one. - -At different times I have been given a fairly appalling number of -animals, from known and unknown friends; in one year the list -included—besides a lion, a hyena, and a zebra from the Emperor of -Ethiopia—five bears, a wildcat, a coyote, two macaws, an eagle, a barn -owl, and several snakes and lizards. Most of these went to the Zoo, but -a few were kept by the children. Those thus kept numbered at one end of -the scale gentle, trustful, pretty things, like kangaroo rats and flying -squirrels; and at the other end a queer-tempered young black bear, which -the children named Jonathan Edwards, partly because of certain -well-marked Calvinistic tendencies in his disposition, partly out of -compliment to their mother, whose ancestors included that Puritan -divine. The kangaroo rats and flying squirrels slept in their pockets -and blouses, went to school with them, and sometimes unexpectedly -appeared at breakfast or dinner. The bear added zest to life in more -ways than one. When we took him to walk, it was always with a chain and -club; and when at last he went to the Zoo, the entire household breathed -a sigh of relief, although I think the dogs missed him, as he had -occasionally yielded them the pleasure of the chase in its strongest -form. - -[Illustration: - - JOSIAH -] - -As a steady thing, the children found rabbits and guinea pigs the most -satisfactory pets. The guinea pigs usually rejoiced in the names of the -local or national celebrities of the moment; at one time there were -five, which were named after naval heroes and friendly ecclesiastical -dignitaries—an Episcopalian Bishop, a Catholic Priest, and my own Dutch -Reformed Pastor—Bishop Doane, Father O’Grady, Dr. Johnson, Fighting Bob -Evans, and Admiral Dewey. Father O’Grady, by the way, proved to be of -the softer sex; a fact definitely established when two of his joint -owners, rushing breathless into the room, announced to a mixed company, -“Oh, oh, Father O’Grady has had some children!” - -Of course there are no pets like horses; and horsemanship is a test of -prowess. The best among vigorous out-of-door sports should be more than -pastimes. Play is good for play’s sake, within moderate limits, -especially if it is athletic play; and, again within moderate limits, it -is good because a healthy body helps toward healthiness of mind. But if -play serves only either of these ends, it does not deserve the serious -consideration which rightly attaches to play which in itself fits a man -to do things worth doing; and there exists no creature much more -contemptible than a man past his first youth who leads a life devoted to -mere sport, without thought of the serious work of life. In a free -Government the average citizen should be able to do his duty in war as -well as in peace; otherwise he falls short. Cavalrymen and infantrymen, -who do not need special technical knowledge, are easily developed out of -men who are already soldiers in the rough, that is, who, in addition to -the essential qualities of manliness and character, the qualities of -resolution, daring and intelligence, which go to make up the “fighting -edge,” also possess physical hardihood; who can live in the open, walk -long distances, ride, shoot, and endure fatigue, hardship, and exposure. -But if all these traits must be painfully acquired, then it takes a long -time indeed before the man can be turned into a good soldier. Now, there -is little tendency to develop these traits in our highly complex, rather -over-civilized, modern industrial life, and therefore the sports which -produce them serve a useful purpose. Hence, when able to afford a horse, -or to practise on a rifle range, one can feel that the enjoyment is -warranted by what may be called considerations of national ethics. - -As with everything else, so with riding; some take to it naturally, -others never can become even fairly good horsemen. All the children -ride, with varying skill. While young, a Shetland pony serves; the -present pony, Algonquin, a calico or pinto, being as knowing and -friendly as possible. His first small owner simply adored him, treating -him as a twin brother, and having implicit faith in his mental powers. -On one occasion, when a naval officer of whom the children were fond -came to call, in full dress, Algonquin’s master, who was much impressed -by the sight, led up Algonquin to enjoy it too, and was shocked by the -entire indifference with which the greedy pony persisted in eating -grass. One favorite polo pony, old Diamond, long after he became a -pensioner served for whichever child had just graduated from the -sheltie. Next in order was a little mare named Yagenka, after the -heroine of one of Sienkewicz’s blood-curdling romances of mediæval -Poland. When every rideable animal is impressed, all the children -sometimes go out with their mother and me; looking much like the -Cumberbatch family in Caldecott’s pictures. - -[Illustration: - - BLEISTEIN JUMPING - - From a photograph, copyright, 1902, by Clinedinst, Washington, D. C. -] - -Of recent years I have not been able to ride to hounds; but when -opportunity has offered I have kept as saddle horses one or two hunters, -so that instead of riding the road I could strike off across country; -the hunter scrambling handily through rough places, and jumping an -occasional fence if necessary. While in Washington this is often, except -for an occasional long walk down Rock Creek or along the Virginia side -of the Potomac, the only exercise I can get. Among the various horses I -have owned in recent years Bleistein was the one I liked best, because -of his good nature and courage. He was a fair, although in no way a -remarkable, jumper. One day, May 3, 1902, I took him out to Chevy Chase -and had him photographed while jumping various fences and brush hurdles; -the accompanying picture is from one of these photos. Another hunter, -Renown, was a much higher, but an uncertain, jumper. He was a beautiful -horse, and very good-tempered, but excessively timid. - -We have been able to fix a rifle range at Sagamore, though only up to -200 yards. Some of the children take to shooting naturally, others can -only with difficulty be made to learn the rudiments of what they regard -as a tiresome business. Many friends have shot on this range. We use -only sporting rifles; my own is one of the new model Government -Springfields, stocked and sighted to suit myself. For American game the -modern small calibre, high power, smokeless-powder rifle, of any one -among several makes, is superseding the others; although for some -purposes an old 45–70 or 45–90, even with black powder, is as good as -any modern weapon, and for very heavy game the calibre should be larger -than that of the typical modern arm, with a heavier ball and more -powder. But after all, any good modern rifle is good enough; when a -certain pitch of excellence in the weapon has been attained, then the -determining factor in achieving success is the quality of the man behind -the gun. - -My eldest boy killed his first buck just before he was fourteen, and his -first moose—a big bull with horns which spread 56 inches—just before he -was seventeen. Both were killed in the wilderness, in the great north -woods, on trips sufficiently hard to afford some test of endurance and -skill. Such a hunting trip is even more than a delightful holiday, -provided the work is hard as well as enjoyable; and therefore it must be -taken in the wilderness. Big private preserves may serve a useful -purpose if managed with such judgment and kindliness that the good will -of the neighborhood is secured; but the sport in them somehow seems to -have lost its savor, even though they may be large enough to give the -chance of testing a man’s woodcraft no less than his marksmanship. I -have but once hunted in one of them. That was in the fall of 1902, when -Senator Proctor took me into the Corbin Park game preserve in New -Hampshire. The Senator is not merely a good shot; he is a good hunter, -with the eye, the knowledge of the game, and the ability to take -advantage of cover and walk silently, which are even more important than -straight powder. He took me out alone for the afternoon, and, besides -the tame buffalo, he showed me one elk and over twenty deer. We were -only after the wild boar, which have flourished wonderfully. Just at -dusk we saw a three-year-old boar making his way toward an old deserted -orchard; and creeping up, I shot him as he munched apples under one of -the trees. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - IN THE LOUISIANA CANEBRAKES - - -In October, 1907, I spent a fortnight in the canebrakes of northern -Louisiana, my hosts being Messrs. John M. Parker and John A. McIlhenny. -Surgeon-General Rixey, of the United States Navy, and Dr. Alexander -Lambert were with me. I was especially anxious to kill a bear in these -canebrakes after the fashion of the old Southern planters, who for a -century past have followed the bear with horse, hound and horn in -Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. - -Our first camp was on Tensas Bayou. This is in the heart of the great -alluvial bottom-land created during the countless ages through which the -mighty Mississippi has poured out of the heart of the continent. It is -in the black belt of the South, in which the negroes outnumber the -whites four or five to one, the disproportion in the region in which I -was actually hunting being far greater. There is no richer soil in all -the earth; and when, as will soon be the case, the chances of disaster -from flood are over, I believe the whole land will be cultivated and -densely peopled. At present the possibility of such flood is a terrible -deterrent to settlement, for when the Father of Waters breaks his -boundaries he turns the country for a breadth of eighty miles into one -broad river, the plantations throughout all this vast extent being from -five to twenty feet under water. Cotton is the staple industry, corn -also being grown, while there are a few rice fields and occasional small -patches of sugar cane. The plantations are for the most part of large -size and tilled by negro tenants for the white owners. Conditions are -still in some respects like those of the pioneer days. The magnificent -forest growth which covers the land is of little value because of the -difficulty in getting the trees to market, and the land is actually -worth more after the timber has been removed than before. In -consequence, the larger trees are often killed by girdling, where the -work of felling them would entail disproportionate cost and labor. At -dusk, with the sunset glimmering in the west, or in the brilliant -moonlight when the moon is full, the cotton fields have a strange -spectral look, with the dead trees raising aloft their naked branches. -The cotton fields themselves, when the bolls burst open, seem almost as -if whitened by snow; and the red and white flowers, interspersed among -the burst-open pods, make the whole field beautiful. The rambling -one-story houses, surrounded by outbuildings, have a picturesqueness all -their own; their very looks betoken the lavish, whole-hearted, generous -hospitality of the planters who dwell therein. - -Beyond the end of cultivation towers the great forest. Wherever the -water stands in pools, and by the edges of the lakes and bayous, the -giant cypress looms aloft, rivalled in size by some of the red gums and -white oaks. In stature, in towering majesty, they are unsurpassed by any -trees of our eastern forests; lordlier kings of the green-leaved world -are not to be found until we reach the sequoias and redwoods of the -Sierras. Among them grow many other trees—hackberry, thorn, honey -locust, tupelo, pecan and ash. In the cypress sloughs the singular knees -of the trees stand two or three feet above the black ooze. Palmettos -grow thickly in places. The canebrakes stretch along the slight rises of -ground, often extending for miles, forming one of the most striking and -interesting features of the country. They choke out other growth, the -feathery, graceful canes standing tall, slender, serried, each but a few -inches from his brother, and springing to a height of fifteen or twenty -feet. They look like bamboos; they are well-nigh impenetrable for a man -on horseback; even on foot they make difficult walking unless free use -is made of the heavy bushknife. It is impossible to see through them for -more than fifteen or twenty paces, and often for not half that distance. -Bears make their lairs in them, and they are the refuge for hunted -things. Outside of them, in the swamp, bushes of many kinds grow thick -among the tall trees, and vines and creepers climb the trunks and hang -in trailing festoons from the branches. Here likewise the bushknife is -in constant play, as the skilled horsemen thread their way, often at a -gallop, in and out among the great tree trunks, and through the dense, -tangled, thorny undergrowth. - -In the lakes and larger bayous we saw alligators and garfish; and -monstrous snapping turtles, fearsome brutes of the slime, as heavy as a -man, and with huge horny beaks that with a single snap could take off a -man’s hand or foot. One of the planters with us had lost part of his -hand by the bite of an alligator; and had seen a companion seized by the -foot by a huge garfish from which he was rescued with the utmost -difficulty by his fellow-swimmers. There were black bass in the waters -too, and they gave us many a good meal. Thick-bodied water moccasins, -foul and dangerous, kept near the water; and farther back in the swamp -we found and killed rattlesnakes and copperheads. - -Coon and possum were very plentiful, and in the streams there were minks -and a few otters. Black squirrels barked in the tops of the tall trees -or descended to the ground to gather nuts or gnaw the shed deer -antlers—the latter a habit they shared with the wood rats. To me the -most interesting of the smaller mammals, however, were the swamp -rabbits, which are thoroughly amphibious in their habits, not only -swimming but diving, and taking to the water almost as freely as if they -were muskrats. They lived in the depths of the woods and beside the -lonely bayous. - -Birds were plentiful. Mocking-birds abounded in the clearings, where, -among many sparrows of more common kind, I saw the painted finch, the -gaudily colored brother of our little indigo bunting, though at this -season his plumage was faded and dim. In the thick woods where we hunted -there were many cardinal birds and Carolina wrens, both in full song. -Thrashers were even more common; but so cautious that it was rather -difficult to see them, in spite of their incessant clucking and calling -and their occasional bursts of song. There were crowds of warblers and -vireos of many different kinds, evidently migrants from the north, and -generally silent. The most characteristic birds, however, were the -woodpeckers, of which there were seven or eight species, the commonest -around our camp being the handsome red-bellied, the brother of the -red-head which we saw in the clearings. The most notable birds and those -which most interested me were the great ivory-billed woodpeckers. Of -these I saw three, all of them in groves of giant cypress; their -brilliant white bills contrasted finely with the black of their general -plumage. They were noisy but wary, and they seemed to me to set off the -wildness of the swamp as much as any of the beasts of the chase. Among -the birds of prey the commonest were the barred owls, which I have never -elsewhere seen so plentiful. Their hooting and yelling were heard all -around us throughout the night, and once one of them hooted at intervals -for several minutes at midday. One of these owls had caught and was -devouring a snake in the late afternoon, while it was still daylight. In -the dark nights and still mornings and evenings their cries seemed -strange and unearthly, the long hoots varied by screeches, and by all -kinds of uncanny noises. - -At our first camp our tents were pitched by the bayou. For four days the -weather was hot, with steaming rains; after that it grew cool and clear. -Huge biting flies, bigger than bees, attacked our horses; but the insect -plagues, so veritable a scourge in this country during the months of -warm weather, had well-nigh vanished in the first few weeks of the fall. - -The morning after we reached camp we were joined by Ben Lilley, the -hunter, a spare, full-bearded man, with wild, gentle, blue eyes and a -frame of steel and whipcord. I never met any other man so indifferent to -fatigue and hardship. He equalled Cooper’s Deerslayer in woodcraft, in -hardihood, in simplicity—and also in loquacity. The morning he joined us -in camp, he had come on foot through the thick woods, followed by his -two dogs, and had neither eaten nor drunk for twenty-four hours; for he -did not like to drink the swamp water. It had rained hard throughout the -night and he had no shelter, no rubber coat, nothing but the clothes he -was wearing, and the ground was too wet for him to lie on; so he perched -in a crooked tree in the beating rain, much as if he had been a wild -turkey. But he was not in the least tired when he struck camp; and, -though he slept an hour after breakfast, it was chiefly because he had -nothing else to do, inasmuch as it was Sunday, on which day he never -hunted nor labored. He could run through the woods like a buck, was far -more enduring, and quite as indifferent to weather, though he was over -fifty years old. He had trapped and hunted throughout almost all the -half century of his life, and on trail of game he was as sure as his own -hounds. His observations on wild creatures were singularly close and -accurate. He was particularly fond of the chase of the bear, which he -followed by himself, with one or two dogs; often he would be on the -trail of his quarry for days at a time, lying down to sleep wherever -night overtook him, and he had killed over a hundred and twenty bears. - -Late in the evening of the same day we were joined by two gentlemen to -whom we owed the success of our hunt: Messrs. Clive and Harley Metcalf, -planters from Mississippi, men in the prime of life, thorough woodsmen -and hunters, skilled marksmen, and utterly fearless horsemen. For a -quarter of a century they had hunted bear and deer with horse and hound, -and were masters of the art. They brought with them their pack of bear -hounds, only one, however, being a thoroughly staunch and seasoned -veteran. The pack was under the immediate control of a negro hunter, -Holt Collier, in his own way as remarkable a character as Ben Lilley. He -was a man of sixty and could neither read nor write, but he had all the -dignity of an African chief, and for half a century he had been a bear -hunter, having killed or assisted in killing over three thousand bears. -He had been born a slave on the Hinds plantation, his father, an old man -when he was born, having been the body servant and cook of “old General -Hinds,” as he called him, when the latter fought under Jackson at New -Orleans. When ten years old Holt had been taken on the horse behind his -young master, the Hinds of that day, on a bear hunt, when he killed his -first bear. In the Civil War he had not only followed his master to -battle as his body servant, but had acted under him as sharpshooter -against the Union soldiers. After the war he continued to stay with his -master until the latter died, and had then been adopted by the Metcalfs; -and he felt that he had brought them up, and treated them with that -mixture of affection and grumbling respect which an old nurse shows -toward the lad who has ceased being a child. The two Metcalfs and Holt -understood one another thoroughly, and understood their hounds and the -game their hounds followed almost as thoroughly. - -[Illustration: - - THE BEAR HUNTERS - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -They had killed many deer and wildcat, and now and then a panther; but -their favorite game was the black bear, which, until within a very few -years, was extraordinarily plentiful in the swamps and canebrakes on -both sides of the lower Mississippi, and which is still found here and -there, although in greatly diminished numbers. In Louisiana and -Mississippi the bears go into their dens toward the end of January, -usually in hollow trees, often very high up in living trees, but often -also in great logs that lie rotting on the ground. They come forth -toward the end of April, the cubs having been born in the interval. At -this time the bears are nearly as fat, so my informants said, as when -they enter their dens in January; but they lose their fat very rapidly. -On first coming out in the spring they usually eat ash buds and the -tender young cane called mutton cane, and at that season they generally -refuse to eat the acorns even when they are plentiful. According to my -informants it is at this season that they are most apt to take to -killing stock, almost always the hogs which run wild or semi-wild in the -woods. They are very individual in their habits, however; many of them -never touch stock, while others, usually old he-bears, may kill numbers -of hogs; in one case an old he-bear began this hog-killing just as soon -as he left his den. In the summer months they find but little to eat, -and it is at this season that they are most industrious in hunting for -grubs, insects, frogs and small mammals. In some neighborhoods they do -not eat fish, while in other places, perhaps not far away, they not only -greedily eat dead fish, but will themselves kill fish if they can find -them in shallow pools left by the receding waters. As soon as the mast -is on the ground they begin to feed upon it, and when the acorns and -pecans are plentiful they eat nothing else; though at first berries of -all kinds and grapes are eaten also. When in November they have begun -only to eat the acorns they put on fat as no other wild animal does, and -by the end of December a full-grown bear may weigh at least twice as -much as it does in August, the difference being as great as between a -very fat and a lean hog. Old he-bears which in August weigh three -hundred pounds and upward will, toward the end of December, weigh six -hundred pounds, and even more in exceptional cases. - -Bears vary greatly in their habits in different localities, in addition -to the individual variation among those of the same neighborhood. Around -Avery Island, John McIlhenny’s plantation, the bears only appear from -June to November; there they never kill hogs, but feed at first on corn -and then on sugar cane, doing immense damage in the fields, quite as -much as hogs would do. But when we were on the Tensas we visited a -family of settlers who lived right in the midst of the forest ten miles -from any neighbors; and although bears were plentiful around them they -never molested their corn fields—in which the coons, however, did great -damage. - -A big bear is cunning, and is a dangerous fighter to the dogs. It is -only in exceptional cases, however, that these black bears, even when -wounded and at bay, are dangerous to men, in spite of their formidable -strength. Each of the hunters with whom I was camped had been charged by -one or two among the scores or hundreds of bears he had slain, but no -one of them had ever been injured, although they knew other men who had -been injured. Their immunity was due to their own skill and coolness; -for when the dogs were around the bear the hunter invariably ran close -in so as to kill the bear at once and save the pack. Each of the -Metcalfs had on one occasion killed a large bear with a knife, when the -hounds had seized it and the men dared not fire for fear of shooting one -of them. They had in their younger days hunted with a General Hamberlin, -a Mississippi planter whom they well knew, who was then already an old -man. He was passionately addicted to the chase of the bear, not only -because of the sport it afforded, but also in a certain way as a matter -of vengeance; for his father, also a keen bear-hunter, had been killed -by a bear. It was an old he, which he had wounded and which had been -bayed by the dogs; it attacked him, throwing him down and biting him so -severely that he died a couple of days later. This was in 1847. Mr. W. -H. Lambeth sends the following account of the fatal encounter: - -“I send you an extract from the _Brother Jonathan_, published in New -York in 1847: - - “‘Dr. Monroe Hamberlin, Robert Wilson, Joe Brazeil, and others left - Satartia, Miss., and in going up Big Sunflower River, met Mr. Leiser - and his party of hunters returning to Vicksburg. Mr. Leiser told Dr. - Hamberlin that he saw the largest bear track at the big Mound on - Lake George that he ever saw, and was afraid to tackle him. Dr. - Hamberlin said, “I never saw one that I was afraid to tackle.” Dr. - Hamberlin landed his skiff at the Mound and his dogs soon bayed the - bear. Dr. Hamberlin fired and the ball glanced on the bear’s head. - The bear caught him by the right thigh and tore all the flesh off. - He drew his knife and the bear crushed his right arm. He cheered the - dogs and they pulled the bear off. The bear whipped the dogs and - attacked him the third time, biting him in the hollow back of his - neck. Mr. Wilson came up and shot the bear dead on Dr. Hamberlin. - The party returned to Satartia, but Dr. Hamberlin told them to put - the bear in the skiff, that he would not leave without his - antagonist. The bear weighed 640 pounds.’ - - “Dr. Hamberlin lived three days. I knew all the parties. His son - John and myself hunted with them in 1843 and 1844, when we were too - small to carry a gun.” - -A large bear is not afraid of dogs, and an old he, or a she with cubs, -is always on the lookout for a chance to catch and kill any dog that -comes near enough. While lean and in good running condition it is not an -easy matter to bring a bear to bay; but as they grow fat they become -steadily less able to run, and the young ones, and even occasionally a -full-grown she, will then readily tree. If a man is not near by, a big -bear that has become tired will treat the pack with whimsical -indifference. The Metcalfs recounted to me how they had once seen a -bear, which had been chased quite a time, evidently make up its mind -that it needed a rest and could afford to take it without much regard -for the hounds. The bear accordingly selected a small opening and lay -flat on its back with its nose and all its four legs extended. The dogs -surrounded it in frantic excitement, barking and baying, and gradually -coming in a ring very close up. The bear was watching, however, and -suddenly sat up with a jerk, frightening the dogs nearly into fits. Half -of them turned back somersaults in their panic, and all promptly gave -the bear ample room. The bear having looked about, lay flat on its back -again, and the pack gradually regaining courage once more closed in. At -first the bear, which was evidently reluctant to arise, kept them at a -distance by now and then thrusting an unexpected paw toward them; and -when they became too bold it sat up with a jump and once more put them -all to flight. - -For several days we hunted perseveringly around this camp on the Tensas -Bayou, but without success. Deer abounded, but we could find no bears; -and of the deer we killed only what we actually needed for use in camp. -I killed one myself by a good shot, in which, however, I fear that the -element of luck played a considerable part. We had started as usual by -sunrise, to be gone all day; for we never counted upon returning to camp -before sunset. For an hour or two we threaded our way, first along an -indistinct trail, and then on an old disused road, the hardy -woods-horses keeping on a running walk without much regard to the -difficulties of the ground. The disused road lay right across a great -canebrake, and while some of the party went around the cane with the -dogs, the rest of us strung out along the road so as to get a shot at -any bear that might come across it. I was following Harley Metcalf, with -John McIlhenny and Dr. Rixey behind on the way to their posts, when we -heard in the far-off distance two of the younger hounds, evidently on -the trail of a deer. Almost immediately afterward a crash in the bushes -at our right hand and behind us made me turn around, and I saw a deer -running across the few feet of open space; and as I leaped from my horse -it disappeared in the cane. I am a rather deliberate shot, and under any -circumstances a rifle is not the best weapon for snap shooting, while -there is no kind of shooting more difficult than on running game in a -canebrake. Luck favored me in this instance, however, for there was a -spot a little ahead of where the deer entered in which the cane was -thinner, and I kept my rifle on its indistinct, shadowy outline until it -reached this spot; it then ran quartering away from me, which made my -shot much easier, although I could only catch its general outline -through the cane. But the 45–70 which I was using is a powerful gun and -shoots right through cane or bushes; and as soon as I pulled trigger the -deer, with a bleat, turned a tremendous somersault and was dead when we -reached it. I was not a little pleased that my bullet should have sped -so true when I was making my first shot in company with my hard-riding, -straight-shooting planter friends. - -But no bears were to be found. We waited long hours on likely stands. We -rode around the canebrakes through the swampy jungle, or threaded our -way across them on trails cut by the heavy wood-knives of my companions; -but we found nothing. Until the trails were cut the canebrakes were -impenetrable to a horse and were difficult enough to a man on foot. On -going through them it seemed as if we must be in the tropics; the -silence, the stillness, the heat, and the obscurity, all combining to -give a certain eeriness to the task, as we chopped our winding way -slowly through the dense mass of close-growing, feather-fronded stalks. -Each of the hunters prided himself on his skill with the horn, which was -an essential adjunct of the hunt, used both to summon and control the -hounds, and for signalling among the hunters themselves. The tones of -many of the horns were full and musical; and it was pleasant to hear -them as they wailed to one another, backward and forward, across the -great stretches of lonely swamp and forest. - -A few days convinced us that it was a waste of time to stay longer where -we were. Accordingly, early one morning we hunters started for a new -camp fifteen or twenty miles to the southward, on Bear Lake. We took the -hounds with us, and each man carried what he chose or could in his -saddle-pockets, while his slicker was on his horse’s back behind him. -Otherwise we took absolutely nothing in the way of supplies, and the -negroes with the tents and camp equipage were three days before they -overtook us. On our way down we were joined by Major Amacker and Dr. -Miller, with a small pack of cat hounds. These were good deer dogs, and -they ran down and killed on the ground a good-sized bobcat—a wildcat, as -it is called in the South. It was a male and weighed twenty-three and a -half pounds. It had just killed and eaten a large rabbit. The stomachs -of the deer we killed, by the way, contained acorns and leaves. - -Our new camp was beautifully situated on the bold, steep bank of Bear -Lake—a tranquil stretch of water, part of an old river bed, a couple of -hundred yards broad with a winding length of several miles. Giant -cypress grew at the edge of the water; the singular cypress knees rising -in every direction round about, while at the bottoms of the trunks -themselves were often cavernous hollows opening beneath the surface of -water, some of them serving as dens for alligators. There was a waxing -moon, so that the nights were as beautiful as the days. - -From our new camp we hunted as steadily as from the old. We saw bear -sign, but not much of it, and only one or two fresh tracks. One day the -hounds jumped a bear, probably a yearling from the way it ran; for at -this season a yearling or a two-year-old will run almost like a deer, -keeping to the thick cane as long as it can and then bolting across -through the bushes of the ordinary swamp land until it can reach another -canebrake. After a three hours’ run this particular animal managed to -get clear away without one of the hunters ever seeing it, and it ran -until all the dogs were tired out. A day or two afterward one of the -other members of the party shot a small yearling—that is, a bear which -would have been two years old in the following February. It was very -lean, weighing but fifty-five pounds. The finely chewed acorns in its -stomach showed that it was already beginning to find mast. - -We had seen the tracks of an old she in the neighborhood, and the next -morning we started to hunt her out. I went with Clive Metcalf. We had -been joined overnight by Mr. Ichabod Osborn and his son Tom, two -Louisiana planters, with six or eight hounds—or rather bear dogs, for in -these packs most of the animals are of mixed blood, and, as with all -packs that are used in the genuine hunting of the wilderness, pedigree -counts for nothing as compared with steadiness, courage and -intelligence. There were only two of the new dogs that were really -staunch bear dogs. The father of Ichabod Osborn had taken up the -plantation upon which they were living in 1811, only a few years after -Louisiana became part of the United States, and young Osborn was now the -third in line from father to son who had steadily hunted bears in this -immediate neighborhood. - -On reaching the cypress slough near which the tracks of the old she had -been seen the day before, Clive Metcalf and I separated from the others -and rode off at a lively pace between two of the canebrakes. After an -hour or two’s wait we heard, very far off, the notes of one of the -loudest-mouthed hounds, and instantly rode toward it, until we could -make out the babel of the pack. Some hard galloping brought us opposite -the point toward which they were heading,—for experienced hunters can -often tell the probable line of a bear’s flight, and the spots at which -it will break cover. But on this occasion the bear shied off from -leaving the thick cane and doubled back; and soon the hounds were once -more out of hearing, while we galloped desperately around the edge of -the cane. The tough woods-horses kept their feet like cats as they -leaped logs, plunged through bushes, and dodged in and out among the -tree trunks; and we had all we could do to prevent the vines from -lifting us out of the saddle, while the thorns tore our hands and faces. -Hither and thither we went, now at a trot, now at a run, now stopping to -listen for the pack. Occasionally we could hear the hounds, and then off -we would go racing through the forest toward the point toward which we -thought they were heading. Finally, after a couple of hours of this, we -came up on one side of a canebrake on the other side of which we could -hear, not only the pack, but the yelling and cheering of Harley Metcalf -and Tom Osborn and one or two of the negro hunters, all of whom were -trying to keep the dogs up to their work in the thick cane. Again we -rode ahead, and now in a few minutes were rewarded by hearing the -leading dogs come to bay in the thickest of the cover. Having galloped -as near to the spot as we could we threw ourselves off the horses and -plunged into the cane, trying to cause as little disturbance as -possible, but of course utterly unable to avoid making some noise. -Before we were within gunshot, however, we could tell by the sounds that -the bear had once again started, making what is called a “walking bay.” -Clive Metcalf, a finished bear-hunter, was speedily able to determine -what the bear’s probable course would be, and we stole through the cane -until we came to a spot near which he thought the quarry would pass. -Then we crouched down, I with my rifle at the ready. Nor did we have -long to wait. Peering through the thick-growing stalks I suddenly made -out the dim outline of the bear coming straight toward us; and -noiselessly I cocked and half-raised my rifle, waiting for a clearer -chance. In a few seconds it came; the bear turned almost broadside to -me, and walked forward very stiff-legged, almost as if on tiptoe, now -and then looking back at the nearest dogs. These were two in -number—Rowdy, a very deep-voiced hound, in the lead, and Queen, a -shrill-tongued brindled bitch, a little behind. Once or twice the bear -paused as she looked back at them, evidently hoping that they would come -so near that by a sudden race she could catch one of them. But they were -too wary. - -[Illustration: - - LISTENING FOR THE PACK - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Alexander Lambert, M.D. -] - -All of this took but a few moments, and as I saw the bear quite -distinctly some twenty yards off, I fired for behind the shoulder. -Although I could see her outline, yet the cane was so thick that my -sight was on it and not on the bear itself. But I knew my bullet would -go true; and sure enough, at the crack of the rifle the bear stumbled -and fell forward, the bullet having passed through both lungs and out at -the opposite side. Immediately the dogs came running forward at full -speed, and we raced forward likewise lest the pack should receive -damage. The bear had but a minute or two to live, yet even in that time -more than one valuable hound might lose its life; when within half a -dozen steps of the black, angered beast, I fired again, breaking the -spine at the root of the neck; and down went the bear stark dead, slain -in the canebrake in true hunter fashion. One by one the hounds struggled -up and fell on their dead quarry, the noise of the worry filling the -air. Then we dragged the bear out to the edge of the cane, and my -companion wound his horn to summon the other hunters. - -This was a big she-bear, very lean, and weighing two hundred and two -pounds. In her stomach were palmetto berries, beetles and a little -mutton cane, but chiefly acorns chewed up in a fine brown mass. - -John McIlhenny had killed a she-bear about the size of this on his -plantation at Avery’s Island the previous June. Several bears had been -raiding his corn fields and one evening he determined to try to waylay -them. After dinner he left the ladies of his party on the gallery of his -house while he rode down in a hollow and concealed himself on the lower -side of the corn field. Before he had waited ten minutes a she-bear and -her cub came into the field. Then she rose on her hind legs, tearing -down an armful of ears of corn which she seemingly gave to the cub, and -then rose for another armful. McIlhenny shot her; tried in vain to catch -the cub; and rejoined the party on the veranda, having been absent but -one hour. - -After the death of my bear I had only a couple of days left. We spent -them a long distance from camp, having to cross two bayous before we got -to the hunting grounds. I missed a shot at a deer, seeing little more -than the flicker of its white tail through the dense bushes; and the -pack caught and killed a very lean two-year-old bear weighing eighty -pounds. Near a beautiful pond called Panther Lake we found a deer-lick, -the ground not merely bare but furrowed into hollows by the tongues of -the countless generations of deer that had frequented the place. We also -passed a huge mound, the only hillock in the entire district; it was the -work of man, for it had been built in the unknown past by those unknown -people whom we call moundbuilders. On the trip, all told, we killed and -brought into camp three bears, six deer, a wildcat, a turkey, a possum, -and a dozen squirrels; and we ate everything except the wildcat. - -In the evenings we sat around the blazing camp-fires, and, as always on -such occasions, each hunter told tales of his adventures and of the -strange feats and habits of the beasts of the wilderness. There had been -beaver all through this delta in the old days, and a very few are still -left in out-of-the-way places. One Sunday morning we saw two wolves, I -think young of the year, appear for a moment on the opposite side of the -bayou, but they vanished before we could shoot. All of our party had had -a good deal of experience with wolves. The Metcalfs had had many sheep -killed by them, the method of killing being invariably by a single bite -which tore open the throat while the wolf ran beside his victim. The -wolves also killed young hogs, but were very cautious about meddling -with an old sow; while one of the big half-wild boars that ranged free -through the woods had no fear of any number of wolves. Their endurance -and the extremely difficult nature of the country made it difficult to -hunt them, and the hunters all bore them a grudge, because if a hound -got lost in a region where wolves were at all plentiful they were almost -sure to find and kill him before he got home. They were fond of preying -on dogs, and at times would boldly kill the hounds right ahead of the -hunters. In one instance, while the dogs were following a bear and were -but a couple of hundred yards in front of the horsemen, a small party of -wolves got in on them and killed two. One of the Osborns, having a -valuable hound which was addicted to wandering in the woods, saved him -from the wolves by putting a bell on him. The wolves evidently suspected -a trap and would never go near the dog. On one occasion another of his -hounds got loose with a chain on, and they found him a day or two -afterward unharmed, his chain having become entangled in the branches of -a bush. One or two wolves had evidently walked around and around the -imprisoned dog, but the chain had awakened their suspicions and they had -not pounced on him. They had killed a yearling heifer a short time -before, on Osborn’s plantation, biting her in the hams. It has been my -experience that fox-hounds as a rule are afraid of attacking a wolf; but -all of my friends assured me that their dogs, if a sufficient number of -them were together, would tackle a wolf without hesitation; the packs, -however, were always composed, to the extent of at least half, of dogs -which, though part hound, were part shepherd or bull or some other -breed. Dr. Miller had hunted in Arkansas with a pack specially trained -after the wolf. There were twenty-eight of them all told, and on this -hunt they ran down and killed unassisted four full-grown wolves, -although some of the hounds were badly cut. None of my companions had -ever known of wolves actually molesting men, but Mr. Ichabod Osborn’s -son-in-law had a queer adventure with wolves while riding alone through -the woods one late afternoon. His horse acting nervously, he looked -about and saw that five wolves were coming toward him. One was a bitch, -the other four were males. They seemed to pay little heed to him, and he -shot one of the males, which crawled off. The next minute the bitch ran -straight toward him and was almost at his stirrup when he killed her. -The other three wolves, instead of running away, jumped to and fro -growling, with their hair bristling, and he killed two of them; -whereupon the survivor at last made off. He brought the scalps of the -three dead wolves home with him. - -Near our first camp was the carcass of a deer, a yearling buck, which -had been killed by a cougar. When first found, the wounds on the carcass -showed that the deer had been killed by a bite in the neck at the back -of the head; but there were scratches on the rump as if the panther had -landed on its back. One of the negro hunters, Brutus Jackson, evidently -a trustworthy man, told me that he had twice seen cougars, each time -under unexpected conditions. Once he saw a bobcat race up a tree, and -riding toward it saw a panther reared up against the trunk. The panther -looked around at him quite calmly, and then retired in leisurely -fashion. Jackson went off to get some hounds, and when he returned two -hours afterward the bobcat was still up the tree, evidently so badly -scared that he did not wish to come down. The hounds were unable to -follow the cougar. On another occasion he heard a tremendous scuffle and -immediately afterward saw a big doe racing along with a small cougar -literally riding it. The cougar was biting the neck, but low down near -the shoulders; he was hanging on with his front paws, but was tearing -away with his hind claws so that the deer’s hair appeared to fill the -air. As soon as Jackson appeared the panther left the deer. He shot it, -and the doe galloped off, apparently without serious injury. - -I wish those who see cougars kill game, or who come on game that they -have killed, would study and record the exact method employed in -killing. Mr. Hornaday sent me a photograph of a cougar killing a goat, -which he had seized high up on the back of the neck in his jaws, not -using his claws at all. I once found where one had killed a big buck by -seizing him by the throat; the claws also having evidently been used to -hold the buck in the struggle. Another time I found a colt which had -been killed by a bite in the neck; and yet another time a young doe -which had been killed by a bite in the head. In most cases where I came -across the carcasses of deer which had been killed by cougars they had -been partially eaten, and it was not possible to find out exactly how -they had been slain. In one instance at least the neck had been broken, -evidently in the struggle; but I could not tell whether this had been -done designedly, by the use of the forepaws. Twice hunters I have known -saw cougars seize mountain sheep, in each case by the throat. The -information furnished me inclines me to believe that most game is killed -by cougars in this fashion. Most of the carcasses of elk which had been -killed by cougars that I have examined showed fang marks round the -throat and neck; but one certainly did not, though it is possible in -this case that the elk died in some other way, and that the cougar had -merely been feeding on its dead body. But I have read of cases in which -elk and large deer were slain where the carcasses were said to have -shown wounds only on the flanks, and where the writers believed—with how -much justification I cannot say—that the wounds had been inflicted by -the claws. I should be surprised to find that such was the ordinary -method with cougars of killing game of any kind; but it is perhaps -unsafe to deny the possibility of such an occurrence without more -information than is at present available; especially in view of the -experience of Brutus Jackson, which I give above. In a letter to Mr. -Hornaday a New Mexican hunter, Mr. J. W. Carter, of Truchas, states that -cougars rip with their claws in killing game, and that, whether the -quarry is a horse, deer, or calf, the cougar begins to eat at the neck. -When at bay a cougar kills dogs by biting them, usually in the head; the -claws are used merely to scratch or rip, or to drag the dog within reach -of the jaws, and to hold it for the fatal bite. - -Miss Velvin’s studies of dangerous wild beasts in captivity show that -the cougar is ordinarily more playful and less wantonly ferocious than -the big spotted cats; but that there is a wide individual variation -among cougars, a few being treacherous, bad-tempered and dangerous. Mr. -Bostock, the animal trainer, states that the cougar is as a rule rather -stupid and far less courageous or dangerous than the other big cats, the -proportion of vicious individuals being very small. He regards bears as -being very dangerous. - -Mr. Charles Sheldon informs me that while on a ranch near Chihuahua he -at different times kept loose, as pets, a female cougar, three wolves, -and several coyotes, all taken when very young. All were exceedingly -tame and even affectionate, save at the moment of eating. - -Mr. W. H. Wright, of Spokane, Wash., is a hunter of wide experience, and -has probably made as close a life study of the bear—particularly the -grizzly—as anyone now alive. In speaking to me, he dwells on its wide -variation in habits, not only as among individuals, but as between all -the individuals of one locality when compared with those of another. -Thus, in the Big Horn or the Teton Mountains if an animal is killed, he -has in his experience found that any grizzly within range is almost sure -to come to the carcass (and this has been my experience in the same -region). In the Bitter Roots, where the bears live largely on fish, -berries and roots, he found the chances just about even whether the -bears would or would not come; whereas in the Selkirks, he found that -the bears would very rarely pay any attention to a carcass, this being a -place where game is comparatively scarce and where there are no salmon, -so that the bears live exclusively as vegetarians, save for eating small -mammals or insects. In the Bitter Roots Mountains the bears used to live -chiefly on fish in the spring and early in the fall; in the summer they -fed to a large extent on the shooting star, which grows on all the -marshes and is one of the familiar plants of the region, but did not -touch either the dog-tooth violet or the spring beauty, both of which -have little tubers on the roots. But in the Kootenay country he found -that the bears dug up acres and acres of these very dog-tooth violets -and spring beauties for the sake of the bulbs on their roots; and that -they rarely or never touched the shooting stars. All this illustrates -the extreme care which should be taken in making observations and in -dogmatizing from insufficient data; and also the absolute necessity, if -a full and accurate natural history is to be written, of drawing upon -the experience of very many different observers—provided, of course, -that they are trustworthy observers. - -For every one of our large beasts there should be at least one such work -as Lewis Morgan’s book on the beaver. The observations of many different -men, all accurate observers of wide experience, will be needed to make -any such book complete. Most hunters can now and then supply some -interesting experiences. Thus Gifford Pinchot and Harry Stimson, while -in the Montana Rockies last fall saw a she white goat beat off a war -eagle which had attacked her yearling young. The eagle swooped on the -yearling in most determined fashion; but the old she, rising on her hind -legs, caught the great bird fairly on her horns; and the eagle was too -roughly handled to repeat the onslaught. At nearly the same time, in -British Columbia, Senator Penrose and his brother were hunting bears. -The brother killed a yearling grizzly. While standing over the body, the -old she appeared and charged him. She took two bullets without -flinching, knocked him down, bit him severely, and would undoubtedly -have killed him had she not in the nick of time succumbed to her own -mortal wounds. - -Recently there has appeared a capital series of observations on wolves -by a trained field naturalist, Mr. Vernon Bailey. These first-hand -studies of wolves in their natural haunts show, among other things, -that, unlike the male cougar, the male wolf remains with the female -while she is rearing her young litter and, at least sometimes, forages -for her and them. According to Mr. Bailey’s observations the female dens -remote from all other females, having a large number of pups in a -litter; but the following interesting letter shows that in exceptional -cases two females may den together or near by one another. It is written -to Mr. Phillips, the joint author, with W. T. Hornaday, of the admirable -“Camp-Fires in the Canadian Rockies,” a book as interesting and valuable -to the naturalist as to the hunter. The letter runs as follows: - - “MEYERS FALLS, WASH., _Dec. 23, 1906_. - - “_Mr. John M. Phillips, Pittsburg, Pa._ - - “FRIEND JACK: Your favor of the 18th inst. to hand, and was very - much pleased to hear you had called on the President and to know - that you take so much interest in the protection of Pennsylvania - game. It is a step in the right direction. In regard to wolves I - have hunted them a great deal when they had pups and do not think I - would exaggerate any to say that I had found one hundred dens and - had destroyed the young. Often would be able to kill the mother. - What you read in the East about the dog wolf helping to raise the - young is true. They stay together until the young is large enough to - go with them and they all kill their food together because they can - handle a large brute easier. I found once, in Wyoming, seventeen - wolf pups in one den, eight black ones and nine greys. One of the - females was also black and one grey, and both dogs were grey. One of - the dogs was the largest I ever seen, and had the biggest foot. He - made a track a third larger than any I ever saw. The old ones had - evidently just butchered and was feeding the little ones when I came - in sight about 400 yards away. I believe a wolf has got the quickest - eye of any animal living, and just as my head came up over the hill - the old ones all looked my way apparently at the same time. It was - too far to shoot so I thought I would pretend I did not see them and - just simply ride by. After riding some distance three of the old - ones began to move away and to my surprise the big fellow came over - to head me off. He was just on top of a bench about 100 feet high, - and I knew it would not do to get down to shoot as one jump would - take him out of sight so I cracked my heels and let my pony have - them in the abdomen and ran for the top of the hill, but was running - against the wind and when I reached the top my eyes was watering so - I could not kill him, but give him a close call as I got a lock of - his hair. I found another den the same spring (in 1899) and I got - eight pups and there was five old ones. They had to go some distance - to find horses and cattle and there was a plain trail that I could - follow at least five miles without snow. Colts seem to be their - favorite dish when they can get them.[6] Wolves mate in January and - have their pups in March, but found one den once in February. Have - known a few to have their young as late as April 1st. The pups grow - faster than our domestic animals and usually leave the dens in May. - I do not think the mother enters the den (after the pups get large - enough to come out) in order to suckle them, as you can call them - out by hiding and making a whining noise. For example, I set a No. 4 - beaver trap in a hole where there was a lot of large pups and hid a - little way off and made a noise like the female when calling and - apparently they all started out at the same time and I caught two at - once in the same trap and of course each one thought the other was - biting his leg and I saw the most vicious scrap I ever seen out of - animals of their size. They just held on to one another like bull - dogs and apparently did not know I was around. - -Footnote 6: - - My own experience has been that wolves are more apt to kill cattle - than horses, whereas with cougars the reverse is true. It is - another instance of variability—doubtless both in the observed and - the observers. Wolves may seize an animal anywhere in a scuffle, - and a pack will literally tear a small deer to pieces; but when - one or two wolves attack a big animal, like a bull caribou, elk or - moose, or a horse or a steer, the killing or crippling wounds are - inflicted in the flanks, hams or throat. Very rarely an animal is - seized by the head. To any real naturalist or hunter, or indeed to - any competent observer, it is unnecessary to say that no wolf, and - no other wild beast, ever bites, or can by any possibility bite, - one of these large animals, like a horse, moose, or caribou, in - the heart; yet an occasional “nature fakir,” more than usually - reckless in his untruthfulness, will assert that such incidents do - happen; and, what is even more remarkable, uninformed people of - more than average credulity appear to believe the assertion. - - “Wolves go a long way sometimes for their food. I have tracked them - twenty-five miles from where they made a killing before finding - their den. The old dog will sometimes go off alone but does not - often kill when by himself. Would just as soon have a male track as - a female to follow for if you will stay with it it is dead sure to - lead to a den and it is easy to distinguish the difference between - the two tracks if you are on to your job. - - “Wishing you a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year, I am, - - “Your same old friend, - “R. M. NORBOE.” - -Mr. Bailey is one of a number of faunal naturalists, who, together with -certain big game hunters who care more for natural history than for mere -slaughter, are doing invaluable work in preserving the records of -wilderness life. If Mr. George Shiras will put in book form his -noteworthy collection of photographs of game, and of other wild -creatures, and his numerous field notes thereon, he will render a real -and great service to all lovers of nature. - -The most exciting and interesting hunting book that has recently -appeared deals with African big game. Many thrilling adventures with -lions have been recorded since the days when the Assyrian kings engraved -on stone their exploits in the chase; but the best lion stories that -have ever been written are those in Colonel Patterson’s “Maneaters of -Tsavo.” - -It is now (January, 1908) nearly five years since my last trip to the -Yellowstone Park. General Samuel Young, who is now in charge of the -park, informs me that on the whole the game and the wild creatures -generally in the park have increased during this period. The antelope he -reports as being certainly three times as numerous as they were ten -years ago, and nearly twice as numerous as when I was out there. In the -town of Gardiner they graze freely in the streets; not only the -inhabitants but even the dogs recognizing them as friends. Their chief -foes are the coyotes. Last October four full-grown antelope were killed -by coyotes on the Gardiner and Yellowstone flats, and many fawns were -destroyed by them during the season. Practically all of the antelope in -the park herd on the Gardiner flat and round about during the winter, -and during the present winter there is a good supply of hay on this -flat, which is being used to feed the antelope, mountain sheep, deer and -elk. The sheep are increasing in numbers. Probably about two hundred of -them now exist in the park. There are probably one hundred whitetail and -one thousand blacktail deer, both of which species are likewise -increasing; and the moose, although few in numbers, are also on the -increase. General Young reports that from his best information he -believes there are 25,000 wapiti in the park. Of the buffalo there are -now in fenced pastures fifty-nine. These increase very slowly, the -number of calves being small. There are probably about twenty-five of -the original wild buffalo still alive. The bears are as numerous as -ever. Last summer it became necessary to kill one black and two -grizzlies that had become dangerous; for some individuals among the -bears grow insolent under good treatment. The mountain lions, which five -years ago were so destructive to the deer and sheep, have been almost -exterminated. The tracks show that one still exists. Coyotes are -numerous and very destructive to the antelope, although ninety-nine were -destroyed during the past year. Beaver are abundant and are increasing. -Altogether the American people are to be congratulated upon the success -of the Yellowstone Park, not only as a national pleasure ground, but as -a national reserve for keeping alive the great and beautiful wild -creatures of the wilderness. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - SMALL COUNTRY NEIGHBORS - - -There is ample room for more complete life histories of many small -beasts that are common enough around our country homes; and fortunately -the need is now being met by various good field naturalists. Just last -summer, in mid-July, 1907, I had an entirely novel experience with -foxes, which illustrates how bold naturally shy creatures sometimes are -after nightfall. Some of the boys and I were camping for the night on -the beach by the Sound, under a clay bluff, having gone thither in the -dory and the two light rowing skiffs; it was about a quarter of a mile -from the place where we had seen the big red fox four or five years -previously. The fire burned all night, and one or other of the party -would now and then rise and stand by it; nevertheless, two young foxes, -evidently cubs of the year, came round the fire, within plain sight, -half a dozen times. They were picking up scraps; two or three times they -came within ten yards of the fire. They were very active, scampering up -the bluffs; and when in the bushes made a good deal of noise, whereas a -full-grown fox generally moves in silence even when in dead brush. - -Small mammals, with the exception of squirrels, are so much less -conspicuous than birds, and indeed usually pass their lives in such -seclusion, that the ordinary observer is hardly aware of their presence. -At Sagamore Hill, for instance, except at haying time I rarely see the -swarming meadow mice, the much less plentiful pine mice, or the little -mole-shrews, alive, unless they happen to drop into a pit or sunken area -which has been dug at one point to let light through a window into the -cellar. The much more graceful and attractive white-footed mice and -jumping mice are almost as rarely seen, though if one does come across a -jumping mouse it at once attracts attention by its extraordinary leaps. -The jumping mouse hibernates, like the woodchuck; and so does the -chipmunk, though not always. The other little animals just mentioned are -abroad all winter, the meadow mice under the snow, the white-footed -mice, and often the shrews, above the snow. The tell-tale snow, showing -all the tracks, betrays the hitherto unsuspected existence of many -little creatures; and the commonest marks upon it are those of the -rabbit and especially of the white-footed mouse. The shrew walks or -trots and makes alternate footsteps in the snow. White-foot, on the -contrary, always jumps, whether going slow or fast, and his hind feet -leave their prints side by side, often with the mark where the tail has -dragged. I think white-foot is the most plentiful of all our furred wild -creatures, taken as a whole. He climbs trees well; I have found his nest -in an old vireo’s nest; but more often under stumps or boards. The -meadow mice often live in the marshes, and are entirely at home in the -water. - -The shrew-mouse which I most often find is a short-tailed, rather -thickset little creature, not wholly unlike his cousin the shrew-mole, -and just as greedy and ferocious. When a boy I captured one of these -mole-shrews and found to my astonishment that he was a bloodthirsty and -formidable little beast of prey. He speedily killed and ate a partially -grown white-footed mouse which I put in the same cage with him. (I think -a full-grown mouse of this kind would be an overmatch for a shrew.) I -then put a small snake in with him. The shrew was very active but seemed -nearly blind, and as he ran to and fro he never seemed to be aware of -the presence of anything living until he was close to it, when he would -instantly spring on it like a tiger. On this occasion he attacked the -little snake with great ferocity, and after an animated struggle in -which the snake whipped and rolled all around the cage, throwing the -shrew to and fro a dozen times, the latter killed and ate the snake in -triumph. Larger snakes frequently eat shrews, by the way. - -Once last summer, while several of us were playing on the tennis ground, -a mole-shrew suddenly came out on the court. I first saw him near one of -the side lines, and ran after him; I picked him up in my naked hand, -whereupon he bit me, and I then took him in my handkerchief. After we -had all looked at him I put him down, and he scuttled off among the -grass and went down a little hole. We resumed our game, but after a few -minutes the shrew reappeared, and this time crossed the tennis court -near the net, while we gathered about him. He was an absurd little -creature and his motion in running was precisely like that of one of -those mechanical toys in the shape of mice or little bears which are -wound up and run around on wheels. When we put our rackets before him he -uttered little, shrill, long-continued squeals of irritation. We let him -go off in the grass, and this time he did not reappear for the day; but -next afternoon he repeated the feat. - -My boys have at intervals displayed a liking for natural history, and -one of them during some years took to trapping small mammals, -discovering species that I had no idea existed in certain places; near -Washington, but on the other side of the Potomac, he trapped several of -those very dainty little creatures, the harvest mice.[7] One of my other -boys—the special friend of Josiah the badger—discovered a -flying-squirrel’s nest, in connection with which a rather curious -incident occurred. The little boy had climbed a tree which is hollow at -the top; and in this hollow he discovered a flying-squirrel mother with -six young ones. She seemed so tame and friendly that the little boy for -a moment hardly realized that she was a wild thing, and called down that -he had “found a guinea pig up the tree.” Finally, the mother made up her -mind to remove her family. She took each one in turn in her mouth and -flew or sailed down from the top of the tree to the foot of another tree -near by; ran up this, holding the little squirrel in her mouth; and -again sailed down to the foot of another tree some distance off. Here -she deposited her young one on the grass, and then, reversing the -process, climbed and sailed back to the tree where the nest was; then -she took out another young one and returned with it, in exactly the same -fashion as with the first. She repeated this until all six of the young -ones were laid on the bank, side by side in a row, all with their heads -the same way. Finding that she was not molested she ultimately took all -six of the little fellows back to her nest, where she reared her brood -undisturbed. - -Footnote 7: - - A visit of this same small boy, when eleven years old, to John - Burroughs, is described by the latter in “Far and Near,” in the - chapter called “Babes in the Woods.” - -Flying squirrels become very gentle and attractive little pets if taken -into the house. I cannot say as much for gray squirrels. Once when a -small boy I climbed up to a large nest of dry leaves in the fork of a -big chestnut tree, and from it picked out three very young squirrels. -One died, but the other two I succeeded in rearing on a milk diet, which -at first I was obliged to administer with a syringe. They grew up -absolutely tame and would climb all over the various members of the -household; but as they grew older they grew cross. If we children did -something they did not like they would not only scold us vigorously, -but, if they thought the provocation warranted it, would bite severely; -and we finally exiled them to the woods. Gray squirrels, I am sorry to -say, rob nests just as red squirrels do. At Sagamore Hill I have more -than once been attracted by the alarm notes of various birds, and on -investigation have found the winged woodland people in great agitation -over a gray squirrel’s assault on the eggs or young of a thrush or -vireo; and once one of these good-looking marauders came up the hill to -harry a robin’s nest near the house. Many years ago I had an -extraordinary experience with a gray squirrel. I was in the edge of some -woods, and, seeing a squirrel, I stood motionless. The squirrel came to -me and actually climbed up me; I made no movement until it began to -nibble at my elbow, biting through my flannel shirt. When I moved, it of -course jumped off, but it did not seem much frightened and lingered for -some minutes in view, about thirty yards away. I have never understood -the incident. - -Among the small mammals at Sagamore Hill the chipmunks are the most -familiar and the most in evidence; for they readily become tame and -confiding. For three or four years a chipmunk—I suppose the same -chipmunk—has lived near the tennis court; and it has developed the -rather puzzling custom of sometimes scampering across the court while we -are in the middle of a game. This has happened two or three times every -year, and is rather difficult to explain, for the chipmunk could just as -well go round the court, and there seems no possible reason why he -should suddenly run out on it while the game is in full swing. If we see -him, we all stop to watch him, and then he may himself stop and look -about; but we may not see him until just as he is finishing a frantic -scurry across, in imminent danger of being stepped on. - -[Illustration: - - AUDREY TAKES THE BARS - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst -] - -The most attractive and sociable pet among wild creatures of its size I -have found to be a coon. One which when I was a boy I brought up from -the time it was very young, was as playful and affectionate as any -little dog, and used its little black paws just as if they were hands. -Coons, by the way, sometimes appear in political campaigns. Frequently -when I have been on the stump in places where there was still a strong -tradition of the old Whig party as it was in the days of Henry Clay and -Tippecanoe Harrison, I have reviewed processions in which log cabins and -coons were prominent features. The log cabins were usually miniature -representations, mounted on wheels, but the coons were genuine. Each was -usually carried by some enthusiast, who might lead it by a chain and -collar, but more frequently placed it upon a platform at the end of a -pole, chained up short. Most naturally the coon protested violently -against the proceedings; his only satisfaction being the certainty that -every now and then some other parader would stumble near enough to be -bitten. At one place an admirer suddenly presented me with one of these -coons and was then swept on in the crowd; leaving me gingerly holding by -the end of a chain an exceedingly active and short-tempered little -beast, which I had not the slightest idea how to dispose of. On two -other occasions, by the way, while off on campaign trips I was presented -with bears. These I firmly refused to receive. One of them was brought -to a platform by an old mountain hunter who, I am afraid, really had his -feelings hurt by the refusal. The other bear made his appearance at -Portland, Ore., and, of all places, was chained on top of a wooden -platform just aft the smokestack of an engine, the engine being -festooned with American flags. He belonged to the fireman, who had -brought him as a special gift; I being an honorary member of the -Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. His owner explained that normally he -was friendly; but the surroundings had curdled his temper. - -Usually birds are very regular in their habits, so that not only the -same species but the same individuals breed in the same places year -after year. In spite of their wings they are almost as local as mammals -and the same pair will usually keep to the same immediate neighborhood, -where they can always be looked for in their season. There are wooded or -brush-grown swampy places not far from the White House where in the -spring or summer I can count with certainty upon seeing wrens, chats, -and the ground-loving Kentucky warbler, an attractive little bird, -which, by the way, itself looks much like a miniature chat. There are -other places, in the neighborhood of Rock Creek, where I can be almost -certain of finding the blue-gray gnatcatcher, which ranks just next to -the humming-bird itself in exquisite daintiness and delicacy. The few -pairs of mocking-birds around Washington have just as sharply defined -haunts. - -Nevertheless it is never possible to tell when one may run across a rare -bird; and even birds that are not rare now and then show marked -individual idiosyncrasy in turning up, or even breeding, in unexpected -places. At Sagamore Hill, for instance, I never knew a purple finch to -breed until the summer of 1906. Then two pairs nested with us, one right -by the house and the other near the stable. My attention was drawn to -them by the bold, cheerful singing of the males, who were spurred to -rivalry by one another’s voices. In September of the same year, while -sitting in a rocking-chair on the broad veranda looking out over the -Sound, I heard the unmistakable “ank-ank” of nuthatches from a young elm -at one corner of the house. I strolled over, expecting to find the -white-bellied nuthatch, which is rather common on Long Island. But -instead there were a couple of red-bellied nuthatches, birds familiar to -me in the Northern woods, but which I had never before seen at Sagamore -Hill. They were tame and fearless, running swiftly up and down the -tree-trunk and around the limbs while I stood and looked at them not ten -feet away. The two younger boys ran out to see them; and then we hunted -up their picture in Wilson. I find, by the way, that Audubon’s and -Wilson’s are still the most satisfactory large ornithologies, at least -for nature lovers who are not specialists; of course any attempt at -serious study of our birds means recourse to the numerous and excellent -books and pamphlets by recent observers. Bendire’s large work gives -admirable biographies of all the birds it treats of; unfortunately it -was never finished. - -In May, 1907, two pairs of robins built their substantial nests, and -raised their broods, on the piazza at Sagamore Hill; one over the -transom of the north hall door and one over the transom of the south -hall door. Another pair built their nest and raised their brood on a -rafter in the half-finished new barn, quite undisturbed by the racket of -the carpenters who were finishing it. A pair of scarlet tanagers built -near the tennis ground; the male kept in the immediate neighborhood all -the time, flaming among the branches, and singing steadily until the -last part of July. To my ears the song of the tanager is like a louder, -more brilliant, less leisurely rendering of the red-eyed vireo’s song; -but with the characteristic “chip-churr” every now and then -interspersed. Only one pair of purple finches returned to us last -summer; and for the first time in many years no Baltimore orioles built -in the elm by the corner of the house; they began their nest but for -some reason left it unfinished. The red-winged blackbirds, however, were -more plentiful than for years previously, and two pairs made their nests -near the old barn, where the grass stood lush and tall; this was the -first time they had ever built nearer than the wood-pile pond, and I -believe it was owing to the season being so cold and wet. It was perhaps -due to the same cause that so many black-throated green warblers spent -June and July in the woods on our place; they must have been breeding, -though I only noticed the males. Each kept to his own special tract of -woodland, among the tops of the tall trees, seeming to prefer the -locusts, and throughout June, and far into July, each sang all day -long—a drawling, cadenced little warble of five or six notes, the first -two being the most noticeable near by, though, rather curiously, the -next two were the notes that had most carrying power. The song was -usually uttered at intervals of a few seconds; sometimes while the -singer was perched motionless, sometimes as he flitted and crawled -actively among the branches. With the resident of one particular grove I -became well acquainted, as I was chopping a path through the grove. -Every day when I reached the grove, I found the little warbler singing -away, and at least half the time in one particular locust tree. He paid -not the slightest attention to my chopping; whereas a pair of downy -woodpeckers and a pair of great-crested fly-catchers, both of them -evidently nesting near by, were much put out by my presence. While -listening to my little black-throated friend, I could also continually -hear the songs of his cousins, the prairie warbler, the redstart, the -black-and-white creeper and the Maryland yellow-throat; not to speak of -oven-birds, towhees, thrashers, vireos, and the beautiful golden-voiced -wood thrushes. - -The black-throated green warblers have seemingly become regular summer -residents of Long Island, for after discovering them on my place I found -that two or three bird-loving neighbors were already familiar with them; -and I heard them on several different occasions as I rode through the -country roundabout. I already knew as summer residents in my -neighborhood the following representatives of the warbler family: the -oven-bird, chat, black-and-white creeper, Maryland yellow-throat, summer -yellow-bird, prairie warbler, pine warbler, blue-winged warbler, -golden-winged warbler (very rare), blue yellow-backed warbler and -redstart. - -The black-throated green as a breeder and summer resident is a newcomer -who has extended his range southward. But this same summer I found one -warbler, the presence of which, if more than accidental, means that a -southern form is extending its range northward. This was the Dominican -or yellow-throated warbler. Two of my bird-loving neighbors are Mrs. E. -H. Swan, Jr., and Miss Alice Weekes. On July 4th Mrs. Swan told me that -a new warbler, the yellow-throated, was living near their house, and -that she and her husband had seen it there on several occasions. I was -rather skeptical, and told her I thought that it must be a Maryland -yellow-throat. Mrs. Swan meekly acquiesced in the theory that she might -have been mistaken; but two or three days afterward she sent me word -that she and Miss Weekes had seen the bird again, had examined it -thoroughly through their glasses, and were sure that it was a -yellow-throated warbler. Accordingly on the morning of the 8th I walked -down and met them both near Mrs. Swan’s house, about a mile from -Sagamore Hill. We did not have to wait long before we heard an -unmistakably new warbler’s song, loud, ringing, sharply accented, just -as the yellow-throat’s song is described in Chapman’s book. At first the -little bird kept high in the tops of the pines, but after a while he -came to the lower branches and we were able to see him distinctly. Only -a glance was needed to show that my two friends were quite right in -their identification and that the bird was undoubtedly the Dominican or -yellow-throated warbler. Its bill was as long as that of a -black-and-white creeper, giving the head a totally different look from -that of any of its brethren, the other true wood-warblers; and the -olive-gray back, yellow-throat and breast, streaked sides, white belly, -black cheek and forehead, and white line above the eye and spot on the -side of the neck, could all be plainly made out. The bird kept -continually uttering its loud, sharply modulated, and attractive warble. -It never left the pines, and though continually on the move, it yet -moved with a certain deliberation like a pine warbler, and not with the -fussy agility of most of its kinsfolk. Occasionally it would catch some -insect on the wing, but most of the time kept hopping about among the -needle-clad clusters of the pine twigs, or moving along the larger -branches, stopping from time to time to sing. Now and then it would sit -still on one twig for several minutes, singing at short intervals and -preening its feathers. - -[Illustration: - - THE STONE WALL - - From a photograph by Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth -] - -After looking at it for nearly an hour we had to solve the rather -difficult ethical question as to whether we ought to kill it or not. In -these cases it is always hard to draw the line between heartlessness and -sentimentality. In our own minds we were sure of our identification, and -did not feel that we could be mistaken, but we were none of us professed -ornithologists, and as far as I knew the bird was really rare thus far -north; so that it seemed best to shoot him, which was accordingly done. -I was influenced in this decision, in the first place because warblers -are so small that it is difficult for any observer to be absolutely -certain as to their identification; and in the next place by the fact -that the breeding season was undoubtedly over, and that this was an -adult male, so that no harm came to the species. I very strongly feel -that there should be no “collecting” of rare and beautiful species when -this is not imperatively demanded. Mocking-birds, for instance, are very -beautiful birds, well known and unmistakable; and there is not the -slightest excuse for “collecting” their nests and eggs or shooting -specimens of them, no matter where they may be found. So, there is no -excuse for shooting scarlet tanagers, summer redbirds, cardinals, nor of -course any of the common, well-known friends of the lawn, the garden and -the farm land; and with most birds nowadays observations on their habits -are of far more value than their skins can possibly be. But there must -be some shooting, especially of obscure and little-known birds, or we -would never be able to identify them at all; while most laymen are not -sufficiently close observers to render it possible to trust their -identification of rare species. - -In one apple tree in the orchard we find a flicker’s nest every year; -the young make a queer, hissing, bubbling sound, a little like the -boiling of a pot. This same year one of the young ones fell out; I -popped it back into the hole, whereupon its brothers and sisters -“boiled” for several minutes like the cauldron of a small and friendly -witch. John Burroughs, and a Long Island neighbor, John Lewis Childs, -drove over to see me, in this same June of 1907, and I was able to show -them the various birds of most interest—the purple finch, the -black-throated green warbler, the redwings in their unexpected nesting -place by the old barn, and the orchard orioles and yellow-billed cuckoos -in the garden. The orchard orioles this year took much interest in the -haying, gleaning in the cut grass for grasshoppers. The barn swallows -that nest in the stable raised second broods, which did not leave the -nest until the end of July. When the barn swallows gather in their great -flocks just prior to the southward migration, the gathering sometimes -takes place beside a house, and then the swallows seem to get so excited -and bewildered that they often fly into the house. When I was a small -boy I took a keen, although not a very intelligent, interest in natural -history, and solemnly recorded whatever I thought to be notable. When I -was nine years old we were passing the summer near Tarrytown, on the -Hudson. My diary for September 4, 1868, runs as follows: “Cold and -rainy. I was called in from breakfast to a room. When I went in there -what was my surprise to see on walls, curtains and floor about forty -swallows. All the morning long in every room of the house (even the -kitchen) were swallows. They were flying south. Several hundred were -outside and about seventy-five in the house. I caught most of them (and -put them out of the windows). The others got out themselves. One flew on -my pants where he stayed until I took him off.” - -At the White House we are apt to stroll around the grounds for a few -minutes after breakfast; and during the migrations, especially in -spring, I often take a pair of field glasses so as to examine any bird -as to the identity of which I am doubtful. From the end of April the -warblers pass in troops—myrtle, magnolia, chestnut-sided, bay-breasted, -blackburnian, black-throated blue, blue-winged, Canadian, and many -others, with at the very end of the season the black-poll—all of them -exquisite little birds, but not conspicuous as a rule, except perhaps -the blackburnian, whose brilliant orange throat and breast flame when -they catch the sunlight as he flits among the trees. The males in their -dress of courtship are easily recognized by any one who has Chapman’s -book on the warblers. On May 4, 1906, I saw a Cape May warbler, the -first I had ever seen. It was in a small pine. It was fearless, allowing -a close approach, and as it was a male in high plumage, it was -unmistakable. - -In 1907, after a very hot week in early March, we had an exceedingly -late and cold spring. The first bird I heard sing in the White House -grounds was a white-throated sparrow on March 1st, a song sparrow -speedily following. The white-throats stayed with us until the middle of -May, overlapping the arrival of the indigo buntings; but during the last -week in April and first week in May their singing was drowned by the -music of the purple finches, which I never before saw in such numbers -around the White House. When we sat by the south fountain, under an -apple tree then blossoming, sometimes three or four purple finches would -be singing in the fragrant bloom overhead. In June a pair of wood -thrushes and a pair of black-and-white creepers made their homes in the -White House grounds, in addition to our ordinary homemakers, the -flickers, redheads, robins, catbirds, song sparrows, chippies, summer -yellow-birds, grackles, and, I am sorry to say, crows. A handsome -sapsucker spent a week with us. In the same year five night herons spent -January and February in a swampy tract by the Potomac, half a mile or so -from the White House. - -At Mount Vernon there are of course more birds than there are around the -White House, for it is in the country. At present but one mocking-bird -sings around the house itself, and in the gardens and the woods of the -immediate neighborhood. Phœbe birds nest at the heads of the columns -under the front portico; and a pair—or rather, doubtless, a succession -of pairs—has nested in Washington’s tomb itself, for the twenty years -since I have known it. The cardinals, beautiful in plumage, and with -clear ringing voices, are characteristic of the place. I am glad to say -that the woods still hold many gray—not red—foxes; the descendants of -those which Washington so perseveringly hunted. - -At Oyster Bay on a desolate winter afternoon many years ago I shot an -Ipswich sparrow on a strip of ice-rimmed beach, where the long coarse -grass waved in front of a growth of blue berries, beach plums and -stunted pines. I think it was the same winter that we were visited not -only by flocks of cross-bills, pine linnets, red-polls and pine -grossbeaks, but by a number of snowy owls, which flitted to and fro in -ghost-like fashion across the wintry landscape and showed themselves far -more diurnal in their habits than our native owls. One fall about the -same time a pair of duck-hawks appeared off the bay. It was early, -before many ducks had come, and they caused havoc among the night -herons, which were then very numerous in the marshes around Lloyd’s -Neck, there being a big heronry in the woods near by. Once I saw a -duck-hawk come around the bend of the shore, and dart into a loose gang -of young night herons, still in the brown plumage, which had jumped from -the marsh at my approach. The pirate struck down three herons in -succession and sailed swiftly on without so much as looking back at his -victims.[8] The herons, which are usually rather dull birds, showed -every sign of terror whenever the duck-hawk appeared in the distance; -whereas, they paid no heed to the fish-hawks as they sailed overhead. I -found the carcass of a black-headed or Bonaparte’s gull which had -probably been killed by one of these duck-hawks; these gulls appear in -the early fall, before their bigger brothers, the herring gulls, have -come for their winter stay. The spotted sand-pipers often build far away -from water; while riding, early in July, 1907, near Cold Spring, my -horse almost stepped on a little fellow that could only just have left -the nest. It was in a dry road between upland fields; the parents were -near by, and betrayed much agitation. The little fish-crows are not rare -around Washington, though not so common as the ordinary crows; once I -shot one at Oyster Bay. They are not so wary as their larger kinsfolk, -but are quite as inveterate destroyers of the eggs and nestlings of more -attractive birds. The soaring turkey buzzards, so beautiful on the wing -and so loathsome near by, are seen everywhere around the Capital. - -Footnote 8: - - Dr. Lambert last fall, on a hunting trip in Northern Quebec, found a - gyrfalcon on an island in a lake which had just killed a great blue - heron; the heron’s feathers were scattered all over the lake. Lambert - also shot a great horned owl in the dusk one evening, and found that - it had a half-eaten duck in its claws. - -Bird songs are often puzzling, and it is nearly impossible to write them -down so that any one but the writer will recognize them. Moreover, as we -ascribe to them qualities, such as plaintiveness or gladness, which -really exist in our own minds and not in the songs themselves, two -different observers, equally accurate, may ascribe widely different -qualities to the same song. To me, for instance, the bush sparrow’s song -is more attractive than the vesper sparrow’s; but I think most of my -friends feel just the reverse way about the two songs. To most of us the -bobolink’s song bubbles over with rollicking merriment, with the glad -joy of mere living; whereas the thrushes, the meadow lark, the -white-throated sparrow, all have a haunting strain of sadness or -plaintiveness in their melody; but I am by no means sure that there is -the slightest difference of this kind in the singers. Most of the songs -of the common birds I recognize fairly well; but even with these birds -there will now and then be a call, or a few bars, which I do not -recognize; and if I hear a bird but seldom, I find much difficulty in -recalling its song, unless it is very well marked indeed. Last spring I -for a long time utterly failed to recognize the song of a water thrush -by Rock Creek; and later in the season I on one occasion failed to make -out the flight song of an oven-bird until in the middle of it the singer -suddenly threw in two or three of the characteristic “teacher, teacher” -notes. Even in neighborhoods with which I am familiar I continually hear -songs and calls which I cannot place. - -In Albemarle County, Virginia, we have a little place called Pine Knot, -where we sometimes go, taking some or all of the children, for a three -or four days’ outing. It is a mile from the big stock farm, Plain -Dealing, belonging to an old friend, Mr. Joseph Wilmer. The trees and -flowers are like those of Washington, but their general close -resemblance to those of Long Island is set off by certain exceptions. -There are osage orange hedges, and in spring many of the roads are -bordered with bands of the brilliant yellow blossoms of the flowering -broom, introduced by Jefferson. There are great willow oaks here and -there in the woods or pastures, and occasional groves of noble tulip -trees in the many stretches of forest; these tulip trees growing to a -much larger size than on Long Island. As at Washington, among the most -plentiful flowers are the demure little Quaker Ladies, which are not -found at Sagamore Hill—where we also miss such northern forms as the -wake robin and the other trilliums, which used to be among the -characteristic marks of spring-time at Albany. At Pine Knot the red bug, -dogwood and laurel are plentiful; though in the case of the last two no -more so than at Sagamore Hill. The azalea—its Knickerbocker name in New -York was pinkster—grows and flowers far more luxuriantly than on Long -Island. The moccasin flower, the china-blue Virginia cowslip with its -pale pink buds, the blood-red Indian pink, the painted columbine and -many, many other flowers somewhat less showy carpet the woods. - -The birds are, of course, for the most part the same as on Long Island, -but with some differences. These differences are, in part, due to the -more southern locality; but in part I cannot explain them, for birds -will often be absent from one place seemingly without any real reason. -Thus around us in Albemarle County song-sparrows are certainly rare and -I have not seen savanna sparrows at all; but the other common sparrows, -such as the chippy, field sparrow, vesper sparrow, and grasshopper -sparrow abound; and in an open field where bind-weed morning glories and -evening primroses grew among the broom sedge, I found some small -grass-dwelling sparrows, which with the exercise of some little patience -I was able to study at close quarters with the glasses; as I had no gun -I could not be positive about their identification, though I was -inclined to believe that they were Henslow’s sparrows. Of birds of -brilliant color there are six species—the cardinal, the summer redbird -and the scarlet tanager, in red, and the bluebird, indigo bunting, and -blue grossbeak, in blue. I saw but one pair of blue grossbeaks; but the -little indigo buntings abound, and bluebirds are exceedingly common, -breeding in numbers. It has always been a puzzle to me why they do not -breed around us at Sagamore Hill, where I only see them during the -migrations. Neither the rosy summer redbirds nor the cardinals are quite -as brilliant as the scarlet tanagers, which fairly burn like live -flames; but the tanager is much less common than either of the others in -Albemarle County, and it is much less common than it is at Sagamore -Hill. Among the singers the wood thrush is not common, but the meadow -lark abounds. The yellow-breasted chat is everywhere and in the spring -its clucking, whistling and calling seem never to stop for a minute. The -white-eyed vireo is found in the same thick undergrowth as the chat and -among the smaller birds it is one of those most in evidence to the ear. -In one or two places I came across parties of the long-tailed Bewick’s -wren, as familiar as the house wren but with a very different song. -There are gentle mourning doves; and black-billed cuckoos seem more -common than the yellow-bills. The mocking-birds are, as always, most -interesting. I was much amused to see one of them following two crows; -when they lit in a plowed field the mocking-bird paraded alongside of -them six feet off, and then fluttered around to the attack. The crows, -however, were evidently less bothered by it than they would have been by -a kingbird. At Plain Dealing many birds nest within a stone’s throw of -the rambling attractive house, with its numerous outbuildings, old -garden, orchard, and venerable locusts and catalpas. Among them are -Baltimore and orchard orioles, purple grackles, flickers and red-headed -woodpeckers, bluebirds, robins, kingbirds and indigo buntings. One -observation which I made was of real interest. On May 18, 1907, I saw a -small party of a dozen or so of passenger pigeons, birds I had not seen -for a quarter of a century and never expected to see again. I saw them -two or three times flying hither and thither with great rapidity, and -once they perched in a tall dead pine on the edge of an old field. They -were unmistakable; yet the sight was so unexpected that I almost doubted -my eyes, and I welcomed a bit of corroborative evidence coming from -Dick, the colored foreman at Plain Dealing. Dick is a frequent companion -of mine in rambles around the country, and he is an unusually close and -accurate observer of birds, and of wild things generally. Dick had -mentioned to me having seen some “wild carrier pigeons,” as he called -them; and, thinking over this remark of his, after I had returned to -Washington, I began to wonder whether he too might not have seen -passenger pigeons. Accordingly I wrote to Mr. Wilmer, asking him to -question Dick and find out what the “carrier pigeons” looked like. His -answering letter runs in part as follows: - - “On May 12th last Dick saw a flock of about thirty wild pigeons, - followed at a short distance by about half as many, flying in a - circle very rapidly, between the Plain Dealing house and the - woods, where they disappeared. They had pointed tails and - resembled somewhat large doves—the breast and sides rather a - brownish red. He had seen them before, but many years ago. I think - it is unquestionably the passenger pigeon—_Ectopistes - migratorius_—described on p. 25 of the 5th volume of Audubon. I - remember the pigeon roosts as he describes them, on a smaller - scale, but large flocks have not been seen in this part of - Virginia for many years.” - -I fear, by the way, that the true prairie chicken, one of the most -characteristic American game birds, will soon follow the passenger -pigeon. My two elder sons have now and then made trips for prairie -chickens and ducks to the Dakotas. Last summer, 1907, the second boy -returned from such a trip—which he had ended by a successful deer hunt -in Wisconsin—with the melancholy information that the diminution in the -ranks of the prairie fowl in the Dakotas was very evident. - -The house at Pine Knot consists of one long room, with a broad piazza, -below, and three small bedrooms above. It is made of wood, with big -outside chimneys at each end. Wood rats and white-footed mice visit it; -once a weasel came in after them; now a flying squirrel has made his -home among the rafters. On one side the pines and on the other side the -oaks come up to the walls; in front the broom sedge grows almost to the -piazza and above the line of its waving plumes we look across the -beautiful rolling Virginia farm country to the foothills of the Blue -Ridge. At night whippoorwills call incessantly around us. In the late -spring or early summer we usually take breakfast and dinner on the -veranda listening to mocking-bird, cardinal, and Carolina wren, as well -as to many more common singers. In the winter the little house can only -be kept warm by roaring fires in the great open fireplaces, for there is -no plaster on the walls, nothing but the bare wood. Then the table is -set near the blazing logs at one end of the long room which makes up the -lower part of the house, and at the other end the colored cook—Jim Crack -by name—prepares the delicious Virginia dinner; while around him cluster -the little darkies, who go on errands, bring in wood, or fetch water -from the spring, to put in the bucket which stands below where the gourd -hangs on the wall. Outside the wind moans or the still cold bites if the -night is quiet; but inside there is warmth and light and cheer. - -There are plenty of quail and rabbits in the fields and woods near by, -so we live partly on what our guns bring in; and there are also wild -turkeys. I spent the first three days of November, 1906, in a finally -successful effort to kill a wild turkey. Each morning I left the house -between three and five o’clock, under a cold brilliant moon. The frost -was heavy; and my horse shuffled over the frozen ruts as I rode after -Dick. I was on the turkey grounds before the faintest streak of dawn had -appeared in the east; and I worked as long as daylight lasted. It was -interesting and attractive in spite of the cold. In the night we heard -the quavering screech owls; and occasionally the hooting of one of their -bigger brothers. At dawn we listened to the lusty hammering of the big -logcocks, or to the curious coughing or croaking sound of a hawk before -it left its roost. Now and then loose flocks of small birds straggled -past us as we sat in the blind, or rested to eat our lunch; chickadees, -tufted tits, golden-crested kinglets, creepers, cardinals, various -sparrows and small woodpeckers. Once we saw a shrike pounce on a field -mouse by a haystack; once we came on a ruffed grouse sitting motionless -in the road. - -[Illustration: - - ROSWELL BEHAVES LIKE A GENTLEMAN - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst -] - -The last day I had with me Jim Bishop, a man who had hunted turkeys by -profession, a hard-working farmer, whose ancestors have for generations -been farmers and woodmen; an excellent hunter, tireless, resourceful, -with an eye that nothing escaped; just the kind of a man one likes to -regard as typical of what is best in American life. Until this day, and -indeed until the very end of this day, chance did not favor us. We tried -to get up to the turkeys on the roost before daybreak; but they roosted -in pines and, night though it was, they were evidently on the lookout, -for they always saw us long before we could make them out, and then we -could hear them fly out of the tree-tops. Turkeys are quite as wary as -deer, and we never got a sight of them while we were walking through the -woods; but two or three times we flushed gangs, and my companion then at -once built a little blind of pine boughs in which we sat while he tried -to call the scattered birds up to us by imitating, with marvellous -fidelity, their yelping. Twice a turkey started toward us, but on each -occasion the old hen began calling some distance off and all the -scattered birds at once went toward her. At other times I would slip -around to one side of a wood while my companion walked through it, but -either there were no turkeys or they went out somewhere far away from -me. - -On the last day I was out thirteen hours. Finally, late in the -afternoon, Jim Bishop marked a turkey into a point of pines which -stretched from a line of wooded hills down into a narrow open valley on -the other side of which again rose wooded hills. I ran down to the end -of the point and stood behind a small oak, while Bishop and Dick walked -down through the trees to drive the turkey toward me. This time -everything went well; the turkey came out of the cover not too far off -and sprang into the air, heading across the valley and offering me a -side shot at forty yards as he sailed by. It was just the distance for -the close-shooting ten-bore duck gun I carried; and at the report down -came the turkey in a heap, not so much as a leg or wing moving. It was -an easy shot. But we had hunted hard for three days; and the turkey is -the king of American game birds; and, besides, I knew he would be very -good eating indeed when we brought him home; so I was as pleased as -possible when Dick lifted the fine young gobbler, his bronze plumage -iridescent in the light of the westering sun. - -Formerly we could ride across country in any direction around Washington -and almost as soon as we left the beautiful, tree-shaded streets of the -city we were in the real country. But as Washington grows, it -naturally—and to me most regrettably—becomes less and less like its -former, glorified-village, self; and wire fencing has destroyed our old -cross-country rides. Fortunately there are now many delightful bridle -trails in Rock Creek Park; and we have fixed up a number of good jumps -at suitable places—a stone wall, a water jump, a bank with a ditch, two -or three posts-and-rails, about four feet high, and some stiff brush -hurdles, one of five feet seven inches. The last, which is the only -formidable jump was put up to please two sporting members of the -administration, Bacon and Meyer. Both of them school their horses over -it; and my two elder boys, and Fitzhugh Lee, my cavalry aide, also -school my horses over it. On one of my horses, Roswell, I have gone over -it myself; and as I weigh two hundred pounds without my saddle I think -that the jump, with such a weight, in cold blood, should be credited to -Roswell for righteousness. Roswell is a bay gelding; Audrey a black -mare; they are Virginia horses. In the spring of 1907 I had photographs -of them taken going over the various jumps. Roswell is a fine jumper, -and usually goes at his jumps in a spirit of matter-of-fact enjoyment. -But he now and then shows queer kinks in his temper. On one of these -occasions he began by wishing to rush his jumps, and by trying to go -over the wings instead of the jumps themselves. He fought hard for his -head; and as it happened that the best picture we got of him in the air -was at this particular time, it gives a wrong idea of his ordinary -behavior, and also, I sincerely trust, a wrong idea of my hands. -Generally he takes his jumps like a gentleman. - -Many of the men with whom I hunted or with whom I was brought in close -contact when I lived on my ranch, and still more of the men who were -with me in the Rough Riders, have shared in some way or other in my -later political life. Phil Stewart was one of the Presidential Electors -who in 1904 gave me Colorado’s vote; Merrifield filled the same position -in Montana and is now Marshal of that State. Cecil Lyon and Sloan -Simpson, of Texas, were delegates for me at the National Convention -which nominated me in 1904. Sewell is Collector of Customs in Maine; -Sylvans and Joe Ferris are respectively Register of the Land Office and -Postmaster in North Dakota; Dennis Shea with whom I worked on the Little -Missouri round-up holds my commission as Marshal of North Dakota. -Abernathy the wolf hunter is my Marshal in Oklahoma. John Willis -declined to take any place; when he was last my guest at the White House -he told me, I am happy to say, that he does better with his ranch than -he could have done with any office. Johnny Goff is a forest ranger near -the Yellowstone Park. Seth Bullock is Marshal of South Dakota; he too is -an old friend of my ranch days and was sheriff in the Black Hills when I -was deputy sheriff due north of him in Billings County, in the then -Territory of Dakota. Among the people that we both arrested, by the way, -was a young man named “Calamity Joe,” a very well-meaning fellow but a -wild boy who had gone astray, as wild boys often used to go astray on -the frontier, through bad companionship. To my great amusement his uncle -turned up as United States Senator some fifteen years later, and was one -of my staunch allies. Of the men of the regiment Lieutenant Colonel -Brodie I made Governor of Arizona, Captain Frantz, Governor of Oklahoma, -and Captain Curry Governor of New Mexico. Ben Daniels I appointed -Marshal of Arizona; Colbert, the Chickasaw, Marshal in the Indian -Territory. Llewellyn is District Attorney in New Mexico. Jenkins is -Collector of Internal Revenue in South Carolina. Fred Herrig, who was -with me on the Little Missouri, where we hunted the blacktail and the -bighorn together, and who later served under me at Santiago, is a forest -ranger in Montana; and many other men of my old regiment have taken up -with unexpected interest occupations as diverse as those of postmaster, -of revenue agent, of land and forest officers of various kinds. Joe Lee -is Minister to Ecuador; John McIlhenny is Civil Service Commissioner; -Craig Wadsworth is Secretary of Legation at the Court of St. James; -Mason Mitchell is Consul in China, having already been Consul at -Mozambique, where he spent his holidays in hunting the biggest of the -world’s big game. - -[Illustration: - - ROSWELL FIGHTS FOR HIS HEAD - - From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst -] - -Appointments to public office must of course be made primarily because -of the presumable fitness of the man for the position. But even the most -rigid moralist ought to pardon the occasional inclusion of other -considerations. I am glad that I have been able to put in office certain -outdoor men who were typical leaders in the old life of the frontier, -the daring adventurous life of warfare against wild man and wild nature -which has now so nearly passed away. Bat Masterson, formerly of Dodge -City and the Texas cattle trail, the most famous of the oldtime -marshals, the iron-nerved gun-fighters of the border, is now a deputy -marshal in New York, under District Attorney Stimson—himself a big game -hunter, by the way. Pat Garret, who slew Billy the Kid, I made Collector -of Customs at El Paso; and other scarred gun-fighters of the vanished -frontier, with to their credit deeds of prowess as great as those of -either Masterson or Garret, now hold my commissions, on the Rio Grande, -in the Territories, or here and there in the States of the Rocky -Mountains and the Great Plains. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. - 3. 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text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } - .figcenter {font-size: .9em; page-break-inside: avoid; } - .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; - margin: .67em auto; page-break-before: always; } - .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; - page-break-before: always; } - .fixed {font-style: normal; - font-family: 'DejaVu Sans Mono', 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter, by -Theodore Roosevelt - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter - -Author: Theodore Roosevelt - -Release Date: April 25, 2020 [EBook #61935] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='tnotes covernote'> - -<p class='c000'><b>Transcriber’s Note:</b></p> - -<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='section ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN</div> - <div>AMERICAN HUNTER</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> - <tr> - <th class='btt blt brt c002' colspan='2'>BOOKS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='blt c003'> </td> - <td class='brt c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th class='blt brt c002' colspan='2'>PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='bbt blt c003'> </td> - <td class='bbt brt c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='blt c003'> </td> - <td class='brt c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='blt c003'>OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER. New Edition. Illustrated. 8vo</td> - <td class='brt c004'>$3.00 <i>net</i>.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='blt c003'> </td> - <td class='brt c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='blt c003'>OLIVER CROMWELL. Illustrated. 8vo</td> - <td class='brt c004'>$2.00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='blt c003'> </td> - <td class='brt c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='blt c003'>THE ROUGH RIDERS. Illustrated. 8vo</td> - <td class='brt c004'>$1.50</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='blt c003'> </td> - <td class='brt c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='bbt blt brt c003' colspan='2'>THE ROOSEVELT BOOK. Selections from the Writings of Theodore Roosevelt. 16mo 50 cents <i>net</i>.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div id='Frontispiece' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_frontispiece.jpg' alt='_Theodore Roosevelt_' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p><i>Copyright, 1908, by P.A. Juley, New York.</i></p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='titlepage'> - -<div> - <h1 class='c005'>OUTDOOR PASTIMES<br /> <span class='large'>OF AN</span><br /> AMERICAN HUNTER</h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c006'> - <div>BY</div> - <div class='c007'><span class='xlarge'>THEODORE ROOSEVELT</span></div> - <div class='c007'>ILLUSTRATED</div> - <div class='c007'>NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION</div> - <div class='c006'><span class='large'>NEW YORK</span></div> - <div><span class='large'>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</span></div> - <div><span class='large'>1908</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>COPYRIGHT, 1893, 1895, 1897, 1904, BY</div> - <div>FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY</div> - <div class='c007'>COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY THE</div> - <div>MACMILLAN COMPANY</div> - <div class='c007'>COPYRIGHT, 1905, 1907, 1908, BY</div> - <div>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</div> - <div class='c006'><i>All rights reserved</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c007' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'>INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>Chapters XII and XIII relate to experiences that occurred -since the first edition of this volume was published. The -photographs in Chapter XII were taken by Dr. Alexander -Lambert; those in Chapter XIII by Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth -and Mr. Clinedinst.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Theodore Roosevelt.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>The White House</span>, January 1, 1908.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='large'>TO</span><br /> JOHN BURROUGHS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>Dear Oom John:—Every lover of outdoor life must feel -a sense of affectionate obligation to you. Your writings appeal -to all who care for the life of the woods and the fields, whether -their tastes keep them in the homely, pleasant farm country or -lead them into the wilderness. It is a good thing for our people -that you should have lived; and surely no man can wish -to have more said of him.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I wish to express my hearty appreciation of your warfare -against the sham nature-writers—those whom you have called -“the yellow journalists of the woods.” From the days of Æsop -to the days of Reinecke Fuchs, and from the days of Reinecke -Fuchs to the present time, there has been a distinct and attractive -place in literature for those who write avowed fiction in -which the heroes are animals with human or semi-human attributes. -This fiction serves a useful purpose in many ways, even -in the way of encouraging people to take the right view of outdoor -life and outdoor creatures; but it is unpardonable for any -observer of nature to write fiction and then publish it as truth, -and he who exposes and wars against such action is entitled to -respect and support. You in your own person have illustrated -what can be done by the lover of nature who has trained himself -to keen observation, who describes accurately what is thus -observed, and who, finally, possesses the additional gift of writing -with charm and interest.</p> - -<p class='c010'>You were with me on one of the trips described in this -volume, and I trust that to look over it will recall the pleasant -days we spent together.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Your friend,</div> - <div class='line in12'><span class='sc'>Theodore Roosevelt</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>The White House</span>, October 2, 1905.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table1' summary='CONTENTS'> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER I</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <th class='c012'></th> - <th class='c013'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>With the Cougar Hounds</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER II</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>A Colorado Bear Hunt</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_68'>68</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER III</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Wolf-Coursing</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IV</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Hunting in the Cattle Country; The Prongbuck</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_133'>133</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER V</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>A Shot at a Mountain Sheep</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_181'>181</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VI</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Whitetail Deer</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_193'>193</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Mule-Deer or Rocky Mountain Blacktail</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_224'>224</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span>CHAPTER VIII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Wapiti or Round-Horned Elk</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_256'>256</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IX</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Wilderness Reserves; The Yellowstone Park</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_287'>287</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER X</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Books on Big Game</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_318'>318</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XI</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>At Home</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_339'>339</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>In the Louisiana Canebrakes</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_360'>360</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c011' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XIII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Small Country Neighbors</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#Page_391'>391</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class='c014' /> -<p class='c015'>⁂ Seven of these Chapters have been recently written; the others have -been revised and added to since they originally appeared in the publications of -the Boone and Crockett Club and in Mr. Caspar Whitney’s “Deer Family.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_xiii'>xiii</span> - <h2 class='c008'>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table1' summary=''> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Theodore Roosevelt</span></td> - <td class='c013'><i><a href='#Frontispiece'>Frontispiece</a></i></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c016'><i>Photogravure from a photograph.</i></td> - <td class='c013'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <th class='c012'></th> - <th class='c013'><span class='small'>FACING PAGE</span></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Goff and the Pack</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_005'>5</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Turk and a Bobcat in Top of a Pinyon</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_012'>12</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Bobcat in Pinyon</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_016'>16</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Starting for a Hunt</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_033'>33</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The First Cougar Killed</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_037'>37</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>After the Fight</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_044'>44</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Cougar in a Tree</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_050'>50</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Barking Treed</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_063'>63</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Starting for Camp</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_068'>68</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>At Dinner</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_074'>74</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Pack Strikes the Fresh Bear Trail</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_077'>77</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Death of the Big Bear</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_083'>83</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Stewart and the Bobcat</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_086'>86</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Pack Baying the Bear</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_088'>88</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>A Doily Bear</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_091'>91</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Big Bear</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_094'>94</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Starting Toward the Wolf Grounds</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_101'>101</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Greyhounds Resting after a Run</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_104'>104</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xiv'>xiv</span><span class='sc'>At the Tail of the Chuck Wagon</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_108'>108</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Big D Cow Pony</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_112'>112</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Abernethy and Coyote</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_116'>116</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Abernethy Returns from the Hunt</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_125'>125</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Bony Moore and the Coyote</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_129'>129</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>On the Little Missouri</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_138'>138</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Camping on the Antelope Grounds</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_156'>156</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Ranch Wagon Returning from Hunt</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_182'>182</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Elkhorn Ranch</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_216'>216</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Ranch House</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_238'>238</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Ranch Veranda</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_248'>248</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Pack Train</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_264'>264</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Trophies of a Successful Hunt</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_277'>277</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Trophies in the White House Dining-Room</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_284'>284</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Antelope in the Streets of Gardiner</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_294'>294</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Blacktail Deer on Parade Ground</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_299'>299</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Elk in Snow</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_304'>304</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Oom John</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_309'>309</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Bears and Tourists</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_311'>311</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Grizzly Bear and Cook</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_314'>314</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Bear and the Chambermaid</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_316'>316</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The North Room at Sagamore Hill</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_324'>324</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Renown</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_341'>341</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>His First Buck</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_343'>343</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Algonquin and Skip</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_344'>344</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xv'>xv</span><span class='sc'>Peter Rabbit</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_346'>346</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Guinea Pigs</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_348'>348</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Family Friends</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_350'>350</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Josiah</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_354'>354</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Bleistein Jumping</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_356'>356</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Bear Hunters</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_366'>366</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Listening for the Pack</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_376'>376</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Audrey Takes the Bars</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_396'>396</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>The Stone Wall</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_402'>402</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Roswell Behaves Like a Gentleman</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_414'>414</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'><span class='sc'>Roswell Fights for His Head</span></td> - <td class='c013'><a href='#i_418'>418</a></td> - </tr> -</table> -<hr class='c014' /> -<p class='c015'>⁂ The cuts for Chapter I are from photographs taken by Philip B. -Stewart; those in Chapter II, from photographs taken by Dr. Alexander -Lambert and Philip B. Stewart; those in Chapter III, from photographs -taken by Dr. Lambert and Sloan Simpson; those in Chapter IX were obtained -through Major Pitcher; most of the others are from photographs taken -by me or by members of my family.</p> - -<div class='section ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF</div> - <div>AN AMERICAN HUNTER</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER I<br /> <span class='large'>WITH THE COUGAR HOUNDS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>In January, 1901, I started on a five weeks’ cougar -hunt from Meeker in Northwest Colorado. My companions -were Mr. Philip B. Stewart and Dr. Gerald -Webb, of Colorado Springs; Stewart was the captain of -the victorious Yale nine of ’86. We reached Meeker on -January 11th, after a forty mile drive from the railroad, -through the bitter winter weather; it was eighteen degrees -below zero when we started. At Meeker we met John -B. Goff, the hunter, and left town the next morning on -horseback for his ranch, our hunting beginning that same -afternoon, when after a brisk run our dogs treed a bobcat. -After a fortnight Stewart and Webb returned, Goff and -I staying out three weeks longer. We did not have to -camp out, thanks to the warm-hearted hospitality of the -proprietor and manager of the Keystone Ranch, and of -the Mathes Brothers and Judge Foreman, both of whose -ranches I also visited. The five weeks were spent hunting -north of the White River, most of the time in the -neighborhood of Coyote Basin and Colorow Mountain. -In midwinter, hunting on horseback in the Rockies is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>apt to be cold work, but we were too warmly clad to -mind the weather. We wore heavy flannels, jackets lined -with sheepskin, caps which drew down entirely over our -ears, and on our feet heavy ordinary socks, german socks, -and overshoes. Galloping through the brush and among -the spikes of the dead cedars, meant that now and then -one got snagged; I found tough overalls better than -trousers; and most of the time I did not need the jacket, -wearing my old buckskin shirt, which is to my mind a -particularly useful and comfortable garment.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It is a high, dry country, where the winters are usually -very cold, but the snow not under ordinary circumstances -very deep. It is wild and broken in character, the hills -and low mountains rising in sheer slopes, broken by cliffs -and riven by deeply cut and gloomy gorges and ravines. -The sage-brush grows everywhere upon the flats and -hillsides. Large open groves of pinyon and cedar are -scattered over the peaks, ridges, and table-lands. Tall -spruces cluster in the cold ravines. Cottonwoods grow -along the stream courses, and there are occasional patches -of scrub-oak and quaking asp. The entire country is -taken up with cattle ranges wherever it is possible to get -a sufficient water-supply, natural or artificial. Some -thirty miles to the east and north the mountains rise -higher, the evergreen forest becomes continuous, the snow -lies deep all through the winter, and such Northern -animals as the wolverene, lucivee, and snowshoe rabbit -are found. This high country is the summer home of the -Colorado elk, now woefully diminished in numbers, and -of the Colorado blacktail deer, which are still very plentiful, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>but which, unless better protected, will follow the elk -in the next few decades. I am happy to say that there are -now signs to show that the State is waking up to the need -of protecting both elk and deer; the few remaining -mountain sheep in Colorado are so successfully protected -that they are said to be increasing in numbers. In -winter both elk and deer come down to the lower country, -through a part of which I made my hunting trip. We -did not come across any elk, but I have never, even in -the old days, seen blacktail more abundant than they were -in this region. The bucks had not lost their antlers, and -were generally, but not always, found in small troops -by themselves; the does, yearlings, and fawns—now almost -yearlings themselves—went in bands. They seemed -tame, and we often passed close to them before they took -alarm. Of course at that season it was against the law -to kill them; and even had this not been so none of our -party would have dreamed of molesting them.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Flocks of Alaskan long-spurs and of rosy finches -flitted around the ranch buildings; but at that season there -was not very much small bird life.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The midwinter mountain landscape was very beautiful, -whether under the brilliant blue sky of the day, or -the starlight or glorious moonlight of the night, or when -under the dying sun the snowy peaks, and the light clouds -above, kindled into flame, and sank again to gold and -amber and sombre purple. After the snow-storms the -trees, almost hidden beneath the light, feathery masses, -gave a new and strange look to the mountains, as if -they were giant masses of frosted silver. Even the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>storms had a beauty of their own. The keen, cold air, -the wonderful scenery, and the interest and excitement of -the sport, made our veins thrill and beat with buoyant -life.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In cougar hunting the success of the hunter depends -absolutely upon his hounds. As hounds that are not perfectly -trained are worse than useless, this means that -success depends absolutely upon the man who trains and -hunts the hounds. Goff was one of the best hunters with -whom I have ever been out, and he had trained his pack -to a point of perfection for its special work which I have -never known another such pack to reach. With the exception -of one new hound, which he had just purchased, -and of a puppy, which was being trained, not one of the -pack would look at a deer even when they were all as -keen as mustard, were not on a trail, and when the deer -got up but fifty yards or so from them. By the end of -the hunt both the new hound and the puppy were entirely -trustworthy; of course, Goff can only keep up his pack -by continually including new or young dogs with the -veterans. As cougar are only plentiful where deer are -infinitely more plentiful, the first requisite for a good -cougar hound is that it shall leave its natural prey, the -deer, entirely alone. Goff’s pack ran only bear, cougar, -and bobcat. Under no circumstances were they ever permitted -to follow elk, deer, antelope or, of course, rabbit. -Nor were they allowed to follow a wolf unless it was -wounded; for in such a rough country they would at once -run out of sight and hearing, and moreover if they did -overtake the wolf they would be so scattered as to come -up singly and probably be overcome one after another. -Being bold dogs they were always especially eager after -wolf and coyote, and when they came across the trail of -either, though they would not follow it, they would -usually challenge loudly. If the circumstances were such -that they could overtake the wolf in a body, it could make -no effective fight against them, no matter how large and -powerful. On the one or two occasions when this had -occurred, the pack had throttled “Isegrim” without getting -a scratch.</p> - -<div id='i_005' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_005.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>GOFF AND THE PACK<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>As the dogs did all the work, we naturally became -extremely interested in them, and rapidly grew to know -the voice, peculiarities, and special abilities of each. -There were eight hounds and four fighting dogs. The -hounds were of the ordinary Eastern type, used from the -Adirondacks to the Mississippi and the Gulf in the chase -of deer and fox. Six of them were black and tan and -two were mottled. They differed widely in size and -voice. The biggest, and, on the whole, the most useful, -was Jim, a very fast, powerful, and true dog with a great -voice. When the animal was treed or bayed, Jim was -especially useful because he never stopped barking; and -we could only find the hounds, when at bay, by listening -for the sound of their voices. Among the cliffs and precipices -the pack usually ran out of sight and hearing if -the chase lasted any length of time. Their business was -to bring the quarry to bay, or put it up a tree, and then -to stay with it and make a noise until the hunters came -up. During this hunt there were two or three occasions -when they had a cougar up a tree for at least three hours -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>before we arrived, and on several occasions Goff had -known them to keep a cougar up a tree overnight and -to be still barking around the tree when the hunters at -last found them the following morning. Jim always -did his share of the killing, being a formidable fighter, -though too wary to take hold until one of the professional -fighting dogs had seized. He was a great bully with the -other dogs, robbing them of their food, and yielding only -to Turk. He possessed great endurance, and very stout -feet.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On the whole the most useful dog next to Jim was -old Boxer. Age had made Boxer slow, and in addition -to this, the first cougar we tackled bit him through one -hind leg, so that for the remainder of the trip he went -on three legs, or, as Goff put it, “packed one leg”; but -this seemed not to interfere with his appetite, his endurance, -or his desire for the chase. Of all the dogs he -was the best to puzzle out a cold trail on a bare hillside, -or in any difficult place. He hardly paid any heed -to the others, always insisting upon working out the trail -for himself, and he never gave up. Of course, the dogs -were much more apt to come upon the cold than upon -the fresh trail of a cougar, and it was often necessary -for them to spend several hours in working out a track -which was at least two days old. Both Boxer and Jim -had enormous appetites. Boxer was a small dog and -Jim a very large one, and as the relations of the pack -among themselves were those of brutal wild-beast selfishness, -Boxer had to eat very quickly if he expected to get -anything when Jim was around. He never ventured to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>fight Jim, but in deep-toned voice appealed to heaven -against the unrighteousness with which he was treated; -and time and again such appeal caused me to sally out -and rescue his dinner from Jim’s highway robbery. -Once, when Boxer was given a biscuit, which he tried -to bolt whole, Jim simply took his entire head in his -jaws, and convinced him that he had his choice of surrendering -the biscuit, or sharing its passage down Jim’s -capacious throat. Boxer promptly gave up the biscuit, -then lay on his back and wailed a protest to fate—his -voice being deep rather than loud, so that on the trail, -when heard at a distance, it sounded a little as if he -was croaking. After killing a cougar we usually cut up -the carcass and fed it to the dogs, if we did not expect -another chase that day. They devoured it eagerly, Boxer, -after his meal, always looking as if he had swallowed -a mattress.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Next in size to Jim was Tree’em. Tree’em was a -good dog, but I never considered him remarkable until -his feat on the last day of our hunt, to be afterward -related. He was not a very noisy dog, and when “barking -treed” he had a meditative way of giving single -barks separated by intervals of several seconds, all the -time gazing stolidly up at the big, sinister cat which he -was baying. Early in the hunt, in the course of a fight -with one of the cougars, he received some injury to his -tail, which made it hang down like a piece of old rope. -Apparently it hurt him a good deal and we let him rest -for a fortnight. This put him in great spirits and made -him fat and strong, but only enabled him to recover -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>power over the root of the tail, while the tip hung down -as before; it looked like a curved pump-handle when he -tried to carry it erect.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Lil and Nel were two very stanch and fast bitches, -the only two dogs that could keep up to Jim in a quick -burst. They had shrill voices. Their only failing was a -tendency to let the other members of the pack cow them so -that they did not get their full share of the food. It -was not a pack in which a slow or timid dog had much -chance for existence. They would all unite in the chase -and the fierce struggle which usually closed it; but the -instant the quarry was killed each dog resumed his normal -attitude of greedy anger or greedy fear toward the -others.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Another bitch rejoiced in the not very appropriate -name of Pete. She was a most ardent huntress. In the -middle of our trip she gave birth to a litter of puppies, -but before they were two weeks old she would slip away -after us and join with the utmost ardor in the hunting -and fighting. Her brother Jimmie, although of the same -age (both were young), was not nearly as far advanced. -He would run well on a fresh trail, but a cold trail or a -long check always discouraged him and made him come -back to Goff. He was rapidly learning; a single beating -taught him to let deer alone. The remaining hound, -Bruno, had just been added to the pack. He showed tendencies -both to muteness and babbling, and at times, if he -thought himself unobserved, could not resist making a -sprint after a deer; but he occasionally rendered good -service. If Jim or Boxer gave tongue every member of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>the pack ran to the sound; but not a dog paid any heed -to Jimmie or Bruno. Yet both ultimately became first-class -hounds.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The fighting dogs always trotted at the heels of the -horses, which had become entirely accustomed to them, -and made no objection when they literally rubbed against -their heels. The fighters never left us until we came to -where we could hear the hounds “barking treed,” or -with their quarry at bay. Then they tore in a straight -line to the sound. They were the ones who were expected -to do the seizing and take the punishment, though the -minute they actually had hold of the cougar, the hounds -all piled on too, and did their share of the killing; but -the seizers fought the head while the hounds generally -took hold behind. All of them, fighters and hounds alike, -were exceedingly good-natured and affectionate with -their human friends, though short-tempered to a degree -with one another. The best of the fighters was old Turk, -who was by blood half hound and half “Siberian bloodhound.” -Both his father and his mother were half-breeds -of the same strains, and both were famous fighters. -Once, when Goff had wounded an enormous gray wolf -in the hind leg, the father had overtaken it and fought -it to a standstill. The two dogs together were an overmatch -for any wolf. Turk had had a sister who was as -good as he was; but she had been killed the year before -by a cougar which bit her through the skull; accidents -being, of course, frequent in the pack, for a big cougar -is an even more formidable opponent to dogs than a -wolf. Turk’s head and body were seamed with scars. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>He had lost his lower fangs, but he was still a most formidable -dog. While we were at the Keystone Ranch -a big steer which had been driven in, got on the fight, -and the foreman, William Wilson, took Turk out to aid -him. At first Turk did not grasp what was expected of -him, because all the dogs were trained never to touch -anything domestic—at the different ranches where we -stopped the cats and kittens wandered about, perfectly -safe, in the midst of this hard-biting crew of bear and -cougar fighters. But when Turk at last realized that -he was expected to seize the steer, he did the business -with speed and thoroughness; he not only threw the steer, -but would have killed it then and there had he not been, -with much difficulty, taken away. Three dogs like Turk, -in their prime and with their teeth intact, could, I believe, -kill an ordinary female cougar, and could hold -even a big male so as to allow it to be killed with the -knife.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Next to Turk were two half-breeds between bull and -shepherd, named Tony and Baldy. They were exceedingly -game, knowing-looking little dogs, with a certain -alert swagger that reminded one of the walk of some -light-weight prize-fighters. In fights with cougars, -bears, and lynx, they too had been badly mauled and had -lost a good many of their teeth. Neither of the gallant -little fellows survived the trip. Their place was taken -by a white bulldog bitch, Queen, which we picked up -at the Keystone Ranch; a very affectionate and good-humored -dog, but, when her blood was aroused, a dauntless -though rather stupid fighter. Unfortunately she did -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>not seize by the head, taking hold of any part that was -nearest.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The pack had many interesting peculiarities, but none -more so than the fact that four of them climbed trees. -Only one of the hounds, little Jimmie, ever tried the feat; -but of the fighters, not only Tony and Baldy but big -Turk climbed every tree that gave them any chance. -The pinyons and cedars were low, multi-forked, and -usually sent off branches from near the ground. In consequence -the dogs could, by industrious effort, work their -way almost to the top. The photograph of Turk and the -bobcat in the pinyon (facing p. <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>) shows them at an altitude -of about thirty feet above the ground. Now and -then a dog would lose his footing and come down with a -whack which sounded as if he must be disabled, but after -a growl and a shake he would start up the tree again. -They could not fight well while in a tree, and were often -scratched or knocked to the ground by a cougar; and -when the quarry was shot out of its perch and seized -by the expectant throng below, the dogs in the tree, yelping -with eager excitement, dived headlong down through -the branches, regardless of consequences.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The horses were stout, hardy, sure-footed beasts, not -very fast, but able to climb like goats, and to endure an -immense amount of work. Goff and I each used two for -the trip.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The bear were all holed up for the winter, and so -our game was limited to cougars and bobcats. In the -books the bobcat is always called a lynx, which it of -course is; but whenever a hunter or trapper speaks of a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>lynx (which he usually calls “link,” feeling dimly that -the other pronunciation is a plural), he means a lucivee. -Bobcat is a good distinctive name, and it is one which -I think the book people might with advantage adopt; -for wildcat, which is the name given to the small lynx -in the East, is already pre-empted by the true wildcat -of Europe. Like all people of European descent who -have gone into strange lands, we Americans have christened -our wild beasts with a fine disregard for their -specific and generic relations. We called the bison -“buffalo” as long as it existed, and we still call the big -stag an “elk,” instead of using for it the excellent term -wapiti; on the other hand, to the true elk and the reindeer -we gave the new names moose and caribou—excellent -names, too, by the way. The prong buck is always -called antelope, though it is not an antelope at all; and -the white goat is not a goat; while the distinctive name of -“bighorn” is rarely used for the mountain sheep. In -most cases, however, it is mere pedantry to try to upset -popular custom in such matters; and where, as with the -bobcat, a perfectly good name is taken, it would be better -for scientific men to adopt it. I may add that in this -particular of nomenclature we are no worse sinners than -other people. The English in Ceylon, the English and -Dutch in South Africa, and the Spanish in South America, -have all shown the same genius for misnaming beasts -and birds.</p> - -<div id='i_012' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_012.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>TURK AND A BOBCAT IN TOP OF A PINYON<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>Bobcats were very numerous where we were hunting. -They fed chiefly upon the rabbits, which fairly swarmed; -mostly cotton-tails, but a few jacks. Contrary to the -popular belief, the winter is in many places a time of -plenty for carnivorous wild beasts. In this place, for -instance, the abundance of deer and rabbits made good -hunting for both cougar and bobcat, and all those we -killed were as fat as possible, and in consequence weighed -more than their inches promised. The bobcats are very -fond of prairie-dogs, and haunt the dog towns as soon -as spring comes and the inhabitants emerge from their -hibernation. They sometimes pounce on higher game. -We came upon an eight months’ fawn—very nearly a -yearling—which had been killed by a big male bobcat; -and Judge Foreman informed me that near his ranch, -a few years previously, an exceptionally large bobcat had -killed a yearling doe. Bobcats will also take lambs and -young pigs, and if the chance occurs will readily seize -their small kinsman, the house cat.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Bobcats are very fond of lurking round prairie-dog -towns as soon as the prairie-dogs come out in spring. -In this part of Colorado, by the way, the prairie-dogs -were of an entirely different species from the common -kind of the plains east of the Rockies.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We found that the bobcats sometimes made their lairs -along the rocky ledges or in holes in the cut banks, and -sometimes in thickets, prowling about during the night, -and now and then even during the day. We never chased -them unless the dogs happened to run across them by -accident when questing for cougar, or when we were returning -home after a day when we had failed to find -cougar. Usually the cat gave a good run, occasionally -throwing out the dogs by doubling or jack-knifing. Two -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>or three times one of them gave us an hour’s sharp trotting, -cantering, and galloping through the open cedar -and pinyon groves on the table-lands; and the runs sometimes -lasted for a much longer period when the dogs had -to go across ledges and through deep ravines.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On one of our runs a party of ravens fluttered along -from tree to tree beside us, making queer gurgling noises -and evidently aware that they might expect to reap a -reward from our hunting. Ravens, multitudes of magpies, -and golden and bald eagles were seen continually, -and all four flocked to any carcass which was left in the -open. The eagle and the raven are true birds of the -wilderness, and in a way their presence both heightened -and relieved the iron desolation of the wintry -mountains.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Over half the cats we started escaped, getting into -caves or deep holes in washouts. In the other instances -they went up trees and were of course easily shot. Tony -and Baldy would bring them out of any hole into which -they themselves could get. After their loss, Lil, who was -a small hound, once went into a hole in a washout after -a cat. After awhile she stopped barking, though we -could still hear the cat growling. What had happened -to her we did not know. We spent a couple of hours -calling to her and trying to get her to come out, but she -neither came out nor answered, and, as sunset was approaching -and the ranch was some miles off, we rode -back there, intending to return with spades in the morning. -However, by breakfast we found that Lil had come -back. We supposed that she had got on the other side -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>of the cat and had been afraid or unable to attack it; so -that as Collins the cow-puncher, who was a Southerner, -phrased it, “she just naturally stayed in the hole” until -some time during the night the cat went out and she followed. -When once hunters and hounds have come into -the land, it is evident that the bobcats which take refuge -in caves have a far better chance of surviving than those -which make their lairs in the open and go up trees. But -trees are sure havens against their wilderness foes. Goff -informed me that he once came in the snow to a place -where the tracks showed that some coyotes had put a -bobcat up a tree, and had finally abandoned the effort to -get at it. Any good fighting dog will kill a bobcat; -but an untrained dog, even of large size, will probably -fail, as the bobcat makes good use of both teeth and -claws. The cats we caught frequently left marks on some -of the pack. We found them very variable in size. My -two largest—both of course males—weighed respectively -thirty-one and thirty-nine pounds. The latter, Goff said, -was of exceptional size, and as large as any he had ever -killed. The full-grown females went down as low as -eighteen pounds, or even lower.</p> - -<p class='c010'>When the bobcats were in the tree-tops we could get -up very close. They looked like large malevolent pussies. -I once heard one of them squall defiance when the dogs -tried to get it out of a hole. Ordinarily they confined -themselves to a low growling. Stewart and Goff went up -the trees with their cameras whenever we got a bobcat -in a favorable position, and endeavored to take its photograph. -Sometimes they were very successful. Although -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>they were frequently within six feet of a cat, and occasionally -even poked it in order to make it change its position, -I never saw one make a motion to jump on them. -Two or three times on our approach the cat jumped from -the tree almost into the midst of the pack, but it was -so quick that it got off before they could seize it. They -invariably put it up another tree before it had gone any -distance.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Hunting the bobcat was only an incident. Our true -quarry was the cougar. I had long been anxious to make -a regular hunt after cougar in a country where the beasts -were plentiful and where we could follow them with -a good pack of hounds. Astonishingly little of a satisfactory -nature has been left on record about the cougar -by hunters, and in most places the chances for observation -of the big cats steadily grow less. They have been -thinned out almost to the point of extermination throughout -the Eastern States. In the Rocky Mountain region -they are still plentiful in places, but are growing less -so; while on the contrary the wolf, which was exterminated -even more quickly in the East, in the West has -until recently been increasing in numbers. In northwestern -Colorado a dozen years ago, cougars were far -more plentiful than wolves; whereas at the present day -the wolf is probably the more numerous. Nevertheless, -there are large areas, here and there among the Rockies, -in which cougars will be fairly plentiful for years to -come.</p> - -<div id='i_016' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_016.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>BOBCAT IN PINYON<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>No American beast has been the subject of so much -loose writing or of such wild fables as the cougar. Even -its name is unsettled. In the Eastern States it is usually -called panther or painter; in the Western States, mountain -lion, or, toward the South, Mexican lion. The Spanish-speaking -people usually call it simply lion. It is, -however, sometimes called cougar in the West and Southwest -of our country, and in South America, puma. As -it is desirable where possible not to use a name that is -misleading and is already appropriated to some entirely -different animal, it is best to call it cougar.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The cougar is a very singular beast, shy and elusive -to an extraordinary degree, very cowardly and yet bloodthirsty -and ferocious, varying wonderfully in size, and -subject, like many other beasts, to queer freaks of character -in occasional individuals. This fact of individual -variation in size and temper is almost always ignored -in treating of the animal; whereas it ought never to be -left out of sight.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The average writer, and for the matter of that, the -average hunter, where cougars are scarce, knows little -or nothing of them, and in describing them merely draws -upon the stock of well-worn myths which portray them -as terrible foes of man, as dropping on their prey from -trees where they have been lying in wait, etc., etc. Very -occasionally there appears an absolutely trustworthy account -like that by Dr. Hart Merriam in his “Adirondack -Mammals.” But many otherwise excellent writers are -wholly at sea in reference to the cougar. Thus one of -the best books on hunting in the far West in the old days -is by Colonel Dodge. Yet when Colonel Dodge came to -describe the cougar he actually treated of it as two species, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>one of which, the mountain lion, he painted as a most -ferocious and dangerous opponent of man; while the -other, the panther, was described as an abject coward, -which would not even in the last resort defend itself -against man—the two of course being the same animal.</p> - -<p class='c010'>However, the wildest of all fables about the cougar -has been reserved not for hunter or popular writer, but -for a professed naturalist. In his charmingly written -book, “The Naturalist in La Plata,” Mr. Hudson actually -describes the cougar as being friendly to man, disinterestedly -adverse to harming him, and at the same -time an enemy of other large carnivores. Mr. Hudson -bases his opinion chiefly upon the assertions of the -Gauchos. The Gauchos, however, go one degree beyond -Mr. Hudson, calling the puma the “friend of Christians”; -whereas Mr. Hudson only ventures to attribute -to the beast humanitarian, not theological, preferences. -As a matter of fact, Mr. Hudson’s belief in the cougar’s -peculiar friendship for man, and peculiar enmity to other -large beasts of prey, has not one particle of foundation -in fact as regards at any rate the North American form—and -it is hardly to be supposed that the South American -form would alone develop such extraordinary traits. For -instance, Mr. Hudson says that the South American -puma when hunted will attack the dogs in preference to -the man. In North America he will fight the dog if -the dog is nearest, and if the man comes to close quarters -at the same time as the dog he will attack the man if -anything more readily, evidently recognizing in him his -chief opponent. He will often go up a tree for a single -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>dog. On Mr. Hudson’s theory he must do this because -of his altruistic feeling toward the dog. In fact, Mr. -Hudson could make out a better case of philo-humanity -for the North American wolf than for the North American -cougar. Equally absurd is it to talk, as Mr. Hudson -does, of the cougar as the especial enemy of other ferocious -beasts. Mr. Hudson speaks of it as attacking and -conquering the jaguar. Of this I know nothing, but such -an extraordinary statement should be well fortified with -proofs; and if true it must mean that the jaguar is an -infinitely less formidable creature than it has been -painted. In support of his position Mr. Hudson alludes -to the stories about the cougar attacking the grizzly bear. -Here I am on ground that I do know. It is true that -an occasional old hunter asserts that the cougar does this, -but the old hunter who makes such an assertion also invariably -insists that the cougar is a ferocious and habitual -man-killer, and the two statements rest upon equally -slender foundations of fact. I have never yet heard of -a single authentic instance of a cougar interfering with -a full-grown big bear. It will kill bear cubs if it gets a -chance; but then so will the fox and the fisher, not to -speak of the wolf. In 1894, a cougar killed a colt on a -brushy river bottom a dozen miles below my ranch on the -Little Missouri. I went down to visit the carcass and -found that it had been taken possession of by a large -grizzly. Both I and the hunter who was with me were -very much interested in what had occurred, and after a -careful examination of the tracks we concluded that the -bear had arrived on the second night after the kill. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>had feasted heartily on the remains, while the cougar, -whose tracks were evident here and there at a little distance -from the carcass, had seemingly circled around it, -and had certainly not interfered with the bear, or even -ventured to approach him. Now, if a cougar would ever -have meddled with a large bear it would surely have -been on such an occasion as this. If very much pressed -by hunger, a large cougar will, if it gets the chance, kill -a wolf; but this is only when other game has failed, and -under all ordinary circumstances neither meddles with -the other. When I was down in Texas, hunting peccaries -on the Nueces, I was in a country where both cougar and -jaguar were to be found; but no hunter had ever heard -of either molesting the other, though they were all of -the opinion that when the two met the cougar gave the -path to his spotted brother. Of course, it is never safe -to dogmatize about the unknown in zoology, or to generalize -on insufficient evidence; but as regards the North -American cougar there is not a particle of truth of any -kind, sort, or description in the statement that he is the -enemy of the larger carnivores, or the friend of man; -and if the South American cougar, which so strongly -resembles its Northern brother in its other habits, has developed -on these two points the extraordinary peculiarities -of which Mr. Hudson speaks, full and adequate -proof should be forthcoming; and this proof is now -wholly wanting.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Fables aside, the cougar is a very interesting creature. -It is found from the cold, desolate plains of Patagonia -to north of the Canadian line, and lives alike among the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>snow-clad peaks of the Andes and in the steaming forests -of the Amazon. Doubtless careful investigation will disclose -several varying forms in an animal found over such -immense tracts of country and living under such utterly -diverse conditions. But in its essential habits and traits, -the big, slinking, nearly uni-colored cat seems to be much -the same everywhere, whether living in mountain, open -plain, or forest, under arctic cold or tropic heat. When -the settlements become thick, it retires to dense forest, -dark swamp or inaccessible mountain gorge, and moves -about only at night. In wilder regions it not infrequently -roams during the day and ventures freely into the -open. Deer are its customary prey where they are -plentiful, bucks, does, and fawns being killed indifferently. -Usually the deer is killed almost instantaneously, -but occasionally there is quite a scuffle, in which the cougar -may get bruised, though, as far as I know, never -seriously. It is also a dreaded enemy of sheep, pigs, -calves, and especially colts, and when pressed by hunger -a big male cougar will kill a full-grown horse or -cow, moose or wapiti. It is the special enemy of mountain -sheep. In 1886, while hunting white goats north -of Clarke’s fork of the Columbia, in a region where cougar -were common, I found them preying as freely on -the goats as on the deer. It rarely catches antelope, but -is quick to seize rabbits, other small beasts, and even porcupines, -as well as bobcats, coyotes and foxes.</p> - -<p class='c010'>No animal, not even the wolf, is so rarely seen or so -difficult to get without dogs. On the other hand, no other -wild beast of its size and power is so easy to kill by the aid -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>of dogs. There are many contradictions in its character. -Like the American wolf, it is certainly very much afraid -of man; yet it habitually follows the trail of the hunter or -solitary traveller, dogging his footsteps, itself always unseen. -I have had this happen to me personally. When -hungry it will seize and carry off any dog; yet it will -sometimes go up a tree when pursued even by a single -small dog wholly unable to do it the least harm. It is -small wonder that the average frontier settler should -grow to regard almost with superstition the great furtive -cat which he never sees, but of whose presence he is ever -aware, and of whose prowess sinister proof is sometimes -afforded by the deaths not alone of his lesser stock, but -even of his milch cow or saddle horse.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The cougar is as large, as powerful, and as formidably -armed as the Indian panther, and quite as well able to -attack man; yet the instances of its having done so are -exceedingly rare. The vast majority of the tales to this -effect are undoubtedly inventions. But it is foolish to -deny that such attacks on human beings ever occur. -There are a number of authentic instances, the latest that -has come to my knowledge being related in the following -letter, of May 15, 1893, written to Dr. Merriam by Professor -W. H. Brewer, of Yale: “In 1880 I visited the -base of Mount Shasta, and stopped a day to renew the -memories of 1862, when I had climbed and measured this -mountain. Panthers were numerous and were so destructive -to sheep that poisoning by strychnine was common. -A man living near who had (as a young hunter) gone up -Mount Shasta with us in ’62, now married (1880) and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>on a ranch, came to visit me, with a little son five or six -years old. This boy when younger, but two or three years -old, if I recollect rightly, had been attacked by a panther. -He was playing in the yard by the house when -a lean two-thirds grown panther came into the yard and -seized the child by the throat. The child screamed, and -alarmed the mother (who told me the story). She seized -a broom and rushed out, while an old man at the house -seized the gun. The panther let go the child and was -shot. I saw the boy. He had the scars of the panther’s -teeth in the cheek, and below on the under side of the -lower jaw, and just at the throat. This was the only case -that came to my knowledge at first hand of a panther attacking -a human being in that State, except one or two -cases where panthers, exasperated by wounds, had fought -with the hunters who had wounded them.” This was a -young cougar, bold, stupid, and very hungry. Goff told -me of one similar case where a cougar stalked a young -girl, but was shot just before it was close enough to make -the final rush. As I have elsewhere related, I know of -two undoubted cases, one in Mississippi, one in Florida, -where a negro was attacked and killed by a cougar, while -alone in a swamp at night. But these occurred many -years ago. The instance related by Professor Brewer is -the only one I have come across happening in recent -years, in which the cougar actually seized a human being -with the purpose of making prey of it; though doubtless -others have occurred. I have never known the American -wolf actually to attack a human being from hunger or -to make prey of him; whereas the Old-World wolf, like -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>the Old-World leopard, undoubtedly sometimes turns -man-eater.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Even when hunted the cougar shows itself, as a rule, -an abject coward, not to be compared in courage and -prowess with the grizzly bear, and but little more dangerous -to man than is the wolf under similar circumstances. -Without dogs it is usually a mere chance that -one is killed. Goff has killed some 300 cougars during -the sixteen years he has been hunting in northwestern -Colorado, yet all but two of them were encountered while -he was with his pack; although this is in a region where -they were plentiful. When hunted with good dogs their -attention is so taken up with the pack that they have -little time to devote to men. When hunted without dogs -they never charge unless actually cornered, and, as a general -rule, not even then, unless the man chooses to come -right up to them. I knew of one Indian being killed -in 1887, and near my ranch a cowboy was mauled; but -in the first instance the cougar had been knocked down -and the Indian was bending over it when it revived; -and in the next instance, the cowboy literally came right -on top of the animal. Now, under such circumstances -either a bull elk or a blacktail buck will occasionally -fight; twice I have known of wounded wapiti regularly -charging, and one of my own cowboys, George Myer, -was very roughly handled by a blacktail buck which he -had wounded. In all his experience Goff says that save -when he approached one too close when it was cornered -by the dogs, he never but once had a cougar start to -charge him, and on that occasion it was promptly killed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>by a bullet. Usually the cougar does not even charge -at the dogs beyond a few feet, confining itself to seizing -or striking any member of the pack which comes close -up; although it will occasionally, when much irritated, -make a rapid dash and seize some bold assailant. While -I was on my hunt, one of Goff’s brothers lost a hound in -hunting a cougar; there were but two hounds, and the -cougar would not tree for them, finally seizing and killing -one that came too near. At the same time a ranchman -not far off set his cattle dog on a cougar, which after a -short run turned and killed the dog. But time and again -cougars are brought to bay or treed by dogs powerless -to do them the slightest damage; and they usually meet -their death tamely when the hunter comes up. I have -had no personal experience either with the South American -jaguar or the Old-World leopard or panther; but -these great spotted cats must be far more dangerous adversaries -than the cougar.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It is true, as I have said, that a cougar will follow -a man; but then a weasel will sometimes do the same -thing. Whatever the cougar’s motive, it is certain that -in the immense majority of cases there is not the slightest -danger of his attacking the man he follows. Dr. Hart -Merriam informs me, however, that he is satisfied that -he came across one genuine instance of a cougar killing -a man whose tracks he had dogged. It cannot be too -often repeated, that we must never lose sight of the individual -variation in character and conduct among wild -beasts. A thousand times a cougar might follow a man -either not intending or not daring to attack him, while -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>in the thousandth and first case it might be that the temper -of the beast and the conditions were such that the -attack would be made.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Other beasts show almost the same wide variation in -temper. Wolves, for instance, are normally exceedingly -wary of man. In this Colorado hunt I often came across -their tracks, and often heard their mournful, but to my -ears rather attractive, baying at night, but I never caught -a glimpse of one of them; nor during the years when I -spent much of my time on my ranch did I ever know of -a wolf venturing to approach anywhere near a man in -the day-time, though I have had them accompany me -after nightfall, and have occasionally come across them by -accident in daylight. But on the Keystone Ranch, where -I spent three weeks on this particular trip, an incident -which occurred before my arrival showed that wolves occasionally -act with extraordinary boldness. The former -owner of the ranch, Colonel Price, and one of the cowhands, -Sabey (both of whom told me the story), were -driving out in a buggy from Meeker to the ranch accompanied -by a setter dog. They had no weapon with them. -Two wolves joined them and made every effort to get -at the dog. They accompanied the wagon for nearly a -mile, venturing to within twenty yards of it. They paid -no heed whatever to the shouts and gestures of the men, -but did not quite dare to come to close quarters, and -finally abandoned their effort. Now, this action on their -part was, as far as my experience goes, quite as exceptional -among American wolves as it is exceptional for -a cougar to attack a man. Of course, these wolves were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>not after the men. They were simply after the dog; but -I have never within my own experience come upon another -instance of wolves venturing to attack a domestic -animal in the immediate presence of and protected by a -man. Exactly as these two wolves suddenly chose to -behave with an absolutely unexpected daring, so a cougar -will occasionally lose the fear of man which is inherent -in its race.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Normally, then, the cougar is not in any way a formidable -foe to man, and it is certainly by no means as -dangerous to dogs as it could be if its courage and intelligence -equalled its power to do mischief. It strikes -with its forepaw like a cat, lacerating the foe with its -sharp claws; or else it holds the animal with them, while -the muscular forearm draws it in until the fatal bite may -be inflicted. Whenever possible it strives to bite an assailant -in the head. Occasionally, when fighting with a -large dog, a cougar will throw itself on its back and try -to rip open its antagonist with its hind feet. Male cougars -often fight desperately among themselves.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Although a silent beast, yet at times, especially during -the breeding season, the males utter a wild scream, and -the females also wail or call. I once heard one cry repeatedly -after nightfall, seemingly while prowling for -game. On an evening in the summer of 1897 Dr. Merriam -had a rather singular experience with a cougar. -His party was camped in the forest by Tannum Lake, -on the east slope of the Cascades, near the headwaters -of a branch of the Yakima. The horses were feeding -near by. Shortly after dark a cougar cried loudly in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>the gloom, and the frightened horses whinnied and -stampeded. The cougar cried a number of times afterward, -but the horses did not again answer. None of -them was killed, however; and next morning, after some -labor, all were again gathered together. In 1884 I had -a somewhat similar experience with a bear, in the Big -Horn Mountains.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Occasionally, but not often, the cougars I shot snarled -or uttered a low, thunderous growl as we approached the -tree, or as the dogs came upon them in the cave. In the -death-grapple they were silent, excepting that one young -cougar snarled and squalled as it battled with the dogs.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The cougar is sometimes tamed. A friend of mine -had one which was as good-natured as possible until it -was a year old, when it died. But one kept by another -friend, while still quite young, became treacherous and -dangerous. I doubt if they would ever become as trustworthy -as a tame wolf, which, if taken when a very young -puppy, will often grow up exactly like a dog. Two or -three years ago there was such a tame wolf with the Colorado -Springs greyhounds. It was safer and more friendly -than many collies, and kept on excellent terms with the -great greyhounds; though these were themselves solely -used to hunt wolves and coyotes, and tackled them with -headlong ferocity, having, unaided, killed a score or two -of the large wolves and hundreds of coyotes.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Hunting in the snow we were able to tell very clearly -what the cougars whose trails we were following had -been doing. Goff’s eye for a trail was unerring, and he -read at a glance the lesson it taught. All the cougars -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>which we came across were living exclusively upon deer, -and their stomachs were filled with nothing else; much -hair being mixed with the meat. In each case the deer -was caught by stalking and not by lying in wait, and -the cougar never went up a tree except to get rid of the -dogs. In the day-time it retired to a ledge, or ravine, or -dense thicket, starting to prowl as the dark came on. So -far as I could see the deer in each case was killed by a -bite in the throat or neck. The cougar simply rambled -around in likely grounds until it saw or smelled its -quarry, and then crept up stealthily until with one or -two tremendous bounds it was able to seize its prey. -If, as frequently happened, the deer took alarm in -time to avoid the first few bounds, it always got away, -for though the cougar is very fast for a short distance, -it has no wind whatever. It cannot pursue a deer for -any length of time, nor run before a dog for more than -a few hundred yards, if the dog is close up at the start. -I was informed by the ranchmen that when in May the -deer leave the country, the cougars turn their attention -to the stock, and are very destructive. They have a special -fondness for horseflesh and kill almost every colt where -they are plentiful, while the big males work havoc with -the saddle bands on the ranches, as well as among the -brood mares. Except in the case of a female with young -they are roving, wandering beasts, and roam great distances. -After leaving their day lairs, on a ledge, or in -a gorge or thicket, they spend the night travelling across -the flats, along the ridges, over the spurs. When they -kill a deer they usually lie not very far away, and do -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>not again wander until they are hungry. The males -travel very long distances in the mating season. Their -breeding-time is evidently irregular. We found kittens -with their eyes not yet open in the middle of January. -Two of the female cougars we killed were pregnant—in -one case the young would have been born almost immediately, -that is, in February; and in the other case in -March. One, which had a partially grown young one -of over fifty pounds with it, still had milk in its teats. -At the end of January we found a male and female together, -evidently mating. Goff has also found the young -just dropped in May, and even in June. The females -outnumber the males. Of the fourteen we killed, but -three were males.</p> - -<p class='c010'>When a cougar kills a deer in the open it invariably -drags it under some tree or shelter before beginning to -eat. All the carcasses we came across had been thus -dragged, the trail showing distinctly in the snow. Goff, -however, asserted that in occasional instances he had -known a cougar to carry a deer so that only its legs trailed -on the ground.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The fourteen cougars we killed showed the widest -variation not only in size but in color, as shown by the -following table. Some were as slaty-gray as deer when -in the so-called “blue”; others, rufous, almost as bright -as deer in the “red.” I use these two terms to describe -the color phases; though in some instances the tint was -very undecided. The color phase evidently has nothing -to do with age, sex, season, or locality. In this table the -first cougar is the one killed by Stewart, the sixth by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>Webb. The length is measured in a straight line, “between -uprights,” from the nose to the extreme tip of the -tail, when the beast was stretched out. The animals were -weighed with the steelyard and also spring scales. Before -measuring, we pulled the beast out as straight as we -possibly could; and as the biggest male represents about, -or very nearly, the maximum for the species, it is easy -to see that there can be no basis for the talk one sometimes -hears about ten and eleven foot cougars. No cougar, -measured at all fairly, has ever come anywhere near -reaching the length of nine feet. The fresh hide can -easily be stretched a couple of feet extra. Except the first -two, all were full-grown; the biggest male was nearly -three times the size of the smallest female.</p> - -<div class='section'> - -<table class='table2' summary=''> - <tr> - <th class='btt bbt c002'>Sex.</th> - <th class='btt bbt blt c002'>Color.</th> - <th class='btt bbt blt c002' colspan='2'>Length.</th> - <th class='btt bbt blt c002'>Weight.</th> - <th class='btt bbt blt c002' colspan='2'>Date.</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <th class='c004'></th> - <th class='blt c004'> </th> - <th class='blt c002'>Feet.</th> - <th class='c002'>Inches.</th> - <th class='blt c002'>Pounds.</th> - <th class='blt c002' colspan='2'>1901.</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'> </td> - <td class='blt c004'> </td> - <td class='blt c002'> </td> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='blt c002'> </td> - <td class='blt c004'> </td> - <td class='c017'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'><a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c018'><sup>[1]</sup></a>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Blue.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>4</td> - <td class='c002'>11</td> - <td class='blt c002'>47</td> - <td class='blt c004'>January</td> - <td class='c017'>19</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'><a href='#f1' class='c018'><sup>[1]</sup></a>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Red.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>4</td> - <td class='c002'>11½</td> - <td class='blt c002'>51</td> - <td class='blt c004'>February</td> - <td class='c017'>12</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Blue.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>6</td> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='blt c002'>80</td> - <td class='blt c004'>January</td> - <td class='c017'>14</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Red.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>6</td> - <td class='c002'>4</td> - <td class='blt c002'>102</td> - <td class='blt c004'>January</td> - <td class='c017'>28</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Blue.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>6</td> - <td class='c002'>5</td> - <td class='blt c002'>105</td> - <td class='blt c004'>February</td> - <td class='c017'>12</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Blue.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>6</td> - <td class='c002'>5</td> - <td class='blt c002'>107</td> - <td class='blt c004'>January</td> - <td class='c017'>18</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Red.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>6</td> - <td class='c002'>9</td> - <td class='blt c002'>108</td> - <td class='blt c004'>January</td> - <td class='c017'>24</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Blue.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>6</td> - <td class='c002'>7</td> - <td class='blt c002'>118</td> - <td class='blt c004'>January</td> - <td class='c017'>15</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Blue.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>6</td> - <td class='c002'>7</td> - <td class='blt c002'>120</td> - <td class='blt c004'>January</td> - <td class='c017'>31</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Red.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>6</td> - <td class='c002'>9</td> - <td class='blt c002'>124</td> - <td class='blt c004'>February</td> - <td class='c017'>5</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Female.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Blue.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>7</td> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='blt c002'>133</td> - <td class='blt c004'>February</td> - <td class='c017'>8</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Male.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Red.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>7</td> - <td class='c002'>6</td> - <td class='blt c002'>160</td> - <td class='blt c004'>February</td> - <td class='c017'>13</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c004'>Male.</td> - <td class='blt c004'>Blue.</td> - <td class='blt c002'>7</td> - <td class='c002'>8</td> - <td class='blt c002'>164</td> - <td class='blt c004'>January</td> - <td class='c017'>27</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='bbt c004'>Male.</td> - <td class='bbt blt c004'>Red.</td> - <td class='bbt blt c002'>8</td> - <td class='bbt c002'> </td> - <td class='bbt blt c002'>227</td> - <td class='bbt blt c004'>February</td> - <td class='bbt c017'>14</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c010'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. Young.</p> -</div> - -</div> - -<p class='c010'>I shot five bobcats: two old males weighing 39 and 31 -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>pounds respectively; and three females, weighing, respectively, -25, 21, and 18 pounds. Webb killed two, a male -of 29 pounds and a female of 20; and Stewart two females, -one of 22 pounds, and the other a young one of 11 pounds.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I sent the cougar and bobcat skulls to Dr. Merriam, -at the Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture, -Washington. He wrote me as follows: “The big [cougar] -skull is certainly a giant. I have compared it with -the largest in our collection from British Columbia and -Wyoming, and find it larger than either. It is in fact -the largest skull of any member of the <i>Felis concolor</i> -group I have seen. A hasty preliminary examination indicates -that the animal is quite different from the northwest -coast form, but that it is the same as my horse-killer -from Wyoming—<i>Felis hippolestes</i>. In typical <i>Felis concolor</i> -from Brazil the skull is lighter, the brain-case thinner -and more smoothly rounded, devoid of the strongly -developed sagittal crest; the under jaw straighter and -lighter.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Your series of skulls from Colorado is incomparably -the largest, most complete and most valuable series ever -brought together from any single locality, and will be of -inestimable value in determining the amount of individual -variation.”</p> - -<div id='i_033' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_033.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>STARTING FOR A HUNT<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>We rode in to the Keystone Ranch late on the evening -of the second day after leaving Meeker. We had -picked up a couple of bobcats on the way, and had found -a cougar’s kill (or bait, as Goff called it)—a doe, almost -completely eaten. The dogs puzzled for several hours -over the cold trail of the cougar; but it was old, and ran -hither and thither over bare ground, so that they finally -lost it. The ranch was delightfully situated at the foot -of high wooded hills broken by cliffs, and it was pleasant -to reach the warm, comfortable log buildings, with their -clean rooms, and to revel in the abundant, smoking-hot -dinner, after the long, cold hours in the saddle. As everywhere -else in the cattle country nowadays, a successful -effort had been made to store water on the Keystone, and -there were great stretches of wire fencing—two improvements -entirely unknown in former days. But the foreman, -William Wilson, and the two punchers or cowhands, -Sabey and Collins, were of the old familiar type—skilled, -fearless, hardy, hard-working, with all the intelligence -and self-respect that we like to claim as typical -of the American character at its best. All three carried -short saddle guns when they went abroad, and killed a -good many coyotes, and now and then a gray wolf. The -cattle were for the most part grade Herefords, very different -from the wild, slab-sided, long-horned creatures -which covered the cattle country a score of years ago.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The next day, January 14th, we got our first cougar. -This kind of hunting was totally different from that to -which I had been accustomed. In the first place, there -was no need of always being on the alert for a shot, as -it was the dogs who did the work. In the next place, -instead of continually scanning the landscape, what we -had to do was to look down so as to be sure not to pass -over any tracks; for frequently a cold trail would be indicated -so faintly that the dogs themselves might pass it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>by, if unassisted by Goff’s keen eyes and thorough knowledge -of the habits of the quarry. Finally, there was no -object in making an early start, as what we expected to -find was not the cougar, but the cougar’s trail; moreover, -the horses and dogs, tough though they were, could not -stand more than a certain amount, and to ride from sunrise -to sunset, day in and day out, for five weeks, just -about tested the limits of their endurance.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We made our way slowly up the snow-covered, pinyon-clad -side of the mountain back of the house, and -found a very old cougar trail which it was useless to try -to run, and a couple of fresh bobcat trails which it was -difficult to prevent the dogs from following. After criss-crossing -over the shoulders of this mountain for two or -three hours, and scrambling in and out of the ravines, -we finally struck another cougar trail, much more recent, -probably made thirty-six hours before. The hounds had -been hunting free to one side or the other of our path. -They were now summoned by a blast of the horn, and -with a wave of Goff’s hand away they went on the trail. -Had it been fresh they would have run out of hearing -at once, for it was fearfully rough country. But they were -able to work but slowly along the loops and zigzags of -the trail, where it led across bare spaces, and we could -keep well in sight and hearing of them. Finally they -came to where it descended the sheer side of the mountain -and crossed the snow-covered valley beneath. They were -still all together, the pace having been so slow, and in -the snow of the valley the scent was fresh. It was a fine -sight to see them as they rushed across from one side to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>the other, the cliffs echoing their chiming. Jim and the -three bitches were in the lead, while Boxer fell behind, -as he always did when the pace was fast.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Leading our horses, we slid and scrambled after the -hounds; but when we reached the valley they had passed -out of sight and sound, and we did not hear them again -until we had toiled up the mountain opposite. They were -then evidently scattered, having come upon many bare -places; but while we were listening, and working our -way over to the other side of the divide, the sudden increase -in the baying told Goff that they had struck the -fresh trail of the beast they were after; and in two or -three minutes we heard Jim’s deep voice “barking treed.” -The three fighters, who had been trotting at our heels, -recognized the difference in the sound quite as quickly -as we did, and plunged at full speed toward it down the -steep hillside, throwing up the snow like so many snowploughs. -In a minute or two the chorus told us that all -the dogs were around the tree, and we picked our way -down toward them.</p> - -<p class='c010'>While we were still some distance off we could see -the cougar in a low pinyon moving about as the dogs -tried to get up, and finally knocking one clean out of the -top. It was the first time I had ever seen dogs with a -cougar, and I was immensely interested; but Stewart’s -whole concern was with his camera. When we were -within fifty yards of the tree, and I was preparing to -take the rifle out of the scabbard, Stewart suddenly called -“halt,” with the first symptoms of excitement he had -shown, and added, in an eager undertone: “Wait, there -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>is a rabbit right here, and I want to take his picture.” -Accordingly we waited, the cougar not fifty yards off and -the dogs yelling and trying to get up the tree after it, -while Stewart crept up to the rabbit and got a kodak some -six feet distant. Then we resumed our march toward the -tree, and the cougar, not liking the sight of the reinforcements, -jumped out. She came down just outside the pack -and ran up hill. So quick was she that the dogs failed -to seize her, and for the first fifty yards she went a great -deal faster than they did. Both in the jump and in the -run she held her tail straight out behind her; I found -out afterward that sometimes one will throw its tail -straight in the air, and when walking along, when first -roused by the pack, before they are close, will, if angry, -lash the tail from side to side, at the same time grinning -and snarling.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In a minute the cougar went up another tree, but, -as we approached, again jumped down, and on this occasion, -after running a couple of hundred yards, the dogs -seized it. The worry was terrific; the growling, snarling, -and yelling rang among the rocks; and leaving our horses -we plunged at full speed through the snow down the -rugged ravine in which the fight was going on. It was -a small though old female, only a few pounds heavier -than either Turk or Jim, and the dogs had the upper -hand when we arrived. They would certainly have -killed it unassisted, but as it was doing some damage to -the pack, and might at any moment kill a dog, I ended -the struggle by a knife-thrust behind the shoulder. To -shoot would have been quite as dangerous for the dogs -as for their quarry. Three of the dogs were badly -scratched, and Turk had been bitten through one foreleg, -and Boxer through one hind leg.</p> - -<div id='i_037' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_037.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE FIRST COUGAR KILLED<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>As will be seen by the measurements given before, -this was much the smallest full-grown cougar we got. It -was also one of the oldest, as its teeth showed, and it -gave me a false idea of the size of cougars; although I -knew they varied in size I was not prepared for the wide -variation we actually found.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The fighting dogs were the ones that enabled me to -use the knife. All three went straight for the head, and -when they got hold they kept their jaws shut, worrying -and pulling, and completely absorbing the attention of -the cougar, so as to give an easy chance for the deathblow. -The hounds meanwhile had seized the cougar behind, -and Jim, with his alligator jaws, probably did as -much damage as Turk. However, neither in this nor in -any other instance, did any one of the dogs manage to get -its teeth through the thick skin. When cougars fight -among themselves their claws and fangs leave great scars, -but their hides are too thick for the dogs to get their -teeth through. On the other hand, a cougar’s jaws have -great power, and dogs are frequently killed by a single -bite, the fangs being driven through the brain or spine; -or they break a dog’s leg or cut the big blood-vessels of -the throat.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I had been anxious to get a set of measurements and -weights of cougars to give to Dr. Hart Merriam. Accordingly -I was carrying a tape, while Goff, instead of -a rifle, had a steelyard in his gun scabbard. We weighed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>and measured the cougar, and then took lunch, making -as impartial a distribution of it as was possible among -ourselves and the different members of the pack; for, of -course, we were already growing to have a hearty fellow-feeling -for each individual dog.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The next day we were again in luck. After about two -hours’ ride we came upon an old trail. It led among -low hills, covered with pinyon and cedar, and broken by -gullies or washouts, in whose sharp sides of clay the water -had made holes and caves. Soon the hounds left it to -follow a bobcat, and we had a lively gallop through the -timber, dodging the sharp snags of the dead branches -as best we might. The cat got into a hole in a side -washout; Baldy went in after it, and the rest of us, men -and dogs, clustered about to look in. After a considerable -time he put the cat out of the other end of the hole, -nearly a hundred yards off, close to the main washout. -The first we knew of it we saw it coming straight toward -us, its tail held erect like that of a whitetail deer. Before -either we or the dogs quite grasped the situation it -bolted into another hole almost at our feet, and this time -Baldy could not find it, or else could not get at it. Then -we took up the cougar trail again. It criss-crossed in -every direction. We finally found an old “bait,” a buck. -It was interesting to see the way in which the cougar had -prowled from point to point, and the efforts it had made -to approach the deer which it saw or smelled. Once -we came to where it had sat down on the edge of a -cliff, sitting on its haunches with its long tail straight -behind it and looking out across the valley. After it had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>killed, according to the invariable custom of its kind, it -had dragged the deer from the open, where it had overtaken -it, to the shelter of a group of trees.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We finally struck the fresh trail; but it, also, led -hither and thither, and we got into such a maze of tracks -that the dogs were completely puzzled. After a couple -of hours of vain travelling to and fro, we gave up the -effort, called the dogs off, and started back beside a large -washout which led along between two ridges. Goff, as -usual, was leading, the dogs following and continually -skirting to one side or the other. Suddenly they all began -to show great excitement, and then one gave furious -tongue at the mouth of a hole in some sunken and broken -ground not thirty yards to our right. The whole pack -rushed toward the challenge, the fighters leaped into the -hole, and in another moment the row inside told us that -they had found a cougar at home. We jumped off and -ran down to see if we could be of assistance. To get into -the hole was impossible, for two or three hounds had -jumped down to join the fighters, and we could see nothing -but their sterns. Then we saw Turk backing out with -a dead kitten in his mouth. I had supposed that a cougar -would defend her young to the last, but such was not the -case in this instance. For some minutes she kept the dogs -at bay, but then gradually gave ground, leaving her three -kittens. Of course, the dogs killed them instantly, much -to our regret, as we would have given a good deal to -have kept them alive. As soon as she had abandoned -them, away she went completely through the low cave -or hole, leaped out of the other end, which was some -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>thirty or forty yards off, scaled the bank, and galloped -into the woods, the pack getting after her at once. She -did not run more than a couple of hundred yards, and -as we tore up on our horses we saw her standing in the -lower branches of a pinyon only six or eight feet from -the ground. She was not snarling or grinning, and -looked at us as quietly as if nothing had happened. As -we leaped out of the saddles she jumped down from the -tree and ran off through the pack. They were after her -at once, however, and a few yards farther on she started -up another tree. Either Tony or Baldy grabbed her by -the tip of the tail, she lost her footing for a moment, -and the whole pack seized her. She was a powerful female -of about the average size, being half as heavy again -as the one we first got, and made a tremendous fight; and -savage enough she looked, her ears tight back against -her head, her yellow eyes flashing, and her great teeth -showing as she grinned. For a moment the dogs had her -down, but biting and striking she freed her head and -fore quarters from the fighters, and faced us as we ran -up, the hounds still having her from behind. This was -another chance for the knife, and I cheered on the -fighters. Again they seized her by the head, but though -absolutely stanch dogs, their teeth, as I have said, had -begun to suffer, and they were no longer always able to -make their holds good. Just as I was about to strike -her she knocked Turk loose with a blow, bit Baldy, and -then, her head being free, turned upon me. Fortunately, -Tony caught her free paw on that side, while I jammed -the gun-butt into her jaws with my left hand and struck -<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>home with the right, the knife driving straight to the -heart. The deep fang marks she left in the stock, biting -the corner of the shoulder clean off, gave an idea of the -power of her jaws. If it had been the very big male -cougar which I afterward killed, the stock would doubtless -have been bitten completely in two.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The dogs were pretty well damaged, and all retired -and lay down under the trees, where they licked their -wounds, and went to sleep; growling savagely at one another -when they waked, but greeting us with demonstrative -affection, and trotting eagerly out to share our lunch -as soon as we began to eat it. Unaided, they would ultimately -have killed the cougar, but the chance of one or -two of them being killed or crippled was too great for -us to allow this to be done; and in the mix-up of the -struggle it was not possible to end it with the rifle. The -writhing, yelling tangle offered too shifting a mark; one -would have been as apt to hit a dog as the cougar. Goff -told me that the pack had often killed cougars unassisted; -but in the performance of such feats the best dogs were -frequently killed, and this was not a risk to be taken -lightly.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In some books the writers speak as if the male and -female cougar live together and jointly seek food for the -young. We never found a male cougar anywhere near -either a female with young or a pregnant female. According -to my observation the male only remains with -the female for a short time, during the mating season, at -which period he travels great distances in search of his -temporary mates—for the females far outnumber the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>males. The cougar is normally a very solitary beast. -The young—two to four in number, though more than -one or two rarely grow up—follow the mother until over -half grown. The mother lives entirely alone with the -kittens while they are small. As the males fight so -fiercely among themselves, it may be that the old he-cougars -kill the young of their own sex; a ranchman whom -I knew once found the body of a young male cougar -which had evidently been killed by an old one; but I -cannot say whether or not this was an exceptional case.</p> - -<p class='c010'>During the next ten days Stewart and Webb each shot -a cougar. Webb’s was got by as pretty an exhibition of -trailing on the part of Goff and his hounds as one could -wish to see. We ran across its old tracks while coming -home on Wednesday, January 16th. The next day, -Thursday, we took up the trail, but the animal had travelled -a long distance; and, as cougars so often do, had -spent much of its time walking along ledges, or at the -foot of the cliffs, where the sun had melted the snow off -the ground. In consequence, the dogs were often at fault. -Moreover, bobcats were numerous, and twice the pack -got after one, running a couple of hours before, in one -instance, the cat went into a cave, and, in the other, took -to a tree, where it was killed by Webb. At last, when -darkness came on, we were forced to leave the cougar -trail and ride home; a very attractive ride, too, loping -rapidly over the snow-covered flats, while above us the -great stars fairly blazed in the splendor of the winter -night.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Early next morning we again took up the trail, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>after a little while found where it was less than thirty-six -hours old. The dogs now ran it well, but were thrown -out again on a large bare hillside, until Boxer succeeded -in recovering the scent. They went up a high mountain -and we toiled after them. Again they lost the trail, and -while at fault jumped a big bobcat which they ran up -a tree. After shooting him we took lunch, and started -to circle for the trail. Most of the dogs kept with Goff, -but Jim got off to one side on his own account; and suddenly -his baying told us that he had jumped the cougar. -The rest of the pack tore toward him and after a quarter -of a mile run they had the quarry treed. The ground -was too rough for riding, and we had to do some stiff -climbing to get to it on foot.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Stewart’s cougar was a young of the year, and, according -to his custom, he took several photographs of it. -Then he tried to poke it so that it would get into a better -position for the camera; whereupon it jumped out of the -tree and ran headlong down hill, the yelling dogs but a -few feet behind. Our horses had been left a hundred -yards or so below, where they all stood, moping, with -their heads drooped and their eyes half shut, in regular -cow-pony style. The chase streamed by not a yard from -their noses, but evidently failed to arouse even an emotion -of interest in their minds, for they barely looked up, and -made not a movement of any kind when the cougar treed -again just below them.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We killed several bobcats; and we also got another -cougar, this time in rather ignominious fashion. We -had been running a bobcat, having an excellent gallop, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>during the course of which Stewart’s horse turned a -somersault. Without our knowledge the dogs changed -to the fresh trail of a cougar, which they ran into its den -in another cut bank. When we reached the place they -had gone in after it, Baldy dropping into a hole at the -top of the bank, while the others crawled into the main -entrance, some twenty-five yards off at the bottom. It -was evidently a very rough house inside, and above the -baying, yelping, and snarling of the dogs we could hear -the rumbling overtone of the cougar’s growl. On this -day we had taken along Queen, the white bull bitch, to -“enter” her at cougar. It was certainly a lively experience -for a first entry. We reached the place in time -to keep Jim and the hound bitches out of the hole. It -was evident that the dogs could do nothing with the cougar -inside. They could only come at it in front, and -under such circumstances its claws and teeth made the -odds against them hopeless. Every now and then it -would charge, driving them all back, and we would then -reach in, seize a dog and haul him out. At intervals there -would be an awful yelling and a hound would come out -bleeding badly, quite satisfied, and without the slightest -desire to go in again. Poor Baldy was evidently killed -inside. Queen, Turk, and Tony were badly clawed and -bitten, and we finally got them out too; Queen went in -three times, and came out on each occasion with a fresh -gash or bite; Turk was, at the last, the only one really -anxious to go in again. Then we tried to smoke out -the cougar, for as one of the dogs had gotten into the -cave through an upper entrance, we supposed the cougar -could get out by the same route. However, it either -could not or would not bolt; coming down close to the -entrance where we had built the sage-brush fire, there -it stayed until it was smothered. We returned to the -ranch carrying its skin, but not over-pleased, and the -pack much the worse for wear. Dr. Webb had to sew -up the wounds of three of the dogs. One, Tony, was -sent back to the home ranch, where he died. In such -rough hunting as this, it is of course impossible to prevent -occasional injuries to the dogs when they get the -cougar in a cave, or overtake him on the ground. All -that can be done is to try to end the contest as speedily -as possible, which we always did.</p> - -<div id='i_044' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_044.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>AFTER THE FIGHT<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>Judging from the experience of certain friends of -mine in the Argentine, I think it would be safe to crawl -into a cave to shoot a cougar under normal circumstances; -but in this instance the cave was a long, winding hole, -so low that we could not get in on hands and knees, having -to work our way on our elbows. It was pitch dark -inside, so that the rifle sights could not be seen, and the -cougar was evidently very angry and had on two or three -occasions charged the dogs, driving them out of the entrance -of the hole. In the dark, the chances were strongly -against killing it with a single shot; while if only -wounded, and if it had happened to charge, the man, in -his cramped position, would have been utterly helpless.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The day after the death of the smoked-out cougar -Stewart and Webb started home. Then it snowed for two -days, keeping us in the ranch. While the snow was falling, -there was no possibility of finding or following -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>tracks; and as a rule wild creatures lie close during a -storm. We were glad to have fresh snow, for the multitude -of tracks in the old snow had become confusing; and -not only the southern hillsides but the larger valleys had -begun to grow bare, so that trailing was difficult.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The third day dawned in brilliant splendor, and when -the sun arose all the land glittered dazzling white under -his rays. The hounds were rested, we had fresh horses, -and after an early breakfast we started to make a long -circle. All the forenoon and early afternoon we plodded -through the snowdrifts, up and down the valleys, and -along the ridge crests, without striking a trail. The dogs -trotted behind us or circled from one side to the other. -It was no small test of their stanchness, eager and fresh -as they were, for time after time we aroused bands of -deer, to which they paid no heed whatever. At last, in -mid-afternoon, we suddenly struck the tracks of two -cougars, one a very large one, an old male. They had -been playing and frolicking together, for they were evidently -mating, and the snow in the tracks showed that -they had started abroad before the storm was entirely -over. For three hours the pack followed the cold trail, -through an exceedingly rugged and difficult country, in -which Goff helped them out again and again.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Just at sunset the cougars were jumped, and ran -straight into and through a tangle of spurs and foothills, -broken by precipices, and riven by long deep ravines. -The two at first separated and then came together, with -the result that Tree’em, Bruno, and Jimmie got on the -back trail and so were left far behind; while old Boxer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>also fell to the rear, as he always did when the scent was -hot, and Jim and the bitches were left to do the running -by themselves. In the gathering gloom we galloped -along the main divide, my horse once falling on a slippery -sidehill, as I followed headlong after Goff—whose -riding was like the driving of the son of Nimshi. The -last vestige of sunlight disappeared, but the full moon -was well up in the heavens when we came to a long spur, -leading off to the right for two or three miles, beyond -which we did not think the chase could have gone. It -had long run out of hearing. Making our way down the -rough and broken crest of this spur, we finally heard -far off the clamorous baying which told us that the -hounds had their quarry at bay. We did not have the -fighters with us, as they were still under the weather from -the results of their encounter in the cave.</p> - -<p class='c010'>As it afterward appeared, the cougars had run three -miles before the dogs overtook them, making their way -up, down and along such difficult cliffs that the pack had -to keep going round. The female then went up a tree, -while the pack followed the male. He would not climb a -tree and came to bay on the edge of a cliff. A couple of -hundred yards from the spot, we left the horses and -scrambled along on foot, guided by the furious clamor -of the pack. When we reached them, the cougar had -gone along the face of the cliff, most of the dogs could -not see him, and it was some time before we could make -him out ourselves. Then I got up quite close. Although -the moonlight was bright I could not see the sights of -my rifle, and fired a little too far back. The bullet, however, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>inflicted a bad wound, and the cougar ran along a -ledge, disappearing around the cliff-shoulder. The conduct -of the dogs showed that he had not left the cliff, but -it was impossible to see him either from the sides or from -below. The cliff was about a hundred feet high and the -top overhung the bottom, while from above the ground -sloped down to the brink at a rather steep angle, so that -we had to be cautious about our footing. There was a -large projecting rock on the brink; to this I clambered -down, and, holding it with one hand, peeped over the -edge. After a minute or two I made out first the tail and -then the head of the cougar, who was lying on a narrow -ledge only some ten feet below me, his body hidden -by the overhang of the cliff. Thanks to the steepness -of the incline, I could not let go of the rock with my -left hand, because I should have rolled over; so I got -Goff to come down, brace his feet against the projection, -and grasp me by my legs. He then lowered me gently -down until my head and shoulders were over the edge -and my arms free; and I shot the cougar right between -the ears, he being in a straight line underneath me. The -dogs were evidently confident that he was going to be -shot, for they had all gathered below the cliff to wait for -him to fall; and sure enough, down he came with a crash, -luckily not hitting any of them. We could hear them -seize him, and they all, dead cougar and worrying dogs, -rolled at least a hundred yards down the steep slope before -they were stopped by a gully. It was an interesting -experience, and one which I shall not soon forget. -We clambered down to where the dogs were, admired -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>our victim, and made up our minds not to try to skin him -until the morning. Then we led down our horses, with -some difficulty, into the snow-covered valley, mounted -them, and cantered home to the ranch, under the cold and -brilliant moon, through a white wonderland of shimmering -light and beauty.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Next morning we came back as early as possible, intending -first to skin the male and then to hunt up the -female. A quarter of a mile before we reached the carcass -we struck her fresh trail in the snow of the valley. -Calling all the dogs together and hustling them forward, -we got them across the trail without their paying -any attention to it; for we wanted to finish the job of -skinning before taking up the hunt. However, when we -got off our horses and pulled the cougar down to a flat -place to skin it, Nellie, who evidently remembered that -there had been another cougar besides the one we had -accounted for, started away on her own account while -we were not looking. The first thing we knew we heard -her giving tongue on the mountains above us, in such -rough country that there was no use in trying to head her -off. Accordingly we jumped on the horses again, rode -down to where we had crossed the trail and put the -whole pack on it. After crossing the valley the cougar -had moved along the ledges of a great spur or chain of -foothills, and as this prevented the dogs going too fast -we were able to canter alongside them up the valley, -watching them and listening to their chiming. We -finally came to a large hillside bare of snow, much broken -with rocks, among which grew patches of brush and scattered -<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>pinyons. Here the dogs were at fault for over an -hour. It had evidently been a favorite haunt of the cougars; -they had moved to and fro across it, and had lain -sunning themselves in the dust under the ledges. Owing -to the character of the ground we could give the hounds -no assistance, but they finally puzzled out the trail for -themselves. We were now given a good illustration of -the impossibility of jumping a cougar without dogs, even -when in a general way its haunt is known. We rode -along the hillside, and quartered it to and fro, on the -last occasion coming down a spur where we passed within -two or three rods of the brush in which the cougar was -actually lying; but she never moved and it was impossible -to see her. When we finally reached the bottom, -the dogs had disentangled the trail; and they passed behind -us at a good rate, going up almost where we had -come down. Even as we looked we saw the cougar rise -from her lair, only fifty yards or so ahead of them, her -red hide showing bright in the sun. It was a very pretty -run to watch while it lasted. She left them behind at -first, but after a quarter of a mile they put her up a pinyon. -Approaching cautiously—for the climbing was -hard work and I did not wish to frighten her out of the -tree if it could be avoided, lest she might make such a -run as that of the preceding evening—I was able to shoot -her through the heart. She died in the branches, and -I climbed the tree to throw her down. The only skill -needed in such shooting is in killing the cougar outright -so as to save the dogs. Six times on the hunt I shot the -cougar through the heart. Twice the animal died in -the branches. In the other four cases it sprang out of -the tree, head and tail erect, eyes blazing, and the mouth -open in a grin of savage hate and anger; but it was practically -dead when it touched the ground.</p> - -<div id='i_050' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_050.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>COUGAR IN A TREE<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>Although these cougars were mates, they were not of -the same color, the female being reddish, while the male -was slate-colored. In weighing this male we had to -take off the hide and weigh it separately (with the head -and paws attached), for our steelyard only went up to -150 pounds. When we came to weigh the biggest male -we had to take off the quarters as well as the hide.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Thinking that we had probably exhausted the cougars -around the Keystone Ranch, we spent the next fortnight -off on a trip. We carried only what we could put in -the small saddle-pockets—our baggage being as strictly -limited as it ought to be with efficient cavalry who are -on an active campaign. We worked hard, but, as so often -happens, our luck was not in proportion to our labor.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The first day we rode to the Mathes brothers’ ranch. -On the high divides it was very cold, the thermometer -standing at nearly twenty degrees below zero. But we -were clad for just such weather, and were not uncomfortable. -The three Mathes brothers lived together, with -the wives and children of the two married ones. Their -ranch was in a very beautiful and wild valley, the pinyon-crowned -cliffs rising in walls on either hand. Deer were -abundant and often in sight from the ranch doors. At -night the gray wolves came down close to the buildings -and howled for hours among the precipices, under the -light of the full moon. The still cold was intense; but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>I could not resist going out for half an hour at a time -to listen to them. To me their baying, though a very -eerie and lonesome sound, full of vaguely sinister associations, -has, nevertheless, a certain wild music of its own -which is far from being without charm.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We did not hear the cougars calling, for they are certainly -nothing like as noisy as wolves; yet the Mathes -brothers had heard them several times, and once one of -them had crept up and seen the cougar, which remained -in the same place for many minutes, repeating its cry -continually. The Mathes had killed but two cougars, -not having any dogs trained to hunt them. One of these -was killed under circumstances which well illustrate the -queer nature of the animal. The three men, with one of -their two cattle dogs, were walking up the valley not half -a mile above the ranch-house, when they saw a cougar -crossing in front of them, a couple of hundred yards off. -As soon as she saw them she crouched flat down with -her head toward them, remaining motionless. Two, with -the dog, stayed where they were, while the other ran -back to the ranch-house for a rifle and for the other dog. -No sooner had he gone than the cougar began deliberately -to crawl toward the men who were left. She came -on slowly but steadily, crouched almost flat to the ground. -The two unarmed men were by no means pleased with -her approach. They waved their hands and jumped -about and shouted; but she kept approaching, although -slowly, and was well within a hundred yards when the -other brother arrived, out of breath, accompanied by the -other dog. At sight of him she jumped up, ran off a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>couple of hundred yards, went up a tree, and was killed. -I do not suppose she would have attacked the men; but -as there was an unpleasant possibility that she might, they -both felt distinctly more comfortable when their brother -rejoined them with the rifle.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There was a good deal of snowy weather while we -were at the Mathes ranch, but we had fair luck, killing -two cougars. It was most comfortable, for the ranch -was clean and warm, and the cooking delicious. It does -not seem to me that I ever tasted better milk and butter, -hot biscuits, rice, potatoes, pork and bulberry and wild-plum -jam; and of course the long days on horseback in the -cold weather gave an edge to our appetites. One stormy -day we lost the hounds, and we spent most of the next day -in finding such of them as did not come straggling in of -their own accord. The country was very rough, and it -was astounding to see some of the places up and down -which we led the horses. Sometimes I found that my -horse climbed rather better than I did, for he would come -up some awkward-looking slope with such a rush that I -literally had to scramble on all-fours to get out of his -way.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There was no special incident connected with killing -either of these two cougars. In one case Goff himself -took the lead in working out the trail and preventing the -hounds getting off after bobcats. In the other case the -trail was fresher and the dogs ran it by themselves, getting -into a country where we could not follow; it was -very rough, and the cliffs and gorges rang with their -baying. In both cases they had the cougar treed for about -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>three hours before we were able to place them and walk -up to them. It was hard work, toiling through the snow -over the cliffs toward the baying; and on each occasion -the cougar leaped from the tree at our approach, and ran -a quarter of a mile or so before going up another, where -it was shot. As I came up to shoot, most of the dogs paid -no attention, but Boxer and Nellie always kept looking -at me until I actually raised the rifle, when they began -to spring about the spot where they thought the cougar -would come down. The cougar itself always seemed -to recognize the man as the dangerous opponent; and as -I strode around to find a place from whence I could -deliver an instantaneously fatal shot, it would follow me -steadily with its evil yellow eyes. I came up very close, -but the beasts never attempted to jump at me. Judging -from what one reads in books about Indian and African -game, a leopard under such circumstances would certainly -sometimes charge.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Three days of our trip were spent on a ride to Colorow -Mountain; we went down to Judge Foreman’s ranch -on White River to pass the night. We got another cougar -on the way. She must really be credited to Jim. The -other dogs were following in our footsteps through the -snow, after having made various futile excursions of their -own. When we found that Jim was missing, we tried in -vain to recall him with the horn, and at last started to -hunt him up. After an hour’s ride we heard him off on -the mountain, evidently following a trail, but equally -evidently not yet having jumped the animal. The hounds -heard him quite as quickly as we did, and started toward -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>him. Soon we heard the music of the whole pack, which -grew fainter and fainter, and was lost entirely as they -disappeared around a spur, and then began to grow loud -again, showing that they were coming toward us. Suddenly -a change in the note convinced us that they had -jumped the quarry. We stood motionless; nearer and -nearer they came; and then a sudden burst of clamor proclaimed -that they were barking treed. We had to ride -only a couple of hundred yards; I shot the cougar from -across a little ravine. She was the largest female we got.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The dogs were a source of unceasing amusement, not -merely while hunting, but because of their relations to -one another when off duty. Queen’s temper was of the -shortest toward the rest of the pack, although, like Turk, -she was fond of literally crawling into my lap, when we -sat down to rest after the worry which closed the chase. -As soon as I began to eat my lunch, all the dogs clustered -close around and I distributed small morsels to each in -turn. Once Jimmie, Queen, and Boxer were sitting side -by side, tightly wedged together. I treated them with -entire impartiality; and soon Queen’s feelings overcame -her, and she unostentatiously but firmly bit Jimmie in the -jaw. Jimmie howled tremendously and Boxer literally -turned a back somersault, evidently fearing lest his turn -should come next.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On February 11th we rode back to the Keystone -Ranch, carrying the three cougar skins behind our saddles. -It was again very cold, and the snow on the divides was -so deep that our horses wallowed through it up to their -saddle-girths. I supposed that my hunt was practically -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>at an end, for I had but three days left; but as it turned -out these were the three most lucky days of the whole -trip.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The weather was beautiful, the snow lying deep -enough to give the dogs easy trailing even on the southern -slopes. Under the clear skies the landscape was dazzling, -and I had to wear snow-glasses. On the first of the -three days, February 12th, we had not ridden half an -hour from the ranch before we came across the trail of -a very big bobcat. It was so heavy that it had broken -through the crust here and there, and we decided that -it was worth following. The trail went up a steep mountain -to the top, and we followed on foot after the dogs. -Among the cliffs on the top they were completely at fault, -hunting every which way. After awhile Goff suddenly -spied the cat, which had jumped off the top of a cliff into -a pinyon. I killed it before any of the dogs saw it, and -at the shot they all ran in the wrong direction. When -they did find us skinning it, they were evidently not at -all satisfied that it was really their bobcat—the one which -they had been trailing. Usually as soon as the animal -was killed they all lay down and dozed off; but on this -occasion they kept hurrying about and then in a body -started on the back trail. It was some time before we -could get them together again.</p> - -<p class='c010'>After we had brought them in we rode across one or -two ridges, and up and down the spurs without finding -anything, until about noon we struck up a long winding -valley where we came across one or two old cougar trails. -The pack were following in our footsteps behind the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>horses, except Jim, who took off to one side by himself. -Suddenly he began to show signs that he had come across -traces of game; and in another moment he gave tongue -and all the hounds started toward him. They quartered -around in the neighborhood of a little gulch for a short -while, and then streamed off up the mountain-side; and -before they had run more than a couple of minutes we -heard them barking treed. By making a slight turn we -rode almost up to the tree, and saw that their quarry was -a young cougar. As we came up, it knocked Jimmie -right out of the tree. On seeing us it jumped down and -started to run, but it was not quite quick enough. Turk -seized it and in a minute the dogs had it stretched out. It -squalled, hissed, and made such a good fight that I put -an end to the struggle with the knife, fearing lest it might -maim one of the hounds.</p> - -<p class='c010'>While Goff was skinning it I wandered down to the -kill near which it had been lying. This was a deer, almost -completely devoured. It had been killed in the valley -and dragged up perhaps a hundred yards to some -cedars. I soon saw from the tracks around the carcass -that there was an older cougar with the younger one—doubtless -its mother—and walked back to Goff with the -information. Before I got there, however, some of the -pack had made the discovery for themselves. Jim, evidently -feeling that he had done his duty, had curled up -and gone to sleep, with most of the others; but old Boxer -and the three bitches (Pete had left her pups and joined -us about the time we roused the big bobcat), hunted about -until they struck the fresh trail of the old female. They -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>went off at a great rate, and the sleeping dogs heard them -and scampered away to the sound. The trail led them -across a spur, into a valley, and out of it up the precipitous -side of another mountain. When we got to the edge -of the valley we could hear them barking treed nearly -at the summit of the mountain opposite. It was over an -hour’s stiff climbing before we made our way around to -them, although we managed to get the horses up to within -a quarter of a mile of the spot. On approaching we found -the cougar in a leaning pinyon on a ledge at the foot of -a cliff. Jimmie was in the lower branches of the pinyon, -and Turk up above him, within a few feet of the cougar. -Evidently he had been trying to tackle her and had been -knocked out of the tree at least once, for he was bleeding -a good deal and there was much blood on the snow -beneath. Yet he had come back into the tree, and was -barking violently not more than three feet beyond her -stroke. She kept up a low savage growling, and as soon -as I appeared, fixed her yellow eyes on me, glaring and -snarling as I worked around into a place from which -I could kill her outright. Meanwhile Goff took up his -position on the other side, hoping to get a photograph -when I shot. My bullet went right through her heart. -She bit her paw, stretched up her head and bit a branch, -and then died where she was, while Turk leaped forward -at the crack of the rifle and seized her in the branches. -I had some difficulty in bundling him and Jimmie out of -the tree as I climbed up to throw down the cougar.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Next morning we started early, intending to go to -Juniper Mountain, where we had heard that cougars -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>were plentiful; but we had only ridden about half an -hour from the ranch when we came across a trail which -by the size we knew must belong to an old male. It was -about thirty-six hours old and led into a tangle of bad -lands where there was great difficulty in working it -out. Finally, however, we found where it left these bad -lands and went straight up a mountain-side, too steep for -the horses to follow. From the plains below we watched -the hounds working to and fro until they entered a patch -of pinyons in which we were certain the cougar had -killed a deer, as ravens and magpies were sitting around -in the trees. In these pinyons the hounds were again at -fault for a little while, but at last evidently found the -right trail, and followed it up over the hill-crest and out -of sight. We then galloped hard along the plain to the -left, going around the end of the ridge and turning to -our right on the other side. Here we entered a deep -narrow valley or gorge which led up to a high plateau -at the farther end. On our right, as we rode up the -valley, lay the high and steep ridge over which the hounds -had followed the trail. On the left it was still steeper, -the slope being broken by ledges and precipices. Near -the mouth of the gorge we encountered the hounds, who -had worked the trail down and across the gorge, and were -now hunting up the steep cliff-shoulder on our left. Evidently -the cougar had wandered to and fro over this -shoulder, and the dogs were much puzzled and worked -in zigzags and circles around it, gradually getting clear -to the top. Then old Boxer suddenly gave tongue with -renewed zest and started off at a run almost on top of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>the ridge, the other dogs following. Immediately afterward -they jumped the cougar.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We had been waiting below to see which direction the -chase would take and now put spurs to our horses and -galloped up the ravine, climbing the hillside on our right -so as to get a better view of what was happening. A few -hundred yards of this galloping and climbing brought us -again in sight of the hounds. They were now barking -treed and were clustered around a pinyon below the ridge -crest on the side hill opposite us. The two fighters, Turk -and Queen, who had been following at our horses’ heels, -appreciated what had happened as soon as we did, and, -leaving us, ran down into the valley and began to work -their way through the deep snow up the hillside opposite, -toward where the hounds were. Ours was an ideal position -for seeing the whole chase. In a minute the cougar -jumped out of the tree down among the hounds, who -made no attempt to seize him, but followed him as soon -as he had cleared their circle. He came down hill at a -great rate and jumped over a low cliff, bringing after -him such an avalanche of snow that it was a moment -before I caught sight of him again, this time crouched -on a narrow ledge some fifteen or twenty feet below -the brink from which he had jumped, and about as far -above the foot of the cliff, where the steep hill-slope -again began. The hounds soon found him and came -along the ledge barking loudly, but not venturing near -where he lay facing them, with his back arched like -a great cat. Turk and Queen were meanwhile working -their way up hill. Turk got directly under the ledge -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>and could not find a way up. Queen went to the left and -in a minute we saw her white form as she made her way -through the dark-colored hounds straight for the cougar. -“That’s the end of Queen,” said Goff; “he’ll kill her -now, sure.” In another moment she had made her rush -and the cougar, bounding forward, had seized her, and -as we afterward discovered had driven his great fangs -right through the side of her head, fortunately missing -the brain. In the struggle he lost his footing and rolled -off the ledge, and when they struck the ground below he -let go of the bitch. Turk, who was near where they -struck, was not able to spring for the hold he desired, and -in another moment the cougar was coming down hill like -a quarter-horse. We stayed perfectly still, as he was -travelling in our direction. Queen was on her feet almost -as quick as the cougar, and she and Turk tore after -him, the hounds following in a few seconds, being delayed -in getting off the ledge. It was astonishing to see -the speed of the cougar. He ran considerably more than -a quarter of a mile down hill, and at the end of it had -left the dogs more than a hundred yards behind. But his -bolt was shot, and after going perhaps a hundred yards -or so up the hill on our side and below us, he climbed -a tree, under which the dogs began to bay frantically, -while we scrambled toward them. When I got down I -found him standing half upright on a big branch, his -forepaws hung over another higher branch, his sides puffing -like bellows, and evidently completely winded. In -scrambling up the pinyon he must have struck a patch -of resin, for it had torn a handful of hair off from behind -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>his right forearm. I shot him through the heart. At the -shot he sprang clean into the top of the tree, head and -tail up, and his face fairly demoniac with rage; but before -he touched the ground he was dead. Turk jumped -up, seized him as he fell, and the two rolled over a low -ledge, falling about eight feet into the snow, Turk never -losing his hold.</p> - -<p class='c010'>No one could have wished to see a prettier chase under -better circumstances. It was exceedingly interesting. -The only dog hurt was Queen, and very miserable indeed -she looked. She stood in the trail, refusing to lie down -or to join the other dogs, as, with prodigious snarls at one -another, they ate the pieces of the carcass we cut out for -them. Dogs hunting every day, as these were doing, and -going through such terrific exertion, need enormous -quantities of meat, and as old horses and crippled steers -were not always easy to get, we usually fed them the cougar -carcasses. On this occasion, when they had eaten -until they could eat no longer, I gave most of my lunch to -Queen—Boxer, who after his feast could hardly move, -nevertheless waddling up with his ears forward to beg -a share. Queen evidently felt that the lunch was a delicacy, -for she ate it, and then trotted home behind us with -the rest of the dogs. Rather to my astonishment, next -day she was all right, and as eager to go with us as ever. -Though one side of her head was much swollen, in her -work she showed no signs of her injuries.</p> - -<div id='i_063' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_063.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>“BARKING TREED”<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>Early the following morning, February 14th, the last -day of my actual hunting, we again started for Juniper -Mountain, following the same course on which we had -started the previous day. Before we had gone a mile, -that is, only about half-way to where we had come across -the cougar track the preceding day, we crossed another, -and as we deemed a fresher, trail, which Goff pronounced -to belong to a cougar even larger than the one we had -just killed. The hounds were getting both weary and -footsore, but the scent put heart into them and away they -streamed. They followed it across a sage-brush flat, and -then worked along under the base of a line of cliffs—cougar -being particularly apt thus to travel at the foot of -cliffs. The pack kept well together, and it was pleasant, -as we cantered over the snowy plain beside them, to listen -to their baying, echoed back from the cliffs above. -Then they worked over the hill and we spurred ahead -and turned to the left, up the same gorge or valley in -which we had killed the cougar the day before. The -hounds followed the trail straight to the cliff-shoulder -where the day before the pack had been puzzled until -Boxer struck the fresh scent. Here they seemed to be -completely at fault, circling everywhere, and at one time -following their track of yesterday over to the pinyon-tree -up which the cougar had first gone.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We made our way up the ravine to the head of the -plateau, and then, turning, came back along the ridge -until we reached the top of the shoulder where the dogs -had been; but when we got there they had disappeared. -It did not seem likely that the cougar had crossed the -ravine behind us—although as a matter of fact this was -exactly what had happened—and we did not know what -to make of the affair.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>We could barely hear the hounds; they had followed -their back trail of the preceding day, toward the place -where we had first come across the tracks of the cougar -we had already killed. We were utterly puzzled, even -Goff being completely at fault, and we finally became -afraid that the track which the pack had been running -was one which, instead of having been made during the -night, had been there the previous morning, and had been -made by the dead cougar. This meant, of course, that -we had passed it without noticing it, both going and coming, -on the previous day, and knowing Goff’s eye for a -track I could not believe this. He, however, thought we -might have confused it with some of the big wolf tracks, -of which a number had crossed our path. After some -hesitation, he said that at any rate we could find out the -truth by getting back into the flat and galloping around -to where we had begun our hunt the day before; because -if the dogs really had a fresh cougar before them he must -have so short a start that they were certain to tree him -by the time they got across the ridge crest. Accordingly -we scrambled down the precipitous mountain-side, galloped -along the flat around the end of the ridge and drew -rein at about the place where we had first come across -the cougar trail on the previous day. Not a dog was to -be heard anywhere, and Goff’s belief that the pack was -simply running a back track became a certainty both in -his mind and mine, when Jim suddenly joined us, evidently -having given up the chase. We came to the conclusion -that Jim, being wiser than the other dogs, had -discovered his mistake while they had not; “he just naturally -quit,” said Goff.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>After some little work we found where the pack had -crossed the broad flat valley into a mass of very rough -broken country, the same in which I had shot my first -big male by moonlight. Cantering and scrambling -through this stretch of cliffs and valleys, we began to hear -the dogs, and at first were puzzled because once or twice -it seemed as though they were barking treed or had something -at bay; always, however, as we came nearer we -could again hear them running a trail, and when we -finally got up tolerably close we found that they were all -scattered out. Boxer was far behind, and Nellie, whose -feet had become sore, was soberly accompanying him, no -longer giving tongue. The others were separated one -from the other, and we finally made out Tree’em all by -himself, and not very far away. In vain Goff called and -blew his horn; Tree’em disappeared up a high hillside, -and with muttered comments on his stupidity we galloped -our horses along the valley around the foot of the -hill, hoping to intercept him. No sooner had we come -to the other side, however, than we heard Tree’em evidently -barking treed. We looked at one another, wondering -whether he had come across a bobcat, or whether -it had really been a fresh cougar trail after all.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Leaving our horses we scrambled up the canyon until -we got in sight of a large pinyon on the hillside, underneath -which Tree’em was standing, with his preposterous -tail arched like a pump-handle, as he gazed solemnly -up in the tree, now and then uttering a bark at a huge -cougar, which by this time we could distinctly make out -standing in the branches. Turk and Queen had already -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>left us and were running hard to join Tree’em, and in another -minute or two all of the hounds, except the belated -Boxer and Nellie, had also come up. The cougar having -now recovered his wind, jumped down and cantered off. -He had been running for three hours before the dogs and -evidently had been overtaken again and again, but had -either refused to tree, or if he did tree had soon come -down and continued his flight, the hounds not venturing -to meddle with him, and he paying little heed to them. -It was a different matter, however, with Turk and Queen -along. He went up the hill and came to bay on the top -of the cliffs, where we could see him against the sky-line. -The hounds surrounded him, but neither they nor Turk -came to close quarters. Queen, however, as soon as she -arrived rushed straight in, and the cougar knocked her -a dozen feet off. Turk tried to seize him as soon as Queen -had made her rush; the cougar broke bay, and they all disappeared -over the hill-top, while we hurried after them. -A quarter of a mile beyond, on the steep hillside, they -again had him up a pinyon-tree. I approached as cautiously -as possible so as not to alarm him. He stood in -such an awkward position that I could not get a fair -shot at the heart, but the bullet broke his back, and -the dogs seized him as he struck the ground. There -was still any amount of fight in him, and I ran in as -fast as possible, jumping and slipping over the rocks -and the bushes as the cougar and dogs rolled and slid -down the steep mountain-side—for, of course, every minute’s -delay meant the chance of a dog being killed or -crippled. It was a day of misfortunes for Jim, who was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>knocked completely out of the fight by a single blow. -The cougar was too big for the dogs to master, even crippled -as he was; but when I came up close Turk ran in -and got the great beast by one ear, stretching out the cougar’s -head, while he kept his own forelegs tucked way -back so that the cougar could not get hold of them. This -gave me my chance and I drove the knife home, leaping -back before the creature could get round at me. Boxer -did not come up for half an hour, working out every inch -of the trail for himself, and croaking away at short intervals, -while Nellie trotted calmly beside him. Even -when he saw us skinning the cougar he would not hurry -nor take a short cut, but followed the scent to where the -cougar had gone up the tree, and from the tree down to -where we were; then he meditatively bit the carcass, -strolled off, and lay down, satisfied.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It was a very large cougar, fat and heavy, and the men -at the ranch believed it was the same one which had at -intervals haunted the place for two or three years, killing -on one occasion a milch cow, on another a steer, and -on yet another a big work horse. Goff stated that he had -on two or three occasions killed cougars that were quite -as long, and he believed even an inch or two longer, but -that he had never seen one as large or as heavy. Its -weight was 227 pounds, and as it lay stretched out it -looked like a small African lioness. It would be impossible -to wish a better ending to a hunt.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The next day Goff and I cantered thirty miles into -Meeker, and my holiday was over.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER II<br /> <span class='large'>A COLORADO BEAR HUNT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>In mid-April, nineteen hundred and five, our party, -consisting of Philip B. Stewart, of Colorado Springs, and -Dr. Alexander Lambert, of New York, in addition to myself, -left Newcastle, Col., for a bear hunt. As guides and -hunters we had John Goff and Jake Borah, than whom -there are no better men at their work of hunting bear -in the mountains with hounds. Each brought his own -dogs; all told, there were twenty-six hounds, and four -half-blood terriers to help worry the bear when at bay. -We travelled in comfort, with a big pack-train, spare -horses for each of us, and a cook, packers, and horse-wranglers. I carried one of the new model Springfield -military rifles, a 30–40, with a soft-nosed bullet—a very -accurate and hard-hitting gun.</p> - -<div id='i_068' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_068.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>STARTING FOR CAMP<br /><br />From a stereograph, copyright, 1905, by Underwood and Underwood</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>This first day we rode about twenty miles to where -camp was pitched on the upper waters of East Divide -Creek. It was a picturesque spot. At this altitude it was -still late winter and the snow lay in drifts, even in the -creek bottom, while the stream itself was not yet clear -from ice. The tents were pitched in a grove of leafless -aspens and great spruces, beside the rushing, ice-rimmed -brook. The cook tent, with its stove, was an attractive -place on the cool mornings and in stormy weather. Fry, -the cook, a most competent man, had rigged up a table, -and we had folding camp-chairs—luxuries utterly unknown -to my former camping trips. Each day we breakfasted -early and dined ten or twelve hours later, on returning -from the day’s hunt; and as we carried no lunch, -the two meals were enjoyed with ravenous pleasure by the -entire company. The horses were stout, tough, shaggy -beasts, of wonderful staying power, and able to climb like -cats. The country was very steep and rugged; the mountain-sides -were greasy and slippery from the melting -snow, while the snow bucking through the deep drifts on -their tops and on the north sides was exhausting. Only -sure-footed animals could avoid serious tumbles, and only -animals of great endurance could have lasted through -the work. Both Johnny Goff and his partner, Brick -Wells, who often accompanied us on the hunts, were frequently -mounted on animals of uncertain temper, with -a tendency to buck on insufficient provocation; but they -rode them with entire indifference up and down any -incline. One of the riders, “Al,” a very good-tempered -man, a tireless worker, had as one of his horses a queer, -big-headed dun beast, with a black stripe down its back -and traces of zebra-like bands on the backs of his front -legs. He was an atavistic animal, looking much as the -horses must have looked which an age or two ago lived -in this very locality and were preyed on by sabre-toothed -tigers, hyenadons, and other strange and terrible beasts -of a long-vanished era. Lambert remarked to him: “Al, -you ought to call that horse of yours ‘Fossil’; he is a -hundred thousand years old.” To which Al, with immovable -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>face, replied: “Gee! and that man sold him to -me for a seven-year-old! I’ll have the law on him!”</p> - -<p class='c010'>The hounds were most interesting, and showed all the -variations of character and temper to be expected in such -a pack; a pack in which performance counted for everything -and pedigree for nothing. One of the best hounds -was half fox terrier. Three of Johnny’s had been with -us four years before, when he and I hunted cougars together; -these three being Jim, now an old dog, who -dropped behind in a hard run, but still excellent on a -cold trail; Tree’em, who, like Jim, had grown aged, but -was very sure; and Bruno, who had become one of the -best of all the pack on a hot trail, but who was apt to overrun -it if it became at all difficult and cold. The biggest -dog of the pack, a very powerful animal, was Badge, who -was half foxhound and half what Johnny called Siberian -bloodhound—I suppose a Great Dane or Ulm dog. His -full brother Bill came next to him. There was a Rowdy -in Jake’s pack and another Rowdy in Johnny’s, and each -got badly hurt before the hunt was through. Jake’s -Rowdy, as soon as an animal was killed, became very -cross and wished to attack any dog that came near. One of -Jake’s best hounds was old Bruise, a very sure, although -not a particularly fast dog. All the members of the pack -held the usual wild-beast attitude toward one another. -They joined together for the chase and the fight, but once -the quarry was killed, their relations among themselves -became those of active hostility or selfish indifference. -At feeding time each took whatever his strength permitted, -and each paid abject deference to whichever animal -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>was his known superior in prowess. Some of the -younger dogs would now and then run deer or coyote. -But the older dogs paid heed only to bear and bobcat; and -the pack, as a body, discriminated sharply between the -hounds they could trust and those which would go off -on a wrong trail. The four terriers included a heavy, -liver-colored half-breed bulldog, a preposterous animal -who looked as if his ancestry had included a toadfish. -He was a terrible fighter, but his unvarying attitude toward -mankind was one of effusive and rather foolish -affection. In a fight he could whip any of the hounds -save Badge, and he was far more willing than Badge to -accept punishment. There was also a funny little black -and tan, named Skip, a most friendly little fellow, especially -fond of riding in front or behind the saddle of any -one of us who would take him up, although perfectly -able to travel forty miles a day on his own sturdy legs if -he had to, and then to join in the worry of the quarry -when once it had been shot. Porcupines abounded in the -woods, and one or two of the terriers and half a dozen -of the hounds positively refused to learn any wisdom, -invariably attacking each porcupine they found; the result -being that we had to spend many minutes in removing -the quills from their mouths, eyes, etc. A white bull-terrier -would come in from such a combat with his nose -literally looking like a glorified pincushion, and many of -the spines we had to take out with nippers. The terriers -never ran with the hounds, but stayed behind with the -horses until they heard the hounds barking “bayed” or -“treed,” when they forthwith tore toward them. Skip -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span> adopted me as his special master, rode with me whenever -I would let him, and slept on the foot of my bed at night, -growling defiance at anything that came near. I grew -attached to the friendly, bright little fellow, and at the -end of the hunt took him home with me as a playmate -for the children.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It was a great, wild country. In the creek bottoms -there were a good many ranches; but we only occasionally -passed by these, on our way to our hunting-grounds in the -wilderness along the edge of the snow-line. The mountains -crowded close together in chain, peak, and tableland; -all the higher ones were wrapped in an unrent -shroud of snow. We saw a good many deer, and fresh -sign of elk, but no elk themselves, although we were informed -that bands were to be found in the high spruce -timber where the snows were so deep that it would have -been impossible to go on horseback, while going on foot -would have been inconceivably fatiguing. The country -was open. The high peaks were bare of trees. Cottonwoods, -and occasionally dwarfed birch or maple and willows, -fringed the streams; aspens grew in groves higher -up. There were pinyons and cedars on the slopes of the -foothills; spruce clustered here and there in the cooler -ravines and valleys and high up the mountains. The -dense oak brush and thick-growing cedars were hard on -our clothes, and sometimes on our bodies.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Bear and cougars had once been very plentiful -throughout this region, but during the last three or four -years the cougars have greatly diminished in numbers -throughout northern Colorado, and the bears have diminished -<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>also, although not to the same extent. The great -grizzlies which were once fairly plentiful here are now -very rare, as they are in most places in the United States. -There remain plenty of the black and brown bears, which -are simply individual color phases of the same species.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Bears are interesting creatures and their habits are -always worth watching. When I used to hunt grizzlies -my experience tended to make me lay special emphasis -on their variation in temper. There are savage and cowardly -bears, just as there are big and little ones; and -sometimes these variations are very marked among bears -of the same district, and at other times all the bears of -one district will seem to have a common code of behavior -which differs utterly from that of the bears of another -district. Readers of Lewis and Clark do not need to be -reminded of the great difference they found in ferocity -between the bears of the upper Missouri and the bears of -the Columbia River country; and those who have lived -in the upper Missouri country nowadays know how widely -the bears that still remain have altered in character -from what they were as recently as the middle of the last -century.</p> - -<p class='c010'>This variability has been shown in the bears which -I have stumbled upon at close quarters. On but one occasion -was I ever regularly charged by a grizzly. To this -animal I had given a mortal wound, and without any -effort at retaliation he bolted into a thicket of what, in -my hurry, I thought was laurel (it being composed in -reality, I suppose, of thick-growing berry bushes). On -my following him and giving him a second wound, he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>charged very determinedly, taking two more bullets without -flinching. I just escaped the charge by jumping to -one side, and he died almost immediately after striking at -me as he rushed by. This bear charged with his mouth -open, but made very little noise after the growl or roar -with which he greeted my second bullet. I mention the -fact of his having kept his mouth open, because one or two -of my friends who have been charged have informed me -that in their cases they particularly noticed that the bear -charged with his mouth shut. Perhaps the fact that my -bear was shot through the lungs may account for the difference, -or it may simply be another example of individual -variation.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On another occasion, in a windfall, I got up within -eight or ten feet of a grizzly, which simply bolted off, paying -no heed to a hurried shot which I delivered as I -poised unsteadily on the swaying top of an overthrown -dead pine. On yet another occasion, when I roused a big -bear from his sleep, he at the first moment seemed to pay -little or no heed to me, and then turned toward me in a -leisurely way, the only sign of hostility he betrayed being -to ruffle up the hair on his shoulders and the back of his -neck. I hit him square between the eyes, and he dropped -like a pole-axed steer.</p> - -<div id='i_074' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_074.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>AT DINNER<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>On another occasion I got up quite close to and mortally -wounded a bear, which ran off without uttering a -sound until it fell dead; but another of these grizzlies, -which I shot from ambush, kept squalling and yelling -every time I hit him, making a great rumpus. On one -occasion one of my cow hands and myself were able to -run down on foot a she grizzly bear and her cub, which -had obtained a long start of us, simply because of the -foolish conduct of the mother. The cub—or more properly -the yearling, for it was a cub of the second year—ran -on far ahead, and would have escaped if the old she -had not continually stopped and sat up on her hind legs -to look back at us. I think she did this partly from curiosity, -but partly also from bad temper, for once or twice -she grinned and roared at us. The upshot of it was that I -got within range and put a bullet in the old she, who -afterward charged my companion and was killed; and -we also got the yearling.</p> - -<p class='c010'>One young grizzly which I killed many years ago -dropped to the first bullet, which entered its stomach. It -then let myself and my companion approach closely, looking -up at us with alert curiosity, but making no effort -to escape. It was really not crippled at all, but we -thought from its actions that its back was broken, and my -companion advanced to kill it with his pistol. The pistol, -however, did not inflict a mortal wound, and the only -effect was to make the young bear jump to its feet as if -unhurt, and race off at full speed through the timber; for -though not full-grown it was beyond cubhood, being -probably about eighteen months old. By desperate running -I succeeded in getting another shot, and more by -luck than by anything else knocked it over, this time permanently.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Black bear are not, under normal conditions, formidable -brutes. If they do charge and get home they may -maul a man severely, and there are a number of instances -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>on record in which they have killed men. Ordinarily, -however, a black bear will not charge home, though he -may bluster a good deal. I once shot one very close up -which made a most lamentable outcry, and seemed to lose -its head, its efforts to escape resulting in its bouncing -about among the trees with such heedless hurry that I -was easily able to kill it. Another black bear, which I -also shot at close quarters, came straight for my companions -and myself, and almost ran over the white hunter -who was with me. This bear made no sound whatever -when I first hit it, and I do not think it was charging. I -believe it was simply dazed, and by accident ran the -wrong way, and so almost came into collision with us. -However, when it found itself face to face with the white -hunter, and only four or five feet away, it prepared for -hostilities, and I think would have mauled him if I had -not brained it with another bullet; for I was myself standing -but six feet or so to one side of it. None of the bears -shot on this Colorado trip made a sound when hit; they -all died silently, like so many wolves.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Ordinarily, my experience has been that bears were -not flurried when I suddenly came upon them. They -impressed me as if they were always keeping in mind the -place toward which they wished to retreat in the event -of danger, and for this place, which was invariably a -piece of rough ground or dense timber, they made off -with all possible speed, not seeming to lose their heads.</p> - -<div id='i_077' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_077.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE PACK STRIKES THE FRESH BEAR TRAIL<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>Frequently I have been able to watch bears for some -time while myself unobserved. With other game I have -very often done this even when within close range, not -wishing to kill creatures needlessly, or without a good -object; but with bears, my experience has been that -chances to secure them come so seldom as to make it very -distinctly worth while improving any that do come, and -I have not spent much time watching any bear unless he -was in a place where I could not get at him, or else was -so close at hand that I was not afraid of his getting away. -On one occasion the bear was hard at work digging up -squirrel or gopher <i>caches</i> on the side of a pine-clad hill; -while at this work he looked rather like a big badger. -On two other occasions the bear was fussing around a carcass -preparatory to burying it. On these occasions I was -very close, and it was extremely interesting to note the -grotesque, half-human movements, and giant, awkward -strength of the great beast. He would twist the carcass -around with the utmost ease, sometimes taking it in his -teeth and dragging it, at other times grasping it in his -forepaws and half lifting, half shoving it. Once the bear -lost his grip and rolled over during the course of some -movement, and this made him angry, and he struck the -carcass a savage whack, just as a pettish child will strike -a table against which it has knocked itself. At another -time I watched a black bear some distance off getting -his breakfast under stumps and stones. He was very active, -turning the stone or log over, and then thrusting his -muzzle into the empty space to gobble up the small creatures -below before they recovered from their surprise and -the sudden inflow of light. From under one log he put -a chipmunk, and danced hither and thither with even -more agility than awkwardness, slapping at the chipmunk -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>with his paw while it zigzagged about, until finally -he scooped it into his mouth.</p> - -<p class='c010'>All this was in the old days when I was still-hunting, -with only the rifle. This Colorado trip was the first on -which I hunted bears with hounds. If we had run across -a grizzly there would doubtless have been a chance to -show some prowess, at least in the way of hard riding. -But the black and brown bears cannot, save under exceptional -circumstances, escape from such a pack as we -had with us; and the real merit of the chase was confined -to the hounds and to Jake and Johnny for their skill in -handling them. Perhaps I should add the horses, for -their extraordinary endurance and surefootedness. As -for the rest of us, we needed to do little more than to -sit ten or twelve hours in the saddle and occasionally lead -the horses up or down the most precipitous and cliff-like -of the mountain-sides. But it was great fun, nevertheless, -and usually a chase lasted long enough to be interesting.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The first day after reaching camp we rode for eleven -hours over a very difficult country, but without getting -above the snow-line. Finally the dogs got on the fresh -trail of a bobcat, and away they went. A bobcat will -often give a good run, much better, on the average, than -a cougar; and this one puzzled the dogs not a little at -first. It scrambled out of one deep valley, crossing and -recrossing the rock ledges where its scent was hard to -follow; then plunged into another valley. Meanwhile -we had ridden up on the high mountain spur between the -two valleys, and after scrambling and galloping to and -fro as the cry veered from point to point when the dogs -<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>changed directions, we saw them cross into the second -valley. Here again they took a good deal of time to -puzzle out the trail, and became somewhat scattered. We -had dismounted and were standing by the horses’ heads, -listening to the baying and trying to decide which way -we should go, when Stewart suddenly pointed us out a -bear. It was on the other side of the valley from us, and -perhaps half a mile away, galloping down hill, with two -of the hounds after it, and in the sunlight its fur looked -glossy black. In a minute or two it passed out of sight -in the thick-growing timber at the bottom of the valley; -and as we afterward found, the two hounds, getting momentarily -thrown out, and hearing the others still baying -on the cat trail, joined the latter. Jake started off to go -around the head of the valley, while the rest of us plunged -down into it. We found from the track that the bear -had gone up the valley, and Jake found where he had -come out on the high divide, and then turned and retraced -his steps. But the hounds were evidently all after -the cat. There was nothing for us to do but follow them. -Sometimes riding, sometimes leading the horses, we went -up the steep hillside, and as soon as we reached the crest -heard the hounds barking treed. Shorty and Skip, who -always trotted after the horses while the hounds were in -full cry on a trail, recognized the change of note immediately, -and tore off in the direction of the bay, while -we followed as best we could, hoping to get there in time -for Stewart and Lambert to take photographs of the lynx -in a tree. But we were too late. Both Shorty and Skip -could climb trees, and although Skip was too light to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>tackle a bobcat by himself, Shorty, a heavy, formidable -dog, of unflinching courage and great physical strength, -was altogether too much for any bobcat. When we -reached the place we found the bobcat in the top of a -pinyon, and Shorty steadily working his way up through -the branches and very near the quarry. Evidently the -bobcat felt that the situation needed the taking of desperate -chances, and just before Shorty reached it out it -jumped, Shorty yelling with excitement as he plunged -down through the branches after it. But the cat did not -jump far enough. One of the hounds seized it by the -hind leg and in another second everything was over.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Shorty was always the first of the pack to attack dangerous -game, and in attacking bear or cougar even Badge -was much less reckless and more wary. In consequence, -Shorty was seamed over with scars; most of them from -bobcats, but one or two from cougars. He could speedily -kill a bobcat single-handed; for these small lynxes are not -really formidable fighters, although they will lacerate a -dog quite severely. Shorty found a badger a much more -difficult antagonist than a bobcat. A bobcat in a hole -makes a hard fight, however. On this hunt we once got -a bobcat under a big rock, and Jake’s Rowdy in trying to -reach it got so badly mauled that he had to join the -invalid class for several days.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The bobcat we killed this first day was a male, weighing -twenty-five pounds. It was too late to try after the -bear, especially as we had only ten or a dozen dogs out, -while the bear’s tracks showed it to be a big one; and -we rode back to camp.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>Next morning we rode off early, taking with us all -twenty-six hounds and the four terriers. We wished first -to find whether the bear had gone out of the country in -which we had seen him, and so rode up a valley and then -scrambled laboriously up the mountain-side to the top of -the snow-covered divide. Here the snow was three feet -deep in places, and the horses plunged and floundered as -we worked our way in single file through the drifts. But -it had frozen hard the previous night, so that a bear could -walk on the crust and leave very little sign. In consequence -we came near passing over the place where the -animal we were after had actually crossed out of the -canyon-like ravine in which we had seen him and gone -over the divide into another set of valleys. The trail was -so faint that it puzzled us, as we could not be certain how -fresh it was, and until this point could be cleared up we -tried to keep the hounds from following it. Old Jim, -however, slipped off to one side and speedily satisfied -himself that the trail was fresh. Along it he went, giving -tongue, and the other dogs were maddened by the sound, -while Jim, under such circumstances, paid no heed whatever -to any effort to make him come back. Accordingly, -the other hounds were slipped after him, and down they -ran into the valley, while we slid, floundered, and scrambled -along the ridge crest parallel to them, until a couple -of miles farther on we worked our way down to some -great slopes covered with dwarf scrub-oak. At the edge -of these slopes, where they fell off in abrupt descent to -the stream at the bottom of the valley, we halted. Opposite -us was a high and very rugged mountain-side covered -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>with a growth of pinyon—never a close-growing -tree—its precipitous flanks broken by ledges and -scored by gullies and ravines. It was hard to follow the -scent across such a mountain-side, and the dogs speedily -became much scattered. We could hear them plainly, -and now and then could see them, looking like ants as -they ran up and down hill and along the ledges. Finally -we heard some of them barking bayed. The volume of -sound increased steadily as the straggling dogs joined -those which had first reached the hunted animal. At -about this time, to our astonishment, Badge, usually a -stanch fighter, rejoined us, followed by one or two other -hounds, who seemed to have had enough of the matter. -Immediately afterward we saw the bear, half-way up the -opposite mountain-side. The hounds were all around -him, and occasionally bit at his hind quarters; but he had -evidently no intention of climbing a tree. When we first -saw him he was sitting up on a point of rock surrounded -by the pack, his black fur showing to fine advantage. -Then he moved off, threatening the dogs, and making -what in Mississippi is called a walking bay. He was a -sullen, powerful beast, and his leisurely gait showed how -little he feared the pack, and how confident he was in his -own burly strength. By this time the dogs had been after -him for a couple of hours, and as there was no water on -the mountain-side we feared they might be getting exhausted, -and rode toward them as rapidly as we could. -It was a hard climb up to where they were, and we had -to lead the horses. Just as we came in sight of him, across -a deep gully which ran down the sheer mountain-side, -he broke bay and started off, threatening the foremost of -the pack as they dared to approach him. They were all -around him, and for a minute I could not fire; then as -he passed under a pinyon I got a clear view of his great -round stern and pulled trigger. The bullet broke both -his hips, and he rolled down hill, the hounds yelling with -excitement as they closed in on him. He could still play -havoc with the pack, and there was need to kill him at -once. I leaped and slid down my side of the gully as -he rolled down his; at the bottom he stopped and -raised himself on his fore quarters; and with another -bullet I broke his back between the shoulders.</p> - -<div id='i_083' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_083.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>DEATH OF THE BIG BEAR<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>Immediately all the dogs began to worry the carcass, -while their savage baying echoed so loudly in the narrow, -steep gully that we could with difficulty hear one another -speak. It was a wild scene to look upon, as we scrambled -down to where the dead bear lay on his back between -the rocks. He did not die wholly unavenged, for he had -killed one of the terriers and six other dogs were more -or less injured. The chase of the bear is grim work for -the pack. Jim, usually a very wary fighter, had a couple -of deep holes in his thigh; but the most mishandled of -the wounded dogs was Shorty. With his usual dauntless -courage he had gone straight at the bear’s head. Being -such a heavy, powerful animal, I think if he had been -backed up he could have held the bear’s head down, and -prevented the beast from doing much injury. As it was, -the bear bit through the side of Shorty’s head, and bit -him in the shoulder, and again in the hip, inflicting very -bad wounds. Once the fight was over Shorty lay down on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>the hillside, unable to move. When we started home we -put him beside a little brook, and left a piece of bear meat -by him, as it was obvious we could not get him to camp -that day. Next day one of the boys went back with a -pack-horse to take him in; but half-way out met him -struggling toward camp, and returned. Late in the afternoon -Shorty turned up while we were at dinner, and staggered -toward us, wagging his tail with enthusiastic delight -at seeing his friends. We fed him until he could not -hold another mouthful; then he curled up in a dry corner -of the cook tent and slept for forty-eight hours; and two -or three days afterward was able once more to go hunting.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The bear was a big male, weighing three hundred and -thirty pounds. On examination at close quarters, his fur, -which was in fine condition, was not as black as it had -seemed when seen afar off, the roots of the hairs being -brown. There was nothing whatever in his stomach. -Evidently he had not yet begun to eat, and had been but -a short while out of his hole. Bear feed very little when -they first come out of their dens, sometimes beginning on -grass, sometimes on buds. Occasionally they will feed at -carcasses and try to kill animals within a week or two -after they have left winter quarters, but this is rare, and as -a usual thing for the first few weeks after they have come -out they feed much as a deer would. Although not hog -fat, as would probably have been the case in the fall, this -bear was in good condition. In the fall, however, he -would doubtless have weighed over four hundred pounds. -The three old females we got on this trip weighed one -hundred and eighty, one hundred and seventy-five, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>one hundred and thirty-five pounds apiece. The yearlings -weighed from thirty-one to forty pounds. The -only other black bears I ever weighed all belonged to the -sub-species <i>Luteolus</i>, and were killed on the Little Sunflower -River, in Mississippi, in the late fall of nineteen -hundred and two. A big old male, in poor condition, -weighed two hundred and eighty-five pounds, and two -very fat females weighed two hundred and twenty and -two hundred and thirty-five pounds respectively.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The next few days we spent in hunting perseveringly, -but unsuccessfully. Each day we were from six to twelve -hours in the saddle, climbing with weary toil up the -mountains and slipping and scrambling down them. On -the tops and on the north slopes there was much snow, -so that we had to pick our trails carefully, and even thus -the horses often floundered belly-deep as we worked -along in single file; the men on the horses which were -best at snow bucking took turns in breaking the trail. -In the worst places we had to dismount and lead the -horses, often over such bad ground that nothing less sure-footed -than the tough mountain ponies could even have -kept their legs. The weather was cold, with occasional -sharp flurries of snow, and once a regular snow-storm. -We found the tracks of one or two bears, but in each case -several days old, and it was evident either that the bears -had gone back to their dens, finding the season so late, -or else that they were lying quiet in sheltered places, and -travelling as little as possible. One day, after a long run -of certainly five or six miles through very difficult country, -the dogs treed a bobcat in a big cedar. It had run so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>far that it was badly out of breath. Stewart climbed -the tree and took several photographs of it, pushing the -camera up to within about four feet of where the cat -sat. Lambert obtained photographs of both Stewart and -the cat. Shorty was at this time still an invalid from his -encounter with the bear, but Skip worked his way thirty -feet up the tree in his effort to get at the bobcat. Lambert -shot the latter with his revolver, the bobcat dying -stuck in the branches; and he then had to climb the tree -to get both the bobcat and Skip, as the latter was at such -a height that we thought he would hurt himself if he -fell. Another bobcat when treed sealed his own fate -by stepping on a dead branch and falling right into the -jaws of the pack.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At this camp, as everywhere, the tiny four-striped -chipmunks were plentiful and tame; they are cheerful, -attractive little animals. We also saw white-footed mice -and a big meadow mouse around camp; and we found -a young brushy-tailed pack-rat. The snowshoe rabbits -were still white on the mountains, but in the lower valleys -they had changed to the summer pelage. On the mountains -we occasionally saw woodchucks and rock squirrels -of two kinds, a large and a small—<i>Spermophilus grammurus</i> -and <i>armatus</i>. The noisy, cheerful pine squirrels -were common where the woods were thick. There were -eagles and ravens in the mountains, and once we saw -sandhill cranes soaring far above the highest peaks. The -long-crested jays came familiarly around camp, but on -this occasion we only saw the whiskey jacks, Clark’s nutcrackers -and magpies, while off in the mountains. -Among the pinyons, we several times came across straggling -flocks of the queer pinyon jays or blue crows, with -their unmistakable calls and almost blackbird-like habits. -There were hawks of several species, and blue grouse, -while the smaller birds included flickers, robins, and the -beautiful mountain bluebirds. Juncos and mountain -chickadees were plentiful, and the ruby-crowned kinglets -were singing with astonishing power for such tiny birds. -We came on two nests of the red-tailed hawk; the birds -were brooding, and seemed tame and unwary.</p> - -<div id='i_086' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_086.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>STEWART AND THE BOBCAT<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>After a week of this we came to the conclusion that -the snow was too deep and the weather too cold for us to -expect to get any more bear in the immediate neighborhood, -and accordingly shifted camp to where Clear Creek -joins West Divide Creek.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The first day’s hunt from the new camp was successful. -We were absent about eleven hours and rode some -forty miles. The day included four hours’ steady snow -bucking, for the bear, as soon as they got the chance, went -through the thick timber where the snow lay deepest. -Some two hours after leaving camp we found the old -tracks of a she and a yearling, but it took us a much longer -time before we finally struck the fresh trail made late the -previous night or early in the morning. It was Jake who -first found this fresh track, while Johnny with the pack -was a couple of miles away, slowly but surely puzzling -out the cold trail and keeping the dogs up to their work. -As soon as Johnny came up we put all the hounds on the -tracks, and away they went, through and over the snow, -yelling their eager delight. Meanwhile we had fixed our -<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>saddles and were ready for what lay ahead. It was -wholly impossible to ride at the tail of the pack, but we -did our best to keep within sound of the baying. Finally, -after much hard work and much point riding through -snow, slush, and deep mud, on the level, and along, up, -and down sheer slopes, we heard the dogs barking treed -in the middle of a great grove of aspens high up the -mountain-side. The snow was too deep for the horses, -and leaving them, we trudged heavily up on foot. The -yearling was in the top of a tall aspen. Lambert shot -it with his rifle and we then put the dogs on the trail of -the old she. Some of the young ones did not know what -to make of this, evidently feeling that the tracks must be -those of the bear that they had already killed; but the -veterans were in full cry at once. We scrambled after -them up the steep mountain, and then downward along -ridges and spurs, getting all the clear ground we could. -Finally we had to take to the snow, and floundered and -slid through the drifts until we were in the valley. Most -of the time the dogs were within hearing, giving tongue -as they followed the trail. Finally a total change in the -note showed that they were barking treed; and as rapidly -as possible we made our way toward the sound. Again -we found ourselves unable to bring the horses up to where -the bear had treed, and scrambled thither on foot through -the deep snow.</p> - -<div id='i_088' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_088.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE PACK BAYING THE BEAR<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>The bear was some thirty or forty feet up a tall -spruce; it was a big she, with a glossy black-brown coat. -I was afraid that at our approach she might come down; -but she had been running hard for some four hours, had -been pressed close, and evidently had not the slightest -idea of putting herself of her own free will within the -reach of the pack, which was now frantically baying at -the foot of the tree. I shot her through the heart. As -the bullet struck she climbed up through the branches -with great agility for six or eight feet; then her muscles -relaxed, and down she came with a thud, nearly burying -herself in the snow. Little Skip was one of the first dogs -to seize her as she came down; and in another moment -he literally disappeared under the hounds as they piled -on the bear. As soon as possible we got off the skin and -pushed campward at a good gait, for we were a long -way off. Just at nightfall we came out on a bluff from -which we could overlook the rushing, swirling brown -torrent, on the farther bank of which the tents were -pitched.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The stomach of this bear contained nothing but buds. -Like the other shes killed on this trip, she was accompanied -by her yearling young, but had no newly born -cub; sometimes bear breed only every other year, but -I have found the mother accompanied not only by her -cub but by her young of the year before. The yearling -also had nothing but buds in its stomach. When its skin -was taken off, Stewart looked at it, shook his head, and -turning to Lambert said solemnly, “Alex., that skin isn’t -big enough to use for anything but a doily.” From that -time until the end of the hunt the yearlings were only -known as “doily bears.”</p> - -<p class='c010'>Next morning we again went out, and this time for -twelve hours steadily, in the saddle, and now and then -<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>on foot. Most of the time we were in snow, and it was -extraordinary that the horses could get through it at all, -especially in working up the steep mountain-sides. But -until it got so deep that they actually floundered—that is, -so long as they could get their legs down to the bottom—I -found that they could travel much faster than I could. -On this day some twenty good-natured, hard-riding -young fellows from the ranches within a radius of a -dozen miles had joined our party to “see the President -kill a bear.” They were a cheerful and eagerly friendly -crowd, as hardy as so many young moose, and utterly fearless -horsemen; one of them rode his wild, nervous horse -bareback, because it had bucked so when he tried to put -the saddle on it that morning that he feared he would -get left behind, and so abandoned the saddle outright. -Whenever they had a chance they all rode at headlong -speed, paying no heed to the slope of the mountain-side -or the character of the ground. In the deep snow they -did me a real service, for of course they had to ride -their horses single file through the drifts, and by the time -my turn came we had a good trail.</p> - -<div id='i_091' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_091.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>A DOILY BEAR<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>After a good deal of beating to and fro, we found -where an old she-bear with two yearlings had crossed a -hill during the night and put the hounds on their tracks. -Johnny and Jake, with one or two of the cowboys, followed -the hounds over the exceedingly difficult hillside -where the trail led; or rather, they tried to follow them, -for the hounds speedily got clear away, as there were -many places where they could run on the crust of the -snow, in which the horses wallowed almost helpless. The -rest of us went down to the valley, where the snow was -light and the going easier. The bear had travelled hither -and thither through the woods on the sidehill, and the -dogs became scattered. Moreover, they jumped several -deer, and four or five of the young dogs took after -one of the latter. Finally, however, the rest of the pack -put up the three bears. We had an interesting glimpse -of the chase as the bears quartered up across an open -spot of the hillside. The hounds were but a short distance -behind them, strung out in a long string, the more powerful, -those which could do best in the snow bucking, taking -the lead. We pushed up the mountain-side after -them, horse after horse getting down in the snow, and -speedily heard the redoubled clamor which told us that -something had been treed. It was half an hour before -we could make our way to the tree, a spruce, in which -the two yearlings had taken refuge, while around the -bottom the entire pack was gathered, crazy with excitement. -We could not take the yearlings alive, both because -we lacked the means of carrying them, and because -we were anxious to get after the old bear. We could -not leave them where they were, because it would have -been well-nigh impossible to get the dogs away, and because, -even if we had succeeded in getting them away, -they would not have run any other trail as long as they -knew the yearlings were in the tree. It was therefore -out of the question to leave them unharmed, as we should -have been glad to do, and Lambert killed them both with -his revolver; the one that was first hit immediately biting -its brother. The ranchmen took them home to eat.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>The hounds were immediately put on the trail of the -old one and disappeared over the snow. In a few minutes -we followed. It was heavy work getting up the mountain-side -through the drifts, but once on top we made our -way down a nearly bare spur, and then turned to the -right, scrambled a couple of miles along a slippery sidehill, -and halted. Below us lay a great valley, on the -farther side of which a spruce forest stretched up toward -the treeless peaks. Snow covered even the bottom of the -valley, and lay deep and solid in the spruce forest on the -mountain-side. The hounds were in full cry, evidently -on a hot trail, and we caught glimpses of them far on the -opposite side of the valley, crossing little open glades in -the spruce timber. If the crust was hard they scattered -out. Where it was at all soft they ran in single file. We -worked our way down toward them, and on reaching the -bottom of the valley, went up it as fast as the snow would -allow. Finally we heard the pack again barking treed -and started toward them. They had treed the bear far -up the mountain-side in the thick spruce timber, and a -short experiment showed us that the horses could not -possibly get through the snow. Accordingly, off we -jumped and went toward the sound on foot, all the young -ranchmen and cowboys rushing ahead, and thereby again -making me an easy trail. On the way to the tree the rider -of the bareback horse pounced on a snowshoe rabbit -which was crouched under a bush and caught it with his -hands. It was half an hour before we reached the tree, -a big spruce, up which the bear had gone to a height of -some forty feet. I broke her neck with a single bullet. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>She was smaller than the one I had shot the day before, -but full-grown. In her stomach, as in those of the two -yearlings, there were buds of rose-bushes and quaking -aspens. One yearling had also swallowed a mouse. It -was a long ride to camp, and darkness had fallen by the -time we caught the gleam from the lighted tents, across -the dark stream.</p> - -<p class='c010'>With neither of these last two bear had there been any -call for prowess; my part was merely to kill the bear dead -at the first shot, for the sake of the pack. But the days -were very enjoyable, nevertheless. It was good fun to -be twelve hours in the saddle in such wild and beautiful -country, to look at and listen to the hounds as they -worked, and finally to see the bear treed and looking -down at the maddened pack baying beneath.</p> - -<p class='c010'>For the next two or three days I was kept in camp -by a touch of Cuban fever. On one of these days Lambert -enjoyed the longest hunt we had on the trip, after -an old she-bear and three yearlings. The yearlings treed -one by one, each of course necessitating a stoppage, and -it was seven in the evening before the old bear at last went -up a cottonwood and was shot; she was only wounded, -however, and in the fight she crippled Johnny’s Rowdy -before she was killed. When the hunters reached camp -it was thirteen hours since they had left it. The old bear -was a very light brown; the first yearling was reddish-brown, -the second light yellowish-brown, the third dark -black-brown, though all were evidently of the same litter.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Following this came a spell of bad weather, snow-storm -and blizzard steadily succeeding one another. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>This lasted until my holiday was over. Some days we -had to stay in camp. On other days we hunted; but there -was three feet of new snow on the summits and foothills, -making it difficult to get about. We saw no more bear, -and, indeed, no more bear-tracks that were less than two -or three weeks old.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We killed a couple of bobcats. The chase of one was -marked by several incidents. We had been riding -through a blizzard on the top of a plateau, and were glad -to plunge down into a steep sheer-sided valley. By the -time we reached the bottom there was a lull in the storm -and we worked our way with considerable difficulty -through the snow, down timber, and lava rock, toward -Divide Creek. After a while the valley widened a little, -spruce and aspens fringing the stream at the bottom while -the sides were bare. Here we struck a fresh bobcat trail -leading off up one of the mountain-sides. The hounds -followed it nearly to the top, then turned and came down -again, worked through the timber in the bottom, and -struck out on the hillside opposite. Suddenly we saw the -bobcat running ahead of them and doubling and circling. -A few minutes afterward the hounds followed the trail -to the creek bottom and then began to bark treed. But -on reaching the point we found there was no cat in the -tree, although the dogs seemed certain that there was; -and Johnny and Jake speedily had them again running -on the trail. After making its way for some distance -through the bottom, the cat had again taken to the sidehill, -and the hounds went after it hard. Again they went -nearly to the top, again they streamed down to the bottom -and crossed the creek. Soon afterward we saw the cat -ahead of them. For the moment it threw them off the -track by making a circle and galloping around close to -the rearmost hounds. It then made for the creek bottom, -where it climbed to the top of a tall aspen. The hounds -soon picked up the trail again, and followed it full cry; -but unfortunately just before they reached where it had -treed they ran on to a porcupine. When we reached the -foot of the aspen, in the top of which the bobcat crouched, -with most of the pack baying beneath, we found the porcupine -dead and half a dozen dogs with their muzzles -and throats filled full of quills. Before doing anything -with the cat it was necessary to take these quills out. One -of the terriers, which always found porcupines an irresistible -attraction, was a really extraordinary sight, so -thickly were the quills studded over his face and chest. -But a big hound was in even worse condition; the quills -were stuck in abundance into his nose, lips, cheeks, and -tongue, and in the roof of his mouth they were almost -as thick as bristles in a brush. Only by use of pincers was -it possible to rid these two dogs of the quills, and it was -a long and bloody job. The others had suffered less.</p> - -<div id='i_094' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_094.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE BIG BEAR<br /><br />From a photograph by Philip B. Stewart</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>The dogs seemed to have no sympathy with one another, -and apparently all that the rest of the pack felt was -that they were kept a long time waiting for the cat. They -never stopped baying for a minute, and Shorty, as was his -habit, deliberately bit great patches of bark from the -aspens, to show his impatience; for the tree in which the -cat stood was not one which he could climb. After attending -to the porcupine dogs one of the men climbed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>the tree and with a stick pushed out the cat. It dropped -down through the branches forty or fifty feet, but was so -quick in starting and dodging that it actually rushed -through the pack, crossed the stream, and, doubling and -twisting, was off up the creek through the timber. It -ran cunning, and in a minute or two lay down under a -bush and watched the hounds as they went by, overrunning -its trail. Then it took off up the hillside; but the -hounds speedily picked up its track, and running in single -file, were almost on it. Then the cat turned down hill, -but too late, for it was overtaken within fifty yards. This -ended our hunting.</p> - -<p class='c010'>One Sunday we rode down some six miles from camp -to a little blue school-house and attended service. The -preacher was in the habit of riding over every alternate -Sunday from Rifle, a little town twenty or twenty-five -miles away; and the ranchmen with their wives and children, -some on horseback, some in wagons, had gathered -from thirty miles round to attend the service. The crowd -was so large that the exercises had to take place in the -open air, and it was pleasant to look at the strong frames -and rugged, weather-beaten faces of the men; while as -for the women, one respected them even more than the -men.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In spite of the snow-storms spring was coming; some -of the trees were beginning to bud and show green, more -and more flowers were in bloom, and bird life was steadily -increasing. In the bushes by the streams the handsome -white-crowned sparrows and green-tailed towhees -were in full song, making attractive music; although the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>song of neither can rightly be compared in point of -plaintive beauty with that of the white-throated sparrow, -which, except some of the thrushes, and perhaps the winter -wren, is the sweetest singer of the Northeastern forests. -The spurred towhees were very plentiful; and one morning -a willow-thrush sang among the willows like a veery. -Both the crested jays and the Woodhouse jays came -around camp. Lower down the Western meadow larks -were singing beautifully, and vesper finches were abundant. -Say’s flycatcher, a very attractive bird, with pretty, -soft-colored plumage, continually uttering a plaintive -single note, and sometimes a warbling twitter, flitted -about in the neighborhood of the little log ranch houses. -Gangs of blackbirds visited the corrals. I saw but one -song sparrow, and curiously enough, though I think it -was merely an individual peculiarity, this particular bird -had a song entirely different from any I have heard from -the familiar Eastern bird—always a favorite of mine.</p> - -<p class='c010'>While up in the mountains hunting, we twice came -upon owls, which were rearing their families in the deserted -nests of the red-tailed hawk. One was a long-eared -owl, and the other a great horned owl, of the pale Western -variety. Both were astonishingly tame, and we found it -difficult to make them leave their nests, which were in -the tops of cottonwood trees.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On the last day we rode down to where Glenwood -Springs lies, hemmed in by lofty mountain chains, which -are riven in sunder by sheer-sided, cliff-walled canyons. -As we left ever farther behind us the wintry desolation -of our high hunting-grounds we rode into full spring. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>The green of the valley was a delight to the eye; bird -songs sounded on every side, from the fields and from the -trees and bushes beside the brooks and irrigation ditches; -the air was sweet with the spring-time breath of many -budding things. The sarvice bushes were white with -bloom, like shadblow on the Hudson; the blossoms of the -Oregon grape made yellow mats on the ground. We saw -the chunky Say’s ground squirrel, looking like a big chipmunk, -with on each side a conspicuous white stripe edged -with black. In one place we saw quite a large squirrel, -grayish, with red on the lower back. I suppose it was -only a pine squirrel, but it looked like one of the gray -squirrels of southern Colorado. Mountain mockers and -the handsome, bold Arkansaw king birds were numerous. -The blacktail sage sparrow was conspicuous in the sage-brush, -and high among the cliffs the white-throated swifts -were soaring. There were numerous warblers, among -which I could only make out the black-throated gray, -Audubon’s, and McGillivray’s. In Glenwood Springs -itself the purple finches, house finches, and Bullock’s -orioles were in full song. Flocks of siskins passed with -dipping flight. In one rapid little stream we saw a water -ousel. Humming-birds—I suppose the broad-tailed—were -common, and as they flew they made, intermittently -and almost rhythmically, a curious metallic sound; seemingly -it was done with their wings.</p> - -<p class='c010'>But the thing that interested me most in the way of -bird life was something I saw in Denver. To my delight -I found that the huge hotel at which we took dinner was -monopolized by the pretty, musical house finches, to the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>exclusion of the ordinary city sparrows. The latter are -all too plentiful in Denver, as in every other city, and, -as always, are noisy, quarrelsome—in short, thoroughly -unattractive and disreputable. The house finch, on the -contrary, is attractive in looks, in song, and in ways. It -was delightful to hear the males singing, often on the -wing. They went right up to the top stories of the high -hotel, and nested under the eaves and in the cornices. -The cities of the Southwestern States are to be congratulated -on having this spirited, attractive little songster -as a familiar dweller around their houses and in -their gardens.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER III<br /> <span class='large'>WOLF-COURSING</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>On April eighth, nineteen hundred and five, we left -the town of Frederick, Oklahoma, for a few days’ coyote -coursing in the Comanche Reserve. Lieut.-Gen. S. B. -M. Young, U. S. A., retired, Lieutenant Fortescue, U. S. A., -formerly of my regiment, and Dr. Alexander -Lambert, of New York, were with me. We were the -guests of Colonel Cecil Lyon, of Texas, of Sloan Simpson, -also of Texas, and formerly of my regiment, and -of two old-style Texas cattlemen, Messrs. Burnett -and Wagner, who had leased great stretches of wire-fenced -pasture from the Comanches and Kiowas; and -I cannot sufficiently express my appreciation of the -kindness of these my hosts. Burnett’s brand, the -Four Sixes, has been owned by him for forty years. -Both of them had come to this country thirty years -before, in the days of the buffalo, when all game was -very plentiful and the Indians were still on the warpath. -Several other ranchmen were along, including -John Abernethy, of Tesca, Oklahoma, a professional -wolf hunter. There were also a number of cowhands -of both Burnett and Wagner; among them were -two former riders for the Four Sixes, Fi Taylor and -Uncle Ed Gillis, who seemed to make it their special -mission to see that everything went right with me. -Furthermore there was Captain McDonald of the Texas -Rangers, a game and true man, whose name was one of -terror to outlaws and violent criminals of all kinds; and -finally there was Quanah Parker, the Comanche chief, -in his youth a bitter foe of the whites, now painfully -teaching his people to travel the white man’s stony road.</p> - -<div id='i_101' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_101.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>STARTING TOWARDS THE WOLF GROUNDS<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>We drove out some twenty miles to where camp was -pitched in a bend of Deep Red Creek, which empties -into the Red River of the South. Cottonwood, elm, and -pecans formed a belt of timber along the creek; we had -good water, the tents were pitched on short, thick grass, -and everything was in perfect order. The fare was delicious. -Altogether it was an ideal camp, and the days -we passed there were also ideal. Cardinals and mocking-birds—the -most individual and delightful of all birds in -voice and manner—sang in the woods; and the beautiful, -many-tinted fork-tailed fly-catchers were to be seen now -and then, perched in trees or soaring in curious zigzags, -chattering loudly.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In chasing the coyote only greyhounds are used, and -half a dozen different sets of these had been brought to -camp. Those of Wagner, the “Big D” dogs, as his cow-punchers -called them, were handled by Bony Moore, -who, with Tom Burnett, the son of our host Burke Burnett, -took the lead in feats of daring horsemanship, even -in that field of daring horsemen. Bevins had brought -both greyhounds and rough-haired staghounds from his -Texas ranch. So had Cecil Lyon, and though his dogs -had chiefly been used in coursing the black-tailed Texas -jack-rabbit, they took naturally to the coyote chases. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>Finally there were Abernethy’s dogs, which, together with -their master, performed the feats I shall hereafter relate. -Abernethy has a homestead of his own not far from Frederick, -and later I was introduced to his father, an old -Confederate soldier, and to his sweet and pretty wife, and -their five little children. He had run away with his wife -when they were nineteen and sixteen respectively; but the -match had turned out a happy one. Both were particularly -fond of music, including the piano, horn, and violin, -and they played duets together. General Young, -whom the Comanches called “War Bonnet,” went in a -buggy with Burke Burnett, and as Burnett invariably -followed the hounds at full speed in his buggy, and -usually succeeded in seeing most of the chase, I felt that -the buggy men really encountered greater hazards than -anyone else. It was a thoroughly congenial company all -through. The weather was good; we were in the saddle -from morning until night; and our camp was in all respects -all that a camp should be; so how could we help -enjoying ourselves?</p> - -<p class='c010'>The coursing was done on the flats and great rolling -prairies which stretched north from our camp toward the -Wichita Mountains and south toward the Red River. -There was a certain element of risk in the gallops, because -the whole country was one huge prairie-dog town, -the prairie-dogs being so numerous that the new towns -and the abandoned towns were continuous with one -another in every direction. Practically every run we -had was through these prairie-dog towns, varied occasionally -by creeks and washouts. But as we always ran -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>scattered out, the wonderfully quick cow-ponies, brought -up in this country and spending all their time among the -prairie-dog towns, were able, even while running at -headlong speed, to avoid the holes with a cleverness that -was simply marvellous. During our hunt but one horse -stepped in a hole; he turned a complete somerset, though -neither he nor his rider was hurt. Stunted mesquite -bushes grew here and there in the grass, and there was -cactus. As always in prairie-dog towns, there were burrowing -owls and rattlesnakes. We had to be on our -guard that the dogs did not attack the latter. Once we -thought a greyhound was certainly bitten. It was a very -fast blue bitch, which seized the rattler and literally -shook it to pieces. The rattler struck twice at the bitch, -but so quick were the bitch’s movements that she was not -hit either time, and in a second the snake was not merely -dead, but in pieces. We usually killed the rattlers with -either our quirts or ropes. One which I thus killed was -over five feet long.</p> - -<p class='c010'>By rights there ought to have been carts in which the -greyhounds could be drawn until the coyotes were sighted, -but there were none, and the greyhounds simply trotted -along beside the horses. All of them were fine animals, -and almost all of them of recorded pedigree. Coyotes -have sharp teeth and bite hard, while greyhounds have -thin skins, and many of them were cut in the worries. -This was due to the fact that only two or three of them -seized by the throat, the others taking hold behind, which -of course exposed them to retaliation. Few of them -would have been of much use in stopping a big wolf. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>Abernethy’s hounds, however, though they could not kill -a big wolf, would stop it, permitting their owner to seize -it exactly as he seized coyotes, as hereafter described. -He had killed but a few of the big gray wolves; one -weighed ninety-seven pounds. He said that there were -gradations from this down to the coyotes. A few days -before our arrival, after a very long chase, he had captured -a black wolf, weighing between fifty and sixty -pounds.</p> - -<p class='c010'>These Southern coyotes or prairie-wolves are only -about one-third the size of the big gray timber wolves of -the Northern Rockies. They are too small to meddle -with full-grown horses and cattle, but pick up young -calves and kill sheep, as well as any small domesticated -animal that they can get at. The big wolves flee from -the neighborhood of anything like close settlements, but -coyotes hang around the neighborhood of man much more -persistently. They show a fox-like cunning in catching -rabbits, prairie-dogs, gophers, and the like. After nightfall -they are noisy, and their melancholy wailing and yelling -are familiar sounds to all who pass over the plains. -The young are brought forth in holes in cut banks or -similar localities. Within my own experience I have -known of the finding of but two families. In one there -was but a single family of five cubs and one old animal, -undoubtedly the mother; in the other case there were ten -or eleven cubs and two old females which had apparently -shared the burrow or cave, though living in separate -pockets. In neither case was any full-grown male coyote -found in the neighborhood; as regards these particular -litters, the father seemingly had nothing to do with taking -care of or supporting the family. I am not able to -say whether this was accidental or whether it is a rule, -that only the mother lives with and takes care of the litter; -I have heard contrary statements about the matter -from hunters who should know. Unfortunately I have -learned from long experience that it is only exceptional -hunters who can be trusted to give accurate descriptions -of the habits of any beast, save such as are connected with -its chase.</p> - -<div id='i_104' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_104.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>GREYHOUNDS RESTING AFTER A RUN<br /><br />From a photograph by W. Sloan Simpson</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>Coyotes are sharp, wary, knowing creatures, and on -most occasions take care to keep out of harm’s way. But -individuals among them have queer freaks. On one occasion -while Sloan Simpson was on the round-up he -waked at night to find something on the foot of his -bed, its dark form indistinctly visible against the white -tarpaulin. He aroused a friend to ask if it could be a -dog. While they were cautiously endeavoring to find out -what it was, it jumped up and ran off; they then saw that -it was a coyote. In a short time it returned again, coming -out of the darkness toward one of the cowboys who -was awake, and the latter shot it, fearing it might have -hydrophobia. But I doubt this, as in such case it would -not have curled up and gone to sleep on Simpson’s bedding. -Coyotes are subject to hydrophobia, and when -under the spell of the dreadful disease will fearlessly attack -men. In one case of which I know, a mad coyote -coming into camp sprang on a sleeping man who was -rolled in his bedding and bit and worried the bedding in -the effort to get at him. Two other men hastened to his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>rescue, and the coyote first attacked them and then suddenly -sprang aside and again worried the bedding, by -which time one of them was able to get in a shot and -killed it. All coyotes, like big wolves, die silently and -fight to the last. I had never weighed any coyotes until -on this trip. I weighed the twelve which I myself saw -caught, and they ran as follows: male, thirty pounds; -female, twenty-eight pounds; female, thirty-six pounds; -male, thirty-two pounds; male, thirty-four pounds; female, -thirty pounds; female, twenty-seven pounds; male, -thirty-two pounds; male, twenty-nine pounds; young -male, twenty-two pounds; male, twenty-nine pounds; female, -twenty-seven pounds. Disregarding the young -male, this makes an average of just over thirty pounds.<a id='r2' /><a href='#f2' class='c018'><sup>[2]</sup></a> -Except the heaviest female, they were all gaunt and in -splendid running trim; but then I do not remember ever -seeing a really fat coyote.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f2'> -<p class='c010'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. I sent the skins and skulls to Dr. Hart Merriam, the head of the Biological -Survey. He wrote me about them: “All but one are the plains coyote, -<i>Canis nebracensis</i>. They are not perfectly typical, but are near enough for all -practical purposes. The exception is a yearling pup of a much larger species. -Whether this is <i>frustor</i> I dare not say in the present state of knowledge of the -group.”</p> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>The morning of the first day of our hunt dawned -bright and beautiful, the air just cool enough to be pleasant. -Immediately after breakfast we jogged off on horseback, -Tom Burnett and Bony Moore in front, with six or -eight greyhounds slouching alongside, while Burke Burnett -and “War Bonnet” drove behind us in the buggy. -I was mounted on one of Tom Burnett’s favorites, a beautiful -Kiowa pony. The chuck wagon, together with the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>relay of greyhounds to be used in the afternoon, was to -join us about midday at an appointed place where there -was a pool of water.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We shuffled along, strung out in an irregular line, -across a long flat, in places covered with bright-green -wild onions; and then up a gentle slope where the stunted -mesquite grew, while the prairie-dogs barked spasmodically -as we passed their burrows. The low crest, if such -it could be called, of the slope was reached only some -twenty minutes after we left camp, and hardly had we -started down the other side than two coyotes were spied -three or four hundred yards in front. Immediately -horses and dogs were after them at a headlong, breakneck -run, the coyotes edging to the left where the creek bottom, -with its deep banks and narrow fringes of timber, -was about a mile distant. The little wolves knew their -danger and ran their very fastest, while the long dogs -stretched out after them, gaining steadily. It was evident -the chase would be a short one, and there was no need to -husband the horses, so every man let his pony go for -all there was in him. At such a speed, and especially -going down hill, there was not the slightest use in trying -to steer clear of the prairie-dog holes; it was best to let -the veteran cow-ponies see to that for themselves. They -were as eager as their riders, and on we dashed at full -speed, curving to the left toward the foot of the slope; -we jumped into and out of a couple of broad, shallow -washouts, as we tore after the hounds, now nearing their -quarry. The rearmost coyote was overtaken just at the -edge of the creek; the foremost, which was a few yards -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>in advance, made good its escape, as all the dogs promptly -tackled the rearmost, tumbling it over into a rather deep -pool. The scuffling and splashing told us what was going -on, and we reined our horses short up at the brink of -the cut bank. The water had hampered the dogs in killing -their quarry, only three or four of them being in the -pool with him; and of those he had seized one by the -nose and was hanging on hard. In a moment one of the -cowboys got hold of him, dropped a noose over his head, -and dragged him out on the bank, just as the buggy came -rattling up at full gallop. Burnett and the general, taking -advantage of the curve in our course, had driven -across the chord of the arc, and keeping their horses at a -run, had seen every detail of the chase and were in at the -death.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In a few minutes the coyote was skinned, the dogs -rested, and we were jogging on once more. Hour after -hour passed by. We had a couple more runs, but in each -case the coyote had altogether too long a start and got -away; the dogs no longer being as fresh as they had been. -As a rule, although there are exceptions, if the greyhounds -cannot catch the coyote within two or three miles -the chances favor the escape of the little wolf. We found -that if the wolf had more than half a mile start he got -away. As greyhounds hunt by sight, cut banks enable the -coyote easily to throw off his pursuers unless they are -fairly close up. The greyhounds see the wolf when he is -far off, for they have good eyes; but in the chase, if the -going is irregular, they tend to lose him, and they do not -depend much on one another in recovering sight of him; -on the contrary, the dog is apt to quit when he no longer -has the quarry in view.</p> - -<div id='i_108' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_108.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>AT THE TAIL OF THE CHUCK WAGON<br /><br />From a photograph by W. Sloan Simpson</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>At noon we joined the chuck wagon where it stood -drawn up on a slope of the treeless, bushless prairie; and -the active round-up cook soon had the meal ready. It -was the Four Sixes wagon, the brand burned into the -wood of the chuck box. Where does a man take more -frank enjoyment in his dinner than at the tail end of a -chuck wagon?</p> - -<p class='c010'>Soon after eating we started again, having changed -horses and dogs. I was mounted on a Big D cow-pony, -while Lambert had a dun-colored horse, hard to hold, -but very tough and swift. An hour or so after leaving -camp we had a four-mile run after a coyote, which finally -got away, for it had so long a start that the dogs were -done out by the time they came within fair distance. -They stopped at a little prairie pool, some of them lying -or standing in it, panting violently; and thus we found -them as we came stringing up at a gallop. After they -had been well rested we started toward camp; but we -were down in the creek bottom before we saw another -coyote. This one again was a long distance ahead, and -I did not suppose there was much chance of our catching -him; but away all the dogs and all the riders went at -the usual run, and catch him we did, because, as it turned -out, the “morning” dogs, which were with the wagon, -had spied him first and run him hard, until he was in -sight of the “afternoon” dogs, which were with us. I -got tangled in a washout, scrambled out, and was galloping -along, watching the country in front, when Lambert -<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>passed me as hard as he could go; I saw him disappear -into another washout, and then come out on the other -side, while the dogs were driving the coyote at an angle -down toward the creek. Pulling short to the right, I got -through the creek, hoping the coyote would cross, and the -result was that I galloped up to the worry almost as soon -as the foremost riders from the other side—a piece of -good fortune for which I had only luck to thank. The -hounds caught the coyote as he was about crossing the -creek. From this point it was but a short distance into -camp.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Again next morning we were off before the sun had -risen high enough to take away the cool freshness from -the air. This day we travelled several miles before we -saw our first coyote. It was on a huge, gently sloping -stretch of prairie, which ran down to the creek on our -right. We were travelling across it strung out in line -when the coyote sprang up a good distance ahead of the -dogs. They ran straight away from us at first. Then I -saw the coyote swinging to the right toward the creek -and I half-wheeled, riding diagonally to the line of the -chase. This gave me an excellent view of dogs and wolf, -and also enabled me to keep nearly abreast of them. On -this particular morning the dogs were Bevin’s greyhounds -and staghounds. From where the dogs started -they ran about three miles, catching their quarry in the -flat where the creek circled around in a bend, and when -it was not fifty yards from the timber. By this time the -puncher, Bony Moore, had passed me, most of the other -riders having been so far to the left when the run began -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>that they were unable to catch up. The little wolf ran -well, and the greyhounds had about reached their limit -when they caught up with it. But they lasted just long -enough to do the work. A fawn-colored greyhound and -a black staghound were the first dogs up. The staghound -tried to seize the coyote, which dodged a little to -one side; the fawn-colored greyhound struck and threw -it; and in another moment the other dogs were up and -the worry began. I was able to see the run so well, because -Tom Burnett had mounted me on his fine roan -cutting horse. We sat around in a semicircle on the grass -until the dogs had been breathed, and then started off -again. After some time we struck another coyote, but -rather far off, and this time the dogs were not fresh. -After running two or three miles he pulled away and we -lost him, the dogs refreshing themselves by standing and -lying in a shallow prairie pool.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the afternoon we again rode off, and this time Abernethy, -on his white horse, took the lead, his greyhounds -trotting beside him. There was a good deal of rivalry -among the various owners of the hounds as to which could -do best, and a slight inclination among the cowboys to -be jealous of Abernethy. No better riders could be imagined -than these same cowboys, and their greyhounds -were stanch and fast; but Abernethy, on his tough white -horse, not only rode with great judgment, but showed -a perfect knowledge of the coyote, and by his own exertions -greatly assisted his hounds. He had found out -in his long experience that while the greyhounds could -outpace a coyote in a two or three mile run, they would -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>then fall behind; but that after going eight or ten miles, -a coyote in turn became exhausted, and if he had been -able to keep his hounds going until that time, they could, -with his assistance, then stop the quarry.</p> - -<div id='i_112' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_112.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE BIG D. COW-PONY<br /><br />From a photograph by W. Sloan Simpson</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>We had been shogging along for an hour or more -when we put up a coyote and started after it. I was riding -the Big D pony I had ridden the afternoon before. -It was a good and stout horse, but one which my weight -was certain to distress if I tried to go too fast for too -long a time. Moreover, the coyote had a long start, and -I made up my mind that he would either get away or -give us a hard run. Accordingly, as the cowboys started -off at their usual headlong pace, I rode behind at a gallop, -husbanding my horse. For a mile or so the going -was very rough, up over and down stony hills and among -washouts. Then we went over gently rolling country -for another mile or two, and then came to a long broken -incline which swept up to a divide some four miles ahead -of us. Lambert had been riding alongside of Abernethy, -at the front, but his horse began to play out, and needed -to be nursed along, so that he dropped back level with -me. By the time I had reached the foot of this incline -the punchers, riding at full speed, had shot their bolts, -and one by one I passed them, as well as most of the -greyhounds. But Abernethy was far ahead, his white -horse loping along without showing any signs of distress. -Up the long slope I did not dare press my animal, and -Abernethy must have been a mile ahead of me when he -struck the divide, while where the others were I had no -idea, except that they were behind me. When I reached -the divide I was afraid I might have missed Abernethy, -but to my delight he was still in sight, far ahead. As -we began to go down hill I let the horse fairly race; for -by Abernethy’s motions I could tell that he was close to -the wolf and that it was no longer running in a straight -line, so that there was a chance of my overtaking them. -In a couple of miles I was close enough to see what was -going on. But one greyhound was left with Abernethy. -The coyote was obviously tired, and Abernethy, with the -aid of his perfectly trained horse, was helping the greyhound -catch it. Twice he headed it, and this enabled -me to gain rapidly. They had reached a small unwooded -creek by the time I was within fifty yards; the little wolf -tried to break back to the left; Abernethy headed it and -rode almost over it, and it gave a wicked snap at his -foot, cutting the boot. Then he wheeled and came toward -it; again it galloped back, and just as it crossed the -creek the greyhound made a rush, pinned it by the hind -leg and threw it. There was a scuffle, then a yell from -the greyhound as the wolf bit it. At the bite the hound -let go and jumped back a few feet, and at the same moment -Abernethy, who had ridden his horse right on them -as they struggled, leaped off and sprang on top of the -wolf. He held the reins of the horse with one hand and -thrust the other, with a rapidity and precision even -greater than the rapidity of the wolf’s snap, into the wolf’s -mouth, jamming his hand down crosswise between the -jaws, seizing the lower jaw and bending it down so that -the wolf could not bite him. He had a stout glove on his -hand, but this would have been of no avail whatever had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>he not seized the animal just as he did; that is, behind the -canines, while his hand pressed the lips against the teeth; -with his knees he kept the wolf from using its forepaws -to break the hold, until it gave up struggling. When he -thus leaped on and captured this coyote it was entirely -free, the dog having let go of it; and he was obliged to -keep hold of the reins of his horse with one hand. I was -not twenty yards distant at the time, and as I leaped off -the horse he was sitting placidly on the live wolf, his -hand between its jaws, the greyhound standing beside -him, and his horse standing by as placid as he was. In -a couple of minutes Fortescue and Lambert came up. It -was as remarkable a feat of the kind as I have ever seen.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Through some oversight we had no straps with us, -and Abernethy had lost the wire which he usually carried -in order to tie up the wolves’ muzzles—for he habitually -captured his wolves in this fashion. However, Abernethy -regarded the lack of straps as nothing more than a slight -bother. Asking one of us to hold his horse, he threw -the wolf across in front of the saddle, still keeping his -grip on the lower jaw, then mounted and rode off with -us on the back track. The wolf was not tied in any way. -It was unhurt, and the only hold he had was on its lower -jaw. I was surprised that it did not strive to fight with -its legs, but after becoming satisfied that it could not bite, -it seemed to resign itself to its fate, was fairly quiet, and -looked about with its ears pricked forward. The wolves -which I subsequently saw him capture, and, having tied -up their muzzles, hold before him on the saddle, acted -in precisely the same manner.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>The run had been about ten miles in an almost -straight line. At the finish no other riders were in sight, -but soon after we crossed the divide on our return, and -began to come down the long slope toward the creek, we -were joined by Tom Burnett and Bony Moore; while -some three or four miles ahead on a rise of the prairie -we could see the wagon in which Burke Burnett was driving -General Young. Other punchers and straggling -greyhounds joined us, and as the wolf, after travelling -some five miles, began to recover his wind and show a -tendency to fight for his freedom, Abernethy tied up his -jaws with his handkerchief and handed him over to Bony -Moore, who packed him on the saddle with entire indifference, -the wolf himself showing a curious philosophy. -Our horses had recovered their wind and we struck into -a gallop down the slope; then as we neared the wagon -we broke into a run, Bony Moore brandishing aloft with -one hand the live wolf, its jaws tied up with a handkerchief, -but otherwise unbound. We stopped for a few -minutes with Burnett and the general to tell particulars -of the hunt. Then we loped off again toward camp, -which was some half dozen miles off. I shall always -remember this run and the really remarkable feat Abernethy -performed. Colonel Lyon had seen him catch a -big wolf in the same way that he caught this coyote. It -was his usual method of catching both coyotes and wolves. -Almost equally noteworthy were the way in which he -handled and helped his greyhounds, and the judgment, -resolution, and fine horsemanship he displayed. His -horse showed extraordinary endurance.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>The third day we started out as usual, the chuck -wagon driving straight to a pool far out on the prairie, -where we were to meet it for lunch. Chief Quanah’s -three wives had joined him, together with a small boy -and a baby, and they drove in a wagon of their own. -Meanwhile the riders and hounds went south nearly to -Red River. In the morning we caught four coyotes and -had a three miles run after one which started too far -ahead of the dogs, and finally got clean away. All the -four that we got were started fairly close up, and the run -was a breakneck scurry, horses and hounds going as hard -as they could put feet to the ground. Twice the cowboys -distanced me; and twice the accidents of the chase, the -sudden twists and turns of the coyote in his efforts to take -advantage of the ground, favored me and enabled me to -be close up at the end, when Abernethy jumped off his -horse and ran in to where the dogs had the coyote. -He was even quicker with his hands than the wolf’s -snap, and in a moment he always had the coyote by the -lower jaw.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Between the runs we shogged forward across the great -reaches of rolling prairie in the bright sunlight. The air -was wonderfully clear, and any object on the sky-line, no -matter how small, stood out with startling distinctness. -There were few flowers on these dry plains; in sharp contrast -to the flower prairies of southern Texas, which we -had left the week before, where many acres for a stretch -would be covered by masses of red or white or blue or yellow -blossoms—the most striking of all, perhaps, being the -fields of the handsome buffalo clover. As we plodded -over the prairie the sharp eyes of the punchers were scanning -the ground far and near, and sooner or later one of -them would spy the motionless form of a coyote, or all -would have their attention attracted as it ran like a fleeting -gray or brown shadow among the grays and browns of -the desolate landscape. Immediately dogs and horses -would stretch at full speed after it, and everything would -be forgotten but the wild exhilaration of the run.</p> - -<div id='i_116' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_116.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ABERNETHY AND COYOTE<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>It was nearly noon when we struck the chuck wagon. -Immediately the handy round-up cook began to prepare -a delicious dinner, and we ate as men have a right to eat, -who have ridden all the morning and are going to ride -fresh horses all the afternoon. Soon afterward the horse-wranglers -drove up the saddle band, while some of the -cow-punchers made a rope corral from the side of the -wagon. Into this the horses were driven, one or two -breaking back and being brought into the bunch again -only after a gallop more exciting than most coyote chases. -Fresh ponies were roped out and the saddle band again -turned loose. The dogs that had been used during the -morning then started campward with the chuck wagon. -One of the punchers was riding a young and partially -broken horse; he had no bridle, simply a rope around the -horse’s neck. This man started to accompany the wagon -to the camp.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The rest of us went off at the usual cow-pony trot or -running walk. It was an hour or two before we saw anything; -then a coyote appeared a long way ahead and the -dogs raced after him. The first mile was up a gentle -slope; then we turned, and after riding a couple of miles -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>on the level the dogs had shot their bolt and the coyote -drew away. When he got too far in front the dogs and -foremost riders stopped and waited for the rest of us to -overtake them, and shortly afterward Burke Burnett and -the general appeared in their buggy. One of the greyhounds -was completely done out and we took some time -attending to it. Suddenly one of the men, either Tom -Burnett or Bony Moore, called out that he saw the coyote -coming back pursued by a horseman. Sure enough, the -unfortunate little wolf had run in sight of the wagons, -and the puncher on the young unbridled horse immediately -took after him, and, in spite of a fall, succeeded in -heading him back and bringing him along in our direction, -although some three-quarters of a mile away. Immediately -everyone jumped into his saddle and away we -all streamed down a long slope diagonally to the course -the coyote was taking. He had a long start, but the dogs -were rested, while he had been running steadily, and this -fact proved fatal to him. Down the slope to the creek -bottom at its end we rode at a run. Then there came a -long slope upward, and the heavier among us fell gradually -to the rear. When we topped the divide, however, -we could see ahead of us the foremost men streaming -after the hounds, and the latter running in a way which -showed that they were well up on their game. Even a -tired horse can go pretty well down hill, and by dint of -hard running we who were behind got up in time to see -the worry when the greyhounds caught the coyote, by -some low ponds in a treeless creek bed. We had gone -about seven miles, the unlucky coyote at least ten. Our -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>journey to camp was enlivened by catching another -coyote after a short run.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Next day was the last of our hunt. We started off in -the morning as usual, but the buggy men on this occasion -took with them some trail hounds, which were managed -by a sergeant of the regular army, a game sportsman. -They caught two coons in the timber of a creek two or -three miles to the south of the camp. Meanwhile the -rest of us, riding over the prairie, saw the greyhounds -catch two coyotes, one after a rather long run and one -after a short one. Then we turned our faces toward -camp. I saw Abernethy, with three or four of his own -hounds, riding off to one side, but unfortunately I did -not pay any heed to him, as I supposed the hunting was -at an end. But when we reached camp Abernethy was -not there, nor did he turn up until we were finishing -lunch. Then he suddenly appeared, his tired greyhounds -trotting behind him, while he carried before him on the -saddle a live coyote, with its muzzle tied up, and a dead -coyote strapped behind his saddle. Soon after leaving -us he had found a coyote, and after a good run the dogs -had stopped it and he had jumped off and captured it in -his usual fashion. Then while riding along, holding the -coyote before him on the saddle, he put up another one. -His dogs were tired, and he himself was of course greatly -hampered in such a full-speed run by having the live -wolf on the saddle in front of him. One by one the dogs -gave out, but his encouragement and assistance kept two -of them to their work, and after a run of some seven miles -the coyote was overtaken. It was completely done out -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>and would probably have died by itself, even if the hounds -had not taken part in the killing. Hampered as he was, -Abernethy could not take it alive in his usual fashion. -So when it was dead he packed it behind his horse and -rode back in triumph. The live wolf, as in every other -case where one was brought into camp, made curiously -little effort to fight with its paws, seeming to acquiesce in -its captivity, and looking around, with its ears thrust forward, -as if more influenced by curiosity than by any other -feeling.</p> - -<p class='c010'>After lunch we rode toward town, stopping at nightfall -to take supper by the bank of a creek. We entered -the town after dark, some twenty of us on horseback. -Wagner was riding with us, and he had set his heart -upon coming into and through the town in true cowboy -style; and it was he who set the pace. We broke into a -lope a mile outside the limits, and by the time we struck -the main street the horses were on a run and we tore down -like a whirlwind until we reached the train. Thus ended -as pleasant a hunting trip as any one could imagine. The -party got seventeen coyotes all told, for there were some -runs which I did not see at all, as now and then both -men and dogs would get split into groups.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On this hunt we did not see any of the big wolves, the -so-called buffalo or timber wolves, which I hunted in the -old days on the Northern cattle plains. Big wolves are -found in both Texas and Oklahoma, but they are rare -compared to the coyotes; and they are great wanderers. -Alone or in parties of three or four or half a dozen they -travel to and fro across the country, often leaving a district -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>at once if they are molested. Coyotes are more or -less plentiful everywhere throughout the West in thinly -settled districts, and they often hang about in the -immediate neighborhood of towns. They do enough -damage to make farmers and ranchers kill them whenever -the chance offers. But this damage is not appreciable -when compared with the ravages of their grim big -brother, the gray wolf, which, wherever it exists in numbers, -is a veritable scourge to the stockmen.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Colonel Lyon’s hounds were, as I have said, used -chiefly after jack-rabbits. He had frequently killed coyotes -with them, however, and on two or three occasions -one of the big gray wolves. At the time when he did -most of his wolf-hunting he had with the greyhounds a -huge fighting dog, a Great Dane, weighing one hundred -and forty-five pounds. In spite of its weight this dog -could keep up well in a short chase, and its ferocious temper -and enormous weight and strength made it invaluable -at the bay. Whether the quarry were a gray wolf or -coyote mattered not in the least to it, and it made its -assaults with such headlong fury that it generally escaped -damage. On the two or three occasions when the animal -bayed was a big wolf the greyhounds did not dare tackle -it, jumping about in an irregular circle and threatening -the wolf until the fighting dog came up. The latter at -once rushed in, seizing its antagonist by the throat or -neck and throwing it. Doubtless it would have killed -the wolf unassisted, but the greyhounds always joined in -the killing; and once thrown, the wolf could never get -on his legs. In these encounters the dog was never seriously -<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>hurt. Rather curiously, the only bad wound it ever -received was from a coyote; the little wolf, not one-third -of its weight, managing to inflict a terrific gash down its -huge antagonist’s chest, nearly tearing it open. But of -course a coyote against such a foe could not last much -longer than a rat pitted against a terrier.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Big wolves and coyotes are found side by side -throughout the Western United States, both varying so -in size that if a sufficient number of specimens, from different -localities, are examined it will be found that there -is a complete intergradation in both stature and weight. -To the northward the coyotes disappear, and the big -wolves grow larger and larger until in the arctic regions -they become veritable giants. At Point Barrow Mr. E. A. McIlhenny -had six of the eight “huskies” of his dog -team killed and eaten by a huge white dog wolf. At last -he shot it, and found that it weighed one hundred and -sixty-one pounds.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Good trail hounds can run down a wolf. A year ago -Jake Borah’s pack in northwestern Colorado ran a big -wolf weighing one hundred and fifteen pounds to bay in -but little over an hour. He then stood with his back to a -rock, and though the dogs formed a semicircle around -him, they dared not tackle him. Jake got up and shot him. -Unless well trained and with the natural fighting edge -neither trail hounds (fox-hounds) nor greyhounds can -or will kill a big wolf, and under ordinary circumstances, -no matter how numerous, they make but a poor showing -against one. But big ninety-pound or one hundred-pound -greyhounds, specially bred and trained for the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>purpose, stand on an entirely different footing. Three -or four of these dogs, rushing in together and seizing the -wolf by the throat, will kill him, or worry him until he -is helpless. On several occasions the Colorado Springs -greyhounds have performed this feat. Johnny Goff -owned a large, fierce dog, a cross between what he called -a Siberian bloodhound (I suppose some animal like a -Great Dane) and an ordinary hound, which, on one occasion -when he had shot at and broken the hind leg of a big -wolf, ran it down and killed it. On the other hand, wolves -will often attack dogs. In March of the present year—nineteen -hundred and five—Goff’s dogs were scattered -over a hillside hunting a bobcat, when he heard one of -them yell, and looking up saw that two wolves were chasing -it. The other dogs were so busy puzzling out the -cat’s trail that they never noticed what was happening. -Goff called aloud, whereupon the wolves stopped. He -shot one and the other escaped. He thinks that they -would have overtaken and killed the hound in a minute -or two if he had not interfered.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The big wolves shrink back before the growth of the -thickly settled districts, and in the Eastern States they -often tend to disappear even from districts that are uninhabited -save by a few wilderness hunters. They have thus -disappeared almost entirely from Maine, the Adirondacks, -and the Alleghanies, although here and there they -are said to be returning to their old haunts. Their disappearance -is rather mysterious in some instances, for -they are certainly not all killed off. The black bear is -much easier killed, yet the black bear holds its own in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>many parts of the land from which the wolf has vanished. -No animal is quite so difficult to kill as is the wolf, -whether by poison or rifle or hound. Yet, after a comparatively -few have been slain, the entire species will -perhaps vanish from certain localities. In some localities -even the cougar, the easiest of all game to kill with -hounds, holds its own better. This, however, is not generally -true.</p> - -<p class='c010'>But with all wild animals, it is a noticeable fact that -a course of contact with man continuing over many generations -of animal life causes a species so to adapt itself -to its new surroundings that it can hold its own far better -than formerly. When white men take up a new country, -the game, and especially the big game, being entirely unused -to contend with the new foe, succumb easily, and -are almost completely killed out. If any individuals survive -at all, however, the succeeding generations are far -more difficult to exterminate than were their ancestors, -and they cling much more tenaciously to their old homes. -The game to be found in old and long-settled countries is -of course much more wary and able to take care of itself -than the game of an untrodden wilderness; it is the wilderness -life, far more than the actual killing of the wilderness -game, which tests the ability of the wilderness -hunter.</p> - -<div id='i_125' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_125.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ABERNETHY RETURNS FROM THE HUNT<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>After a time, game may even, for the time being, increase -in certain districts where settlements are thin. This -was true of the wolves throughout the northern cattle -country, in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and the western -ends of the Dakotas. In the old days wolves were -very plentiful throughout this region, closely following -the huge herds of buffaloes. The white men who followed -these herds as professional buffalo-hunters were -often accompanied by other men, known as wolfers, who -poisoned these wolves for the sake of their fur. With the -disappearance of the buffalo the wolves diminished in -numbers so that they also seemed to disappear. Then in -the late eighties or early nineties the wolves began again -to increase in numbers until they became once more as -numerous as ever and infinitely more wary and difficult -to kill; though as they were nocturnal in their habits they -were not often seen. Along the Little Missouri and in -many parts of Montana and Wyoming this increase was -very noticeable during the last decade of the nineteenth -century. They were at that time the only big animals -of the region which had increased in numbers. Such an -increase following a previous decrease in the same region -was both curious and interesting. I never knew the -wolves to be so numerous or so daring in their assaults -upon stock in the Little Missouri country as in the years -1894 to 1896 inclusive. I am unable wholly to account -for these changes. The first great diminution in the numbers -of the wolves is only partially to be explained by -the poisoning; yet they seemed to disappear almost everywhere -and for a number of years continued scarce. Then -they again became plentiful, reappearing in districts -from whence they had entirely vanished, and appearing -in new districts where they had been hitherto unknown. -Then they once more began to diminish in number. In -northwestern Colorado, in the White River country, cougars -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>fairly swarmed in the early nineties, while up to that -time the big gray wolves were almost or entirely unknown. -Then they began to come in, and increased -steadily in numbers, while the cougars diminished, so -that by the winter of 1902–3 they much outnumbered -the big cats, and committed great ravages among the -stock. The settlers were at their wits’ ends how to deal -with the pests. At last a trapper came in, a shiftless fellow, -but extraordinarily proficient in his work. He had -some kind of scent, the secret of which he would not reveal, -which seemed to drive the wolves nearly crazy with -desire. In one winter in the neighborhood of the Keystone -Ranch he trapped forty-two big gray wolves; -they still outnumber the cougars, which in that neighborhood -have been nearly killed out, but they are no -longer abundant.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At present wolves are decreasing in numbers all over -Colorado, as they are in Montana, Wyoming, and the -Dakotas. In some localities traps have been found -most effective; in others, poison; and in yet others, -hounds. I am inclined to think that where they have -been pursued in one manner for a long time any new -method will at first prove more efficacious. After a very -few wolves have been poisoned or trapped, the survivors -become so wary that only a master in the art can do anything -with them, while there are always a few wolves -which cannot be persuaded to touch a bait save under -wholly exceptional circumstances. From association -with the old she-wolves the cubs learn as soon as they -are able to walk to avoid man’s traces in every way, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>to look out for traps and poison. They are so shy and -show such extraordinary cunning in hiding and slinking -out of the way of the hunter that they are rarely killed -with the rifle. Personally I never shot but one. A bold -and good rider on a first-rate horse can, however, run -down even a big gray wolf in fair chase, and either rope -or shoot it. I have known a number of cow-punchers thus -to rope wolves when they happened to run across them -after they had gorged themselves on their quarry. A -former Colorado ranchman, Mr. Henry N. Pancoast, -who had done a good deal of wolf-hunting, and had -killed one which, judging by its skin, was a veritable -monster, wrote me as follows about his experiences:</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I captured nearly all my wolves by running them -down and then either roped or shot them. I had one -mount that had great endurance, and when riding him -never failed to give chase to a wolf if I had the time to -spare; and never failed to get my quarry but two or three -times. I roped four full-grown and two cubs and shot -five full-grown and three cubs—the large wolf in question -being killed that way. And he was by far the hardest -proposition I ever tried, and I candidly think I run him -twenty miles before overhauling and shooting him (he -showed too much fight to use a rope). As it was almost -dark, concluded to put him on horse and skin at ranch, -but had my hands full to get him on the saddle, was so -very heavy. My plan in running wolves down was to -get about three hundred yards from them, and then to -keep that distance until the wolf showed signs of fatigue, -when a little spurt would generally succeed in landing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>him. In the case of the large one, however, I reckoned -without my host, as the wolf had as much go left as the -horse, so I tried slowing down to a walk and let the wolf -go; he ... came down to a little trot and soon placed -a half mile between us, and finally went out of sight over -a high hill. I took my time and on reaching top of hill -saw wolf about four hundred yards off, and as I now -had a down grade managed to get my tired horse on a -lope and was soon up to the wolf, which seemed all stiffened -up, and one shot from my Winchester finished him. -We always had poison out, as wolves and coyotes killed -a great many calves. Never poisoned but two wolves, -and those were caught with fresh antelope liver and -entrails (coyotes were easily poisoned).”</p> - -<div id='i_129' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_129.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>BONY MOORE AND THE COYOTE<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1905, by Alexander Lambert, M.D.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>In the early nineties the ravages of the wolves along -the Little Missouri became so serious as thoroughly to -arouse the stockmen. Not only colts and calves, and -young trail stock, but in midwinter full-grown horses -and steers were continually slain. The county authorities -put a bounty of three dollars each on wolf scalps, to -which the ranchmen of the neighborhood added a further -bounty of five dollars. This made eight dollars for every -wolf, and as the skin was also worth something, the business -of killing wolves became profitable. Quite a number -of men tried poisoning or trapping, but the most successful -wolf hunter on the Little Missouri at that time was -a man who did not rely on poison at all, but on dogs. -He was named Massingale, and he always had a pack -of at least twenty hounds. The number varied, for a wolf -at bay is a terrible fighter, with jaws like those of a steel -trap, and teeth that cut like knives, so that the dogs were -continually disabled and sometimes killed, and the hunter -had always to be on the watch to add animals to his pack. -It was not a good-looking pack, but it was thoroughly fit -for its own work. Most of the dogs were greyhounds, -whether rough or smooth haired, but many of them were -big mongrels, part greyhound and part some other breed, -such as bulldog, mastiff, Newfoundland, bloodhound, or -collie. The only two requisites were that the dogs should -run fast and fight gamely; and in consequence they -formed as wicked, hard-biting a crew as ever ran down -and throttled a wolf. They were usually taken out ten -at a time, and by their aid Massingale killed over two -hundred wolves, including cubs. Of course there was -no pretence of giving the game fair play. The wolves -were killed as vermin, not for sport. The greatest havoc -was in the spring-time, when the she-wolves were followed -to their dens. Some of the hounds were very fast, -and they could usually overtake a young or weak wolf; -but an old dog wolf, with a good start, unless run into at -once, would ordinarily get away if he were in running -trim. Frequently, however, he was caught when not in -running trim, for the hunter was apt to find him when he -had killed a calf or taken part in dragging down a horse -or steer, and was gorged with meat. Under these circumstances -he could not run long before the pack. If -possible, as with all such packs, the hunter himself got -up in time to end the worry by a stab of his hunting-knife; -but unless he was quick he had nothing to do, for the pack -was thoroughly competent to do its own killing. Grim -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>fighter though a great dog wolf is, he stands no show before -the onslaught of ten such hounds, agile and powerful, -who rush on their antagonist in a body. Massingale’s -dogs possessed great power in their jaws, and unless he -was up within two or three minutes after the wolf was -overtaken, they tore him to death, though one or more -of their number might be killed or crippled in the fight. -The wolf might be throttled without having the hide -on its neck torn; but when it was stretched out the dogs -ripped open its belly. Dogs do not get their teeth -through the skin of an old cougar; but they will tear up -either a bobcat or coyote.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In 1894 and 1896 I saw a number of wolves on the -Little Missouri, although I was not looking for them. I -frequently came upon the remains of sheep and young -stock which they had killed; and once, upon the top of -a small plateau, I found the body of a large steer, while -the torn and trodden ground showed that he had fought -hard for his life before succumbing. There had been -two wolves engaged in the work, and the cunning beasts -had evidently acted in concert. Apparently, while one -attracted the steer’s attention in front, the other, according -to the invariable wolf habit, attacked him from behind, -hamstringing him and tearing out his flanks. His -body was still warm when I came up, but the marauders -had slunk off, either seeing or smelling me. There was -no mistaking the criminals, however, for, unlike bears, -which usually attack an animal at the withers, or cougars, -which attack the throat or head, wolves almost invariably -attack their victim at the hind quarters and begin first -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>on the hams or flanks, if the animal is of any size. Owing -to their often acting in couples or in packs, the big wolves -do more damage to horned stock than cougars, but they -are not as dangerous to colts, and they are not nearly as -expert as the big cats in catching deer and mountain -sheep. When food is plentiful, good observers say that -they will not try to molest foxes; but, if hungry, they -certainly snap them up as quickly as they would fawns. -Ordinarily they show complete tolerance of the coyotes; -yet one bitter winter I knew of a coyote being killed and -eaten by a wolf.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Not only do the habits of wild beasts change under -changing conditions as time goes on, but there seems to -be some change even in their appearance. Thus the early -observers of the game of the Little Missouri, those who -wrote in the first half of the nineteenth century, spoke -much of the white wolves which were then so common in -the region. These white wolves represented in all probability -only a color variety of the ordinary gray wolf; and -it is difficult to say exactly why they disappeared. Yet -when about the year 1890 wolves again grew common -these white wolves were very, very rare; indeed I never -personally heard of but one being seen. This was on the -Upper Cannonball in 1892. A nearly black wolf was -killed not far from this spot in the year 1893. At the -present day black wolves are more common than white -wolves, which are rare indeed. But all these big wolves -are now decreasing in numbers, and in most places are -decreasing rapidly.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It will be noticed that on some points my observations -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>about wolves are in seeming conflict with those of other -observers as competent as I am; but I think the conflict -is more seeming than real, and I have concluded to let -my words stand. The great book of nature contains many -pages which are hard to read, and at times conscientious -students may well draw different interpretations of the -obscure and least-known texts. It may not be that either -observer is at fault, but what is true of an animal in one -locality may not be true of the same animal in another, -and even in the same locality two individuals of the same -species may differ widely in their traits and habits.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <span class='large'>HUNTING IN THE CATTLE COUNTRY; THE PRONGBUCK</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>The prongbuck is the most characteristic and distinctive -of American game animals. Zoologically speaking, -its position is unique. It is the only hollow-horned -ruminant which sheds its horns, or rather the horn -sheaths. We speak of it as an antelope, and it does of -course represent on our prairies the antelopes of the Old -World; but it stands apart from all other horned animals. -Its place in the natural world is almost as lonely as that -of the giraffe. In all its ways and habits it differs as much -from deer and elk as from goat and sheep. Now that the -buffalo has gone, it is the only game really at home on the -wide plains. It is a striking-looking little creature, with -its prominent eyes, single-pronged horns, and the sharply -contrasted white, brown and reddish of its coat. The -brittle hair is stiff, coarse and springy; on the rump it is -brilliantly white, and is erected when the animal is -alarmed or excited, so as to be very conspicuous. In -marked contrast to deer, antelope never seek to elude observation; -all they care for is to be able themselves to see. -As they have good noses and wonderful eyes, and as they -live by preference where there is little or no cover, shots -at them are usually obtained at far longer range than is -the case with other game; and yet, as they are easily seen, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>and often stand looking at the hunter just barely within -very long rifle-range, they are always tempting their pursuer -to the expenditure of cartridges. More shots are -wasted at antelope than at any other game. They would -be even harder to secure were it not that they are subject -to fits of panic folly, or excessive curiosity, which occasionally -put them fairly at the mercy of the rifle-bearing -hunter.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the old days the prongbuck was found as soon as -the westward-moving traveller left the green bottom-lands -of the Mississippi, and from thence across to the -dry, open valleys of California, and northward to Canada -and southward into Mexico. It has everywhere been -gradually thinned out, and has vanished altogether from -what were formerly the extreme easterly and westerly -limits of its range. The rates of extermination of the different -kinds of big game have been very unequal in -different localities. Each kind of big game has had its -own peculiar habitat in which it throve best, and each -has also been found more or less plentifully in other regions -where the circumstances were less favorable; and in -these comparatively unfavorable regions it early tends -to disappear before the advance of man. In consequence, -where the ranges of the different game animals overlap -and are intertwined, one will disappear first in one locality, -and another will disappear first where the conditions -are different. Thus the whitetail deer had thrust forward -along the very narrow river bottoms into the domain -of the mule-deer and the prongbuck among the foothills -of the Rocky Mountains, and in these places it was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>exterminated from the narrow strips which it inhabited -long before the mule-deer vanished from the high hills, -or the prongbuck from the great open plains. But along -great portions of the Missouri there are plenty of whitetails -yet left in the river bottoms, while the mule-deer -that once dwelt in the broken hills behind them, and the -prongbuck which lived on the prairie just back of these -bluffs, have both disappeared. In the same way the mule-deer -and the prongbuck are often found almost intermingled -through large regions in which plains, hills, and -mountains alternate. If such a region is mainly mountainous, -but contains a few valleys and table-lands, the -prongbuck is sure to vanish from the latter before the -mule-deer vanishes from the broken country. But if the -region is one primarily of plains, with here and there -rows of rocky hills in which the mule-deer is found, the -latter is killed off long before the prongbuck can be -hunted out of the great open stretches. The same is true -of the pronghorn and the wapiti. The size and value of -the wapiti make it an object of eager persecution on the -part of hunters. But as it can live in the forest-clad fastnesses -of the Rockies, into which settlement does not go, -it outlasts over great regions the pronghorn, whose abode -is easily penetrated by sheep and cattle men. Under anything -like even conditions, however, the prongbuck, of -course, outlasts the wapiti. This was the case on the Little -Missouri. On that stream the bighorn also outlasted -the wapiti. In 1881 wapiti were still much more plentiful -than bighorns. Within the next decade they had -almost totally disappeared, while the bighorn was still -<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>to be found; I shot one and saw others in 1893, at which -time I had not authentic information of a single wapiti -remaining anywhere on the river in my neighborhood, -although it is possible that one or two still lurked in some -out-of-the-way recess. In Colorado at one time the bighorn -was nearly exterminated, while the wapiti still -withstood the havoc made among its huge herds; then followed -a period in which the rapidity of destruction of -the wapiti increased far beyond that of the bighorn.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I mention these facts partly because they are of interest -in themselves, but chiefly because they tend to explain -the widely different opinions expressed by competent observers -about what superficially seem to be similar facts. -It cannot be too often repeated that allowance must be -made for the individual variability in the traits and characters -of animals of the same species, and especially of -the same species under different circumstances and in different -localities; and allowance must also be made for -the variability of the individual factor in the observers -themselves. Many seemingly contradictory observations -of the habits of deer, wapiti, and prongbuck will be -found in books by the best hunters. Take such questions -as the keenness of sight of the deer as compared with the -prongbuck, and of the pugnacity of the wapiti, both actual -and relative, and a wide difference of opinion will be -found in three such standard works as Dodge’s “The -Hunting-grounds of the Great West,” Caton’s “Deer and -Antelope of America,” and the contributions of Mr. -Grinnell to the “Century Book of Sports.” Sometimes -the difference will be in mere matters of opinion, as, for -<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>instance, in the belief as to the relative worth of the sport -furnished by the chase of the different creatures; but -sometimes there is a direct conflict of fact. Colonel -Dodge, for instance, has put it upon record that the wapiti -is an exceedingly gentle animal, less dangerous than a -whitetail or blacktail buck in a close encounter, and that -the bulls hardly ever fight among themselves. My own -experience leads me to traverse in the most emphatic -manner every one of these conclusions, and all hunters -whom I have met feel exactly as I do; yet no one would -question for a moment Colonel Dodge’s general competency -as an observer. In the same way Mr. Grinnell -has a high opinion of the deer’s keenness of sight. Judge -Caton absolutely disagrees with him, and my own experience -tends to agree with that of the Judge—at least -to the extent of placing the deer’s vision far below that -of the prongbuck and even that of the bighorn, and only -on a par with that of the wapiti. Yet Mr. Grinnell is -an unusually competent observer, whose opinion on any -such subject is entitled to unqualified respect.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Difference in habits may be due simply to difference -of locality, or to the need of adaptation to new conditions. -The prongbuck’s habits about migration offer examples -of the former kind of difference. Over portions of its -range the prongbuck is not migratory at all. In other -parts the migrations are purely local. In yet other regions -the migrations are continued for great distances, immense -multitudes of the animals going to and fro in the -spring and fall along well-beaten tracks. I know of one -place in New Mexico where the pronghorn herds are tenants -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>of certain great plains throughout the entire year. I -know another region in northwestern Colorado where the -very few prongbucks still left, though they shift from valley -to valley, yet spend the whole year in the same stretch -of rolling, barren country. On the Little Missouri, however, -during the eighties and early nineties, there was -a very distinct though usually local migration. Before -the Black Hills had been settled they were famous wintering -places for the antelope, which swarmed from -great distances to them when cold weather approached; -those which had summered east of the Big Missouri actually -swam the river in great herds, on their journey to -the Hills. The old hunters around my ranch insisted -that formerly the prongbuck had for the most part travelled -from the Little Missouri Bad Lands into the Black -Hills for the winter.</p> - -<div id='i_138' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_138.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ON THE LITTLE MISSOURI</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>When I was ranching on that river, however, this -custom no longer obtained, for the Black Hills were too -well settled, and the herds of prongbuck that wintered -there were steadily diminishing in numbers. At that -time, from 1883 to 1896, the seasonal change in habits, -and shift of position, of the prongbucks were well -marked. As soon as the new grass sprang they appeared -in great numbers upon the plains. They were especially -fond of the green, tender blades that came up where the -country had been burned over. If the region had been -devastated by prairie fires in the fall, the next spring it -was certain to contain hundreds and thousands of prongbucks. -All through the summer they remained out on -these great open plains, coming to drink at the little pools -in the creek beds, and living where there was no shelter -of any kind. As winter approached they began to gather -in bands. Some of these bands apparently had regular -wintering places to the south of us, in Pretty Buttes and -beyond; and close to my ranch, at the crossing of the -creek called Beaver, there were certain trails which these -antelope regularly travelled, northward in the spring and -southward in the fall. But other bands would seek out -places in the Bad Lands near by, gathering together on -some succession of plateaus which were protected by -neighboring hills from the deep drifts of snow. Here -they passed the winter, on short commons, it is true (they -graze, not browsing like deer), but without danger of -perishing in the snowdrifts. On the other hand, if the -skin-hunters discovered such a wintering place, they were -able to butcher practically the entire band, if they so desired, -as the prongbucks were always most reluctant to -leave such a chosen ground.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Normally the prongbuck avoids both broken ground -and timber. It is a queer animal, with keen senses, but -with streaks of utter folly in its character. Time and -again I have known bands rush right by me, when I -happened to surprise them feeding near timber or hills, -and got between them and the open plains. The animals -could have escaped without the least difficulty if they had -been willing to go into the broken country, or through -even a few rods of trees and brush; and yet they preferred -to rush madly by me at close range, in order to get out -to their favorite haunts. But nowadays there are certain -localities where the prongbucks spend a large part of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>their time in the timber or in rough, hilly country, feeding -and bringing up their young in such localities.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Typically, however, the prongbuck is preeminently a -beast of the great open plains, eating their harsh, dry -pasturage, and trusting to its own keen senses and speed -for its safety. All the deer are fond of skulking; the -whitetail preeminently so. The prongbuck, on the contrary, -never endeavors to elude observation. Its sole aim -is to be able to see its enemies, and it cares nothing whatever -about its enemies seeing it. Its coloring is very -conspicuous, and is rendered still more so by its habit -of erecting the white hair on its rump. It has a very -erect carriage, and when it thinks itself in danger it -always endeavors to get on some crest or low hill from -which it can look all about. The big bulging eyes, situated -at the base of the horns, scan the horizon far and -near like twin telescopes. They pick out an object at -such a distance that it would entirely escape the notice of -a deer. When suspicious, they have a habit of barking, -uttering a sound something like “kau,” and repeating -it again and again, as they walk up and down, endeavoring -to find out if danger lurks in the unusual object. -They are extremely curious, and in the old days -it was often possible to lure them toward the hunter by -waving a red handkerchief to and fro on a stick, or even -by lying on one’s back and kicking the legs. Nowadays, -however, there are very few localities indeed in which -they are sufficiently unsophisticated to make it worth -while trying these time-honored tricks of the long-vanished -trappers and hunters.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>Along the Little Missouri the fawns, sometimes one -and sometimes two in number, were dropped in May or -early in June. At that time the antelope were usually -found in herds which the mother did not leave until she -was about to give birth to the fawn. During the first -few days the fawn’s safety is to be found only in its not -attracting attention. During this time it normally lies -perfectly flat on the ground, with its head outstretched, -and makes no effort to escape. While out on the spring -round-up I have come across many of these fawns. Once, -in company with several cowboys, I was riding behind -a bunch of cattle which, as we hurried them, spread out -in open order ahead of us. Happening to cast down my -eyes I saw an antelope fawn directly ahead of me. The -bunch of cattle had passed all around it, but it made not -the slightest sign, not even when I halted, got off my -pony, and took it up in my arms. It was useless to take -it to camp and try to rear it, and so I speedily put it -down again. Scanning the neighborhood, I saw the doe -hanging about some half a mile off, and when I looked -back from the next divide I could see her gradually drawing -near to the fawn.</p> - -<p class='c010'>If taken when very young, antelope make cunning -and amusing pets, and I have often seen them around the -ranches. There was one in the ranch of a Mrs. Blank -who had a station on the Deadwood stage line some eighteen -years ago. She was a great worker in buckskin, and -I got her to make me the buckskin shirt I still use. There -was an antelope fawn that lived at the house, wandering -wherever it wished; but it would not permit me to touch -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>it. As I sat inside the house it would come in and hop -up on a chair, looking at me sharply all the while. No -matter how cautiously I approached, I could never put -my hand upon it, as at the last moment it would spring -off literally as quick as a bird would fly. One of my -neighbors on the Little Missouri, Mr. Howard Eaton, -had at one time upon his ranch three little antelope whose -foster-mother was a sheep, and who were really absurdly -tame. I was fond of patting them and of giving them -crusts, and the result was that they followed me about -so closely that I had to be always on the lookout to see -that I did not injure them. They were on excellent terms -with the dogs, and were very playful. It was a comic -sight to see them skipping and hopping about the old ewe -when anything happened to alarm her and she started off -at a clumsy waddle. Nothing could surpass the tameness -of the antelope that are now under Mr. Hornaday’s care -at the Bronx Zoological Garden in New York. The last -time that I visited the garden some repairs were being -made inside the antelope enclosure, and a dozen workmen -had gone in to make them. The antelope regarded -the workmen with a friendliness and curiosity untempered -by the slightest touch of apprehension. When the -men took off their coats the little creatures would nose -them over to see if they contained anything edible, and -they would come close up and watch the men plying the -pick with the utmost interest. Mr. Hornaday took us inside, -and they all came up in the most friendly manner. -One or two of the bucks would put their heads against -our legs and try to push us around, but not roughly. Mr. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>Hornaday told me that he was having great difficulty, -exactly as with the mule-deer, in acclimatizing the antelope, -especially as the food was so different from what -they were accustomed to in their native haunts.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The wild fawns are able to run well a few days after -they are born. They then accompany the mother everywhere. -Sometimes she joins a band of others; more often -she stays alone with her fawn, and perhaps one of the -young of the previous year, until the rut begins. Of all -game the prongbuck seems to me the most excitable during -the rut. The males run the does much as do the -bucks of the mule and whitetail deer. If there are no -does present, I have sometimes watched a buck run to -and fro by himself. The first time I saw this I was -greatly interested, and could form no idea of what the -buck was doing. He was by a creek bed in a slight depression -or shallow valley, and was grazing uneasily. -After a little while he suddenly started and ran just as -hard as he could, off in a straight direction, nearly away -from me. I thought that somehow or other he had discovered -my presence; but he suddenly wheeled and came -back to the original place, still running at his utmost -speed. Then he halted, moved about with the white -hairs on his rump outspread, and again dashed off at full -speed, halted, wheeled, and came back. Two or three -times he did this, and let me get very close to him before -he discovered me. I was too much interested in -what he was doing to desire to shoot him.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In September, sometimes not earlier than October, -the big bucks begin to gather the does into harems. Each -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>buck is then constantly on the watch to protect his harem -from outsiders, and steal another doe if he can get a -chance. I have seen a comparatively young buck who -had appropriated a doe, hustle her hastily out of the -country as soon as he saw another antelope in the neighborhood; -while, on the other hand, a big buck, already -with a good herd of does, will do his best to appropriate -any other that comes in sight. The bucks fight fearlessly -but harmlessly among themselves, locking their horns -and then pushing as hard as they can.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Although their horns are not very formidable weapons, -they are bold little creatures, and if given a chance -will stand at bay before either hound or coyote. A doe -will fight most gallantly for her fawn, and is an overmatch -for a single coyote, but of course she can do but little -against a large wolf. The wolves are occasionally very -destructive to the herds. The cougar, however, which -is a much worse foe than the wolf to deer and mountain -sheep, can but rarely molest the prongbuck, owing to the -nature of the latter’s haunts. Eagles, on occasion, take -the fawns, as they do those of deer.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I have always been fond of the chase of the prongbuck. -While I lived on my ranch on the Little Missouri -it was, next to the mule-deer, the game which I -most often followed, and on the long wagon strips which -I occasionally took from my ranch to the Black Hills, -to the Big Horn Mountains, or into eastern Montana, -prongbuck venison was our usual fresh meat, save when -we could kill prairie-chickens and ducks with our rifles, -which was not always feasible. In my mind the prongbuck -<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>is always associated with the open prairies during -the spring, summer, or early fall. It has happened that -I have generally pursued the bighorn in bitter weather; -and when we laid in our stock of winter meat, mule-deer -was our usual game. Though I have shot prongbuck -in winter, I never liked to do so, as I felt the animals -were then having a sufficiently hard struggle for existence -anyhow. But in the spring the meat of the prongbuck -was better than that of any other game, and, moreover, -there was not the least danger of mistaking the sexes, -and killing a doe accidentally, and accordingly I rarely -killed anything but pronghorns at that season. In those -days we never got any fresh meat, whether on the ranch or -while on the round-up or on a wagon trip, unless we shot -it, and salt pork became a most monotonous diet after a -time.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Occasionally I killed the prongbuck in a day’s hunt -from my ranch. If I started with the intention of prongbuck -hunting, I always went on horseback; but twice I -killed them on foot when I happened to run across them -by accident while looking for mule-deer. I shall always -remember one of these occasions. I was alone in the Elkhorn -ranch-house at the time, my foreman and the only -cow-puncher who was not on the round-up having driven -to Medora, some forty miles away, in order to bring down -the foreman’s wife and sister, who were going to spend -the summer with him. It was the fourth day of his absence. -I expected him in the evening and wanted to have -fresh meat, and so after dinner I shouldered my rifle and -strolled off through the hills. It was too early in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>day to expect to see anything, and my intention was simply -to walk out until I was five or six miles from the -ranch, and then work carefully home through a likely -country toward sunset, as by this arrangement I would -be in a good game region at the very time that the animals -were likely to stir abroad. It was a glaring, late-spring -day, and in the hot sun of mid-afternoon I had no -idea that anything would be moving, and was not keeping -a very sharp lookout. After an hour or two’s steady -tramping I came into a long, narrow valley, bare of trees -and brushwood, and strolled along it, following a cattle -trail that led up the middle. The hills rose steeply into -a ridge crest on each side, sheer clay shoulders breaking -the mat of buffalo-grass which elsewhere covered the -sides of the valley as well as the bottom. It was very hot -and still, and I was paying but little attention to my surroundings, -when my eye caught a sudden movement on -the ridge crest to my right, and, dropping on one knee -as I wheeled around, I saw the head and neck of a prongbuck -rising above the crest. The animal was not above -a hundred yards off, and stood motionless as it stared at -me. At the crack of the rifle the head disappeared; but -as I sprang clear of the smoke I saw a cloud of dust rise -on the other side of the ridge crest, and felt convinced -that the quarry had fallen. I was right. On climbing -the ridge crest I found that on the other side it sank -abruptly in a low cliff of clay, and at the foot of this, -thirty feet under me, the prongbuck lay with its neck -broken. After dressing it I shouldered the body entire, -thinking that I should like to impress the new-comers by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>the sight of so tangible a proof of my hunting prowess as -whole prongbuck hanging up in the cottonwoods by the -house. As it was a well-grown buck the walk home under -the hot sun was one of genuine toil.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The spot where I ran across this prongbuck was miles -away from the nearest plains, and it was very unusual -to see one in such rough country. In fact, the occurrence -was wholly exceptional; just as I once saw three bighorn -rams, which usually keep to the roughest country, deliberately -crossing the river bottom below my ranch, and -going for half a mile through the thick cottonwood timber. -Occasionally, however, parties of prongbuck came -down the creek bottoms to the river. Once I struck a -couple of young bucks in the bottom of a creek which led -to the Chimney Butte ranch-house, and stalked them -without difficulty; for as prongbuck make no effort to -hide, if there is good cover even their sharp eyes do not -avail them. On another occasion several does and fawns, -which we did not molest, spent some time on what we -called “the corral bottom,” which was two or three miles -above the ranch-house. In the middle of this bottom we -had built a corral for better convenience in branding the -calves when the round-up came near our ranch—as the -bottom on which the ranch-house stood was so thickly -wooded as to make it difficult to work cattle thereon. -The does and fawns hung around the corral bottom for -some little time, and showed themselves very curious and -by no means shy.</p> - -<p class='c010'>When I went from the ranch for a day’s prongbuck -hunting of set purpose, I always rode a stout horse and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>started by dawn. The prongbucks are almost the only -game that can be hunted as well during the heat of the -day as at any other time. They occasionally lie down for -two or three hours about noon in some hollow where they -cannot be seen, but usually there is no place where they -are sure they can escape observation even when resting; -and when this is the case they choose a somewhat conspicuous -station and trust to their own powers of observation, -exactly as they do when feeding. There is therefore -no necessity, as with deer, of trying to strike them at -dawn or dusk. The reason why I left the ranch before -sunrise and often came back long after dark was because -I had to ride at least a dozen miles to get out to the ground -and a dozen to get back, and if after industrious walking -I failed at first to find my game, I would often take the -horse again and ride for an hour or two to get into new -country. Prongbuck water once a day, often travelling -great distances to or from some little pool or spring. Of -course, if possible, I liked to leave the horse by such a -pool or spring. On the great plains to which I used to -make these excursions there was plenty of water in early -spring, and it would often run, here and there, in the -upper courses of some of the creeks—which, however, -usually contained running water only when there had -been a cloudburst or freshet. As the season wore on the -country became drier and drier. Water would remain -only in an occasional deep hole, and few springs were left -in which there was so much as a trickle. In a strange -country I could not tell where these water-holes were, but -in the neighborhood of the ranch I of course knew where -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>I was likely to find them. Often, however, I was disappointed; -and more than once after travelling many miles -to where I hoped to find water, there would be nothing -but sun-cracked mud, and the horse and I would have -eighteen hours of thirst in consequence. A ranch horse, -however, is accustomed to such incidents, and of course -when a man spends half the time riding, it is merely a -matter of slight inconvenience to go so long without a -drink.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Nevertheless, if I did reach a spring, it turned the -expedition into pleasure instead of toil. Even in the hot -weather the ride toward the plains over the hills was -very lovely. It was beautiful to see the red dawn quicken -from the first glimmering gray in the east, and then to -watch the crimson bars glint on the tops of the fantastically -shaped barren hills when the sun flamed, burning -and splendid, above the horizon. In the early morning -the level beams threw into sharp relief the strangely -carved and channelled cliff walls of the buttes. There -was rarely a cloud to dim the serene blue of the sky. By -the time the heat had grown heavy I had usually reached -the spring or pool, where I unsaddled the horse, watered -him, and picketed him out to graze. Then, under the -hot sun, I would stride off for the hunting proper. On -such occasions I never went to where the prairie was absolutely -flat. There were always gently rolling stretches -broken by shallow watercourses, slight divides, and even -low mounds, sometimes topped with strangely shaped -masses of red scoria or with petrified trees. My object, -of course, was, either with my unaided eyes or with the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>help of my glasses, to catch sight of the prongbucks before -they saw me. I speedily found, by the way, that if -they were too plentiful this was almost impossible. The -more abundant deer are in a given locality the more apt -one is to run across them, and of course if the country is -sufficiently broken, the same is true of prongbucks; but -where it is very flat and there are many different bands in -sight at the same time, it is practically impossible to keep -out of sight of all of them, and as they are also all in -sight of one another, if one flees the others are certain -to take the alarm. Under such circumstances I have usually -found that the only pronghorns I got were obtained -by accident, so to speak; that is, by some of them unexpectedly -running my way, or by my happening to come -across them in some nook where I could not see them, or -they me.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Prongbucks are very fast runners indeed, even faster -than deer. They vary greatly in speed, however, precisely -as is the case with deer; in fact, I think that the average -hunter makes altogether too little account of this -individual variation among different animals of the same -kind. Under the same conditions different deer and antelope -vary in speed and wariness, exactly as bears and cougars -vary in cunning and ferocity. When in perfect condition -a full-grown buck antelope, from its strength and -size, is faster and more enduring than an old doe; but a -fat buck, before the rut has begun, will often be pulled -down by a couple of good greyhounds much more speedily -than a flying yearling or two-year-old doe. Under -favorable circumstances, when the antelope was jumped -<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>near by, I have seen one overhauled and seized by a first-class -greyhound; and, on the other hand, I have more -than once seen a pronghorn run away from a whole pack -of just as good dogs. With a fair start, and on good -ground, a thoroughbred horse, even though handicapped -by the weight of a rider, will run down an antelope; -but this is a feat which should rarely be attempted, -because such a race, even when carried to a successful -issue, is productive of the utmost distress to the steed.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Ordinary horses will sometimes run down an antelope -which is slower than the average. I once had on my -ranch an under-sized old Indian pony named White -Eye, which, when it was fairly roused, showed a remarkable -turn of speed, and had great endurance. One morning -on the round-up, when for some reason we did not -work the cattle, I actually ran down an antelope in fair -chase on this old pony. It was a nursing doe, and I came -over the crest of the hill, between forty and fifty yards -away from it. As it wheeled to start back, the old cayuse -pricked up his ears with great interest, and the moment -I gave him a sign was after it like a shot. Whether, being -a cow-pony, he started to run it just as if it were a calf -or a yearling trying to break out of the herd, or whether -he was overcome by dim reminiscences of buffalo-hunting -in his Indian youth, I know not. At any rate, after -the doe he went, and in a minute or two I found I was -drawing up to her. I had a revolver, but of course did -not wish to kill her, and so got my rope ready to try to -take her alive. She ran frantically, but the old pony, -bending level to the ground, kept up his racing lope and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>closed right in beside her. As I came up she fairly -bleated. An expert with the rope would have captured -her with the utmost ease; but I missed, sending the coil -across her shoulders. She again gave an agonized bleat, -or bark, and wheeled around like a shot. The cow-pony -stopped almost, but not quite, as fast, and she got a slight -start, and it was some little time before I overhauled her -again. When I did I repeated the performance, and this -time when she wheeled she succeeded in getting on some -ground where I could not follow, and I was thrown out.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Normally, a horseman without greyhounds can hope -for nothing more than to get within fair shooting range; -and this only by taking advantage of the prongbucks’ -peculiarity of running straight ahead in the direction in -which they are pointed, when once they have settled into -their pace. Usually, as soon as they see a hunter they run -straight away from him; but sometimes they make their -flight at an angle, and as they do not like to change their -course when once started, it is thus possible, with a good -horse, to cut them off from the point toward which they -are headed, and get a reasonably close shot.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I have done a good deal of coursing with greyhounds -at one time or another, but always with scratch packs. -There are a few ranchmen who keep leashes of greyhounds -of pure blood, bred and trained to antelope coursing, -and who do their coursing scientifically, carrying the -dogs out to the hunting-grounds in wagons and exercising -every care in the sport; but these men are rare. The -average man who dwells where antelope are sufficiently -abundant to make coursing a success, simply follows the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>pursuit at odd moments, with whatever long-legged dogs -he and his neighbors happen to have; and his methods of -coursing are apt to be as rough as his outfit. My own -coursing was precisely of this character. At different -times I had on my ranch one or two high-classed greyhounds -and Scotch deerhounds, with which we coursed -deer and antelope, as well as jack-rabbits, foxes, and -coyotes; and we usually had with them one or two ordinary -hounds, and various half-bred dogs. I must add, -however, that some of the latter were very good. I can -recall in particular one fawn-colored beast, a cross between -a greyhound and a foxhound, which ran nearly -as fast as the former, though it occasionally yelped in -shrill tones. It could also trail well, and was thoroughly -game; on one occasion it ran down and killed a coyote -single-handed.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On going out with these dogs, I rarely chose a day -when I was actually in need of fresh meat. If this was -the case, I usually went alone with the rifle; but if one -or two other men were at the ranch, and we wanted a -morning’s fun, we would often summon the dogs, mount -our horses, and go trooping out to the antelope-ground. -As there was good deer-country between the ranch bottom -and the plains where we found the prongbuck, it not -infrequently happened that we had a chase after blacktail -or whitetail on the way. Moreover, when we got out -to the ground, before sighting antelope, it frequently happened -that the dogs would jump a jack-rabbit or a fox, -and away the whole set would go after it, streaking -through the short grass, sometimes catching their prey -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>in a few hundred yards, and sometimes having to run a -mile or so. In consequence, by the time we reached the -regular hunting-ground the dogs were apt to have lost -a good deal of their freshness. We would get them in -behind the horses and creep cautiously along, trying to -find some solitary prongbuck in a suitable place, where -we could bring up the dogs from behind a hillock and -give them a fair start. Usually we failed to get the dogs -near enough for a good start; and in most cases their -chases after unwounded prongbuck resulted in the quarry -running clean away from them. Thus the odds were -greatly against them; but, on the other hand, we helped -them wherever possible with the rifle. We usually rode -well scattered out, and if one of us put up an antelope, -or had a chance at one when driven by the dogs, he -always fired, and the pack were saved from the ill effects -of total discouragement by so often getting these wounded -beasts. It was astonishing to see how fast an antelope -with a broken leg could run. If such a beast had a good -start, and especially if the dogs were tired, it would often -lead them a hard chase, and the dogs would be utterly -exhausted after it had been killed; so that we would have -to let them lie where they were for a long time before -trying to lead them down to some stream-bed. If possible, -we carried water for them in canteens.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There were red-letter days, however, on which our -dogs fairly ran down and killed unwounded antelope—days -when the weather was cool, and when it happened -that we got our dogs out to the ground without their being -tired by previous runs, and found our quarry soon, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>in favorable places for slipping the hounds. I remember -one such chase in particular. We had at the time a mixed -pack, in which there was only one dog of my own, the -others being contributed from various sources. It included -two greyhounds, a rough-coated deerhound, a foxhound, -and the fawn-colored cross-bred mentioned above.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We rode out in the early morning, the dogs trotting -behind us; and, coming to a low tract of rolling hills, -just at the edge of the great prairie, we separated and -rode over the crest of the nearest ridge. Just as we topped -it, a fine buck leaped up from a hollow a hundred yards -off, and turned to look at us for a moment. All the dogs -were instantly spinning toward him down the grassy -slope. He apparently saw those at the right, and, turning, -raced away from us in a diagonal line, so that the -left-hand greyhound, which ran cunning and tried to -cut him off, was very soon almost alongside. He saw her, -however—she was a very fast bitch—just in time, and, -wheeling, altered his course to the right. As he reached -the edge of the prairie, this alteration nearly brought him -in contact with the cross-bred, which had obtained a rather -poor start, on the extreme right of the line. Around went -the buck again, evidently panic-struck and puzzled to -the last degree, and started straight off across the prairie, -the dogs literally at his heels, and we, urging our horses -with whip and spur, but a couple of hundred yards behind. -For half a mile the pace was tremendous, when -one of the greyhounds made a spring at his ear, but failing -to make good his hold, was thrown off. However, -it halted the buck for a moment, and made him turn -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>quarter round, and in a second the deerhound had seized -him by the flank and thrown him, and all the dogs piled -on top, never allowing him to rise.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Later we again put up a buck not far off. At first -it went slowly, and the dogs hauled up on it; but when -they got pretty close, it seemed to see them, and letting -itself out, went clean away from them almost without -effort.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Once or twice we came upon bands of antelope, and -the hounds would immediately take after them. I was -always rather sorry for this, however, because the frightened -animals, as is generally the case when beasts are -in a herd, seemed to impede one another, and the chase -usually ended by the dogs seizing a doe, for it was of -course impossible to direct them to any particular beast.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It will be seen that with us coursing was a homely -sport. Nevertheless we had good fun, and I shall always -have enjoyable memories of the rapid gallops across the -prairie, on the trail of a flying prongbuck.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Usually my pronghorn hunting has been done while -I have been off with a wagon on a trip intended primarily -for the chase, or else while travelling for some other -purpose.</p> - -<div id='i_156' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_156.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>CAMPING ON THE ANTELOPE GROUNDS</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>All life in the wilderness is so pleasant that the -temptation is to consider each particular variety, while -one is enjoying it, as better than any other. A canoe trip -through the great forests, a trip with a pack-train among -the mountains, a trip on snowshoes through the silent, -mysterious fairyland of the woods in winter—each has -its peculiar charm. To some men the sunny monotony -of the great plains is wearisome; personally there are few -things I have enjoyed more than journeying over them -where the game was at all plentiful. Sometimes I have -gone off for three or four days alone on horseback, with -a slicker or oilskin coat behind the saddle, and some salt -and hardtack as my sole provisions. But for comfort on -a trip of any length it was always desirable to have a -wagon. My regular outfit consisted of a wagon and team -driven by one man who cooked, together with another -man and four riding ponies, two of which we rode, while -the other two were driven loose or led behind the wagon. -While it is eminently desirable that a hunter should be -able to rough it, and should be entirely willing to put -up with the bare minimum of necessities, and to undergo -great fatigue and hardship, it is yet not at all necessary -that he should refrain from comfort of a wholesome sort -when it is obtainable. By taking the wagon we could -carry a tent to put up if there was foul weather. I had -a change of clothes to put on if I was wet, two or three -books to read—and nothing adds more to the enjoyment -of a hunting trip—as well as plenty of food; while having -two men made me entirely foot-loose as regards camp, -so that I could hunt whenever I pleased, and, if I came -in tired, I simply rested, instead of spending two or three -hours in pitching camp, cooking, tethering horses, and -doing the innumerable other little things which in the -aggregate amount to so much.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On such a trip, when we got into unknown country, -it was of course very necessary to stay near the wagon, -especially if we had to hunt for water. But if we knew -<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>the country at all, we would decide in the morning about -where the camp was to be made in the afternoon, and -then I would lope off on my own account, while the -wagon lumbered slowly across the rough prairie sward -straight toward its destination. Sometimes I took the -spare man with me, and sometimes not. It was convenient -to have him, for there are continually small emergencies -in which it is well to be with a companion. For -instance, if one jumps off for a sudden shot, there is always -a slight possibility that any but a thoroughly trained -horse will get frightened and gallop away. On some of -my horses I could absolutely depend, but there were -others, and very good ones too, which would on rare occasions -fail me; and few things are more disheartening -than a long stern chase after one’s steed under such circumstances, -with the unpleasant possibility of seeing him -leave the country entirely and strike out for the ranch -fifty or sixty miles distant. If there is a companion with -one, all danger of this is over. Moreover, in galloping -at full speed after the game it is impossible now and then -to avoid a tumble, as the horse may put his leg into a -prairie-dog hole or badger burrow; and on such occasions -a companion may come in very handily. On the other -hand, there is so great a charm in absolute solitude, in the -wild, lonely freedom of the great plains, that often I -would make some excuse and go off entirely by myself.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Such rides had a fascination of their own. Hour after -hour the wiry pony shuffled onward across the sea of -short, matted grass. On every side the plains stretched -seemingly limitless. Sometimes there would be no object -<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>to break the horizon; sometimes across a score of -miles there would loom through the clear air the fantastic -outlines of a chain of buttes, rising grim and barren. Occasionally -there might be a slightly marked watercourse, -every drop of moisture long dried; and usually there -would not be as much as the smallest sage-brush anywhere -in sight. As the sun rose higher and higher the shadows -of horse and rider shortened, and the beams were reflected -from the short, bleached blades until in the hot air all -the landscape afar off seemed to dance and waver. Often -on such trips days went by without our coming across -another human being, and the loneliness and vastness of -the country seemed as unbroken as if the old vanished -days had returned—the days of the wild wilderness wanderers, -and the teeming myriads of game they followed, -and the scarcely wilder savages against whom they -warred.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Now and then prongbuck would appear, singly or -in bands; and their sharp bark of alarm or curiosity -would come to me through the still, hot air over great -distances, as they stood with head erect looking at me, -the white patches on their rumps shining in the sun, and -the bands and markings on their heads and necks showing -as if they were in livery. Scan the country as carefully -as I would, they were far more apt to see me than -I was them, and once they had seen me, it was normally -hopeless to expect to get them. But their strange freakishness -of nature frequently offsets the keenness of their -senses. At least half of the prongbucks which I shot were -obtained, not by stalking, but by coming across them -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>purely through their own fault. Though the prairie -seemed level, there was really a constant series of undulations, -shallow and of varying width. Now and then -as I topped some slight rise I would catch a glimpse of -a little band of pronghorns feeding, and would slip off -my horse before they could see me. A hasty determination -as to where the best chance of approaching them lay -would be followed by a half-hour’s laborious crawl, a -good part of the time flat on my face. They might discover -me when I was still too far for a shot; or by taking -advantage of every little inequality I might get within -long range before they got a glimpse of me, and then in -a reasonable proportion of cases I would bag my buck. -At other times the buck would come to me. Perhaps one -would suddenly appear over a divide himself, and his -curiosity would cause him to stand motionless long -enough to give me a shot; while on other occasions I -have known one which was out of range to linger around, -shifting his position as I shifted mine, until by some sudden -gallop or twist I was able to get close enough to -empty my magazine at him.</p> - -<p class='c010'>When the shadows had lengthened, but before any -coolness had come into the air, I would head for the appointed -camping-place. Sometimes this would be on -the brink of some desolate little pool under a low, treeless -butte, or out on the open prairie where the only wood -was what we had brought with us. At other times I -would find the wagon drawn up on the edge of some -shrunken plains river, under a line of great cottonwoods -with splintered branches and glossy leaves that rustled -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>all day long. Such a camp was always comfortable, for -there was an abundance of wood for the fire, plenty of -water, and thick feed in which the horses grazed—one -or two being picketed and the others feeding loose until -night came on. If I had killed a prongbuck, steaks were -speedily sizzling in the frying-pan over the hot coals. -If I had failed to get anything, I would often walk a -mile or two down or up the river to see if I could not -kill a couple of prairie-chickens or ducks. If the evening -was at all cool, we built a fire as darkness fell, and -sat around it, while the leaping flames lit up the trunks -of the cottonwoods and gleamed on the pools of water -in the half-dry river bed. Then I would wrap myself -in my blanket and lie looking up at the brilliant stars -until I fell asleep.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In both 1893 and 1894 I made trips to a vast tract of -rolling prairie land, some fifty miles from my ranch, -where I had for many years enjoyed the keen pleasure -of hunting the prongbuck. In 1893 the prong-horned -bands were as plentiful in this district as I have ever seen -them anywhere. Lambert was with me; and in a week’s -trip, including the journey out and back, we easily shot -all the antelope we felt we had any right to kill; for we -only shot to get meat, or an unusually fine head. Lambert -did most of the shooting; and I have never seen a professional -hunter do better in stalking antelope on the open -prairie. I myself fired at only two antelope, both of -which had already been missed. In each case a hard run -and much firing at long ranges, together with in one case -some skilful manœuvring, got me my game; yet one buck -<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>cost ten cartridges and the other eight. In 1894 I had exactly -the reverse experience. I killed five antelope for -thirty-six shots, but each one that I killed was killed with -the first bullet, and in not one case where I missed the -first time did I hit with any subsequent shot. These five -antelope were killed at an average distance of about 150 -yards. Those that I missed were, of course, much farther -off on an average, and I usually emptied my magazine at -each. The number of cartridges spent would seem extraordinary -to a tyro; and an unusually skilful shot, or -else a very timid shot who fears to take risks, will of course -make a better showing per head killed; but I doubt if -men with experience in antelope hunting, who keep an -accurate account of the cartridges they expend, will see -anything much out of the way in the performance.</p> - -<p class='c010'>During the years I have hunted in the West I have -always, where possible, kept a record of the number of -cartridges expended for every head of game killed, and -of the distances at which it was shot. I have found that -with bison, bear, moose, elk, caribou, bighorn and white -goat, where the animals shot at were mostly of large size -and usually stationary, and where the mountainous or -wooded country gave chance for a close approach, the -average distance at which I have killed the game has been -eighty yards, and the average number of cartridges expended -per head slain, three; one of these representing the -death-shot, and the others standing either for misses outright, -of which there were not many, or else for wounding -game which escaped, or which I afterward overtook, or -for stopping cripples or charging beasts. I have killed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>but two peccaries, using but one cartridge for each; they -were close up. My experiences with cougar have already -been narrated. At wolves and coyotes I have generally -had to take running shots at very long range, and I have -shot but two—one of each—for fifty cartridges. Blacktail -deer I have generally shot at about ninety yards, at an expenditure -of about four cartridges apiece. Whitetail I -have killed at shorter range; but the shots were generally -running, often taken under difficult circumstances, so that -my expenditure of cartridges was rather larger. Antelope, -on the other hand, I have on the average shot at a little -short of 150 yards, and they have cost me about nine -cartridges apiece. This, of course, as I have explained -above, does not mean that I have missed eight out of nine -antelope, for often the entire nine cartridges would be -spent at an antelope which I eventually got. It merely -means that, counting all the shots of every description -fired at antelope, I had one head to show for each nine -cartridges expended.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Thus, the first antelope I shot in 1893 cost me ten -cartridges, of which three hit him, while the seven that -missed were fired at over 400 yards’ distance while he was -running. We saw him while we were with the wagon. -As we had many miles to go before sunset, we cared -nothing about frightening other game, and, as we had -no fresh meat, it was worth while to take some chances -to procure it. When I first fired, the prongbuck had already -been shot at and was in full flight. He was beyond -all reasonable range, but some of our bullets went over -him and he began to turn. By running to one side I got -<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>a shot at him at a little over 400 paces, as he slowed to -a walk, bewildered by the firing, and the bullet broke his -hip. I missed him two or three times as he plunged off, -and then by hard running down a watercourse got a shot -at 180 paces and broke his shoulder, and broke his neck -with another bullet when I came up.</p> - -<p class='c010'>This one was shot while going out to the hunting-ground. -While there Lambert killed four others. I did -not fire again until on our return, when I killed another -buck one day while we were riding with the wagon. -The day was gray and overcast. There were slight flurries -of snow, and the cold wind chilled us as it blew across -the endless reaches of sad-colored prairie. Behind us -loomed Sentinel Butte, and all around the rolling surface -was broken by chains of hills, by patches of bad lands, -or by isolated, saddle-shaped mounds. The ranch wagon -jolted over the uneven sward, and plunged in and out of -the dry beds of the occasional water courses; for we were -following no road, but merely striking northward across -the prairie toward the P. K. ranch. We went at a good -pace, for the afternoon was bleak, the wagon was lightly -loaded, and the Sheriff of the county, whose deputy I had -been, and who was serving for the nonce as our teamster -and cook, kept the two gaunt, wild-looking horses trotting -steadily. Lambert and I rode to one side on our -unkempt cow-ponies, our rifles slung across the saddle -bows.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Our stock of fresh meat was getting low and we were -anxious to shoot something; but in the early hours of the -afternoon we saw no game. Small parties of horned larks -<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>ran along the ground ahead of the wagon, twittering -plaintively as they rose, and now and then flocks of long-spurs -flew hither and thither; but of larger life we saw -nothing, save occasional bands of range horses. The -drought had been severe and we were far from the river, -so that we saw no horned stock. Horses can travel much -farther to water than cattle, and, when the springs dry -up, they stay much farther out on the prairie.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At last we did see a band of four antelope, lying in -the middle of a wide plain, but they saw us before we -saw them, and the ground was so barren of cover that it -was impossible to get near them. Moreover, they were -very shy and ran almost as soon as we got our eyes on -them. For an hour or two after this we jogged along -without seeing anything, while the gray clouds piled up -in the west and the afternoon began to darken; then, just -after passing Saddle Butte, we struck a rough prairie -road, which we knew led to the P. K. ranch—a road very -faint in places, while in others the wheels had sunk deep -in the ground and made long, parallel ruts.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Almost immediately after striking this road, on topping -a small rise, we discovered a young prongbuck -standing off a couple of hundred yards to one side, gazing -at the wagon with that absorbed curiosity which in this -game so often conquers its extreme wariness and timidity, -to a certain extent offsetting the advantage conferred -upon it by its marvellous vision. The little antelope stood -broadside on, gazing at us out of its great bulging eyes, -the sharply contrasted browns and whites of its coat -showing plainly. Lambert and I leaped off our horses -<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>immediately, and I knelt and pulled trigger; but the cartridge -snapped, and the little buck, wheeling round, cantered -off, the white hairs on its rump standing erect. -There was a strong cross-wind, almost a gale, blowing, -and Lambert’s bullet went just behind him; off he went -at a canter, which changed to a breakneck gallop, as we -again fired; and he went out of sight unharmed, over the -crest of the rising ground in front. We ran after him as -hard as we could pelt up the hill, into a slight valley, -and then up another rise, and again got a glimpse of him -standing, but this time farther off than before; and again -our shots went wild.</p> - -<p class='c010'>However, the antelope changed its racing gallop to -a canter while still in sight, going slower and slower, and, -what was rather curious, it did not seem much frightened. -We were naturally a good deal chagrined at our shooting -and wished to retrieve ourselves, if possible; so we ran -back to the wagon, got our horses and rode after the buck. -He had continued his flight in a straight line, gradually -slackening his pace, and a mile’s brisk gallop enabled us -to catch a glimpse of him, far ahead and merely walking. -The wind was bad, and we decided to sweep off and try -to circle round ahead of him. Accordingly, we dropped -back, turned into a slight hollow to the right, and galloped -hard until we came to the foot of a series of low -buttes, when we turned more to the left; and, when we -judged that we were about across the antelope’s line of -march, leaped from our horses, threw the reins over their -heads, and left them standing, while we stole up the nearest -rise; and, when close to the top, took off our caps and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>pushed ourselves forward, flat on our faces to peep over. -We had judged the distance well, for we saw the antelope -at once, now stopping to graze. Drawing back, we ran -along some little distance nearer, then drew up over the -same rise. He was only about 125 yards off, and this -time there was no excuse for my failing to get him; but -fail I did, and away the buck raced again, with both of -us shooting. My first two shots were misses, but I kept -correcting my aim and holding farther in front of the -flying beast. My last shot was taken just as the antelope -reached the edge of the broken country, in which he -would have been safe; and almost as I pulled the trigger -I had the satisfaction of seeing him pitch forward and, -after turning a complete somerset, lie motionless. I -had broken his neck. He had cost us a good many cartridges, -and, though my last shot was well aimed, there -was doubtless considerable chance in my hitting him, -while there was no excuse at all for at least one of my -previous misses. Nevertheless, all old hunters know that -there is no other kind of shooting in which so many cartridges -are expended for every head of game bagged.</p> - -<p class='c010'>As we knelt down to butcher the antelope, the clouds -broke and the rain fell. Hastily we took off the saddle -and hams, and, packing them behind us on our horses, -loped to the wagon in the teeth of the cold storm. When -we overtook it, after some sharp riding, we threw in the -meat, and not very much later, when the day was growing -dusky, caught sight of the group of low ranch buildings -toward which we had been headed. We were received -with warm hospitality, as one always is in a ranch -<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>country. We dried our streaming clothes inside the -warm ranch-house and had a good supper, and that night -we rolled up in our blankets and tarpaulins, and slept -soundly in the lee of a big haystack. The ranch-house -stood in the winding bottom of a creek; the flanking hills -were covered with stunted cedar, while dwarf cottonwood -and box-elder grew by the pools in the half-dried -creek bed.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Next morning we had risen by dawn. The storm was -over, and it was clear and cold. Before sunrise we had -started. We were only some thirty miles away from my -ranch, and I directed the Sheriff how to go there, by striking -east until he came to the main divide, and then following -that down till he got past a certain big plateau, -when a turn to the right down any of the coulees would -bring him into the river bottom near the ranch-house. -We wished ourselves to ride off to one side and try to -pick up another antelope. However, the Sheriff took the -wrong turn after getting to the divide, and struck the -river bottom some fifteen miles out of his way, so that -we reached the ranch a good many hours before he did.</p> - -<p class='c010'>When we left the wagon we galloped straight across -country, looking out from the divide across the great rolling -landscape, every feature standing clear through the -frosty air. Hour after hour we paced and loped on and -on over the grassy seas in the glorious morning. Once we -stopped, and I held the horses while Lambert stalked and -shot a fine prongbuck; then we tied his head and hams -to our saddles and again pressed forward along the divide. -We had hoped to get lunch at a spring that I knew of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>some twelve miles from my ranch, but when we reached -it we found it dry and went on without halting. Early -in the afternoon we came out on the broad, tree-clad bottom -on which the ranch-house stands, and, threading our -way along the cattle trails soon drew up in front of the -gray empty buildings.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Just as we were leaving the hunting-grounds on this -trip, after having killed all the game we felt we had a -right to kill, we encountered bands of Sioux Indians from -the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River reservations coming -in to hunt, and I at once felt that the chances for much -future sport in that particular district were small. Indians -are not good shots, but they hunt in large numbers, -killing everything, does, fawns and bucks alike, and they -follow the wounded animals with the utmost perseverance, -so that they cause much destruction of game.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Accordingly, in 1894, when I started for these same -grounds, it was with some misgivings; but I had time only -to make a few days’ hunt, and I knew of no other accessible -grounds where prongbuck were plentiful. My foreman -was with me, and, as usual, we took the ranch wagon, -driven this time by a cowboy who had just come up -over the trail with cattle from Colorado. On reaching -our happy hunting-grounds of the previous season, I -found my fears sadly verified; and one unforeseen circumstance, -also told against me. Not only had the Indians -made a great killing of antelope the season before, -but in the spring one or two sheep men had moved into -the country. We found that the big flocks had been moving -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>from one spring pool to another, eating the pasturage -bare, while the shepherds whom we met—wild-looking -men on rough horses, each accompanied by a pair of furtive -sheep dogs—had taken every opportunity to get a -shot at antelope, so as to provide themselves with fresh -meat. Two days of fruitless hunting in this sheep-ridden -region was sufficient to show that the antelope were too -scarce and shy to give us hope for sport, and we shifted -quarters, a long day’s journey, to the head of another -creek; and we had to go to yet another before we found -much game. As so often happens on such a trip, when -we started to have bad luck we had plenty. One night -two of the three saddle horses stampeded and went -straight as the crow flies back to the home range, so that -we did not get them until on our return from the trip. -On another occasion the team succeeded in breaking the -wagon pole; and as there was an entire absence of wood -where we were at the time, we had to make a splice for -it with the two tent poles and the picket ropes. Nevertheless, -it was very enjoyable out on the great grassy -plains. Although we had a tent with us, I always slept -in the open in my buffalo bag, with the tarpaulin to pull -over me if it rained. On each night before going to sleep, -I lay for many minutes gazing at the stars above, or -watching the rising of the red moon, which was just at -or past the full.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We had plenty of fresh meat—prairie fowl and young -sage fowl at first, and antelope venison afterward. We -camped by little pools, generally getting fair water; and -from the camps where there was plenty of wood we took -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>enough to build the fires at those where there was none. -The nights were frosty, and the days cool and pleasant, -and from sunrise to sunset we were off riding or walking -among the low hills and over the uplands, so that we slept -well and ate well, and felt the beat of hardy life in our -veins.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Much of the time we were on a high divide between -two creek systems, from which we could see the great -landmarks of all the regions roundabout, Sentinel Butte, -Square Butte and Middle Butte, far to the north and -east of us. Nothing could be more lonely and nothing -more beautiful than the view at nightfall across the -prairies to these huge hill masses, when the lengthening -shadows had at last merged into one and the faint afterglow -of the red sunset filled the west. The endless waves -of rolling prairie, sweeping, vast and dim, to the feet of -the great hills, grew purple as the evening darkened, and -the buttes loomed into vague, mysterious beauty as their -sharp outlines softened in the twilight.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Even when we got out of reach of the sheep men we -never found antelope very plentiful, and they were shy, -and the country was flat, so that the stalking was extremely -difficult; yet I had pretty good sport. The first -animal I killed was a doe, shot for meat, because I had -twice failed to get bucks at which I emptied my magazine -at long range, and we were all feeling hungry for -venison. After that I killed nothing but bucks. Of the -five antelope killed, one I got by a headlong gallop to -cut off his line of flight. As sometimes happens with this -queer, erratic animal, when the buck saw that I was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>trying to cut off his flight he simply raced ahead just -as hard as he knew how, and, as my pony was not fast, -he got to the little pass for which he was headed 200 yards -ahead of me. I then jumped off, and his curiosity made -him commit the fatal mistake of halting for a moment to -look round at me. He was standing end on, and offered -a very small mark at 200 yards; but I made a good line -shot, and, though I held a trifle too high, I hit him in -the head, and down he came. Another buck I shot from -under the wagon early one morning as he was passing -just beyond the picketed horses. I have several times -shot antelope which unexpectedly came into camp in this -fashion. The other three I got after much manœuvring -and long, tedious stalks.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In some of the stalks, after infinite labor, and perhaps -after crawling on all-fours for an hour, or pulling myself -flat on my face among some small sage-brush for ten -or fifteen minutes, the game took alarm and went off. -Too often, also, when I finally did get a shot, it was under -such circumstances that I missed. Sometimes the game -was too far; sometimes it had taken alarm and was -already in motion; sometimes the trouble could only be -ascribed to lack of straight powder, and I was covered -with shame as with a garment. Once in the afternoon -I had to spend so much time waiting for the antelope to -get into a favorable place that, when I got up close, I -found the light already so bad that my front sight glimmered -indistinctly, and the bullet went wild. Another -time I met with one of those misadventures which are -especially irritating. It was at midday, and I made out -<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>at a long distance a band of antelope lying for their noon -rest in a slight hollow. A careful stalk brought me up -within fifty yards of them. I was crawling flat on my -face, for the crest of the hillock sloped so gently that -this was the only way to get near them. At last, peering -through the grass, I saw the head of a doe. In a moment -she saw me and jumped to her feet, and up stood -the whole band, including the buck. I immediately tried -to draw a bead on the latter, and to my horror found that, -lying flat as I was, and leaning on my elbows, I could not -bring the rifle above the tall shaking grass, and was utterly -unable to get a sight. In another second away tore -all the antelope. I jumped to my feet, took a snap shot -at the buck as he raced round a low-cut bank and missed, -and then walked drearily home, chewing the cud of my -ill-luck. Yet again in more than one instance, after making -a good stalk upon a band seen at some distance, I -found it contained only does and fawns, and would not -shoot at them.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Three times, however, the stalk was successful. -Twice I was out alone; the other time my foreman was -with me, and held my horse while I manœuvred hither -and thither, and finally succeeded in getting into range. -In both the first instances I got a standing shot, but on -this last occasion, when my foreman was with me, two of -the watchful does which were in the band saw me before -I could get a shot at the old buck. I was creeping up -a low washout, and, by ducking hastily down again and -running back and up a side coulee, I managed to get -within long range of the band as they cantered off, not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>yet thoroughly alarmed. The buck was behind, and I -held just ahead of him. He plunged to the shot, but -went off over the hill-crest. When I had panted up to -the ridge I found him dead just beyond.</p> - -<p class='c010'>One of the antelope I killed while I was out on foot -toward nightfall, a couple of miles from the wagon. I -saw the prongbuck quite half a mile off, and though I -dropped at once I was uncertain whether he had seen -me. He was in a little hollow or valley. A long, smoothly -sloping plateau led up to one edge of it. Across this -plateau I crawled, and when I thought I was near the -run I ventured slowly to look up, and almost immediately -saw vaguely through the tops of the long grasses what I -took to be the head and horns of the buck, looking in -my direction. There was no use in going back, and I -dropped flat on my face again and crawled another hundred -yards, until it was evident that I was on the rise -from which the plateau sank into the shallow valley beyond. -Raising my head inch by inch, I caught sight of -the object toward which I had been crawling, and after -a moment’s hesitation recognized it as a dead sunflower, -the stalks and blossoms so arranged as to be in a V shape. -Completely puzzled, I started to sit up, when by sheer -good luck I caught sight of the real prongbuck, still feeding, -some three hundred yards off, and evidently unaware -of my presence. It was feeding toward a slight hill to -my left. I crept off until behind this, and then walked -up until I was in line with a big bunch of weeds on its -shoulder. Crawling on all-fours to the weeds, I peeped -through and saw the prongbuck still slowly feeding my -<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>way. When he was but seventy yards off, I sat up and -shot him; and trudged back to the wagon, carrying the -saddle and hams.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In packing an antelope or deer behind the saddle, I -cut slashes through the sinews of the legs just above the -joints; then I put the buck behind the saddle, run the -picket rope from the horn of the saddle, under the belly -of the horse, through the slashes in the legs on the other -side, bring the end back, swaying well down on it, and -fasten it to the horn; then I repeat the same feat for the -other side. Packed in this way, the carcass always rides -steady, and cannot shake loose, no matter what antics the -horse may perform.</p> - -<p class='c009'>In the fall of 1896 I spent a fortnight on the range -with the ranch wagon. I was using for the first time one -of the new small calibre, smokeless-powder rifles, with -the usual soft-nosed bullet. While travelling to and fro -across the range we usually moved camp each day, not -putting up the tent at all during the trip; but at one -spot we spent three nights. It was in a creek bottom, -bounded on either side by rows of grassy hills, beyond -which stretched the rolling prairie. The creek bed, -which at this season was of course dry in most places, -wound in <span class='fixed'>S</span>-shaped curves, with here and there a pool -and here and there a fringe of stunted wind-beaten timber. -We were camped near a little grove of ash, box-elder, -and willow, which gave us shade at noonday; and -there were two or three pools of good water in the creek -bed—one so deep that I made it my swimming-bath.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>The first day that I was able to make a hunt I rode -out with my foreman, Sylvane Ferris. I was mounted -on Muley. Twelve years before, when Muley was my -favorite cutting pony on the round-up, he never seemed -to tire or lose his dash, but Muley was now sixteen years -old, and on ordinary occasions he liked to go as soberly -as possible; yet the good old pony still had the fire latent -in his blood, and at the sight of game—or, indeed, of -cattle or horses—he seemed to regain for the time being -all the headlong courage of his vigorous and supple -youth.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On the morning in question it was two or three hours -before Sylvane and I saw any game. Our two ponies -went steadily forward at a single-foot or shack, as the -cow-punchers term what Easterners call a “fox trot.” -Most of the time we were passing over immense grassy -flats, where the mat of short curled blades lay brown -and parched under the bright sunlight. Occasionally we -came to ranges of low barren hills, which sent off gently -rounded spurs into the plain.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It was on one of these ranges that we first saw our -game. As we were travelling along the divide we spied -eight antelope far ahead of us. They saw us as soon -as we saw them, and the chance of getting to them seemed -small; but it was worth an effort, for by humoring them -when they started, so as to let them wheel and zigzag before -they became really frightened, and then, when they -had settled into their run, by galloping toward them at -an angle oblique to their line of flight, there was always -some little chance of getting a shot. Sylvane was on a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>light buckskin horse, and I left him on the ridge crest to -occupy their attention while I cantered off to one side. -The pronghorns became uneasy as I galloped away, and -ran off the ridge crest in a line nearly parallel to mine. -They did not go very fast, and I held in Muley, who -was all on fire at the sight of the game. After crossing -two or three spurs, the antelope going at half speed, they -found I had come closer to them, and turning, they ran -up one of the valleys between two spurs. Now was my -chance, and wheeling at right angles to my former course, -I galloped Muley as hard as I knew how up the valley -nearest and parallel to where the antelope had gone. The -good old fellow ran like a quarter-horse, and when we -were almost at the main ridge crest I leaped off, and ran -ahead with my rifle at the ready, crouching down as I -came to the sky-line. Usually on such occasions I find -that the antelope have gone on, and merely catch a -glimpse of them half a mile distant, but on this occasion -everything went right. The band had just reached the -ridge crest about 220 yards from me across the head of -the valley, and had halted for a moment to look around. -They were starting as I raised my rifle, but the trajectory -is very flat with these small-bore smokeless-powder weapons, -and taking a coarse front sight I fired at a young -buck which was broadside to me. There was no smoke, -and as the band raced away I saw him sink backward, the -ball having broken his hips.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We packed him bodily behind Sylvane on the buckskin -and continued our ride, as there was no fresh meat -in camp, and we wished to bring in a couple of bucks -<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>if possible. For two or three hours we saw nothing. The -unshod feet of the horses made hardly any noise on the -stretches of sun-cured grass, but now and then we passed -through patches of thin weeds, their dry stalks rattling -curiously, making a sound like that of a rattlesnake. At -last, coming over a gentle rise of ground, we spied two -more prongbucks, half a mile ahead of us and to our -right.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Again there seemed small chance of bagging our -quarry, but again fortune favored us. I at once cantered -Muley ahead, not toward them, but so as to pass -them well on one side. After some hesitation they -started, not straight away, but at an angle to my own -course. For some moments I kept at a hand gallop, until -they got thoroughly settled in their line of flight; then -I touched Muley, and he went as hard as he knew how. -Immediately the two panic-stricken and foolish beasts -seemed to feel that I was cutting off their line of retreat, -and raced forward at mad speed. They went much faster -than I did, but I had the shorter course, and when they -crossed me they were not fifty yards ahead—by which -time I had come nearly a mile. At the pull of the rein -Muley stopped short, like the trained cow-pony he is; -I leaped off, and held well ahead of the rearmost and -largest buck. At the crack of the little rifle down he went -with his neck broken. In a minute or two he was packed -behind me on Muley, and we bent our steps toward -camp.</p> - -<p class='c010'>During the remainder of my trip we were never out -of fresh meat, for I shot three other bucks—one after a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>smart chase on horseback, and the other two after careful -stalks; and I missed two running shots.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The game being both scarce and shy, I had to exercise -much care, and after sighting a band I would sometimes -have to wait and crawl round for two or three hours -before they would get into a position where I had any -chance of approaching. Even then they were more apt -to see me and go off than I was to get near them.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Antelope are the only game that can be hunted as -well at noonday as in the morning or evening, for their -times for sleeping and feeding are irregular. They never -seek shelter from the sun, and when they lie down for a -noonday nap they are apt to choose a hollow, so as to be -out of the wind; in consequence, if the band is seen at all -at this time, it is easier to approach them than when they -are up and feeding. They sometimes come down to water -in the middle of the day, sometimes in the morning or -evening. On this trip I came across bands feeding and -resting at almost every hour of the day. They seemed -usually to rest for a couple of hours, then began feeding -again.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The last shot I got was when I was out with Joe Ferris, -in whose company I had killed my first buffalo, just -thirteen years before, and not very far from this same -spot. We had seen two or three bands that morning, -and in each case, after a couple of hours of useless effort, -I failed to get near enough. At last, toward midday, -after riding and tramping over a vast extent of broken -sun-scorched country, we got within range of a small -band lying down in a little cup-shaped hollow in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>middle of a great flat. I did not have a close shot, for -they were running about 180 yards off. The buck was -rearmost, and at him I aimed; the bullet struck him in the -flank, coming out of the opposite shoulder, and he fell -in his next bound. As we stood over him, Joe shook -his head, and said, “I guess that little rifle is the ace;” -and I told him I guessed so too.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER V<br /> <span class='large'>A SHOT AT A MOUNTAIN SHEEP</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>In the fall of 1893 I was camped on the Little Missouri, -some ten miles below my ranch. The bottoms were -broad and grassy, and were walled in by curving rows of -high, steep bluffs. Back of them lay a mass of broken -country, in many places almost impassable for horses. -The wagon was drawn up on the edge of the fringe of -tall cottonwoods which stretched along the brink of the -shrunken river. The weather had grown cold, and at -night the frost gathered thickly on our sleeping-bags. -Great flocks of sandhill cranes passed overhead from time -to time, the air resounding with their strange, musical, -guttural clangor.</p> - -<p class='c010'>For several days we had hunted perseveringly, but -without success, through the broken country. We had -come across tracks of mountain sheep, but not the animals -themselves, and the few blacktail which we had seen had -seen us first and escaped before we could get within shot. -The only thing killed had been a young whitetail, which -Lambert, who was with me, had knocked over by a very -pretty shot as we were riding through a long, heavily-timbered -bottom. Four men in stalwart health and taking -much outdoor exercise have large appetites, and the -flesh of the whitetail was almost gone.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>One evening Lambert and I hunted nearly to the head -of one of the creeks which opened close to our camp, and, -in turning to descend what we thought was one of the -side coulees leading into it, we contrived to get over the -divide into the coulees of an entirely different creek system, -and did not discover our error until it was too late -to remedy it. We struck the river about nightfall, and -were not quite sure where, and had six miles’ tramp in -the dark along the sandy river bed and through the dense -timber bottoms, wading the stream a dozen times before -we finally struck camp, tired and hungry, and able to appreciate -to the full the stew of hot venison and potatoes, -and afterward the comfort of our buffalo and caribou -hide sleeping-bags. The next morning the Sheriff’s remark -of “Look alive, you fellows, if you want any breakfast,” -awoke the other members of the party shortly after -dawn. It was bitterly cold as we scrambled out of our -bedding, and, after a hasty wash, huddled around the fire, -where the venison was sizzling and the coffee-pot boiling, -while the bread was kept warm in the Dutch oven. -About a third of a mile away to the west the bluffs, which -rose abruptly from the river bottom, were crowned by -a high plateau, where the grass was so good that overnight -the horses had been led up and picketed on it, and -the man who had led them up had stated the previous -evening that he had seen what he took to be fresh footprints -of a mountain sheep crossing the surface of a bluff -fronting our camp. From the footprints it appeared that -the animal had been there since the camp was pitched. -The face of the bluff on this side was very sheer, the path -by which the horses scrambled to the top being around -a shoulder and out of sight of camp.</p> - -<div id='i_182' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_182.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>RANCH WAGON RETURNING FROM HUNT</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>While sitting close around the fire finishing breakfast, -and just as the first level sunbeams struck the top -of the plateau, we saw on this cliff crest something moving, -and at first supposed it to be one of the horses which -had broken loose from its picket pin. Soon the thing, -whatever it was, raised its head, and we were all on our -feet in a moment, exclaiming that it was a deer or a -sheep. It was feeding in plain sight of us only about a -third of a mile distant, and the horses, as I afterward -found, were but a few rods beyond it on the plateau. The -instant I realized that it was game of some kind I seized -my rifle, buckled on my cartridge-belt, and slunk off toward -the river bed. As soon as I was under the protection -of the line of cottonwoods, I trotted briskly toward the -cliff, and when I got up to where it impinged on the -river I ran a little to the left, and, selecting what I deemed -to be a favorable place, began to make the ascent. The -animal was on a grassy bench, some eight or ten feet below -the crest, when I last saw it; but it was evidently -moving hither and thither, sometimes on this bench and -sometimes on the crest itself, cropping the short grass -and browsing on the young shrubs. The cliff was divided -by several shoulders or ridges, there being hollows like -vertical gullies between them, and up one of these I -scrambled, using the utmost caution not to dislodge earth -or stones. Finally I reached the bench just below the sky-line, -and then, turning to the left, wriggled cautiously -along it, hat in hand. The cliff was so steep and bulged -<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>so in the middle, and, moreover, the shoulders or projecting -ridges in the surface spoken of above were so pronounced, -that I knew it was out of the question for the -animal to have seen me, but I was afraid it might have -heard me. The air was absolutely still, and so I had no -fear of its sharp nose. Twice in succession I peered with -the utmost caution around shoulders of the cliff, merely -to see nothing beyond save another shoulder some forty -or fifty yards distant. Then I crept up to the edge and -looked over the level plateau. Nothing was in sight excepting -the horses, and these were close up to me, and, of -course, they all raised their heads to look. I nervously -turned half round, sure that if the animal, whatever it -was, was in sight, it would promptly take the alarm. -However, by good luck, it appeared that at this time it -was below the crest on the terrace or bench already mentioned, -and, on creeping to the next shoulder, I at last -saw it—a yearling mountain sheep—walking slowly away -from me, and evidently utterly unsuspicious of any danger. -I straightened up, bringing my rifle to my shoulder, -and as it wheeled I fired, and the sheep made two or three -blind jumps in my direction. So close was I to the camp, -and so still was the cold morning, that I distinctly heard -one of the three men, who had remained clustered about -the fire eagerly watching my movements, call, “By -George, he’s missed! I saw the bullet strike the cliff.” -I had fired behind the shoulders, and the bullet, going -through, had buried itself in the bluff beyond. The -wound was almost instantaneously fatal, and the sheep, -after striving in vain to keep its balance, fell heels over -<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>head down a crevice, where it jammed. I descended, -released the carcass, and pitched it on ahead of me, only -to have it jam again near the foot of the cliff. Before -I got it loose I was joined by my three companions, who -had been running headlong toward me through the brush -ever since the time they had seen the animal fall.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I never obtained another sheep under circumstances -which seemed to me quite so remarkable as these; for -sheep are, on the whole, the wariest of game. Nevertheless, -with all game there is an immense amount of chance -in the chase, and it is perhaps not wholly uncharacteristic -of a hunter’s luck that, after having hunted faithfully in -vain and with much hard labor for several days through -a good sheep country, we should at last have obtained -one within sight and earshot of camp. Incidentally I -may mention that I have never tasted better mutton, or -meat of any kind, than that furnished by this tender -yearling.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The nomenclature and exact specific relationships of -American sheep, deer and antelope offer difficulties not -only to the hunter but to the naturalist. As regards the -nomenclature, we share the trouble encountered by all -peoples of European descent who have gone into strange -lands. The incomers are almost invariably men who are -not accustomed to scientific precision of expression. Like -other people, they do not like to invent names if they -can by any possibility make use of those already in existence, -and so in a large number of cases they call the -new birds and animals by names applied to entirely different -birds and animals of the Old World to which, in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>the eyes of the settlers, they bear some resemblance. In -South America the Spaniards, for instance, christened -“lion” and “tiger” the great cats which are properly -known as cougar and jaguar. In South Africa the Dutch -settlers, who came from a land where all big game had -long been exterminated, gave fairly grotesque names to -the great antelopes, calling them after the European elk, -stag, and chamois. The French did but little better in -Canada. Even in Ceylon the English, although belonging -for the most part to the educated classes, did no better -than the ordinary pioneer settlers, miscalling the sambur -stag an elk, and the leopard a cheetah. Our own pioneers -behaved in the same way. Hence it is that we have no -distinctive name at all for the group of peculiarly American -game birds of which the bobwhite is the typical representative; -and that, when we could not use the words -quail, partridge, or pheasant, we went for our terminology -to the barn-yard, and called our fine grouse, fool-hens, -sage-hens, and prairie-chickens. The bear and wolf -our people recognized at once. The bison they called a -buffalo, which was no worse than the way in which in -Europe the Old World bison was called an aurochs. -The American true elk and reindeer were rechristened -moose and caribou—excellent names, by the way, derived -from the Indian. The huge stag was called an elk. -The extraordinary antelope of the high Western peaks -was christened the white goat; not unnaturally, as it has -a most goatlike look. The prongbuck of the plains, an -animal standing entirely alone among ruminants, was -simply called antelope. Even when we invented names -<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>for ourselves, we applied them loosely. The ordinary -deer is sometimes known as the red deer, sometimes as -the Virginia deer, and sometimes as the whitetail deer—the -last being by far the best and most distinctive term.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the present condition of zoological research it is -not possible to state accurately how many “species” of -deer and sheep there are in North America, both because -mammalogists have not at hand a sufficient amount of -material in the way of large series of specimens from different -localities, and because they are not agreed among -themselves as to the value of “species,” or indeed as to -exactly what is denoted by the term. Of course, if we -had a complete series of specimens of extinct and fossil -deer before us, there would be a perfect intergradation -among all the existing forms through their long-vanished -ancestral types, as the existing gaps have been created by -the extinction and transformation of those former types. -Where the gap is very broad and well marked no difficulty -exists in using terms which shall express the difference. -Thus the gap separating the moose, the caribou, -and the wapiti from one another, and from the smaller -American deer, is so wide, and there is so complete a lack -of transitional forms, that the differences among them are -expressed by naturalists by the use of different generic -terms. The gap between the whitetail and the different -forms of blacktail, though much less, is also clearly -marked. But when we come to consider the blacktail -among themselves, we find two very distinct types which -yet show a certain tendency to intergrade; and with the -whitetail very wide differences exist, even in the United -<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>States, both individually among the deer of certain localities, -and also as between all the deer of one locality when -compared with all the deer of another. Our present -knowledge of the various forms hardly justifies us in dogmatizing -as to their exact relative worth; and even if our -knowledge was more complete, naturalists are as yet -wholly at variance as to the laws which should govern -specific nomenclature. However, the hunter, the mere -field naturalist, and the lover of outdoor life, are only -secondarily interested in the niceness of these distinctions.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In addition to being a true sportsman and not a game -butcher, in addition to being a humane man as well as -keen-eyed, strong-limbed, and stout-hearted, the big -game hunter should be a field naturalist. If possible, -he should be an adept with the camera; and hunting with -the camera will tax his skill far more than hunting with -the rifle, while the results in the long run give much -greater satisfaction. Wherever possible he should keep -a note-book, and should carefully study and record the -habits of the wild creatures, especially when in some -remote regions to which trained scientific observers but -rarely have access. If we could only produce a hunter -who would do for American big game what John Burroughs -has done for the smaller wild life of hedgerow -and orchard, farm and garden and grove, we should indeed -be fortunate. Yet even though a man does not -possess the literary faculty and the powers of trained -observation necessary for such a task, he can do his part -toward adding to our information by keeping careful -<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>notes of all the important facts which he comes across. -Such note-books would show the changed habits of game -with the changed seasons, their abundance at different -times and different places, the melancholy data of their -disappearance, the pleasanter facts as to their change -of habits which enable them to continue to exist in the -land, and, in short, all their traits. A real and lasting -service would thereby be rendered not only to naturalists, -but to all who care for nature.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Along the Little Missouri there have been several -curious changes in the fauna within my own knowledge. -Thus magpies have greatly decreased in numbers. This -is, I believe, owing to the wolf hunters, for magpies often -come around carcasses and pick up poisoned baits. I -have seen as many as seven lying dead around a bait. -They are much less plentiful than they formerly were. -In 1894 I was rather surprised at meeting a porcupine, -usually a beast of the timber, at least twenty miles from -trees. He was grubbing after sage-brush roots on the edge -of a cut bank by a half-dried creek. I was stalking an -antelope at the time, and stopped to watch him for about -five minutes. He paid no heed to me, though I was -within three or four paces of him. Porcupines are easily -exterminated; and they have diminished in numbers in -this neighborhood. Both the lucivee, or northern lynx, -and the wolverene have been found on the Little Missouri, -near the Kildeer Mountains, but I do not know -of a specimen of either that has been killed there for -some years past. Bobcats are still not uncommon. The -blackfooted ferret was always rare, and is rare now. But -<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>few beaver are left; they were very abundant in 1880, -but were speedily trapped out when the Indians vanished -and the Northern Pacific Railroad was built. While -this railroad was building, the beaver frequently caused -much trouble by industriously damming the culverts.</p> - -<p class='c010'>With us the first animal to disappear was the buffalo. -In the old days, say from 1870 to 1880, the buffalo were -probably the most abundant of all animals along the Little -Missouri in the region that I know, ranging, say, from -Pretty Buttes to the Kildeer Mountains. They were migratory, -and at times almost all of them might leave; but, -on the whole, they were the most abundant of the game -animals. In 1881 they were still almost as numerous as -ever. In 1883 all were killed but a few stragglers, and -the last of these stragglers that I heard of as seen in our -immediate neighborhood was in 1885. The second game -animal in point of abundance was the blacktail. It did not -go out on the prairies, but in the broken country adjoining -the river it was far more plentiful than any other kind of -game. Blacktail were not much slaughtered until the -buffalo began to give out, say in 1882; but by 1896 they -were not a twentieth—probably not a fiftieth—as plentiful -as they had been in 1882. A few are still found in -out-of-the-way places, where the ground is very rough. -Elk were plentiful in 1880, though never anything like -as abundant as the buffalo and the blacktail. Only straggling -parties or individuals have been seen since 1883. -The last I shot near my ranch was in 1886; but two or -three have been shot since, and a cow and calf were seen, -chased and almost roped by the riders on the round-up -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>in the fall of 1892. Whitetail were never as numerous -as the other game, but they held their own better, -and a few can be shot yet. In 1883 probably twenty -blacktail were killed for every one whitetail; in 1896 -the numbers were about equal. Antelope were plentiful -in the old days, though not nearly so much so as the -buffalo and blacktail. The hunters did not molest them -while the buffalo and elk lasted, and they then turned -their attention to the blacktail. For some years after -1883 I think the pronghorn in our neighborhood positively -increased in numbers. In 1886 I thought them -more plentiful than I had ever known them before. -Then they decreased; after 1893 the decrease was rapid. -A few still remain. Mountain sheep were never very -plentiful, and decreased proportionately with less rapidity -than any other game; but they are now almost exterminated. -Bears likewise were never plentiful, and cougars -were always scarce.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There were two stages of hunting in this country, as -in almost all other countries similarly situated. In 1880 -the Northern Pacific Railroad was built nearly to the -edge of the Bad Lands, and the danger of Indian war -was totally eliminated. A great inrush of hunters followed. -In 1881, 1882 and 1883 buffalo, elk and blacktail -were slaughtered in enormous numbers, and a good -many whitetail and prongbuck were killed too. By 1884 -the game had been so thinned out that hide-hunting and -meat-hunting ceased to pay. A few professional hunters -remained, but most of them moved elsewhere, or -were obliged to go into other business. From that time -<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>the hunting has chiefly been done by ranchers and occasional -small grangers. In consequence, for six or eight -years the game about held its own—the antelope, as I -have said above, at one time increasing; but the gradual -growth in the number of actual settlers then began to tell, -and the game became scarce. Nowadays settlers along -the Little Missouri can kill an occasional deer or antelope; -but it can hardly be called a game country.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <span class='large'>THE WHITETAIL DEER</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>The whitetail deer is now, as it always has been, the -most plentiful and most widely distributed of American -big game. It holds its own in the land better than any -other species, because it is by choice a dweller in the -thick forests and swamps, the places around which the -tide of civilization flows, leaving them as islets of refuge -for the wild creatures which formerly haunted all the -country. The range of the whitetail is from the Atlantic -to the Pacific, and from the Canadian to the Mexican -borders, and somewhat to the north and far to the south -of these limits. The animal shows a wide variability, -both individually and locally, within these confines; from -the hunter’s standpoint it is not necessary to try to determine -exactly the weight that attaches to these local variations.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There is also a very considerable variation in habits. -As compared with the mule-deer, the whitetail is not -a lover of the mountains. As compared with the prongbuck, -it is not a lover of the treeless plains. Yet in the -Alleghanies and the Adirondacks, at certain seasons especially, -and in some places at all seasons, it dwells high -among the densely wooded mountains, wandering over -their crests and sheer sides, and through the deep ravines; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>while in the old days there were parts of Texas and the -Indian Territory where it was found in great herds far -out on the prairie. Moreover, the peculiar nature of its -chosen habitat, while generally enabling it to resist the -onslaught of man longer than any of its fellows, sometimes -exposes it to speedy extermination. To the westward -of the rich bottom-lands and low prairies of the -Mississippi Valley proper, when the dry plains country -is reached, the natural conditions are much less favorable -for whitetail than for other big game. The black bear, -which in the East has almost precisely the same habitat -as the whitetail, disappears entirely on the great plains, -and reappears in the Rockies in regions which the whitetail -does not reach. All over the great plains, into the -foothills of the Rockies, the whitetail is found, but only -in the thick timber of the river bottoms. Throughout -the regions of the Upper Missouri and Upper Platte, the -Big Horn, Powder, Yellowstone, and Cheyenne, over all -of which I have hunted, the whitetail lives among the -cottonwood groves and dense brush growth that fringe -the river beds and here and there extend some distance -up the mouths of the large creeks. In these places the -whitetail and the mule-deer may exist in close proximity; -but normally neither invades the haunts of the other.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Along the ordinary plains river, such as the Little -Missouri, where I ranched for many years, there are -three entirely different types of country through which -a man passes as he travels away from the bed of the river. -There is first the alluvial river bottom covered with -cottonwood and box-elder, together with thick brush. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>These bottoms may be a mile or two across, or they may -shrink to but a few score yards. After the extermination -of the wapiti, which roamed everywhere, the only big -game animal found in them was the whitetail deer. -Beyond this level alluvial bottom the ground changes -abruptly to bare, rugged hills or fantastically carved and -shaped Bad Lands rising on either side of the river, the -ravines, coulees, creeks, and canyons twisting through -them in every direction. Here there are patches of ash, -cedar, pine, and occasionally other trees, but the country -is very rugged, and the cover very scanty. This is the -home of the mule-deer, and, in the roughest and wildest -parts, of the bighorn. The absolutely clear and sharply -defined line of demarkation between this rough, hilly -country, flanking the river, and the alluvial river bottom, -serves as an equally clearly marked line of demarkation -between the ranges of the whitetail and the mule-deer. -This belt of broken country may be only a few hundred -yards in width; or it may extend for a score of miles -before it changes into the open prairies, the high plains -proper. As soon as these are reached, the prongbuck’s -domain begins.</p> - -<p class='c010'>As the plains country is passed, and the vast stretches -of mountainous region entered, the river bottoms become -narrower, and the plains on which the prongbuck is found -become of very limited extent, shrinking to high valleys -and plateaus, while the mass of rugged foothills and -mountains add immensely to the area of the mule-deer’s -habitat.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Given equal areas of country, of the three different -<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>types alluded to above, that in which the mule-deer is -found offers the greatest chance of success to the rifle-bearing -hunter, because there is enough cover to shield -him and not enough to allow his quarry to escape by -stealth and hiding. On the other hand, the thick river -bottoms offer him the greatest difficulty. In consequence, -where the areas of distribution of the different game animals -are about equal, the mule-deer disappears first before -the hunter, the prongbuck next, while the whitetail -holds out the best of all. I saw this frequently on the Yellowstone, -the Powder, and the Little Missouri. When -the ranchmen first came into this country the mule-deer -swarmed, and yielded a far more certain harvest to the -hunter than did either the prongbuck or the whitetail. -They were the first to be thinned out, the prongbuck lasting -much better. The cowboys and small ranchmen, -most of whom did not at the time have hounds, then -followed the prongbuck; and this, in its turn, was killed -out before the whitetail. But in other places a slight -change in the conditions completely reversed the order -of destruction. In parts of Wyoming and Montana the -mountainous region where the mule-deer dwelt was of -such vast extent, and the few river bottoms on which the -whitetail were found were so easily hunted, that the -whitetail was completely exterminated throughout large -districts where the mule-deer continued to abound. -Moreover, in these regions the table-lands and plains -upon which the prongbuck was found were limited in -extent, and although the prongbuck outlasted the whitetail, -it vanished long before the herds of the mule-deer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>had been destroyed from among the neighboring mountains.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The whitetail was originally far less common in the -forests of northern New England than was the moose, -for in the deep snows the moose had a much better chance -to escape from its brute foes and to withstand cold and -starvation. But when man appeared upon the scene he -followed the moose so much more eagerly than he followed -the deer that the conditions were reversed and the -moose was killed out. The moose thus vanished entirely -from the Adirondacks, and almost entirely from Maine; -but the excellent game laws of the latter State, and the -honesty and efficiency with which they have been executed -during the last twenty years, have resulted in an -increase of moose during that time. During the same -period the whitetail deer has increased to an even greater -extent. It is doubtless now more plentiful in New York -and New England than it was a quarter of a century -ago. Stragglers are found in Connecticut, and, what is -still more extraordinary, even occasionally come into -wild parts of densely populated little Rhode Island—my -authority for the last statement being Mr. C. Grant -La Farge. Of all our wild game, the whitetail responds -most quickly to the efforts for its protection, and except -the wapiti, it thrives best in semi-domestication; in consequence, -it has proved easy to preserve it, even in such -places as Cape Cod in Massachusetts and Long Island -in New York; while it has increased greatly in Vermont, -New Hampshire, and Maine, and has more than held -its own in the Adirondacks. Mr. James R. Sheffield, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>of New York City, in the summer of 1899, spent several -weeks on a fishing trip through northern Maine. He -kept count of the moose and deer he saw, and came -across no less than thirty-five of the former and over five -hundred and sixty of the latter. In the most lonely parts -of the forest deer were found by the score, feeding in -broad daylight on the edges of the ponds. Deer are still -plentiful in many parts of the Alleghany Mountains, -from Pennsylvania southward, and also in the swamps -and canebrakes of the South Atlantic and Gulf States.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Where the differences in habitat and climate are so -great there are many changes of habits, and some of them -of a noteworthy kind. Mr. John A. McIlhenny, of -Avery’s Island, Louisiana, formerly a lieutenant in my -regiment, lives in what is still a fine game country. His -plantation is in the delta of the Mississippi, among the -vast marshes, north of which lie the wooded swamps. -Both the marshes and the swamps were formerly literally -thronged with whitetail deer, and the animals are still -plentiful in them. Mr. McIlhenny has done much deer-hunting, -always using hounds. He informs me that the -breeding times are unexpectedly different from those of -the northern deer. In the North, in different localities, -the rut takes place in October or November, and the -fawns are dropped in May or June. In the Louisiana -marshes around Avery’s Island the rut begins early in -July and the fawns are dropped in February. In the -swamps immediately north of these marshes the dates are -fully a month later. The marshes are covered with tall -reeds and grass and broken by bayous, while there are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>scattered over them what are called “islands” of firmer -ground overgrown with timber. In this locality the deer -live in the same neighborhood all the year round, just as, -for instance, they do on Long Island. So on the Little -Missouri, in the neighborhood of my ranch, they lived in -exactly the same localities throughout the entire year. -Occasionally they would shift from one river bottom to -another, or go a few miles up or down stream because of -scarcity of food. But there was no general shifting.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On the Little Missouri, in one place where they were -not molested, I knew a particular doe and fawn with -whose habits I became quite intimately acquainted. -When the moon was full they fed chiefly by night, and -spent most of the day lying in the thick brush. When -there was little or no moon they would begin to feed early -in the morning, then take a siesta, and then—what struck -me as most curious of all—would go to a little willow-bordered -pool about noon to drink, feeding for some time -both before and after drinking. After another siesta they -would come out late in the afternoon and feed until dark.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the Adirondacks the deer often completely alter -their habits at different seasons. Soon after the fawns -are born they come down to the water’s edge, preferring -the neighborhood of the lakes, but also haunting the -stream banks. The next three months, during the hot -weather, they keep very close to the water, and get a large -proportion of their food by wading in after the lilies and -other aquatic plants. Where they are much hunted, they -only come to the water’s edge after dark, but in regions -where they are little disturbed they are quite as often -<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>diurnal in their habits. I have seen dozens feeding in -the neighborhood of a lake, some of them two or three -hundred yards out in shallow places, up to their bellies; -and this after sunrise, or two or three hours before sunset. -Before September the deer cease coming to the water, -and go back among the dense forests and on the mountains. -There is no genuine migration, as in the case of -the mule-deer, from one big tract to another, and no entire -desertion of any locality. But the food supply which -drew the animals to the water’s edge during the summer -months shows signs of exhaustion toward fall; the delicate -water-plants have vanished, the marsh-grass is dying, -and the lilies are less succulent. An occasional deer still -wanders along the shores or out into the lake, but most -of them begin to roam the woods, eating the berries and -the leaves and twig ends of the deciduous trees, and even -of some of the conifers—although a whitetail is fond of -grazing, especially upon the tips of the grass. I have -seen moose feeding on the tough old lily stems and wading -after them when the ice had skimmed the edges of -the pool. But the whitetail has usually gone back into -the woods long before freezing-time.</p> - -<p class='c010'>From Long Island south there is not enough snow to -make the deer alter their habits in the winter. As soon -as the rut is over, which in different localities may be -from October to December, whitetail are apt to band together—more -apt than at any other season, although even -then they are often found singly or in small parties. -While nursing, the does have been thin, and at the end -of the rut the bucks are gaunt, with their necks swollen -<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>and distended. From that time on bucks and does alike -put on flesh very rapidly in preparation for the winter. -Where there is no snow, or not enough to interfere with -their travelling, they continue to roam anywhere through -the woods and across the natural pastures and meadows, -eating twigs, buds, nuts, and the natural hay which is -cured on the stalk.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the Northern woods they form yards during the -winter. These yards are generally found in a hardwood -growth which offers a supply of winter food, and consist -simply of a tangle of winding trails beaten out through -the snow by the incessant passing and repassing of the -animal. The yard merely enables the deer to move along -the various paths in order to obtain food. If there are -many deer together, the yards may connect by interlacing -paths, so that a deer can run a considerable distance -through them. Often, however, each deer will yard by -itself, as food is the prime consideration, and a given -locality may only have enough to support a single animal. -When the snows grow deep the deer is wholly unable to -move, once the yard is left, and hence it is absolutely at -the mercy of a man on snowshoes, or of a cougar or a -wolf, if found at such times. The man on snowshoes -can move very comfortably; and the cougar and the wolf, -although hampered by the snow, are not rendered helpless -like the deer. I have myself scared a deer out of a -yard, and seen it flounder helplessly in a great drift before -it had gone thirty rods. When I came up close it -ploughed its way a very short distance through the drifts, -making tremendous leaps. But as the snow was over six -<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>feet deep, so that the deer sank below the level of the surface -at each jump, and yet could not get its feet on the -solid ground, it became so exhausted that it fell over on -its side and bleated in terror as I came up. After looking -at it I passed on. Hide-hunters and frontier settlers sometimes -go out after the deer on snowshoes when there is -a crust, and hence this method of killing is called crusting. -It is simple butchery, for the deer cannot, as the -moose does, cause its pursuer a chase which may last -days. No self-respecting man would follow this method -of hunting save from the necessity of having meat.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In very wild localities deer sometimes yard on the ice -along the edges of lakes, eating off all the twigs and -branches, whether of hardwood trees or of conifers, -which they can reach.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At the beginning of the rut the does flee from the -bucks, which follow them by scent at full speed. The -whitetail buck rarely tries to form a herd of does, though -he will sometimes gather two or three. The mere fact -that his tactics necessitate a long and arduous chase after -each individual doe prevents his organizing herds as the -wapiti bull does. Sometimes two or three bucks will be -found strung out one behind the other, following the -same doe. The bucks wage desperate battle among themselves -during this season, coming together with a clash, -and then pushing and straining for an hour or two at a -time, with their mouths open, until the weakest gives way. -As soon as one abandons the fight he flees with all possible -speed, and usually escapes unscathed. While head to -head there is no opportunity for a disabling thrust, but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>if, in the effort to retreat, the beaten buck gets caught, -he may be killed. Owing to the character of the antlers, -whitetail bucks are peculiarly apt to get them interlocked -in such a fight, and if the efforts of the two beasts fail to -disentangle them, both ultimately perish by starvation. -I have several times come across a pair of skulls with -interlocked antlers. The same thing occurs, though far -less frequently, to the mule-deer and even the wapiti.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The whitetail is the most beautiful and graceful of -all our game animals when in motion. I have never been -able to agree with Judge Caton that the mule-deer is -clumsy and awkward in his gait. I suppose all such terms -are relative. Compared to the moose or caribou the -mule-deer is light and quick in his movements, and to -me there is something very attractive in the poise and -power with which one of the great bucks bounds off, all -four legs striking the earth together and shooting the -body upward and forward as if they were steel springs. -But there can be no question as to the infinitely superior -grace and beauty of the whitetail when he either trots -or runs. The mule-deer and blacktail bound, as already -described. The prongbuck gallops with an even gait, -and so does the bighorn, when it happens to be caught -on a flat; but the whitetail moves with an indescribable -spring and buoyancy. If surprised close up, and much -terrified, it simply runs away as hard as it can, at a gait -not materially different from that of any other game -animal under like circumstances, while its head is thrust -forward and held down, and the tail is raised perpendicularly. -But normally its mode of progression, whether -<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>it trots or gallops, is entirely unique. In trotting, the head -and tail are both held erect, and the animal throws out -its legs with a singularly proud and free motion, bringing -the feet well up, while at every step there is an indescribable -spring. In the canter or gallop the head and -tail are also held erect, the flashing white brush being -very conspicuous. Three or four low, long, marvellously -springy bounds are taken, and then a great leap is made -high in the air, which is succeeded by three or four low -bounds, and then by another high leap. A whitetail -going through the brush in this manner is a singularly -beautiful sight. It has been my experience that they are -not usually very much frightened by an ordinary slow -track-hound, and I have seen a buck play along in front -of one, alternately trotting and cantering, head and flag -up, and evidently feeling very little fear.</p> - -<p class='c010'>To my mind the chase of the whitetail, as it must -usually be carried on, offers less attraction than the chase -of any other kind of our large game. But this is a -mere matter of taste, and such men as Judge Caton and -Mr. George Bird Grinnell have placed it above all others -as a game animal. Personally I feel that the chase of any -animal has in it two chief elements of attraction. The -first is the chance given to be in the wilderness; to see -the sights and hear the sounds of wild nature. The second -is the demand made by the particular kind of chase -upon the qualities of manliness and hardihood. As regards -the first, some kinds of game, of course, lead the -hunter into particularly remote and wild localities; and -the farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>attraction of its lonely freedom. Yet to camp out at all -implies some measure of this delight. The keen, fresh -air, the breath of the pine forests, the glassy stillness of -the lake at sunset, the glory of sunrise among the mountains, -the shimmer of the endless prairies, the ceaseless -rustle of the cottonwood leaves where the wagon is drawn -up on the low bluff of the shrunken river—all these appeal -intensely to any man, no matter what may be the -game he happens to be following. But there is a wide -variation, and indeed contrast, in the qualities called for -in the chase itself, according as one quarry or another -is sought.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The qualities that make a good soldier are, in large -part, the qualities that make a good hunter. Most important -of all is the ability to shift for one’s self, the mixture -of hardihood and resourcefulness which enables a man -to tramp all day in the right direction, and, when night -comes, to make the best of whatever opportunities for -shelter and warmth may be at hand. Skill in the use -of the rifle is another trait; quickness in seeing game, -another; ability to take advantage of cover, yet another; -while patience, endurance, keenness of observation, resolution, -good nerves, and instant readiness in an emergency, -are all indispensable to a really good hunter.</p> - -<p class='c010'>If a man lives on a ranch, or is passing some weeks -in a lodge in a game country, and starts out for two or -three days, he will often do well to carry nothing whatever -but a blanket, a frying-pan, some salt pork, and some -hardtack. If the hunting-ground is such that he can use -a wagon or a canoe, and the trip is not to be too long, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>he can carry about anything he chooses, including a tent, -any amount of bedding, and if it is very cold, a small, -portable stove, not to speak of elaborate cooking apparatus. -If he goes with a pack-train, he will also be -able to carry a good deal; but in such a case he must rely -on the judgment of the trained packers, unless he is himself -an expert in the diamond hitch. If it becomes necessary -to go on foot for any length of time, he must be -prepared to do genuine roughing, and must get along -with the minimum of absolute necessities.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It is hardly necessary to point out that the hunter -worthy of the name should be prepared to shift for himself -in emergencies. A ranchman, or any other man -whose business takes him much in the mountains and out -on the great plains or among the forests, ought to be -able to get along entirely on his own account. But this -cannot usually be done by those whose existence is habitually -more artificial. When a man who normally lives -a rather over-civilized life, an over-luxurious life—especially -in the great cities—gets off for a few weeks’ hunting, -he cannot expect to accomplish much in the way of -getting game without calling upon the services of a -trained guide, woodsman, plainsman, or mountain man, -whose life-work it has been to make himself an adept -in all the craft of the wilderness. Until a man unused to -wilderness life, even though a good sportsman, has actually -tried it, he has no idea of the difficulties and hardships -of shifting absolutely for himself, even for only two -or three days. Not only will the local guide have the -necessary knowledge as to precisely which one of two -<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>seemingly similar places is most apt to contain game; -not only will he possess the skill in packing horses, or -handling a canoe in rough water, or finding his way -through the wilderness, which the amateur must lack; -but even the things which the amateur does, the professional -will do so much more easily and rapidly, as in the -one case to leave, and in the other case not to leave, -ample time for the hunting proper. Therefore the ordinary -amateur sportsman, especially if he lives in a -city, must count upon the services of trained men, possibly -to help him in hunting, certainly to help him in travelling, -cooking, pitching camp, and the like; and this -he must do, if he expects to get good sport, no matter -how hardy he may be, and no matter how just may be -the pride he ought to take in his own craft, skill, and -capacity to undergo fatigue and exposure. But while -normally he must take advantage of the powers of others, -he should certainly make a point of being able to shift -for himself whenever the need arises; and he can only -be sure of possessing this capacity by occasionally exercising -it. It ought to be unnecessary to point out that -the wilderness is not a place for those who are dependent -upon luxuries, and above all for those who make a camping -trip an excuse for debauchery. Neither the man who -wants to take a French cook and champagne on a hunting -trip, nor his equally objectionable though less wealthy -brother who is chiefly concerned with filling and emptying -a large whiskey jug, has any place whatever in the -real life of the wilderness.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The chase of an animal should rank according as it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>calls for the exercise in a high degree of a large number -of these qualities. The grizzly is almost our only -dangerous game, and under certain conditions shooting -the grizzly calls for considerable courage on the part of -the hunter. Disregarding these comparatively rare occasions, -the chase of mountain game, especially the bighorn, -demands more hardihood, power of endurance, and -moral and physical soundness than any other kind of -sport, and so must come first. The wapiti and mule-deer -rank next, for they too must be killed by stalking -as a result of long tramps over very rough ground. To -kill a moose by still hunting is a feat requiring a high -degree of skill, and entailing severe fatigue. When game -is followed on horseback, it means that the successful -hunter must ride well and boldly.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The whitetail is occasionally found where it yields -a very high quality of sport. But normally it lives in -regions where it is extremely difficult to kill it legitimately, -as the wapiti and mule-deer are killed, and yet -comparatively easy to kill it under circumstances which -make no demand for any particular prowess on the part -of the hunter. It is far more difficult to still hunt successfully -in the dense brushy timber frequented by the -whitetail than in the open glades, the mountains, and -the rocky hills, through which the wapiti and mule-deer -wander. The difficulty arises, however, because the chief -requirement is stealth, noiselessness. The man who goes -out into the hills for a mule-deer must walk hard and -far, must be able to bear fatigue, and possibly thirst and -hunger, must have keen eyes, and be a good shot. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>does not need to display the extraordinary power of -stealthy advance which is necessary to the man who would -creep up to and kill a whitetail in thick timber. Now, -the qualities of hardihood and endurance are better than -the quality of stealth, and though all three are necessary -in both kinds of chase, yet it is the chase of the mule-deer -which most develops the former, and the chase of -the whitetail which most develops the latter. When the -woods are bare and there is some snow on the ground, -however, still hunting the whitetail becomes not only -possible, but a singularly manly and attractive kind of -sport. Where the whitetail can be followed with horse -and hound, the sport is also of a very high order. To -be able to ride through woods and over rough country -at full speed, rifle or shotgun in hand, and then to leap -off and shoot at a running object, is to show that one has -the qualities which made the cavalry of Forrest so formidable -in the Civil War. There could be no better -training for the mounted rifleman, the most efficient type -of modern soldier.</p> - -<p class='c010'>By far the easiest way to kill the whitetail is in one -or other of certain methods which entail very little work -or skill on the part of the hunter. The most noxious -of these, crusting in the deep snows, has already been -spoken of. No sportsman worthy of the name would -ever follow so butcherly a method. Fire hunting must -also normally be ruled out. It is always mere murder -if carried on by a man who sits up at a lick, and is not -much better where the hunter walks through the fields—not -to mention the fact that on such a walk he is quite -<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>as apt to kill stock as to kill a deer. But fire hunting -from a boat, or jacking, as it is called, though it entails -absolutely no skill in the hunter, and though it is, and -ought to be, forbidden, as it can best be carried on at -the season when nursing does are particularly apt to be -the victims, nevertheless has a certain charm of its own. -The first deer I ever killed, when a boy, was obtained -in this way, and I have always been glad to have had -the experience, though I have never been willing to -repeat it. I was at the time camped out in the Adirondacks.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Two or three of us, all boys of fifteen or sixteen, had -been enjoying what was practically our first experience -in camping out, having gone out with two guides, Hank -Martin and Mose Sawyer, from Paul Smith’s on Lake -St. Regis. My brother and cousin were fond of fishing -and I was not, so I was deputed to try to bring in a -deer. I had a double-barrelled 12–bore gun, French pinfire, -with which I had industriously collected “specimens” -on a trip to Egypt and Palestine and on Long -Island; except for three or four enthralling but not over-successful -days after woodcock and quail, I had done -no game shooting. As to every healthy boy with a taste -for outdoor life, the Northern forests were to me a veritable -land of enchantment. We were encamped by a -stream among the tall pines, and I had enjoyed everything; -poling and paddling the boat, tramping through -the woods, the cries of chickaree and chipmunk, of jay, -woodpecker, chickadee, nuthatch, and cross-bill, which -broke the forest stillness; and, above all, the great reaches -<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>of sombre woodland themselves. The heart-shaped footprints -which showed where the deer had come down to -drink and feed on the marshy edges of the water made -my veins thrill; and the nights around the flickering -camp-fire seemed filled with romance.</p> - -<p class='c010'>My first experiment in jacking was a failure. The -jack, a bark lantern, was placed upon a stick in the bow -of the boat, and I sat in a cramped huddle behind it, while -Mose Sawyer plied the paddle with noiseless strength -and skill in the stern. I proved unable to respond even -to the very small demand made upon me, for when we -actually did come upon a deer I failed to see it until -it ran, when I missed it; and on the way back capped my -misfortune by shooting a large owl which perched on a -log projecting into the water, looking at the lantern with -two glaring eyes.</p> - -<p class='c010'>All next day I was miserably conscious of the smothered -disfavor of my associates, and when night fell was -told I would have another chance to redeem myself. -This time we started across a carry, the guide carrying -the light boat, and launched it in a quiet little pond -about a mile off. Dusk was just turning into darkness -when we reached the edge of the little lake, which was -perhaps a mile long by three-quarters of a mile across, -with indented shores. We did not push off for half an -hour or so, until it was entirely dark; and then for a -couple of hours we saw no deer. Nevertheless, I thoroughly -enjoyed the ghostly, mysterious, absolutely silent -night ride over the water. Not the faintest splash betrayed -the work of the paddler. The boat glided stealthily -<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>alongshore, the glare of the lantern bringing out for -one moment every detail of the forest growth on the -banks, which the next second vanished into absolute -blackness. Several times we saw muskrats swimming -across the lane of light cut by the lantern through the -darkness, and two or three times their sudden plunging -and splashing caused my heart to leap. Once when we -crossed the lake we came upon a loon floating buoyantly -right out in the middle of it. It stayed until we were -within ten yards, so that I could see the minute outlines -of the feathers and every movement of the eye. Then -it swam off, but made no cry. At last, while crossing -the mouth of a bay we heard a splashing sound among -the lilies inshore, which even my untrained ears recognized -as different from any of the other noises we had -yet heard, and a jarring motion of the paddle showed -that the paddler wished me to be on the alert. Without -any warning, the course of the boat was suddenly -changed, and I was aware that we were moving stern -foremost. Then we swung around, and I could soon -make out that we were going down the little bay. The -forest-covered banks narrowed; then the marsh at the -end was lighted up, and on its hither edge, knee-deep -among the water-lilies, appeared the figure of a yearling -buck still in the red. It stood motionless, gazing at the -light with a curiosity wholly unmixed with alarm, and -at the shot wheeled and fell at the water’s edge. We -made up our mind to return to camp that night, as it was -before midnight. I carried the buck and the torch, and -the guide the boat, and the mile walk over the dim trail, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>occasionally pitching forward across a stump or root, was -a thing to be remembered. It was my first deer, and -I was very glad to get it; but although only a boy, I had -sense enough to realize that it was not an experience -worth repeating. The paddler in such a case deserves -considerable credit, but the shooter not a particle, even -aside from the fact to which I have already alluded, -that in too many cases such shooting results in the killing -of nursing does. No matter how young a sportsman is, -if he has a healthy mind, he will not long take pleasure -in any method of hunting in which somebody else shows -the skill and does the work so that his share is only nominal. -The minute that sport is carried on on these terms -it becomes a sham, and a sham is always detrimental to -all who take part in it.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Whitetail are comparatively easily killed with -hounds, and there are very many places where this is -almost the only way they can be killed at all. Formerly -in the Adirondacks this method of hunting was carried -on under circumstances which rendered those who took -part in it objects of deserved contempt. The sportsman -stood in a boat while his guides put out one or two hounds -in the chosen forest side. After a longer or shorter run -the deer took to the water; for whitetail are excellent -swimmers, and when pursued by hounds try to shake -them off by wading up or down stream or by swimming -across a pond, and, if tired, come to bay in some pool -or rapid. Once the unfortunate deer was in the water, -the guide rowed the boat after it. If it was yet early in -the season, and the deer was still in the red summer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>coat, it would sink when shot, and therefore the guide -would usually take hold of its tail before the would-be -Nimrod butchered it. If the deer was in the blue, the -carcass would float, so it was not necessary to do anything -quite so palpably absurd. But such sport, so far as the -man who did the shooting was concerned, had not one -redeeming feature. The use of hounds has now been -prohibited by law.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In regions where there are no lakes, and where the -woods are thick, the shooters are stationed at runways -by which it is supposed the deer may pass when the -hounds are after them. Under such circumstances the -man has to show the skill requisite to hit the running -quarry, and if he uses the rifle, this means that he must -possess a certain amount of address in handling the weapon. -But no other quality is called for, and so even this -method, though often the only possible one (and it may -be necessary to return to it in the Adirondacks), can never -rank high in the eyes of men who properly appreciate -what big game hunting should be. It is the usual method -of killing deer on Long Island, during the three or four -days of each year when they can be legally hunted. The -deer are found along the south and centre of the eastern -half of the island; they were nearly exterminated a dozen -years ago, but under good laws they have recently increased -greatly. The extensive grounds of the various -sportsmen’s clubs, and the forests of scrub-oak in the -sparsely settled inland region, give them good harbors -and sanctuaries. On the days when it is legal to shoot -them, hundreds of hunters turn out from the neighborhood, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>and indeed from all the island and from New York. -On such a day it is almost impossible to get any work -done; for the sport is most democratic, and is shared by -everybody. The hunters choose their position before -dawn, lying in lines wherever deer are likely to pass, -while the hounds are turned into every patch of thick -cover. A most lively day follows, the fusillade being -terrific; some men are invariably shot, and a goodly number -of deer are killed, mostly by wily old hunters who -kill ducks and quail for a living in the fall.</p> - -<p class='c010'>When the horse is used together with the hounds the -conditions are changed. To ride a horse over rough -country after game always implies hardihood and good -horsemanship, and therefore makes the sport a worthy -one. In very open country—in such country, for instance, -as the whitetail formerly frequented both in Texas and -the Indian Territory—the horseman could ride at the -tail of the pack until the deer was fairly run down. But -nowadays I know of no place where this is possible, for -the whitetail’s haunts are such as to make it impracticable -for any rider to keep directly behind the hounds. -What he must do is to try to cut the game off by riding -from point to point. He then leaps off the horse and -watches his chance for a shot. This is the way in which -Mr. McIlhenny has done most of his deer-hunting, in -the neighborhood of his Louisiana plantation.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Around my ranch I very rarely tried to still-hunt -whitetail, because it was always easier to get mule-deer -or prongbuck, if I had time to go off for an all-day’s -hunt. Occasionally, however, we would have at the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>ranch hounds, usually of the old black-and-tan Southern -type, and then if we needed meat, and there was not time -for a hunt back in the hills, we would turn out and hunt -one or two of the river bottoms with these hounds. If -I rode off to the prairies or the hills I went alone, but -if the quarry was a whitetail, our chance of success depended -upon our having a sufficient number of guns to -watch the different passes and runways. Accordingly, -my own share of the chase was usually limited to the -fun of listening to the hounds, and of galloping at headlong -speed from one point where I thought the deer -would not pass to some other, which, as a matter of fact, -it did not pass either. The redeeming feature of the -situation was that if I did get a shot, I almost always got -my deer. Under ordinary circumstances to merely -wound a deer is worse than not hitting it; but when there -are hounds along they are certain to bring the wounded -animal to bay, and so on these hunts we usually got -venison.</p> - -<div id='i_216' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_216.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ELKHORN RANCH</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>Of course, I occasionally got a whitetail when I -was alone, whether with the hounds or without them. -There were whitetail on the very bottom on which the -ranch-house stood, as well as on the bottom opposite, -and on those to the right and left up and down stream. -Occasionally I have taken the hounds out alone, and -then as they chevied the whitetail around the bottom, -have endeavored by rapid running on foot or on horseback -to get to some place from which I could obtain -a shot. The deer knew perfectly well that the hounds -could not overtake them, and they would usually do a -great deal of sneaking round and round through the underbrush -and cottonwoods before they finally made up -their minds to leave the bottom. On one occasion a buck -came sneaking down a game trail through the buck brush -where I stood, going so low that I could just see the -tips of his antlers, and though I made desperate efforts -I was not able to get into a position from which I could -obtain a shot. On another occasion, while I was looking -intently into a wood through which I was certain a deer -would pass, it deliberately took to the open ground behind -me, and I did not see it until it was just vanishing. -Normally, the end of my efforts was that the deer went -off and the hounds disappeared after it, not to return -for six or eight hours. Once or twice things favored -me; I happened to take the right turn or go in the right -direction, and the deer happened to blunder past me; and -then I returned with venison for supper. Two or three -times I shot deer about nightfall or at dawn, in the immediate -neighborhood of the ranch, obtaining them by -sneaking as noiselessly as possible along the cattle trails -through the brush and timber, or by slipping along the -edge of the river bank. Several times I saw deer while -I was sitting on the piazza or on the doorstep of the -ranch, and on one occasion I stepped back into the house, -got the rifle, and dropped the animal from where I stood.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On yet other occasions I obtained whitetail which -lived not on the river bottoms but among the big patches -of brush and timber in the larger creeks. When they -were found in such country I hunted them very much -as I hunted the mule-deer, and usually shot one when -<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>I was expecting as much to see a mule-deer as a whitetail. -When the game was plentiful I would often stay -on my horse until the moment of obtaining the shot, especially -if it was in the early morning or late evening. My -method then was to ride slowly and quietly down the -winding valleys and across the spurs, hugging the bank, -so that, if deer were feeding in the open, I would get -close up before either of us saw the other. Sometimes -the deer would halt for a moment when it saw me, and -sometimes it would bound instantly away. In either case -my chance lay in the speed with which I could jump -off the horse and take my shot. Even in favorable localities -this method was of less avail with whitetail than -mule-deer, because the former were so much more apt -to skulk.</p> - -<p class='c010'>As soon as game became less plentiful my hunting had -to be done on foot. My object was to be on the hunting-ground -by dawn, or else to stay out there until it grew -too dark to see the sights of my rifle. Often all I did -was to keep moving as quietly as possible through likely -ground, ever on the alert for the least trace of game; -sometimes I would select a lookout and carefully scan -a likely country to see if I could not detect something -moving. On one occasion I obtained an old whitetail -buck by the simple exercise of patience. I had twice -found him in a broad basin, composed of several coulees, -all running down to form the head of a big creek, and -all of them well timbered. He dodged me on both occasions, -and I made up my mind that I would spend a -whole day in watching for him from a little natural -<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>ambush of sage-bush and cedar on a high point which -overlooked the entire basin. I crept up to my ambush -with the utmost caution early in the morning, and there -I spent the entire day, with my lunch and a water-bottle, -continually scanning the whole region most carefully -with the glasses. The day passed less monotonously than -it sounds, for every now and then I would catch a glimpse -of wild life; once a fox, once a coyote, and once a badger; -while the little chipmunks had a fine time playing all -around me. At last, about mid-afternoon, I suddenly saw -the buck come quietly out of the dense thicket in which -he had made his midday bed, and deliberately walk up -a hillside and lie down in a thin clump of ash where the -sun could get at him—for it was in September, just before -the rut began. There was no chance of stalking -him in the place he had chosen, and all I could do was -to wait. It was nearly sunset before he moved again, -except that I occasionally saw him turn his head. Then -he got up, and after carefully scrutinizing all the neighborhood, -moved down into a patch of fairly thick brush, -where I could see him standing and occasionally feeding, -all the time moving slowly up the valley. I now slipped -most cautiously back and trotted nearly a mile until I -could come up behind one of the ridges bounding the -valley in which he was. The wind had dropped and it -was almost absolutely still when I crawled flat on my face -to the crest, my hat in my left hand, my rifle in my -right. There was a big sage-bush conveniently near, and -under this I peered. There was a good deal of brush in -the valley below, and if I had not known that the buck -<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>was there, I would never have discovered him. As it -was, I watched for a quarter of an hour, and had about -made up my mind that he must have gone somewhere -else, when a slight movement nearly below me attracted -my attention, and I caught a glimpse of him nearly three -hundred yards off, moving quietly along by the side of -a little dry watercourse which was right in the middle -of the brush. I waited until he was well past, and then -again slipped back with the utmost care, and ran on until -I was nearly opposite the head of the coulee, when I again -approached the ridge-line. Here there was no sage-bush, -only tufts of tall grass, which were stirring in the little -breeze which had just sprung up, fortunately in the -right direction. Taking advantage of a slight inequality -in the soil, I managed to get behind one of these tufts, -and almost immediately saw the buck. Toward the head -of the coulee the brush had become scanty and low, and -he was now walking straight forward, evidently keeping -a sharp lookout. The sun had just set. His course took -him past me at a distance of eighty yards. When directly -opposite I raised myself on my elbows, drawing -up the rifle, which I had shoved ahead of me. The -movement of course caught his eye at once; he halted -for one second to look around and see what it was, and -during that second I pulled the trigger. Away he went, -his white flag switching desperately, and though he galloped -over the hill, I felt he was mine. However, when -I got to the top of the rise over which he had gone, -I could not see him, and as there was a deep though -narrow coulee filled with brush on the other side, I had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>a very ugly feeling that I might have lost him, in spite -of the quantity of blood he had left along his trail. It -was getting dark, and I plunged quickly into the coulee. -Usually a wounded deer should not be followed until it -has had time to grow stiff, but this was just one of the -cases where the rule would have worked badly; in the -first place, because darkness was coming on, and in the -next place, because the animal was certain to die shortly, -and all that I wanted was to see where he was. I followed -his trail into the coulee, and expected to find that -he had turned down it, but a hurried examination in the -fading light showed me that he had taken the opposite -course, and I scrambled hastily out on the other side, -and trotted along, staring into the brush, and now and -then shouting or throwing in a clod of earth. When -nearly at the head there was a crackling in the brush, -and out burst the wounded buck. He disappeared behind -a clump of elms, but he had a hard hill to go up, -and the effort was too much for him. When I next saw -him he had halted, and before I could fire again down -he came.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On another occasion I spied a whole herd of whitetail -feeding in a natural meadow, right out in the open, -in mid-afternoon, and was able to get up so close that -when I finally shot a yearling buck (which was one of -the deer farthest away from me, there being no big buck -in the outfit), the remaining deer, all does and fawns, -scattered in every direction, some galloping right past -me in their panic. Once or twice I was able to perform -a feat of which I had read, but in which I scarcely -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>believed. This was, to creep up to a deer while feeding -in the open, by watching when it shook its tail, and -then remaining motionless. I cannot say whether the -habit is a universal one, but on two occasions at least -I was able thus to creep up to the feeding deer, because -before lifting its head it invariably shook its tail, thereby -warning me to stay without moving until it had lifted -its head, scrutinized the landscape, and again lowered -its head to graze. The eyesight of the whitetail, as compared -with that of the pronghorn antelope, is poor. It -notes whatever is in motion, but it seems unable to distinguish -clearly anything that is not in motion. On the -occasions in question no antelope that I have ever seen -would have failed to notice me at once and to take alarm. -But the whitetail, although it scrutinized me narrowly, -while I lay motionless with my head toward it, seemed -in each case to think that I must be harmless, and after -a while it would go on feeding. In one instance the -animal fed over a ridge and walked off before I could -get a shot; in the other instance I killed it.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In 1894, on the last day I spent at the ranch, and -with the last bullet I fired from my rifle, I killed a fine -whitetail buck. I left the ranch-house early in the afternoon -on my favorite pony, Muley, my foreman, Sylvane -Ferris, riding with me. We forded the shallow river -and rode up a long winding coulee, with belts of timber -running down its bottom. After going a couple of -miles, by sheer good luck we stumbled on three whitetail—a -buck, a doe and a fawn. When we saw them -they were trying to sneak off, and immediately my foreman -<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>galloped toward one end of the belt of timber in -which they were, and started to ride down through it, -while I ran Muley to the other end to intercept them. -They were, of course, quite likely to break off to one -side; but this happened to be one of the occasions when -everything went right. When I reached the spot from -which I covered the exits from the timber, I leaped off, -and immediately afterward heard a shout from my foreman -that told me the deer were on foot. Muley was -a pet horse, and enjoyed immensely the gallop after -game; but his nerves invariably failed him at the shot. -On this occasion he stood snorting beside me, and finally, -as the deer came in sight, away he tore—only to go about -200 yards, however, and stand and watch us, snorting, -with his ears pricked forward until, when I needed him, -I went for him. At the moment, however, I paid no heed -to Muley, for a cracking in the brush told me the game -was close, and I caught the shadowy outlines of the doe -and the fawn as they scudded through the timber. By -good luck, the buck, evidently flurried, came right on the -edge of the woods next to me, and as he passed, running -like a quarter-horse, I held well ahead of him and pulled -trigger. The bullet broke his neck and down he went—a -fine fellow with a handsome ten-point head, and fat -as a prize sheep; for it was just before the rut. Then -we rode home, and I sat in a rocking-chair on the ranch-house -veranda, looking across the wide, sandy river bed -at the strangely shaped buttes and the groves of shimmering -cottonwoods until the sun went down and the frosty -air bade me go in.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <span class='large'>THE MULE-DEER, OR ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACKTAIL</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>This is the largest and finest of our three smaller deer. -Throughout its range it is known as the blacktail deer, -and it has as good a historic claim to the title as its Pacific -coast kinsman, the coast or true blacktail. In writing -purely of this species, it seems like pedantry to call it -by its book name of mule-deer, a name which conveys -little or no meaning to the people who live in its haunts -and who hunt it; but it is certainly very confusing to -know two distinct types of deer by one name, and as both -the Rocky Mountain blacktail and Coast blacktail are -thus known, and as the former is occasionally known as -mule-deer, I shall, for convenience’ sake, speak of it under -this name—a name given it because of its great ears, -which rather detract from its otherwise very handsome -appearance.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The mule-deer is a striking and beautiful animal. As -is the case with our other species, it varies greatly in -size, but is on the average heavier than either the whitetail -or the true blacktail. The horns also average longer -and heavier, and in exceptional heads are really noteworthy -trophies. Ordinarily a full-grown buck has a -head of ten distinct and well-developed points, eight of -which consist of the bifurcations of the two main prongs -into which each antler divides, while in addition there -<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>are two shorter basal or frontal points. But the latter -are very irregular, being sometimes missing; while sometimes -there are two or three of them on each antler. -When missing it usually means that the antlers are of -young animals that have not attained their full growth. -A yearling will sometimes have merely a pair of spikes, -and sometimes each spike will be bifurcated so as to make -two points. A two-year-old may develop antlers which, -though small, possess the normal four points. Occasionally, -where unusually big heads are developed, there are -a number of extra points. If these are due to deformity, -they simply take away from the beauty of the head; but -where they are symmetrical, while at the same time the -antlers are massive, they add greatly to the beauty. All -the handsomest and largest heads show this symmetrical -development of extra points. It is rather hard to -lay down a hard-and-fast rule for counting them. The -largest and finest antlers are usually rough, and it is -not easy to say when a particular point in roughness has -developed so that it may legitimately be called a prong. -The largest head I ever got to my own rifle had twenty-eight -points, symmetrically arranged, the antlers being -rough and very massive as well as very long. The buck -was an immense fellow, but no bigger than other bucks -I have shot which possessed ordinary heads.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The mule-deer is found from the rough country -which begins along the eastern edges of the great plains, -across the Rocky Mountains to the eastern slopes of the -coast ranges, and into southern California. It extends -into Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. On -<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>the west it touches, and here and there crosses, the boundaries -of the Coast blacktail. The whitetail is found in -places throughout its habitat from east to west and from -north to south. But there are great regions in this territory -which are peculiarly fitted for the mule-deer, but -in which the whitetail is never found, as the habits of -the two are entirely different. In the mountains of western -Colorado and Wyoming, for instance, the mule-deer -swarms, but the whole region is unfit for the whitetail, -which is accordingly only found in a very few narrowly -restricted localities.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The mule-deer does not hold its own as well as the -whitetail in the presence of man, but it is by no means -as quickly exterminated as the wapiti. The outside -limits of its range have not shrunk materially in the century -during which it has been known to white hunters. -It was never found until the fertile, moist country of the -Mississippi Valley was passed and the dry plains region -to the west of it reached, and it still exists in some numbers -here and there in this country, as, for instance, in -the Bad Lands along the Little Missouri, and in the -Black Hills. But although its limits of distribution have -not very sensibly diminished, there are large portions of -the range within these limits from which it has practically -vanished, and in most places its numbers have been woefully -thinned. It holds its own best among the more inaccessible -mountain masses of the Rockies, and from -Chihuahua to Alberta there are tracts where it is still -abundant. Yet even in these places the numbers are diminishing, -and this process can be arrested only by better -<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>laws, and above all, by a better administration of the law. -The national Government could do much by establishing -its forest reserves as game reserves, and putting on a sufficient -number of forest rangers who should be empowered -to prevent all hunting on the reserves. The State -governments can do still more. Colorado has good laws, -but they are not well enforced. The easy method of -accounting for this fact is to say that it is due to the -politicians; but in reality the politicians merely represent -the wishes, or more commonly the indifference, of the -people. As long as the good citizens of a State are indifferent -to game protection, or take but a tepid interest -in it, the politicians, through their agents, will leave the -game laws unenforced. But if the people of Colorado, -Wyoming, and Montana come to feel the genuine interest -in the enforcement of these laws that the people of Maine -and Vermont have grown to take during the past twenty -years, that the people of Montana and Wyoming who -dwell alongside the Yellowstone Park are already taking—then -not only will the mule-deer cease to diminish, but -it will positively increase. It is a mistake to suppose that -such a change would only be to the advantage of well-to-do -sportsmen. Men who are interested in hunting for -hunting’s sake, men who come from the great cities remote -from the mountains in order to get three or four -weeks’ healthy, manly holiday, would undoubtedly be -benefited; but the greatest benefit would be to the people -of the localities, of the neighborhoods round about. -The presence of the game would attract outsiders who -would leave in the country money, or its equivalent, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>which would many times surpass in value the game they -actually killed; and furthermore, the preservation of the -game would mean that the ranchmen and grangers who -live near its haunts would have in perpetuity the chance -of following the pleasantest and healthiest of all out-of-door -pastimes; whereas, if through their short-sightedness -they destroy, or permit to be destroyed, the game, -they are themselves responsible for the fact that their -children and children’s children will find themselves forever -debarred from a pursuit which must under such -circumstances become the amusement only of the very -rich. If we are really alive to our opportunities under -our democratic social and political system, we can keep -for ourselves—and by “ourselves” I mean the enormous -bulk of men whose means range from moderate to very -small—ample opportunity for the enjoyment of hunting -and shooting, of vigorous and blood-stirring out-of-doors -sport. If we fail to take advantage of our possibilities, -if we fail to pass, in the interest of all, wise game laws, -and to see that these game laws are properly enforced, -we shall then have to thank ourselves if in the future the -game is only found in the game preserves of the wealthy; -and under such circumstances only these same wealthy -people will have the chance to hunt it.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The mule-deer differs widely from the whitetail in -its habits, and especially in its gait, and in the kind of -country which it frequents. Although in many parts of -its range it is found side by side with its whitetail cousin, -the two do not actually associate together, and their propinquity -is due simply to the fact, that the river bottoms -<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>being a favorite haunt of the whitetail, long tongues of -the distribution area of this species are thrust into the -domain of its bolder, less stealthy and less crafty kinsman. -Throughout the plains country the whitetail is the deer of -the river bottoms, where the rank growth gives it secure -hiding-places, as well as ample food. The mule-deer, on -the contrary, never comes down into the dense growths -of the river bottoms. Throughout the plains country -it is the deer of the broken Bad Lands which fringe these -river bottoms on either side, and of the rough ravines -which wind their way through the Bad Lands to the edge -of the prairie country which lies back of them. The -broken hills, their gorges filled with patches of ash, buck -brush, cedar, and dwarf pine, form a country in which -the mule-deer revels. The whitetail will, at times, wander -far out on the prairies where the grass is tall and -rank; but it is not nearly so bold or fond of the open -as the mule-deer. The latter is frequently found in hilly -country where the covering is so scanty that the animal -must be perpetually on the watch, as if it were a bighorn -or prongbuck, in order to spy its foes at a distance and -escape before they can come near; whereas the whitetail -usually seeks to elude observation by hiding—by its -crouching, stealthy habits.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It must be remembered, however, that with the mule-deer, -as with all other species of animals, there is a wide -variability in habits under different conditions. This is -often forgotten even by trained naturalists, who accept -the observations made in one locality as if they applied -throughout the range of the species. Thus in the generally -<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>good account of the habits of this species in Mr. -Lydeker’s book on the “Deer of All Lands” it is asserted -that mule-deer never dwell permanently in the forest, and -feed almost exclusively on grass. The first statement is -entirely, the second only partly, true of the mule-deer of -the plains from the Little Missouri westward to the headwaters -of the Platte, the Yellowstone, and the Big Horn; -but there are large parts of the Rockies in which neither -statement applies at all. In the course of several hunting -trips among the densely wooded mountains of western -Montana, along the water-shed separating the streams -that flow into Clarke’s Fork of the Columbia from those -that ultimately empty into Kootenay Lake, I found the -mule-deer plentiful in many places where practically the -whole country was covered by dense forest, and where -the opportunities for grazing were small indeed, as we -found to our cost in connection with our pack-train. In -this region the mule-deer lived the entire time among -the timber, and subsisted for the most part on browse. -Occasionally they would find an open glade and graze; -but the stomachs of those killed contained not grass, but -blueberries and the leaves and delicate tips of bushes. I -was not in this country in winter, but it was evident that -even at that season the deer must spend their time in the -thick timber. There was no chance for them to go above -the timber line, because the mountains were densely -wooded to their summits, and the white goats of the locality -also lived permanently in the timber.<a id='r3' /><a href='#f3' class='c018'><sup>[3]</sup></a> It was far -<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>harder to get the mule-deer than it was to get the white -goats, for the latter were infinitely more conspicuous, -were slower in their movements, and bolder and less shy. -Almost the only way we succeeded in killing the deer -was by finding one of their well-trodden paths and lying -in wait beside it very early in the morning or quite late -in the afternoon. The season was August and September, -and the deer were astir long before sunset. They usually, -but not always, lay high up on the mountain-sides, and -while they sometimes wandered to and fro browsing on -the mountains, they often came down to feed in the valleys, -where the berries were thicker. Their paths were -well beaten, although, like all game trails, after being -as plainly marked as a pony track for a quarter of a -mile or so, they would suddenly grow faint and vanish. -The paths ran nearly straight up and down hill, and even -when entirely undisturbed, the deer often came down -them at a great rate, bouncing along in a way that showed -that they had no fear of developing the sprung knees -which we should fear for a domestic animal which habitually -tried the same experiment.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f3'> -<p class='c010'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. I call particular attention to this fact concerning the white goat, as certain -recent writers, including Mr. Madison Grant, have erroneously denied it.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>In other habits also the deer vary widely in different -localities. For instance, there is an absolute contrast as -regards their migratory habits between the mule-deer -which live in the Bad Lands along the Little Missouri, -and those which live in northwestern Colorado; and this -difference is characteristic generally of the deer which -in the summer dwell in the high mountains, as contrasted -with those which bear and rear their young in the low, -broken hill-country. Along the Little Missouri there -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>was no regular or clearly defined migration of the mule-deer -in a mass. Some individuals, or groups of individuals, -shifted their quarters for a few miles, so that in the -spring, for instance, a particular district of a few square -miles, in which they had been abundant before, might -be wholly without them. But there were other districts, -which happened to afford at all times sufficient food and -shelter, in which they were to be found the year round; -and the animals did not band and migrate as the prongbucks -did in the same region. In the immediate neighborhood -of my ranch there were groups of high hills -containing springs of water, good grass, and an abundance -of cedar, ash, and all kinds of brush in which the -mule-deer were permanent residents. There were big -dry creeks, with well-wooded bottoms, lying among rugged -hills, in which I have found whitetail and mule-deer -literally within a stone’s throw of one another. I once -started from two adjoining pockets in this particular -creek two does, each with a fawn, one being a mule-deer -and the other a whitetail. On another occasion, on an -early spring afternoon, just before the fawns were born, -I came upon a herd of twenty whitetails, does, and young -of the preceding year, grazing greedily on the young -grass; and half a mile up the creek, in an almost exactly -similar locality, I came upon just such a herd of mule-deer. -In each case the animals were so absorbed in the -feasting, which was to make up for their winter privations, -that I was able to stalk to within fifty yards, though -of course I did not shoot.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In northwestern Colorado the conditions are entirely -<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>different. Throughout this region there are no whitetail -and never have been, although in the winter range of -the mule-deer there are a few prongbuck; and the wapiti -once abounded. The mule-deer are still plentiful. They -make a complete migration summer and winter, so that -in neither season is a single individual to be found in -the haunts they frequent during the other season. In -the summer they live and bring forth their young high up -in the main chain of the mountains, in a beautiful country -of northern forest growth, dotted with trout-filled brooks -and clear lakes. The snowfall is so deep in these wooded -mountains that the deer would run great risk of perishing -if they stayed therein, and indeed could only winter -there at all in very small numbers. Accordingly, when -the storms begin in the fall, usually about the first of -October, just before the rut, the deer assemble in bands -and move west and south to the lower, drier country, -where the rugged hills are here and there clothed with -an open growth of pinyon and cedar, instead of the tall -spruces and pines of the summer range. The migrating -bands follow one another along definite trails over mountains, -through passes and valleys, and across streams; and -their winter range swarms with them a few days after -the forerunners have put in their appearance in what has -been, during the summer, an absolutely deerless country.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In January and February, 1901, I spent five weeks -north of the White River, in northwestern Colorado. It -was in the heart of the wintering ground of the great -Colorado mule-deer herd. Forty miles away to the east, -extending north, lay the high mountains in which these -<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>deer had spent the summer. The winter range, in which -I was at the time hunting cougars, is a region of comparatively -light snowfall, though the cold is bitter. On -several occasions during my stay the thermometer went -down to twenty degrees below zero. The hills, or low -mountains, for it was difficult to know which to call -them, were steep and broken, and separated by narrow -flats covered with sage-brush. The ordinary trees were -the pinyon and cedar, which were scattered in rather -open groves over the mountain-sides and the spurs between -the ravines. There were also patches of quaking -asp, scrub-oak, and brush. The entire country was thinly -covered with ranches, and there were huge pastures enclosed -by wire fences. I have never seen the mule-deer -so numerous anywhere as they were in this country at -this time; although in 1883, on the Little Missouri, they -were almost as plentiful. There was not a day we did -not see scores, and on some days we saw hundreds. Frequently -they were found in small parties of two or three, -or a dozen individuals, but on occasions we saw bands -of thirty or forty. Only rarely were they found singly. -The fawns were of course well grown, being eight or -nine months old, and long out of the spotted coat. They -were still accompanying their mothers. Ordinarily a -herd would consist of does, fawns, and yearlings, the -latter carrying their first antlers. But it was not possible -to lay down a universal rule. Again and again -I saw herds in which there were one or two full-grown -bucks associating with the females and younger deer. -At other times we came across small bands of full-grown -<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>bucks by themselves, and occasionally a solitary -buck. Considering the extent to which these deer must -have been persecuted, I did not think them shy. We -were hunting on horseback, and had hounds with us, so -we made no especial attempt to avoid noise. Yet very -frequently we would come close on the deer before they -took alarm; and even when alarmed they would sometimes -trot slowly off, halting and looking back. On one -occasion, in some bad lands, we came upon four bucks -which had been sunning themselves on the face of a clay -wall. They jumped up and went off one at a time, very -slowly, passing diagonally by us, certainly not over -seventy yards off. All four could have been shot without -effort, and as they had fine antlers I should certainly -have killed one, had it been the open season.</p> - -<p class='c010'>When we came on these Colorado mule-deer suddenly, -they generally behaved exactly as their brethren -used to in the old days on the Little Missouri; that is, -they would run off at a good speed for a hundred yards -or so, then slow up, halt, gaze inquisitively at us for -some seconds, and again take to flight. While the sun -was strong they liked to lie out in the low brush on -slopes where they would get the full benefit of the heat. -During the heavy snow-storms they usually retreated into -some ravine where the trees grew thicker than usual, not -stirring until the weight of the storm was over. Most -of the night, especially if it was moonlight, they fed; -but they were not at all regular about this. I frequently -saw them standing up and grazing, or more rarely browsing, -in the middle of the day, and in the late afternoon -<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>they often came down to graze on the flats within view -of the different ranch houses where I happened to stop. -The hours for feeding and resting, however, always vary -accordingly as the deer are or are not persecuted. In -wild localities I have again and again found these deer -grazing at all hours of the day, and coming to water -at high noon; whereas, where they have been much persecuted, -they only begin to feed after dusk, and come to -water after dark. Of course during this winter weather -they could get no water, snow supplying its place.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I was immensely interested with the way they got -through the wire fences. A mule-deer is a great jumper; -I have known them to clear with ease high timber corral -fences surrounding hayricks. If the animals had chosen, -they could have jumped any of the wire fences I saw; -yet never in a single instance did I see one of them so -jump a fence, nor did I ever find in the tell-tale snow -tracks which indicated their having done so. They paid -no heed whatever to the fences, so far as I could see, and -went through them at will; but they always got between -the wires, or went under the lowest wire. The dexterity -with which they did this was extraordinary. When -alarmed they would run full speed toward a wire fence, -would pass through it, often hardly altering their stride, -and never making any marks in the snow which looked -as though they had crawled. Twice I saw bands thus -go through a wire fence, once at speed, the other time -when they were not alarmed. On both occasions they -were too far off to allow me to see exactly their mode -of procedure, but on examining the snow where they had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>passed, there was not the slightest mark of their bodies, -and the alteration in their gait, as shown by the footprints, -was hardly perceptible. In one instance, however, where -I scared a young buck which ran over a hill and through -a wire fence on the other side, I found one of his antlers -lying beside the fence, it having evidently been knocked -off by the wire. Their antlers were getting very loose, -and toward the end of our stay they had begun to shed -them.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The deer were preyed on by many foes. Sportsmen -and hide-hunters had been busy during the fall migrations, -and the ranchmen of the neighborhood were shooting -them occasionally for food, even when we were -out there. The cougars at this season were preying upon -them practically to the exclusion of everything else. We -came upon one large fawn which had been killed by a -bobcat. The gray wolves were also preying upon them. -A party of these wolves can sometimes run down even -an unwounded blacktail; I have myself known of their -performing this feat. Twice on this very hunt we came -across the carcasses of blacktail which had thus been -killed by wolves, and one of the cow-punchers at a ranch -where we were staying came in and reported to us that -while riding among the cattle that afternoon he had seen -two coyotes run a young mule-deer to a standstill, and -they would without doubt have killed it had they not -been frightened by his approach. Still the wolf is very -much less successful than the cougar in killing these deer, -and even the cougar continually fails in his stalks. But -the deer were so plentiful that at this time all the cougars -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>we killed were very fat, and evidently had no difficulty -in getting as much venison as they needed. The wolves -were not as well off, and now and then made forays on -the young stock of the ranchmen, which at this season -the cougar let alone, reserving his attention to them for -the summer season when the deer had vanished.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the Big Horn Mountains, where I also saw a good -deal of the mule-deer, their habits were intermediate -between those of the species that dwell on the plains and -those that dwell in the densely timbered regions of the -Rockies farther to the northwest. In the summer time -they lived high up on the plateaus of the Big Horn, sometimes -feeding in the open glades and sometimes in the -pine forests. In the fall they browsed on certain of the -bushes almost exclusively. In winter they came down -into the low country. South of the Yellowstone Park, -where the wapiti swarmed, the mule-deer were not numerous. -I believe that by choice they prefer rugged, open -country, and they certainly care comparatively little for -bad weather, as they will often visit bleak, wind-swept -ridges in midwinter, as being places where they can best -get food at that season, when the snow lies deep in the -sheltered places. Nevertheless, many of the species pass -their whole life in thick timber.</p> - -<div id='i_238' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_238.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE RANCH-HOUSE</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>My chief opportunities for observing the mule-deer -were in the eighties, when I spent much of my time on -my ranch on the Little Missouri. Mule-deer were then -very plentiful, and I killed more of them than of all -other game put together. At that time in the cattle country -no ranchman ever thought of killing beef, and if -we had fresh meat at all it was ordinarily venison. In -the fall we usually tried to kill enough deer to last out the -winter. Until the settlers came in, the Little Missouri -country was an ideal range for mule-deer, and they fairly -swarmed; while elk were also plentiful, and the restless -herds of the buffalo surged at intervals through the land. -After 1882 and 1883 the buffalo and elk were killed out, -the former completely, and the latter practically, and -by that time the skin-hunters, and then the ranchers, -turned their attention chiefly to the mule-deer. It lived -in open country where there was cover for the stalker, -and so it was much easier to kill than either the whitetail, -which was found in the dense cover of the river bottoms, -or the prongbuck, which was found far back from the -river, on the flat prairies where there was no cover at -all. I have been informed of other localities in which -the antelope has disappeared long before the mule-deer, -and I believe that in the Rockies the mule-deer has a -far better chance of survival than the antelope has on -the plains; but on the Little Missouri the antelope continued -plentiful long after the mule-deer had become -decidedly scarce. In 1886 I think the antelope were -fully as abundant as ever they were, while the mule-deer -had woefully diminished. In the early nineties there were -still regions within thirty or forty miles of my ranch -where the antelope were very plentiful—far more so than -the mule-deer were at that time. Now they are both -scarce along the Little Missouri, and which will outlast -the other I cannot say.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the old days, as I have already said, it was by no -<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>means infrequent to see both the whitetail and the mule-deer -close together, and when, under such circumstances, -they were alarmed, one got a clear idea of the extraordinary -gait which is the mule-deer’s most striking characteristic. -It trots well, gallops if hard pressed, and is -a good climber, though much inferior to the mountain -sheep. But its normal gait consists of a series of stiff-legged -bounds, all four feet leaving and striking the -ground at the same time. This gait differs more from -the gait of bighorn, prongbuck, whitetail, and wapiti -than the gaits of these latter animals differ among themselves. -The wapiti, for instance, rarely gallops, but when -he does, it is a gallop of the ordinary type. The prongbuck -runs with a singularly even gait; whereas the whitetail -makes great bounds, some much higher than others. -But fundamentally in all cases the action is the same, -and has no resemblance to the stiff-legged buck jumping -which is the ordinary means of progression of the mule-deer. -These jumps carry it not only on the level, but -up and down hill at a great speed. It is said to be a tiresome -gait for the animal, if hunted for any length of -time on the level; but of this I cannot speak with full -knowledge.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Compared to the wapiti, the mule-deer, like our other -small deer, is a very silent animal. For a long time I -believed it uttered no sound beyond the snort of alarm -and the rare bleat of the doe to her fawn; but one afternoon -I heard two bucks grunting or barking at one another -in a ravine back of the ranch-house, and crept up -and shot them. I was still uncertain whether this was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>an indication of a regular habit; but a couple of years -later, on a moonlight night just after sunset, I heard a -big buck travelling down a ravine and continually barking, -evidently as a love challenge. I have been informed -by some hunters that the bucks at the time of the rut -not infrequently thus grunt and bark; but most hunters -are ignorant of this habit; and it is certainly not a common -practice.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The species is not nearly as gregarious as the wapiti -or caribou. During the winter the bucks are generally -found singly, or in small parties by themselves, although -occasionally one will associate with a party of does and of -young deer. When in May or June—for the exact time -varies with the locality—the doe brings forth her young, -she retires to some lonely thicket. Sometimes one and -sometimes two fawns are brought forth. They lie very -close for the first few days. I have picked them up and -handled them without their making the slightest effort to -escape, while the mother hung about a few hundred -yards off. On one occasion I by accident surprised a -doe in the very act of giving birth to two fawns. One -had just been born and the other was born as the doe -made her first leap away. She ran off with as much -speed and unconcern as if nothing whatever had happened. -I passed on immediately, lest she should be so -frightened as not to come back to the fawns. It has happened -that where I have found the newly born fawns I -have invariably found the doe to be entirely alone, but -her young of the previous year must sometimes at least -be in the neighborhood, for a little later I have frequently -<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>seen the doe and her fawn or fawns, and either one or two -young of the previous year, together. Often, however, -these young deer will be alone, or associated with an older -doe which is barren. The bucks at the same time go to -secluded places; sometimes singly, while sometimes an -old buck will be accompanied by a younger one, or a -couple of old bucks will lie together. They move about -as little as possible while their horns are growing, and -if a hunter comes by, they will lie far closer than at any -other time of the year, squatting in the dense thickets -as if they were whitetails.</p> - -<p class='c010'>When in the Bad Lands of the Western Dakotas the -late September breezes grow cold, then the bucks, their -horns already clean of velvet which they have thrashed off -on the bushes and saplings, feel their necks begin to swell; -and early in October—sometimes not until November—they -seek the does. The latter, especially the younger -ones, at first flee in frantic haste. As the rut goes on the -bucks become ever bolder and more ardent. Not only -do they chase the does by night, but also by day. I have -sat on the side of a ravine in the Bad Lands at noon -and seen a young doe race past me as if followed by a -wolf. When she was out of sight a big buck appeared -on her trail, following it by scent, also at speed. When -he had passed I got up, and the motion frightened a -younger buck which was following two or three hundred -yards in the rear of the big one. After a while the doe -yields, and the buck then accompanies her. If, however, -it is early in the season, he may leave her entirely in -order to run after another doe. Later in the season he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>will have a better chance of adding the second doe to his -harem, or of robbing another buck of the doe or does -which he has accumulated. I have often seen merely -one doe and one buck together, and I have often seen a -single doe which for several days was accompanied by -several bucks, one keeping off the others. But generally -the biggest bucks collect each for himself several does, -yearlings also being allowed in the band. The exact -amount of companionship with the does allowed these -young bucks depends somewhat upon the temper of the -master buck. In books by imperfectly informed writers -we often see allusions to the buck as protecting the -doe, or even taking care of the fawn. Charles Dudley -Warner, for instance, in describing with great skill and -pathos an imaginary deer hunt, after portraying the death -of the doe, portrays the young fawn as following the buck -when the latter comes back to it in the evening.<a id='r4' /><a href='#f4' class='c018'><sup>[4]</sup></a> As a -matter of fact, while the fawn is so young as to be wholly -dependent upon the doe, the buck never comes near -either. Moreover, during the period when the buck and -the doe are together, the buck’s attitude is merely that of -a brutal, greedy, and selfish tyrant. He will unhesitatingly -rob the doe of any choice bit of food, and though -he will fight to keep her if another buck approaches, the -moment that a dangerous foe appears his one thought is -for his own preservation. He will not only desert the -doe, but if he is an old and cunning buck, he will try his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>best to sacrifice her by diverting the attention of the pursuer -to her and away from him.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f4'> -<p class='c010'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. While the situation thus described was an impossible one, the purpose of -Mr. Warner’s article was excellent, it being intended as a protest against hunting -deer while the fawns are young, and against killing them in the water.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>By the end of the rut the old bucks are often exhausted, -their sides are thin, their necks swollen; though -they are never as gaunt as wapiti bulls at this time. They -then rest as much as possible, feeding all the time to put -on fat before winter arrives, and rapidly attaining a very -high condition.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Except in dire need no one would kill a deer after -the hard weather of winter begins or before the antlers -of the buck are full-grown and the fawns are out of the -spotted coat. Even in the old days we, who lived in the -ranch country, always tried to avoid killing deer in the -spring or early summer, though we often shot buck antelope -at those times. The close season for deer varies in -different States, and now there is generally a limit set to -the number any one hunter can kill; for the old days of -wasteful plenty are gone forever.</p> - -<p class='c010'>To my mind there is a peculiar fascination in hunting -the mule-deer. By the time the hunting season has -arrived the buck is no longer the slinking beast of the -thicket, but a bold and yet wary dweller in the uplands. -Frequently he can be found clear of all cover, -often at midday, and his habits at this season are, from -the hunter’s standpoint, rather more like those of the -wapiti than of the whitetail; but each band, though continually -shifting its exact position, stays permanently -in the same tract of country, whereas wapiti are apt to -wander.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the old days, when mule-deer were plentiful in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>country through which a horse could go at a fair rate -of speed, it was common for the hunter to go on horseback, -and not to dismount save at the moment of the -shot. In the early eighties, while on my ranch on the -Little Missouri, this was the way in which I usually -hunted. When I first established my ranch I often went -out, in the fall, after the day’s work was over, and killed -a deer before dark. If it was in September, I would -sometimes start after supper. Later in the year I would -take supper when I got back. Under such circumstances -my mode of procedure was simple. Deer were plentiful. -Every big tangle of hills, every set of grassy coulees winding -down to a big creek bottom, was sure to contain them. -The time being short, with at most only an hour or two -of light, I made no effort to find the tracks of a deer -or to spy one afar off. I simply rode through the likely -places, across the heads of the ravines or down the winding -valleys, until I jumped a deer close enough up to give -me a shot. The unshod hoofs of the horse made but little -noise as he shuffled along at the regular cow-pony -fox trot, and I kept him close into the bank or behind -cover, so as to come around each successive point without -warning. If the ground was broken and rugged, I -made no attempt to go fast. If, on the other hand, I -struck a smooth ravine with gentle curves, I would often -put the pony to a sharp canter or gallop, so as to come -quickly on any deer before it could quite make up its -mind what course was best to follow. Sooner or later, -as I passed a thick clump of young ash or buck brush, -or came abruptly around a sharp bend, there would be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>a snort, and then the thud, thud, thud, of four hoofs striking -the ground exactly in unison, and away would go a -mule-deer with the peculiar bounding motion of its kind. -The pony, well accustomed to the work, stopped short, -and I was off its back in an instant. If the deer had -not made out exactly what I was, it would often show -by its gait that it was not yet prepared to run straight -out of sight. Under such circumstances I would wait -until it stopped and turned round to look back. If it -was going very fast, I took the shot running. Once I -put up a young buck from some thick brush in the bottom -of a winding washout. I leaped off the pony, standing -within ten yards of the washout. The buck went up -a hill on my left, and as he reached the top and paused -for a second on the sky-line, I fired. At the shot there -was a great scrambling and crashing in the washout below -me, and another and larger buck came out and tore -off in frantic haste. I fired several shots at him, finally -bringing him down. Meanwhile, the other buck had -disappeared, but there was blood on his trail, and I found -him lying down in the next coulee, and finished him. -This was not much over a mile from the ranch-house, -and after dressing the deer, I put one behind the saddle -and one on it, and led the pony home.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Such hunting, though great fun, does not imply any -particular skill either in horsemanship, marksmanship, or -plains-craft and knowledge of the animal’s habits; and -it can of course be followed only where the game is very -plentiful. Ordinarily the mule-deer must be killed by -long tramping among the hills, skilful stalking, and good -<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>shooting. The successful hunter should possess good eyes, -good wind, and good muscles. He should know how to -take cover and how to use his rifle. The work is sufficiently -rough to test any man’s endurance, and yet there -is no such severe and intense toil as in following true -mountain game, like the bighorn or white goat. As the -hunter’s one aim is to see the deer before it sees him, -he can only use the horse to take him to the hunting-ground. -Then he must go through the most likely -ground and from every point of vantage scan with minute -care the landscape round about, while himself unseen. -If the country is wild and the deer have not been -much molested, he will be apt to come across a band -that is feeding. Under such circumstances it is easy to -see them at once. But if lying down, it is astonishing -how the gray of their winter coats fits in with the color -of their surroundings. Too often I have looked carefully -over a valley with my glasses until, thinking I had -searched every nook, I have risen and gone forward, only -to see a deer rise and gallop off out of range from some -spot which I certainly thought I had examined with all -possible precaution. If the hunter is not himself hidden, -he will have his labor for his pains. Neither the mule-deer -nor the whitetail is by any means as keen-sighted as -the pronghorn antelope, and men accustomed chiefly to -antelope shooting are quite right in speaking of the sight -of deer as poor by comparison. But this is only by comparison. -A motionless object does not attract the deer’s -gaze as it attracts the telescopic eye of a prongbuck; but -any motion is seen at once, and as soon as this has occurred, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>the chances of the hunter are usually at an end. -On the other hand, from the nature of its haunts the mule-deer -usually offers fairly good opportunities for stalking. -It is not as big or as valuable as the elk, and therefore -it is not as readily seen or as eagerly followed, and in -consequence holds its own better. But though the sport -it yields calls normally for a greater amount of hardihood -and endurance in the hunter than is the case with the -sport yielded by the prongbuck, and especially by the -whitetail, yet when existing in like numbers it is easier -to kill than either of these two animals.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Sometimes in the early fall, when hunting from the -ranch, I have spent the night in some likely locality, sleeping -rolled up in a blanket on the ground so as to be ready -to start at the first streak of dawn. On one such occasion -a couple of mule-deer came to where my horse was -picketed just before I got up. I heard them snort or -whistle, and very slowly unwrapped myself from the -blanket, turned over, and crawled out, rifle in hand. -Overhead the stars were paling in the faint gray light, -but the ravine in which the deer were was still so black -that, watch as I would, I could not see them. I feared to -move around lest I might disturb them, but after wiggling -toward a little jutting shoulder I lay still to wait -for the light. They went off, however, while it was still -too dusk to catch more than their dim and formless outlines, -and though I followed them as rapidly and cautiously -as possible, I never got a shot at them. On other -occasions fortune has favored me, and before the sun rose -I have spied some buck leisurely seeking his day bed, -and have been able either to waylay him or make a running -stalk on him from behind.</p> - -<div id='i_248' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_248.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE RANCH VERANDA</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>In the old days it was the regular thing with most -ranchmen to take a trip in the fall for the purpose of -laying in the winter’s supply of venison. I frequently -took such trips myself, and though occasionally we killed -wapiti, bighorn, prongbuck, and whitetail, our ordinary -game was the mule-deer. Around my ranch it was not -necessary to go very far. A day’s journey with the wagon -would usually take us to where a week’s hunting would -enable us to return with a dozen deer or over. If there -was need of more, I would repeat the hunt later on. I -have several times killed three of these deer in a day, -but I do not now recall ever killing a greater number. -It is perhaps unnecessary to say that every scrap of flesh -was used.</p> - -<p class='c010'>These hunts were always made late in the fall, usually -after the close of the rut. The deer were then banded, -and were commonly found in parties of from three or -four to a score, although the big bucks might be lying -by themselves. The weather was apt to be cold, and the -deer evidently liked to sun themselves, so that at midday -they could be found lying sometimes in thin brush -and sometimes boldly out on the face of a cliff or hill. -If they were unmolested, they would feed at intervals -throughout the day, and not until the bands had been -decimated by excessive hunting did they ever spend the -hours of daylight in hiding.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On such a hunt our proceedings were simple. The -nights were longer than the days, and therefore we were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>away from camp at the first streak of dawn, and might -not return until long after darkness. All the time between -was spent in climbing and walking through the -rugged hills, keeping a sharp lookout for our game. -Only too often we were seen before we ourselves saw -the quarry, and even when this was not the case the -stalks were sometimes failures. Still blank days were not -very common. Probably every hunter remembers with -pride some particular stalk. I recall now outwitting a -big buck which I had seen and failed to get on two successive -days. He was hanging about a knot of hills with -brush on their shoulders, and was not only very watchful, -but when he lay down always made his bed at the lower -end of a brush patch, whence he could see into the valley -below, while it was impossible to approach him from -above, through the brush, without giving the alarm. On -the third day I saw him early in the morning, while he -was feeding. He was very watchful, and I made no attempt -to get near him, simply peeping at him until he -finally went into a patch of thin brush and lay down. -As I knew what he was I could distinctly make him out. -If I had not seen him go in, I certainly never would have -imagined that he was a deer, even had my eyes been able -to pick him out at all among the gray shadows and small -dead tree-tops. Having waited until he was well settled -down, I made a very long turn and came up behind him, -only to find that the direction of the wind and the slope -of the hill rendered it an absolute impossibility to approach -him unperceived. After careful study of the -ground I abandoned the effort, and returned to my former -<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>position, having spent several hours of considerable labor -in vain. It was now about noon, and I thought I would -lie still to see what he would do when he got up, and -accordingly I ate my lunch stretched at full length in -the long grass which sheltered me from the wind. From -time to time I peered cautiously between two stones -toward where the buck lay. It was nearly mid-afternoon -before he moved. Sometimes mule-deer rise with a single -motion, all four legs unbending like springs, so that -the four hoofs touch the ground at once. This old buck, -however, got up very slowly, looked about for certainly -five minutes, and then came directly down the hill and -toward me. When he had nearly reached the bottom of -the valley between us he turned to the right and sauntered -rapidly down it. I slipped back and trotted as fast as -I could without losing my breath along the hither side -of the spur which lay between me and the buck. While -I was out of sight he had for some reason made up his -mind to hurry, and when I was still fifty yards from the -end of the spur he came in sight just beyond it, passing -at a swinging trot. I dropped on one knee so quickly -that for a moment he evidently could not tell what I -was—my buckskin shirt and gray slouch-hat fading into -the color of the background—and halted, looking sharply -around. Before he could break into flight my bullet -went through his shoulders.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Twice I have killed two of these deer at a shot; once -two bucks, and once a doe and a buck.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It has proved difficult to keep the mule-deer in captivity, -even in large private parks or roomy zoological -<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>gardens. I think this is because hitherto the experiment -has been tried east of the Mississippi in an alien habitat. -The wapiti and whitetail are species that are at home -over most of the United States, East and West, in rank, -wet prairies, dense woodland, and dry mountain regions -alike; but the mule-deer has a far more sharply localized -distribution. In the Bronx Zoological Gardens, in New -York, Mr. Hornaday informs me that he has comparatively -little difficulty in keeping up the stock alike of -wapiti and whitetail by breeding—as indeed any visitor -can see for himself. The same is true in the game preserves -in the wilder regions of New York and New England; -but hitherto the mule-deer has offered an even more -difficult problem in captivity than the pronghorn antelope. -Doubtless the difficulty would be minimized if -the effort at domestication were made in the neighborhood -of the Rocky Mountains.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The true way to preserve the mule-deer, however, -as well as our other game, is to establish on the nation’s -property great nurseries and wintering grounds, such as -the Yellowstone Park, and then to secure fair play for -the deer outside these grounds by a wisely planned and -faithfully executed series of game laws. This is the -really democratic method of solving the problem. Occasionally -even yet some one will assert that the game -“belongs to the people, and should be given over to -them”—meaning, thereby, that there should be no game -laws, and that every man should be at liberty indiscriminately -to kill every kind of wild animal, harmless, useless, -or noxious, until the day when our woods become wholly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>bereft of all the forms of higher animal life. Such an -argument can only be made from the standpoint of those -big game dealers in the cities who care nothing for the -future, and desire to make money at the present day by -a slaughter which in the last analysis only benefits the -wealthy people who are able to pay for the game; for -once the game has been destroyed, the livelihood of the -professional gunner will be taken away. Most emphatically -wild game not on private property <i>does</i> belong to -the people, and the only way in which the people can -secure their ownership is by protecting it in the interest -of all against the vandal few. As we grow older I think -most of us become less keen about that part of the hunt -which consists in the killing. I know that as far as I -am concerned I have long gone past the stage when the -chief end of a hunting trip was the bag. One or two -bucks, or enough grouse and trout to keep the camp supplied, -will furnish all the sport necessary to give zest -and point to a trip in the wilderness. When hunters -proceed on such a plan they do practically no damage -to the game. Those who are not willing to act along these -lines of their own free will, should be made to by the -State. The people of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, -and of the States near by, can do a real service, primarily -to themselves, but secondarily to others also, by framing -and executing laws which will keep these noble deer as -permanent denizens of their lofty mountains and beautiful -valleys. There are other things much more important -than game laws; but it will be a great mistake to -imagine, because until recently in Europe game laws have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>been administered in the selfish interest of one class and -against the interest of the people as a whole, that here -in this country, and under our institutions, they would -not be beneficial to all of our people. So far from game -laws being in the interest of the few, they are emphatically -in the interest of the many. The very rich man can stock -a private game preserve, or journey afar off to where -game is still plentiful; but it is only where the game -is carefully preserved by the State that the man of small -means has any chance to enjoy the keen delight of the -chase.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There are many sides to the charm of big game hunting; -nor should it be regarded as being without its solid -advantages from the standpoint of national character. -Always in our modern life, the life of a highly complex -industrialism, there is a tendency to softening of fibre. -This is true of our enjoyments; and it is no less true of -very many of our business occupations. It is not true -of such work as railroading, a purely modern development, -nor yet of work like that of those who man the -fishing fleets; but it is preeminently true of all occupations -which cause men to lead sedentary lives in great -cities. For these men it is especially necessary to provide -hard and rough play. Of course, if such play is made -a serious business, the result is very bad; but this does -not in the least affect the fact that within proper limits -the play itself is good. Vigorous athletic sports carried -on in a sane spirit are healthy. The hardy out-of-door -sports of the wilderness are even healthier. It is a mere -truism to say that the qualities developed by the hunter -<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>are the qualities needed by the soldier; and a curious -feature of the changed conditions of modern warfare is -that they call, to a much greater extent than during the -two or three centuries immediately past, for the very -qualities of individual initiative, ability to live and work -in the open, and personal skill in the management of -horse and weapons, which are fostered by a hunter’s life. -No training in the barracks or on the parade-ground is -as good as the training given by a hard hunting trip in -which a man really does the work for himself, learns to -face emergencies, to study country, to perform feats of -hardihood, to face exposure and undergo severe labor. -It is an excellent thing for any man to be a good horseman -and a good marksman, to be bold and hardy, and -wonted to feats of strength and endurance, to be able to -live in the open, and to feel a self-reliant readiness in any -crisis. Big game hunting tends to produce or develop -exactly these physical and moral traits. To say that it -may be pursued in a manner or to an extent which is -demoralizing, is but to say what can likewise be said of -all other pastimes and of almost all kinds of serious business. -That it can be abused either in the way in which -it is done, or the extent to which it is carried, does not -alter the fact that it is in itself a sane and healthy recreation.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <span class='large'>THE WAPITI, OR ROUND-HORNED ELK</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>The wapiti is the largest and stateliest deer in the -world. A full-grown bull is as big as a steer. The antlers -are the most magnificent trophies yielded by any -game animal of America, save the giant Alaskan moose. -When full-grown they are normally of twelve tines; frequently -the tines are more numerous, but the increase in -their number has no necessary accompaniment in increase -in the size of the antlers. The length, massiveness, roughness, -spread, and symmetry of the antlers must all be -taken into account in rating the value of a head. Antlers -over fifty inches in length are large; if over sixty, they -are gigantic. Good heads are getting steadily rarer under -the persecution which has thinned out the herds.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Next to the bison the wapiti is of all the big game -animals of North America the one whose range has -most decreased. Originally it was found from the Pacific -coast east across the Alleghanies, through New York to -the Adirondacks, through Pennsylvania into western -New Jersey, and far down into the mid-country of Virginia -and the Carolinas. It extended northward into -Canada, from the Great Lakes to Vancouver; and southward -into Mexico, along the Rockies. Its range thus -corresponded roughly with that of the bison, except that -it went farther west and not so far north. In the early -<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>colonial days so little heed was paid by writers to the -teeming myriads of game that it is difficult to trace the -wapiti’s distribution in the Atlantic coast region. It was -certainly killed out of the Adirondacks long before the -period when the backwoodsmen were settling the valleys -of the Alleghany Mountains; there they found the -elk abundant, and the stately creatures roamed in great -bands over Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana -when the first settlers made their way into what are now -these States, at the outbreak of the Revolution. These -first settlers were all hunters, and they followed the wapiti -(or, as they always called it, the elk) with peculiar eagerness. -In consequence its numbers were soon greatly -thinned, and about the beginning of the present century -it disappeared from that portion of its former range lying -south of the Great Lakes and between the Alleghanies -and the Mississippi. In the northern Alleghanies it held -its own much longer, the last individual of which I have -been able to get record having been killed in Pennsylvania -in 1869. In the forests of northern Wisconsin, -northern Michigan, and Minnesota wapiti existed still -longer, and a very few individuals may still be found. -A few are left in Manitoba. When Lewis and Clark and -Pike became the pioneers among the explorers, army officers, -hunters, and trappers who won for our people the -great West, they found countless herds of wapiti throughout -the high plains country from the Mississippi River -to the Rocky Mountains. Throughout this region it was -exterminated almost as rapidly as the bison, and by the -early eighties there only remained a few scattered individuals, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>in bits of rough country such as the Black Hills, -the sand-hills of Nebraska, and certain patches of Bad -Lands along the Little Missouri. Doubtless stragglers -exist even yet in one or two of these localities. But by -the time the great buffalo herds of the plains were completely -exterminated, in 1883, the wapiti had likewise -ceased to be a plains animal; the peculiar Californian -form had also been well-nigh exterminated.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The nature of its favorite haunts was the chief factor -in causing it to suffer more than any other game in -America, save the bison, from the persecution of hunters -and settlers. The boundaries of its range have shrunk -in far greater proportion than in the case of any of our -other game animals, save only the great wild ox, with -which it was once so commonly associated. The moose, -a beast of the forest, and the caribou, which, save in the -far North, is also a beast of the forest, have in most places -greatly diminished in numbers, and have here and there -been exterminated altogether from outlying portions of -their range; but the wapiti, which, when free to choose, -preferred to frequent the plains and open woods, has -completely vanished from nine-tenths of the territory -over which it roamed a century and a quarter ago. Although -it was never found in any one place in such enormous -numbers as the bison and the caribou, it nevertheless -went in herds far larger than the herds of any other -American game save the two mentioned, and was formerly -very much more abundant within the area of its -distribution than was the moose within the area of its -distribution.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>This splendid deer affords a good instance of the -difficulty of deciding what name to use in treating of our -American game. On the one hand, it is entirely undesirable -to be pedantic; and on the other hand, it seems a pity, -at a time when speech is written almost as much as spoken, -to use terms which perpetually require explanation -in order to avoid confusion. The wapiti is not properly -an elk at all; the term wapiti is unexceptionable, and it -is greatly to be desired that it should be generally adopted. -But unfortunately it has not been generally adopted. -From the time when our backwoodsmen first began to -hunt the animal among the foothills of the Appalachian -chains to the present day, it has been universally known -as elk wherever it has been found. In ordinary speech -it is never known as anything else, and only an occasional -settler or hunter would understand what the word wapiti -referred to. The book name is a great deal better than -the common name; but after all, it is only a book name. -The case is almost exactly parallel to that of the buffalo, -which was really a bison, but which lived as the buffalo, -died as the buffalo, and left its name imprinted on our -landscape as the buffalo. There is little use in trying -to upset a name which is imprinted in our geography in -hundreds of such titles as Elk Ridge, Elk Mountain, Elkhorn -River. Yet in the books it is often necessary to -call it the wapiti in order to distinguish it both from its -differently named close kinsfolk of the Old World, and -from its more distant relatives with which it shares the -name of elk.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Disregarding the Pacific coast form of Vancouver -<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>and the Olympian Mountains, the wapiti is now a beast -of the Rocky Mountain region proper, especially in western -Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Throughout -these mountains its extermination, though less rapid than -on the plains, has nevertheless gone on with melancholy -steadiness. In the early nineties it was still as abundant -as ever in large regions in western Wyoming and Montana -and northwestern Colorado. In northwestern Colorado -the herds are now represented by only a few hundred -individuals. In western Montana they are scattered over -a wider region and are protected by the denser timber, -but are nowhere plentiful. They have nearly vanished -from the Big Horn Mountains. They are still abundant -in and around their great nursery and breeding-ground, -the Yellowstone National Park. If this park could be -extended so as to take in part of the winter range to the -south, it would help to preserve them, to the delight of -all lovers of nature, and to the great pecuniary benefit -of the people of Wyoming and Montana. But at present -the winter range south of the park is filling up with -settlers, and unless the conditions change, those among the -Yellowstone wapiti which would normally go south will -more and more be compelled to winter among the mountains, -which will mean such immense losses from starvation -and deep snow that the southern herds will be woefully -thinned.<a id='r5' /><a href='#f5' class='c018'><sup>[5]</sup></a> Surely all men who care for nature, no -less than all men who care for big game hunting, should -combine to try to see that not merely the States but the -Federal authorities make every effort, and are given every -<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>power, to prevent the extermination of this stately and -beautiful animal, the lordliest of the deer kind in the -entire world.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f5'> -<p class='c010'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. Steps in the direction indicated are now being taken by the Federal authorities.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>The wapiti, like the bison, and even more than the -whitetail deer, can thrive in widely varying surroundings. -It is at home among the high mountains, in the -deep forests, and on the treeless, level plains. It is rather -omnivorous in its tastes, browsing and grazing on all -kinds of trees, shrubs and grasses. These traits, and its -hardihood, make it comparatively easy to perpetuate in -big parks and forest preserves in a semi-wild condition; -and it has thriven in such preserves and parks in many -of the Eastern States. As it does not, by preference, dwell -in such tangled forests as are the delight of the moose -and the whitetail deer, it vanishes much quicker than -either when settlers appear in the land. In the mountains -and foothills its habitat is much the same as that of the -mule-deer, the two animals being often found in the immediate -neighborhood of each other. In such places the -superior size and value of the wapiti put it at a disadvantage -in the keen struggle for life, and when the rifle-bearing -hunter appears upon the scene, it is killed out -long before its smaller kinsman.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Moreover, the wapiti is undoubtedly subject to queer -freaks of panic stupidity, or what seems like a mixture -of tameness and of puzzled terror. At these times a herd -will remain almost motionless, the individuals walking -undecidedly to and fro, and neither flinching nor giving -any other sign even when hit with a bullet. In the old -days it was not uncommon for a professional hunter to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>destroy an entire herd of wapiti when one of these fits -of confusion was on them. Even nowadays they sometimes -behave in this way. In 1897, Mr. Ansley Wilcox, -of Buffalo, was hunting in the Teton basin. He came -across a small herd of wapiti, the first he had ever seen, -and opened fire when a hundred and fifty yards distant. -They paid no heed to the shots, and after taking three or -four at one bull, with seemingly no effect, he ran in closer -and emptied his magazine at another, also seemingly -without effect, before the herd slowly disappeared. -After a few rods, both bulls fell; and on examination -it was found that all nine bullets had hit them.</p> - -<p class='c010'>To my mind, the venison of the wapiti is, on the -whole, better than that of any other wild game, though -its fat, when cooled, at once hardens, like mutton tallow.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In its life habits the wapiti differs somewhat from its -smaller relatives. It is far more gregarious, and is highly -polygamous. During the spring, while the bulls are -growing their great antlers, and while the cows have -very young calves, both bulls and cows live alone, each -individual for itself. At such time each seeks the most -secluded situation, often going very high up on the mountains. -Occasionally a couple of bulls lie together, moving -around as little as possible. The cow at this time -realizes that her calf’s chance of life depends upon her -absolute seclusion, and avoids all observation.</p> - -<p class='c010'>As the horns begin to harden the bulls thrash the -velvet off against quaking asp, or ash, or even young -spruce, splintering and battering the bushes and small -trees. The cows and calves begin to assemble; the bulls -<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>seek them. But the bulls do not run the cows as among -the smaller deer the bucks run the does. The time of -the beginning of the rut varies in different places, but it -usually takes place in September, about a month earlier -than that of the deer in the same locality. The necks -of the bulls swell and they challenge incessantly, for, unlike -the smaller deer, they are very noisy. Their love and -war calls, when heard at a little distance amid the mountains, -have a most musical sound. Frontiersmen usually -speak of their call as “whistling,” which is not an appropriate -term. The call may be given in a treble or in -a bass, but usually consists of two or three bars, first rising -and then falling, followed by a succession of grunts. The -grunts can only be heard when close up. There can -be no grander or more attractive chorus than the challenging -of a number of wapiti bulls when two great herds -happen to approach one another under the moonlight or -in the early dawn. The pealing notes echo through the -dark valleys as if from silver bugles, and the air is filled -with the wild music. Where little molested the wapiti -challenge all day long.</p> - -<p class='c010'>They can be easiest hunted during the rut, the hunter -placing them, and working up to them, by the sound -alone. The bulls are excessively truculent and pugnacious. -Each big one gathers a herd of cows about him -and drives all possible rivals away from his immediate -neighborhood, although sometimes spike bulls are allowed -to remain with the herd. Where wapiti are very -abundant, however, many of these herds may join together -and become partially welded into a mass that may -<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>contain thousands of animals. In the old days such huge -herds were far from uncommon, especially during the -migrations; but nowadays there only remain one or two -localities in which wapiti are sufficiently plentiful ever -to come together in bands of any size. The bulls are -incessantly challenging and fighting one another, and -driving around the cows and calves. Each keeps the -most jealous watch over his own harem, treating its members -with great brutality, and is selfishly indifferent to -their fate the instant he thinks his own life in jeopardy. -During the rut the erotic manifestations of the bull are -extraordinary.</p> - -<div id='i_264' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_264.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE PACK-TRAIN</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>One or two fawns are born about May. In the mountains -the cow usually goes high up to bring forth her -fawn. Personally I have only had a chance to observe -the wapiti in spring in the neighborhood of my ranch -in the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri. Here the cow -invariably selected some wild, lonely bit of very broken -country in which there were dense thickets and some water. -There was one such patch some fifteen miles from -my ranch, in which for many years wapiti regularly bred. -The breeding cow lay by herself, although sometimes the -young of the preceding year would lurk in the neighborhood. -For the first few days the calf hardly left the -bed, and would not move even when handled. Then it -began to follow the mother. In this particular region -the grass was coarse and rank, save for a few patches in -the immediate neighborhood of little alkali springs. Accordingly, -it was not much visited by the cattle or by the -cowboys. Doubtless in the happier days of the past, -when man was merely an infrequent interloper, the wapiti -cows had made their nurseries in pleasanter and more -fruitful valleys. But in my time the hunted creatures -had learned that their only chance was to escape observation. -I have known not only cows with young calves, but -cows when the calves were out of the spotted coat, and -even yearlings, to try to escape by hiding—the great -beasts lying like rabbits in some patch of thick brush, -while I rode close by. The best hunting horse I ever -had, old Manitou, in addition to his other useful qualities, -would serve as a guard on such occasions. I would -leave him on a little hillock to one side of such a patch -of brush, and as he walked slowly about, grazing and -rattling his bridle chains, he would prevent the wapiti -breaking cover on that side, and give me an additional -chance of slipping around toward them—although if the -animal was a cow, I never molested it unless in dire -need of meat.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Most of my elk-hunting was done among the stupendous -mountain masses of the Rockies, which I usually -reached after a long journey, with wagon or pack-train, -over the desolate plains. Ordinarily I planned to get to -the hunting-ground by the end of August, so as to have -ample time. By that date the calves were out of the -spotted coat, the cows and the young of the preceding -year had banded, and the big bulls had come down to -join them from the remote recesses in which they had -been lying, solitary or in couples, while their antlers were -growing. Many bulls were found alone, or, if young, -in small parties; but the normal arrangement was for -<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>each big bull to have his own harem, around the outskirts -of which there were to be found lurking occasional -spike bulls or two-year-olds who were always venturing -too near and being chased off by the master bull. Frequently -several such herds joined together into a great -band. Before the season was fairly on, when the bulls -had not been worked into actual frenzy, there was not -much fighting in these bands. Later they were the scenes -of desperate combats. Each master bull strove to keep -his harem under his own eyes, and was always threatening -and fighting the other master bulls, as well as those -bulls whose prowess had proved insufficient hitherto to -gain them a band, or who, after having gained one, had -been so exhausted and weakened as to succumb to some -new aspirant for the leadership. The bulls were calling -and challenging all the time, and there was ceaseless turmoil, -owing to their fights and their driving the cows -around. The cows were more wary than the bulls, and -there were so many keen noses and fairly good eyes that -it was difficult to approach a herd; whereas the single -bulls were so noisy, careless, and excited that it was comparatively -easy to stalk them. A rutting wapiti bull is as -wicked-looking a creature as can be imagined, swaggering -among the cows and threatening the young bulls, his -jaws mouthing and working in a kind of ugly leer.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The bulls fight desperately with one another. The -two combatants come together with a resounding clash -of antlers, and then push and strain with their mouths -open. The skin on their necks and shoulders is so thick -and tough that the great prongs cannot get through or -<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>do more than inflict bruises. The only danger comes -when the beaten party turns to flee. The victor pursues -at full speed. Usually the beaten one gets off; but if by -accident he is caught where he cannot escape, he is very -apt to be gored in the flank and killed. Mr. Baillie-Grohman -has given a very interesting description of one -such fatal duel of which he was an eye-witness on a moonlight -night in the mountains. I have never known of the -bull trying to protect the cow from any enemy. He -battles for her against rivals with intense ferocity; but -his attitude toward her, once she is gained, is either that -of brutality or of indifference. She will fight for her -calf against any enemy which she thinks she has a chance -of conquering, although of course not against man. But -the bull leaves his family to their fate the minute he -thinks there is any real danger. During the rut he is -greatly excited, and does not fear a dog or a single wolf, -and may join with the rest of the herd of both sexes in -trying to chase off one or the other, should he become -aware of its approach. But if there is serious danger, -his only thought is for himself, and he has no compunctions -about sacrificing any of his family. When on the -move a cow almost always goes first, while the bull brings -up the rear.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In domestication the bulls are very dangerous to -human beings, and will kill a man at once if they can -get him at a disadvantage; but in a state of nature they -rarely indeed overcome their abject terror of humanity, -even when wounded and cornered. Of course, if the man -comes straight up to him where he cannot get away, a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>wapiti will fight as, under like circumstances, a blacktail -or whitetail will fight, and equally, of course, he is then -far more dangerous than his smaller kinsfolk; but he is -not nearly so apt to charge as a bull moose. I have never -known but two authentic instances of their thus charging. -One happened to a hunter named Bennett, on the -Little Missouri; the other to a gentleman I met, a doctor, -in Meeker, Colorado. The doctor had wounded his -wapiti, and as it was in the late fall, followed him easily -in the snow. Finally he came upon the wapiti standing -where the snow was very deep at the bottom of a small -valley, and on his approach the wapiti deliberately -started to break his way through the snow toward him, -and had almost reached him when he was killed. But -for every one such instance of a wapiti’s charging there -are a hundred in which a bull moose has charged. Senator -Redfield Proctor was charged most resolutely by a -mortally hurt bull moose which fell in the death throes -just before reaching him; and I could cite case after -case of the kind.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The wapiti’s natural gaits are a walk and a trot. It -walks very fast indeed, especially if travelling to reach -some given point. More than once I have sought to overtake -a travelling bull, and have found myself absolutely -unable to do so, although it never broke its walk. Of -course, if I had not been obliged to pay any heed to cover -or wind, I could have run up on it; but the necessity -for paying heed to both handicapped me so that I was -actually unable to come up to the quarry as it swung -steadily on through woodland and open, over rough -<span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>ground and smooth. Wapiti have a slashing trot, which -they can keep up for an indefinite time and over any -kind of country. Only a good pony can overtake them -when they have had any start and have settled into this -trot. If much startled they break into a gallop—the -young being always much more willing to gallop than -the old. Their gallop is very fast, especially downhill. -But they speedily tire under it. A yearling or a two-year-old -can keep it up for a couple of miles. A heavy old -bull will be done out after a few hundred yards. I once -saw a band of wapiti frightened into a gallop down a -steep incline where there were also a couple of mule-deer. -I had not supposed that wapiti ran as fast as mule-deer, -but this particular band actually passed the deer, -though the latter were evidently doing their best; the -wapiti were well ahead, when, after thundering down the -steep, broken incline, they all disappeared into a belt -of woodland. In spite of their size, wapiti climb well -and go sure-footedly over difficult and dangerous ground. -They have a habit of coming out to the edges of cliffs, -or on mountain spurs, and looking over the landscape -beneath, almost as though they enjoyed the scenery. -What their real object is on such occasions I do not -know.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The nose of the wapiti is very keen. Its sight is much -inferior to that of the antelope, but about as good as a -deer’s. Its hearing is also much like that of a deer. -When in country where it is little molested, it feeds and -moves about freely by day, lying down to rest at intervals, -like cattle. Wapiti offer especial attractions to the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>hunter, and next to the bison are more quickly exterminated -than any other kind of game. Only the fact that -they possessed a far wider range of habitat than either -the mule-deer, the prongbuck, or the moose, has enabled -them still to exist. Their gregariousness is also against -them. Even after the rut the herds continue together -until in midspring the bulls shed their antlers—for they -keep their antlers at least two months longer than deer. -During the fall, winter, and early spring wapiti are roving, -restless creatures. Their habit of migration varies -with locality, as among mule-deer. Along the little Missouri, -as in the plains country generally, there was no -well-defined migration. Up to the early eighties, when -wapiti were still plentiful, the bands wandered far and -wide, but fitfully and irregularly, wholly without regard -to the season, save that they were stationary from May -to August. After 1883 there were but a few individuals -left, although as late as 1886 I once came across a herd -of nine. These surviving individuals had learned caution. -The bulls only called by night, and not very -frequently then, and they spent the entire year in the -roughest and most out-of-the-way places, having the same -range both winter and summer. They selected tracts -where the ground was very broken and there was much -shrubbery and patches of small trees. This tree and -bush growth gave them both shelter and food; for they -are particularly fond of browsing on the leaves and tender -twig ends, though they also eat weeds and grass.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Wherever wapiti dwell among the mountains they -make regular seasonal migrations. In northwestern -<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>Wyoming they spend the summer in the Yellowstone -National Park, but in winter some go south to Jackson’s -Hole, while others winter in the park to the northeast. -In northwestern Colorado their migrations followed -much the same line as those of the mule-deer. In different -localities the length of the migration, and even the -time, differed. There were some places where the shift -was simply from the high mountains down to their foothills. -In other places great herds travelled a couple of -hundred miles, so that localities absolutely barren one -month would be swarming with wapiti the next. In -some places the shift took place as early as the month -of August; in others not until after the rut, in October -or even November; and in some places the rut took place -during the migration.</p> - -<p class='c010'>No chase is more fascinating than that of the wapiti. -In the old days, when the mighty antlered beasts were -found upon the open plains, they could be followed upon -horseback, with or without hounds. Nowadays, when -they dwell in the mountains, they are to be killed only -by the rifle-bearing still-hunter. Needless butchery of -any kind of animal is repulsive, but in the case of the -wapiti it is little short of criminal. He is the grandest -of the deer kind throughout the world, and he has already -vanished from most of the places where he once -dwelt in his pride. Every true sportsman should feel it -incumbent upon him to do all in his power to preserve -so noble a beast of the chase from extinction. No harm -whatever comes to the species from killing a certain number -of bulls; but an excessive number should never be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>killed, and no cow or calf should under any circumstances -be touched. Formerly, when wapiti were plentiful, it -would have been folly for hunters and settlers in the -unexplored wilderness not to kill wild game for their -meat, and occasionally a cow or a calf had to be thus -slain; but there is no excuse nowadays for a hunting party -killing anything but a full-grown bull.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In a civilized and cultivated country wild animals -only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen. -The excellent people who protest against all hunting, -and consider sportsmen as enemies of wild life, are -ignorant of the fact that in reality the genuine sportsman -is by all odds the most important factor in keeping -the larger and more valuable wild creatures from total -extermination. Of course, if wild animals were allowed -to breed unchecked, they would, in an incredibly short -space of time, render any country uninhabitable by man—a -fact which ought to be a matter of elementary knowledge -in any community where the average intelligence -is above that of certain portions of Hindoostan. Equally, -of course, in a purely utilitarian community all wild animals -are exterminated out of hand. In order to preserve -the wild life of the wilderness at all, some middle ground -must be found between brutal and senseless slaughter and -the unhealthy sentimentalism which would just as surely -defeat its own end by bringing about the eventual total -extinction of the game. It is impossible to preserve the -larger wild animals in regions thoroughly fit for agriculture; -and it is perhaps too much to hope that the -larger carnivores can be preserved for merely æsthetic -<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>reasons. But throughout our country there are large regions -entirely unsuited for agriculture, where, if the people -only have foresight, they can, through the power of -the State, keep the game in perpetuity. There is no hope -of preserving the bison permanently, save in large private -parks; but all other game, including not merely deer, -but the pronghorn, the splendid bighorn, and the stately -and beautiful wapiti, can be kept on the public lands, if -only the proper laws are passed, and if only these laws -are properly enforced.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Most of us, as we grow older, grow to care relatively -less for sport than for the splendid freedom and abounding -health of outdoor life in the woods, on the plains, -and among the great mountains; and to the true nature -lover it is melancholy to see the wilderness stripped of -the wild creatures which gave it no small part of its -peculiar charm. It is inevitable, and probably necessary, -that the wolf and the cougar should go; but the bighorn -and white goat among the rocks, the blacktail and wapiti -grouped on the mountain-side, the whitetail and moose -feeding in the sedgy ponds—these add beyond measure -to the wilderness landscape, and if they are taken away -they leave a lack which nothing else can quite make -good. So it is of those true birds of the wilderness, the -eagle and the raven, and, indeed, of all the wild things, -furred, feathered, and finned.</p> - -<p class='c010'>A peculiar charm in the chase of the wapiti comes -from the wild beauty of the country in which it dwells. -The moose lives in marshy forests; if one would seek -the white goat or caribou of the northern Rockies, he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>must travel on foot, pack on back; while the successful -chase of the bighorn, perhaps on the whole the manliest -of all our sports, means heart-breaking fatigue for any -but the strongest and hardiest. The prongbuck, again, -must be followed on the desolate, sun-scorched plains. -But the wapiti now dwells amid lofty, pine-clad mountains, -in a region of lakes and streams. A man can travel -in comfort while hunting it, because he can almost always -take a pack-train with him, and the country is usually -sufficiently open to enable the hunter to enjoy all -the charm of distant landscapes. Where the wapiti lives -the spotted trout swarm in the brooks, and the woodgrouse -fly upward to perch among the tree-tops as the -hunter passes them. When hunting him there is always -sweet cold water to be drunk at night, and beds of aromatic -fir boughs on which to sleep, with the blankets -drawn over one to keep out the touch of the frost. He -must be followed on foot, and the man who follows him -must be sound in limb and wind. But his pursuit does -not normally mean such wearing exhaustion as is entailed -by climbing cliffs all day long after the white -goat. Whoever has hunted the wapiti, as he looks at his -trophies will always think of the great mountains with -the snow lying in the rifts in their sides; of the splashing -murmur of rock-choked torrents; of the odorous breath -of the pine branches; of tents pitched in open glades; -of long walks through cool, open forests; and of great -camp-fires, where the pitchy stumps flame like giant -torches in the darkness.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the old days, of course, much of the hunting was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span> done on the open plains or among low, rugged hills. The -wapiti that I shot when living at my Little Missouri -ranch were killed under exactly the same conditions as -mule-deer. When I built my ranch-house, wapiti were -still not uncommon, and their shed antlers were very numerous -both on the bottoms and in places among the hills. -There was one such place a couple of miles from my -ranch in a stretch of comparatively barren but very broken -hill-country in which there were many score of these shed -antlers. Evidently a few years before this had been a -great gathering-place for wapiti toward the end of winter. -My ranch itself derived its name, “The Elkhorn,” -from the fact that on the ground where we built it were -found the skulls and interlocked antlers of two wapiti -bulls who had perished from getting their antlers fastened -in a battle. I never, however, killed a wapiti while -on a day’s hunt from the ranch itself. Those that I killed -were obtained on regular expeditions, when I took the -wagon and drove off to spend a night or two on ground -too far for me to hunt it through in a single day from -the ranch. Moreover, the wapiti on the Little Missouri -had been so hunted that they had entirely abandoned the -diurnal habits of their kind, and it was a great advantage -to get on the ground early. This hunting was not -carried on amid the glorious mountain scenery which -marks the home of the wapiti in the Rockies; but the -surroundings had a charm of their own. All really wild -scenery is attractive. The true hunter, the true lover -of the wilderness, loves all parts of the wilderness, just -as the true lover of nature loves all seasons. There is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>no season of the year when the country is not more attractive -than the city; and there is no portion of the wilderness, -where game is found, in which it is not a keen -pleasure to hunt. Perhaps no other kind of country -quite equals that where snow lies on the lofty mountain -peaks, where there are many open glades in the pine forests, -and clear mountain lakes and rushing trout-filled -torrents. But the fantastic desolation of the Bad Lands, -and the endless sweep of the brown prairies, alike have -their fascination for the true lover of nature and lover -of the wilderness who goes through them on foot or on -horseback. As for the broken hill-country in which I -followed the wapiti and the mule-deer along the Little -Missouri, it would be strange indeed if any one found -it otherwise than attractive in the bright, sharp fall -weather. Long, grassy valleys wound among the boldly -shaped hills. The basins were filled with wind-beaten -trees and brush, which generally also ran alongside of the -dry watercourses down the middle of each valley. Cedars -clustered in the sheer ravines, and here and there groups -of elm and ash grew to a considerable height in the more -sheltered places. At the first touch of the frost the foliage -turned russet or yellow—the Virginia creepers crimson. -Under the cloudless blue sky the air was fresh and cool, -and as we lay by the camp-fire at night the stars shone -with extraordinary brilliancy. Under such conditions -the actual chase of the wapiti was much like that of the -mule-deer. They had been so hunted that they showed -none of the foolish traits which they are prone to exhibit -when bands are found in regions where they have been -little persecuted; and they were easier to kill than mule-deer -simply because they were more readily tracked and -more readily seen, and offered a larger, and on the whole -a steadier, mark at which to shoot. When a small band -had visited a pool their tracks could be identified at once, -because in the soft ground the flexible feet spread and -yielded so as to leave the marks of the false hoofs. On -ordinary ground it was difficult to tell their footprints -from those of the yearling and two-year-old ranch cattle.</p> - -<div id='i_277' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_277.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>TROPHIES OF A SUCCESSFUL HUNT</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>But the mountains are the true ground for the wapiti. -Here he must be hunted on foot, and nowadays, since he -has grown wiser, skill and patience, and the capacity to -endure fatigue and exposure, must be shown by the successful -hunter. My own wapiti-hunting has been done -in September and early October during the height of -the rut, and therefore at a time when the conditions were -most favorable for the hunter. I have hunted them in -many places throughout the Rockies, from the Big Horn -in western Wyoming to the Big Hole Basin in western -Montana, close to the Idaho line. Where I hunted, the -wapiti were always very noisy both by day and by night, -and at least half of the bulls that I killed attracted my -attention by their calling before I saw either them or their -tracks. At night they frequently passed close to camp, -or came nearly up to the picketed horses, challenging all -the time. More than once I slipped out, hoping to kill -one by moonlight, but I never succeeded. Occasionally, -when they were plentiful, and were restless and always -roving about, I simply sat still on a log, until one gave -me a chance. Sometimes I came across them while hunting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>through likely localities, going up or across wind, -keeping the sharpest lookout, and moving with great care -and caution, until I happened to strike the animals I -was after. More than once I took the trail of a band, -when out with some first-class woodsman, and after much -running, dodging, and slipping through the timber, overtook -the animals—though usually when thus merely following -the trail I failed to come up with them. On two -different occasions I followed and came up to bands, -attracted by their scent. Wapiti have a strong, and, on -the whole, pleasing scent, like that of Alderney cattle, -although in old bulls it becomes offensively strong. This -scent is very penetrating. I once smelt a herd which was -lying quite still taking its noonday siesta, certainly half -a mile to the windward of me; and creeping up I shot -a good bull as he lay. On another occasion, while working -through the tangled trees and underbrush at the bottom -of a little winding valley, I suddenly smelt wapiti -ahead, and without paying any further attention to the -search for tracks, I hunted cautiously up the valley, and -when it forked was able to decide by the smell alone -which way the wapiti had gone. He was going up -wind ahead of me, and his ground-covering walk kept -me at a trot in order to overtake him. Finally I saw -him, before he saw me, and then, by making a run to -one side, got a shot at him when he broke cover, and -dropped him.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It is exciting to creep up to a calling wapiti. If it -is a solitary bull, he is apt to be travelling, seeking the -cows, or on the lookout for some rival of weaker thews. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>Under such circumstances only hard running will enable -the hunter to overtake him, unless there is a chance to -cut him off. If, however, he hears another bull, or has -a herd under him, the chances are that he is nearly stationary, -or at least is moving slowly, and the hunter has -every opportunity to approach. In a herd the bull himself -is usually so absorbed both with his cows and with -his rivals that he is not at all apt to discover the approaching -hunter. The cows, however, are thoroughly -awake, and it is their eyes and keen noses for which the -hunter must look out. A solitary bull which is answering -the challenge of another is the easiest of all to -approach. Of course, if there has been much hunting, -even such a bull is wary and is on the lookout for harm. -But in remote localities he becomes so absorbed in finding -out the whereabouts of his rival, and is so busy answering -the latter’s challenges and going through motions -of defiance, that with proper care it is comparatively -easy to approach him. Once, when within seventy yards -of such a bull, he partly made me out and started toward -me. Evidently he could not tell exactly what I was—my -buckskin shirt probably helping to puzzle him—and -in his anger and eagerness he did not think of danger -until it was too late. On another occasion I got up to -two bulls that were fighting, and killed both. In the -fights, weight of body seems to count for more than size -of antlers.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Once I spent the better part of a day in following a -wapiti bull before I finally got him. Generally when -hunting wapiti I have been with either one of my men -<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>from the ranch or a hunter like Tazewell Woody, or John -Willis. On this particular occasion, however, I happened -to be alone; and though I have rarely been as successful -alone as when in the company of some thoroughly -trained and experienced plainsman or mountainman, yet -when success does come under such circumstances it is -always a matter of peculiar pride.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At the time, I was camped in a beautiful valley -high among the mountains which divide southwestern -Montana from Idaho. The weather was cold, and there -were a couple of inches of snow on the ground, so that -the conditions were favorable for tracking and stalking. -The country was well wooded, but the forest was not -dense, and there were many open glades. Early one -morning, just about dawn, the cook, who had been up for -a few minutes, waked me, to say that a bull wapiti was -calling not far off. I rolled out of my bed and was -dressed in short order. The bull had by this time passed -the camp, and was travelling toward a range of mountains -on the other side of the stream which ran down the -valley bottom. He was evidently not alarmed, for he -was still challenging. I gulped down a cup of hot coffee, -munched a piece of hardtack, and thrust four or five other -pieces and a cold elk tongue into my hunting-shirt, and -then, as it had grown light enough to travel, started after -the wapiti. I supposed that in a few minutes I should -either have overtaken him or abandoned the pursuit, and -I took the food with me simply because in the wilderness -it never pays to be unprepared for emergencies. The -wisdom of such a course was shown in this instance by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>the fact that I did not see camp again until long after -dark.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I at first tried to cut off the wapiti by trotting through -the woods toward the pass for which I supposed he was -headed. The morning was cold, and, as always happens -at the outset when one starts to take violent exercise under -such circumstances, the running caused me to break into -a perspiration; so that the first time I stopped to listen -for the wapiti a regular fog rose over my glasses and -then froze on them. I could not see a thing, and after -wiping them found I had to keep gently moving in order -to prevent them from clouding over again. It is on -such cold mornings, or else in very rainy weather, that -the man who has not been gifted with good eyes is most -sensible of his limitations. I once lost a caribou which -I had been following at speed over the snow because -when I came into sight and halted the moisture instantly -formed and froze on my glasses so that I could not see -anything, and before I got them clear the game had vanished. -Whatever happened, I was bound that I should -not lose this wapiti from a similar accident.</p> - -<p class='c010'>However, when I next heard him he had evidently -changed his course and was going straight away from me. -The sun had now risen, and following after him I soon -found his tracks. He was walking forward with the -regular wapiti stride, and I made up my mind I had a -long chase ahead of me. We were going up hill, and -though I walked hard, I did not trot until we topped the -crest. Then I jogged along at a good gait, and as I had -on moccasins, and the woods were open, I did not have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>to exercise much caution. Accordingly I gained, and -felt I was about to come up with him, when the wind -brought down from very far off another challenge. My -bull heard it before I did, and instantly started toward -the spot at a trot. There was not the slightest use of my -attempting to keep up with this, and I settled down into -a walk. Half an hour afterward I came over a slight -crest, and immediately saw a herd of wapiti ahead of me, -across the valley and on an open hillside. The herd was -in commotion, the master bull whistling vigorously and -rounding up his cows, evidently much excited at the new -bull’s approach. There were two or three yearlings and -two-year-old bulls on the outskirts of the herd, and the -master bull, whose temper had evidently not been -improved by the coming of the stranger, occasionally -charged these and sent them rattling off through the -bushes. The ground was so open between me and them -that I dared not venture across it, and I was forced to lie -still and await developments. The bull I had been following -and the herd bull kept challenging vigorously, -but the former probably recognized in the latter a heavier -animal, and could not rouse his courage to the point of -actually approaching and doing battle. It by no means -follows that the animal with the heaviest body has the best -antlers, but the hesitation thus shown by the bull I was -following made me feel that the other would probably -yield the more valuable trophies, and after a couple of -hours I made up my mind to try to get near the herd, -abandoning the animal I had been after.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The herd showed but little symptoms of moving, the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>cows when let alone scattering out to graze, and some -of them even lying down. Accordingly I did not hurry -myself, and spent considerably over an hour in slipping -off to the right and approaching through a belt of small -firs. Unfortunately, however, the wind had slightly -shifted, and while I was out of sight of the herd they had -also come down toward the spot from whence I had been -watching them. Accordingly, just as I was beginning -to creep forward with the utmost caution, expecting to -see them at any moment, I heard a thumping and cracking -of branches that showed they were on the run. With -wapiti there is always a chance of overtaking them after -they have first started, because they tack and veer and -halt to look around. Therefore I ran forward as fast -as I could through the woods; but when I came to the -edge of the fir belt I saw that the herd were several hundred -yards off. They were clustered together and looking -back, and saw me at once.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Off they started again. The old bull, however, had -neither seen me nor smelt me, and when I heard his -whistle of rage I knew he had misinterpreted the reason -for the departure of his cows, and in another moment he -came in sight, evidently bent on rounding them up. On -his way he attacked and drove off one of the yearlings, -and then took after the cows, while the yearling ran toward -the outlying bull. The latter evidently failed to understand -what had happened; at least he showed no signs of -alarm. Neither, however, did he attempt to follow the -fleeing herd, but started off again on his own line.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I was sure the herd would not stop for some miles, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>and accordingly I resumed my chase of the single bull. -He walked for certainly three miles before he again -halted, and I was then half a mile behind him. On this -occasion he struck a small belt of woodland and began -to travel to and fro through it, probably with an idea of -lying down. I was able to get up fairly close by crawling -on all-fours through the snow for part of the distance; -but just as I was about to fire he moved slightly, and -though my shot hit him, it went a little too far back. -He plunged over the hill-crest and was off at a gallop, -and after running forward and failing to overtake him in -the first rush, I sat down to consider matters. The snow -had begun to melt under the sun, and my knees and the -lower parts of my sleeves were wet from my crawl, and I -was tired and hungry and very angry at having failed to -kill the wapiti. It was, however, early in the afternoon, -and I thought that if I let the wapiti alone for an hour, -he would lie down, and then grow stiff and reluctant to -get up; while in the snow I was sure I could easily follow -his tracks. Therefore I ate my lunch, and then swallowed -some mouthfuls of snow in lieu of drinking.</p> - -<div id='i_284' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_284.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>TROPHIES IN THE WHITE HOUSE DINING-ROOM</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>An hour afterward I took the trail. It was evident -the bull was hard hit, but even after he had changed his -plunging gallop for a trot he showed no signs of stopping; -fortunately his trail did not cross any other. The -blood signs grew infrequent, and two or three times he -went up places which made it difficult for me to believe -he was much hurt. At last, however, I came to where -he had lain down; but he had risen again and gone forward. -For a moment I feared that my approach had -alarmed him, but this was evidently not the case, for he -was now walking. I left the trail, and turning to one -side below the wind I took a long circle and again struck -back to the bottom of the valley down which the wapiti -had been travelling. The timber here was quite thick, -and I moved very cautiously, continually halting and -listening for five or ten minutes. Not a sound did I -hear, and I crossed the valley bottom and began to ascend -the other side without finding the trail. Unless he had -turned off up the mountains I knew that this meant he -must have lain down; so I retraced my steps and with -extreme caution began to make my way up the valley. -Finally I came to a little opening, and after peering about -for five minutes I stepped forward, and instantly heard -a struggling and crashing in a clump of young spruce on -the other side. It was the wapiti trying to get on his -feet. I ran forward at my best pace, and as he was stiff -and slow in his movements I was within seventy yards -before he got fairly under way. Dropping on one knee, -I fired and hit him in the flank. At the moment I could -not tell whether or not I had missed him, for he gave -no sign; but, running forward very fast, I speedily saw -him standing with his head down. He heard me and -again started, but at the third bullet down he went in his -tracks, the antlers clattering loudly on the branches of -a dead tree.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The snow was melting fast, and for fear it might go -off entirely, so that I could not follow my back track, I -went up the hillside upon which the wapiti lay, and taking -a dead tree dragged it down to the bottom, leaving -<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>a long furrow. I then repeated the operation on the -opposite hillside, thus making a trace which it was impossible -for any one coming up or down the valley to -overlook; and having conned certain landmarks by which -the valley itself could be identified, I struck toward camp -at a round trot; for I knew that if I did not get into the -valley where the tent lay before dark, I should have to -pass the night out. However, the last uncertain light of -dusk just enabled me to get over a spur from which I -could catch a glimpse of the camp-fire, and as I stumbled -toward it through the forest I heard a couple of shots, -which showed that the cook and packer were getting -anxious as to my whereabouts.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <span class='large'>WILDERNESS RESERVES; THE YELLOWSTONE PARK</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>The most striking and melancholy feature in connection -with American big game is the rapidity with which -it has vanished. When, just before the outbreak of the -Revolutionary War, the rifle-bearing hunters of the backwoods -first penetrated the great forests west of the Alleghanies, -deer, elk, black bear, and even buffalo, swarmed -in what are now the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, -and the country north of the Ohio was a great and almost -virgin hunting-ground. From that day to this the shrinkage -has gone on, only partially checked here and there, -and never arrested as a whole. As a matter of historical -accuracy, however, it is well to bear in mind that many -writers, in lamenting this extinction of the game, have -from time to time anticipated or overstated the facts. -Thus as good an author as Colonel Richard Irving Dodge -spoke of the buffalo as practically extinct, while the great -Northern herd still existed in countless thousands. As -early as 1880 sporting authorities spoke not only of the -buffalo, but of the elk, deer, and antelope as no longer to -be found in plenty; and recently one of the greatest of -living hunters has stated that it is no longer possible to -find any American wapiti bearing heads comparable with -the red deer of Hungary. As a matter of fact, in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>early eighties there were still large regions where every -species of game that had ever been known within historic -times on our continent was still to be found as plentifully -as ever. In the early nineties there were still big tracts -of wilderness in which this was true of all game except -the buffalo; for instance, it was true of the elk in portions -of northwestern Wyoming, of the blacktail in northwestern -Colorado, of the whitetail here and there in the -Indian Territory, and of the antelope in parts of New -Mexico. Even at the present day there are smaller, but -still considerable, regions where these four animals are -yet found in abundance; and I have seen antlers of wapiti -shot since 1900 far surpassing any of which there is record -from Hungary. In New England and New York, as -well as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the whitetail -deer is more plentiful than it was thirty years ago, and -in Maine (and to an even greater extent in New Brunswick) -the moose, and here and there the caribou, have, on -the whole, increased during the same period. There is -yet ample opportunity for the big game hunter in the -United States, Canada and Alaska.</p> - -<p class='c010'>While it is necessary to give this word of warning to -those who, in praising time past, always forget the opportunities -of the present, it is a thousandfold more necessary -to remember that these opportunities are, nevertheless, -vanishing; and if we are a sensible people, we will -make it our business to see that the process of extinction -is arrested. At the present moment the great herds of -caribou are being butchered, as in the past the great herds -of bison and wapiti have been butchered. Every believer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>in manliness, and therefore in manly sport, and -every lover of nature, every man who appreciates the -majesty and beauty of the wilderness and of wild life, -should strike hands with the far-sighted men who wish -to preserve our material resources, in the effort to keep -our forests and our game beasts, game birds, and game -fish—indeed, all the living creatures of prairie, and -woodland, and seashore—from wanton destruction.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Above all, we should realize that the effort toward -this end is essentially a democratic movement. It is entirely -in our power as a nation to preserve large tracts of -wilderness, which are valueless for agricultural purposes -and unfit for settlement, as playgrounds for rich and poor -alike, and to preserve the game so that it shall continue -to exist for the benefit of all lovers of nature, and to give -reasonable opportunities for the exercise of the skill of the -hunter, whether he is or is not a man of means. But this -end can only be achieved by wise laws and by a resolute -enforcement of the laws. Lack of such legislation and -administration will result in harm to all of us, but most -of all in harm to the nature lover who does not possess -vast wealth. Already there have sprung up here and -there through the country, as in New Hampshire and the -Adirondacks, large private preserves. These preserves -often serve a useful purpose, and should be encouraged -within reasonable limits; but it would be a misfortune -if they increased beyond a certain extent or if they took -the place of great tracts of wild land, which continue as -such either because of their very nature, or because of -the protection of the State exerted in the form of making -<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>them State or national parks or reserves. It is foolish to -regard proper game laws as undemocratic, unrepublican. -On the contrary, they are essentially in the interests of -the people as a whole, because it is only through their -enactment and enforcement that the people as a whole -can preserve the game and can prevent its becoming -purely the property of the rich, who are able to create and -maintain extensive private preserves. The wealthy man -can get hunting anyhow, but the man of small means is -dependent solely upon wise and well-executed game laws -for his enjoyment of the sturdy pleasure of the chase. In -Maine, in Vermont, in the Adirondacks, even in parts of -Massachusetts and on Long Island, people have waked -up to this fact, particularly so far as the common whitetail -deer is concerned, and in Maine also as regards the -moose and caribou. The effect is shown in the increase -in these animals. Such game protection results, in the -first place, in securing to the people who live in the neighborhood -permanent opportunities for hunting; and in the -next place, it provides no small source of wealth to the -locality because of the visitors which it attracts. A deer -wild in the woods is worth to the people of the neighborhood -many times the value of its carcass, because of the -way it attracts sportsmen, who give employment and leave -money behind them.</p> - -<p class='c010'>True sportsmen, worthy of the name, men who shoot -only in season and in moderation, do no harm whatever -to game. The most objectionable of all game destroyers -is, of course, the kind of game-butcher who simply kills -for the sake of the record of slaughter, who leaves deer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>and ducks and prairie-chickens to rot after he has slain -them. Such a man is wholly obnoxious; and, indeed, so -is any man who shoots for the purpose of establishing a -record of the amount of game killed. To my mind this -is one very unfortunate feature of what is otherwise the -admirably sportsmanlike English spirit in these matters. -The custom of shooting great bags of deer, grouse, partridges, -and pheasants, the keen rivalry in making such -bags, and their publication in sporting journals, are -symptoms of a spirit which is most unhealthy from every -standpoint. It is to be earnestly hoped that every American -hunting or fishing club will strive to inculcate among -its own members, and in the minds of the general public, -that anything like an excessive bag, any destruction -for the sake of making a record, is to be severely reprobated.</p> - -<p class='c010'>But after all, this kind of perverted sportsman, unworthy -though he be, is not the chief actor in the destruction -of our game. The professional skin or market -hunter is the real offender. Yet he is of all others the -man who would ultimately be most benefited by the preservation -of the game. The frontier settler, in a thoroughly -wild country, is certain to kill game for his own -use. As long as he does no more than this, it is hard -to blame him; although if he is awake to his own interests -he will soon realize that to him, too, the live deer is worth -far more than the dead deer, because of the way in which -it brings money into the wilderness. The professional -market hunter who kills game for the hide, or for the -feathers, or for the meat, or to sell antlers and other -<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>trophies; the market men who put game in cold storage; -and the rich people, who are content to buy what they -have not the skill to get by their own exertions—these -are the men who are the real enemies of game. Where -there is no law which checks the market hunters, the -inevitable result of their butchery is that the game is -completely destroyed, and with it their own means of -livelihood. If, on the other hand, they were willing to -preserve it, they could make much more money by acting -as guides. In northwestern Colorado, at the present moment, -there are still blacktail deer in abundance, and some -elk are left. Colorado has fairly good game laws, but -they are indifferently enforced. The country in which -the game is found can probably never support any but -a very sparse population, and a large portion of the summer -range is practically useless for settlement. If the -people of Colorado generally, and above all the people -of the counties in which the game is located, would resolutely -cooperate with those of their own number who -are already alive to the importance of preserving the -game, it could, without difficulty, be kept always as abundant -as it now is, and this beautiful region would be a -permanent health resort and playground for the people -of a large part of the Union. Such action would be a -benefit to every one, but it would be a benefit most of -all to the people of the immediate locality.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The practical common sense of the American people -has been in no way made more evident during the last -few years than by the creation and use of a series of -large land reserves—situated for the most part on the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>great plains and among the mountains of the West—intended -to keep the forests from destruction, and therefore -to conserve the water supply. These reserves are, and -should be, created primarily for economic purposes. The -semi-arid regions can only support a reasonable population -under conditions of the strictest economy and wisdom -in the use of the water supply, and in addition to their -other economic uses the forests are indispensably necessary -for the preservation of the water supply and for -rendering possible its useful distribution throughout the -proper seasons. In addition, however, to this economic -use of the wilderness, selected portions of it have been -kept here and there in a state of nature, not merely for -the sake of preserving the forests and the water, but for -the sake of preserving all its beauties and wonders unspoiled -by greedy and short-sighted vandalism. What -has been actually accomplished in the Yellowstone Park -affords the best possible object-lesson as to the desirability -and practicability of establishing such wilderness reserves. -This reserve is a natural breeding-ground and -nursery for those stately and beautiful haunters of the -wilds which have now vanished from so many of the great -forests, the vast lonely plains, and the high mountain -ranges, where they once abounded.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On April 8, 1903, John Burroughs and I reached the -Yellowstone Park, and were met by Major John Pitcher -of the Regular Army, the Superintendent of the Park. -The Major and I forthwith took horses; he telling me -that he could show me a good deal of game while riding -up to his house at the Mammoth Hot Springs. Hardly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>had we left the little town of Gardiner and gotten within -the limits of the Park before we saw prongbuck. There -was a band of at least a hundred feeding some distance -from the road. We rode leisurely toward them. They -were tame compared to their kindred in unprotected -places; that is, it was easy to ride within fair rifle range -of them; and though they were not familiar in the sense -that we afterwards found the bighorn and the deer to -be familiar, it was extraordinary to find them showing -such familiarity almost literally in the streets of a frontier -town. It spoke volumes for the good sense and -law-abiding spirit of the people of the town. During -the two hours following my entry into the Park we rode -around the plains and lower slopes of the foothills in -the neighborhood of the mouth of the Gardiner and -we saw several hundred—probably a thousand all told—of -these antelopes. Major Pitcher informed me that -all the pronghorns in the Park wintered in this neighborhood. -Toward the end of April or the first of May -they migrate back to their summering homes in the -open valleys along the Yellowstone and in the plains -south of the Golden Gate. While migrating they go -over the mountains and through forests if occasion demands. -Although there are plenty of coyotes in the Park, -there are no big wolves, and save for very infrequent -poachers the only enemy of the antelope, as indeed the -only enemy of all the game, is the cougar.</p> - -<div id='i_294' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_294.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ANTELOPE IN THE STREETS OF GARDINER</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>Cougars, known in the Park, as elsewhere through the -West,as “mountain lions,” are plentiful, having increased -in numbers of recent years. Except in the neighborhood -of the Gardiner River, that is within a few miles of Mammoth -Hot Springs, I found them feeding on elk, which -in the Park far outnumber all other game put together, -being so numerous that the ravages of the cougars are of -no real damage to the herds. But in the neighborhood -of the Mammoth Hot Springs the cougars are noxious -because of the antelope, mountain sheep, and deer which -they kill; and the Superintendent has imported some -hounds with which to hunt them. These hounds are -managed by Buffalo Jones, a famous old plainsman, who -is now in the Park taking care of the buffalo. On this -first day of my visit to the Park I came across the carcasses -of a deer and of an antelope which the cougars had -killed. On the great plains cougars rarely get antelope, -but here the country is broken so that the big cats can -make their stalks under favorable circumstances. To -deer and mountain sheep the cougar is a most dangerous -enemy—much more so than the wolf.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The antelope we saw were usually in bands of from -twenty to one hundred and fifty, and they travelled strung -out almost in single file, though those in the rear would -sometimes bunch up. I did not try to stalk them, but -got as near them as I could on horseback. The closest -approach I was able to make was to within about eighty -yards of two which were by themselves—I think a doe -and a last year’s fawn. As I was riding up to them, -although they looked suspiciously at me, one actually lay -down. When I was passing them at about eighty yards’ -distance the big one became nervous, gave a sudden jump, -and away the two went at full speed.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>Why the prongbucks were so comparatively shy I -do not know, for right on the ground with them we came -upon deer, and, in the immediate neighborhood, mountain -sheep, which were absurdly tame. The mountain -sheep were nineteen in number, for the most part does -and yearlings with a couple of three-year-old rams, but -not a single big fellow—for the big fellows at this season -are off by themselves, singly or in little bunches, high -up in the mountains. The band I saw was tame to a -degree matched by but few domestic animals.</p> - -<p class='c010'>They were feeding on the brink of a steep washout -at the upper edge of one of the benches on the mountain-side -just below where the abrupt slope began. They -were alongside a little gully with sheer walls. I rode -my horse to within forty yards of them, one of them occasionally -looking up and at once continuing to feed. Then -they moved slowly off and leisurely crossed the gully to -the other side. I dismounted, walked around the head -of the gully, and moving cautiously, but in plain sight, -came closer and closer until I was within twenty yards, -when I sat down on a stone and spent certainly twenty -minutes looking at them. They paid hardly any attention -to my presence—certainly no more than well-treated -domestic creatures would pay. One of the rams rose on -his hind legs, leaning his fore-hoofs against a little pine -tree, and browsed the ends of the budding branches. The -others grazed on the short grass and herbage or lay down -and rested—two of the yearlings several times playfully -butting at one another. Now and then one would glance -in my direction without the slightest sign of fear—barely -<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>even of curiosity. I have no question whatever but that -with a little patience this particular band could be made -to feed out of a man’s hand. Major Pitcher intends -during the coming winter to feed them alfalfa—for game -animals of several kinds have become so plentiful in the -neighborhood of the Hot Springs, and the Major has -grown so interested in them, that he wishes to do something -toward feeding them during the severe weather. -After I had looked at the sheep to my heart’s content, -I walked back to my horse, my departure arousing as -little interest as my advent.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Soon after leaving them we began to come across -blacktail deer, singly, in twos and threes, and in small -bunches of a dozen or so. They were almost as tame -as the mountain sheep, but not quite. That is, they always -looked alertly at me, and though if I stayed still -they would graze, they kept a watch over my movements -and usually moved slowly off when I got within less than -forty yards of them. Up to that distance, whether on -foot or on horseback, they paid but little heed to me, and -on several occasions they allowed me to come much -closer. Like the bighorn, the blacktails at this time were -grazing, not browsing; but I occasionally saw them nibble -some willow buds. During the winter they had been -browsing. As we got close to the Hot Springs we came -across several whitetail in an open, marshy meadow. -They were not quite as tame as the blacktail, although -without any difficulty I walked up to within fifty yards -of them. Handsome though the blacktail is, the whitetail -is the most beautiful of all deer when in motion, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>because of the springy, bounding grace of its trot and -canter, and the way it carries its head and white flag -aloft.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Before reaching the Mammoth Hot Springs we also -saw a number of ducks in the little pools and on the -Gardiner. Some of them were rather shy. Others—probably -those which, as Major Pitcher informed me, -had spent the winter there—were as tame as barn-yard -fowls.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Just before reaching the post the Major took me into -the big field where Buffalo Jones had some Texas and -Flathead Lake buffalo—bulls and cows—which he was -tending with solicitous care. The original stock of buffalo -in the Park have now been reduced to fifteen or -twenty individuals, and their blood is being recruited by -the addition of buffalo purchased out of the Flathead -Lake and Texas Panhandle herds. The buffalo were at -first put within a wire fence, which, when it was built, -was found to have included both blacktail and whitetail -deer. A bull elk was also put in with them at one time, -he having met with some accident which made the Major -and Buffalo Jones bring him in to doctor him. When -he recovered his health he became very cross. Not only -would he attack men, but also buffalo, even the old and -surly master bull, thumping them savagely with his antlers -if they did anything to which he objected. The -buffalo are now breeding well.</p> - -<div id='i_299' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_299.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>BLACKTAIL DEER ON PARADE-GROUND</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>When I reached the post and dismounted at the Major’s -house, I supposed my experiences with wild beasts -were ended for the day; but this was an error. The -quarters of the officers and men and the various hotel -buildings, stables, residences of the civilian officials, etc., -almost completely surround the big parade-ground at -the post, near the middle of which stands the flag-pole, -while the gun used for morning and evening salutes is -well off to one side. There are large gaps between some -of the buildings, and Major Pitcher informed me that -throughout the winter he had been leaving alfalfa on the -parade-grounds, and that numbers of blacktail deer had -been in the habit of visiting it every day, sometimes as -many as seventy being on the parade-ground at once. -As spring-time came on the numbers diminished. However, -in mid-afternoon, while I was writing in my room -in Major Pitcher’s house, on looking out of the window -I saw five deer on the parade-ground. They were -as tame as so many Alderney cows, and when I walked -out I got within twenty yards of them without any difficulty. -It was most amusing to see them as the time -approached for the sunset gun to be fired. The notes of -the trumpeter attracted their attention at once. They -all looked at him eagerly. One of them resumed feeding, -and paid no attention whatever either to the bugle, the -gun or the flag. The other four, however, watched the -preparations for firing the gun with an intent gaze, and -at the sound of the report gave two or three jumps; then -instantly wheeling, looked up at the flag as it came down. -This they seemed to regard as something rather more suspicious -than the gun, and they remained very much on -the alert until the ceremony was over. Once it was finished, -they resumed feeding as if nothing had happened. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>Before it was dark they trotted away from the parade-ground -back to the mountains.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The next day we rode off to the Yellowstone River, -camping some miles below Cottonwood Creek. It was -a very pleasant camp. Major Pitcher, an old friend, had -a first-class pack-train, so that we were as comfortable -as possible, and on such a trip there could be no pleasanter -or more interesting companion than John Burroughs—“Oom -John,” as we soon grew to call him. Where -our tents were pitched the bottom of the valley was narrow, -the mountains rising steep and cliff-broken on either -side. There were quite a number of blacktail in the -valley, which were tame and unsuspicious, although not -nearly as much so as those in the immediate neighborhood -of the Mammoth Hot Springs. One mid-afternoon three -of them swam across the river a hundred yards above our -camp. But the characteristic animals of the region were -the elk—the wapiti. They were certainly more numerous -than when I was last through the Park twelve years -before.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the summer the elk spread all over the interior of -the Park. As winter approaches they divide, some going -north and others south. The southern bands, which, at -a guess, may possibly include ten thousand individuals, -winter out of the Park, for the most part in Jackson’s -Hole—though of course here and there within the limits -of the Park a few elk may spend both winter and summer -in an unusually favorable location. It was the members -of the northern band that I met. During the winter time -they are nearly stationary, each band staying within a very -<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>few miles of the same place, and from their size and the -open nature of their habitat it is almost as easy to count -them as if they were cattle. From a spur of Bison Peak -one day, Major Pitcher, the guide Elwood Hofer, John -Burroughs and I spent about four hours with the glasses -counting and estimating the different herds within sight. -After most careful work and cautious reduction of estimates -in each case to the minimum the truth would permit, -we reckoned three thousand head of elk, all lying -or feeding and all in sight at the same time. An estimate -of some fifteen thousand for the number of elk in these -Northern bands cannot be far wrong. These bands do -not go out of the Park at all, but winter just within its -northern boundary. At the time when we saw them, the -snow had vanished from the bottoms of the valleys and -the lower slopes of the mountains, but remained as continuous -sheets farther up their sides. The elk were for -the most part found up on the snow slopes, occasionally -singly or in small gangs—more often in bands of from -fifty to a couple of hundred. The larger bulls were highest -up the mountains and generally in small troops by -themselves, although occasionally one or two would be -found associating with a big herd of cows, yearlings, and -two-year-olds. Many of the bulls had shed their antlers; -many had not. During the winter the elk had evidently -done much browsing, but at this time they were grazing -almost exclusively, and seemed by preference to seek out -the patches of old grass which were last left bare by the -retreating snow. The bands moved about very little, and -if one were seen one day it was generally possible to find -<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>it within a few hundred yards of the same spot the next -day, and certainly not more than a mile or two off. There -were severe frosts at night, and occasionally light flurries -of snow; but the hardy beasts evidently cared nothing for -any but heavy storms, and seemed to prefer to lie in the -snow rather than upon the open ground. They fed at -irregular hours throughout the day, just like cattle; one -band might be lying down while another was feeding. -While travelling they usually went almost in single file. -Evidently the winter had weakened them, and they were -not in condition for running; for on the one or two occasions -when I wanted to see them close up I ran right into -them on horseback, both on level plains and going up -hill along the sides of rather steep mountains. One band -in particular I practically rounded up for John Burroughs, -finally getting them to stand in a huddle while -he and I sat on our horses less than fifty yards off. After -they had run a little distance they opened their mouths -wide and showed evident signs of distress.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We came across a good many carcasses. Two, a bull -and a cow, had died from scab. Over half the remainder -had evidently perished from cold or starvation. The -others, including a bull, three cows and a score of yearlings, -had been killed by cougars. In the Park the cougar -is at present their only animal foe. The cougars -were preying on nothing but elk in the Yellowstone Valley, -and kept hanging about the neighborhood of the big -bands. Evidently they usually selected some outlying -yearling, stalked it as it lay or as it fed, and seized it -by the head and throat. The bull which they killed was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>in a little open valley by himself, many miles from any -other elk. The cougar which killed it, judging from its -tracks, was a big male. As the elk were evidently rather -too numerous for the feed, I do not think the cougars -were doing any damage.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Coyotes are plentiful, but the elk evidently have no -dread of them. One day I crawled up to within fifty -yards of a band of elk lying down. A coyote was walking -about among them, and beyond an occasional look they -paid no heed to him. He did not venture to go within -fifteen or twenty paces of any one of them. In fact, except -the cougar, I saw but one living thing attempt to -molest the elk. This was a golden eagle. We saw several -of these great birds. On one occasion we had ridden -out to the foot of a sloping mountain-side, dotted over -with bands and strings of elk amounting in the aggregate -probably to a thousand head. Most of the bands -were above the snow-line—some appearing away back -toward the ridge crests, and looking as small as mice. -There was one band well below the snow-line, and toward -this we rode. While the elk were not shy or wary, -in the sense that a hunter would use the words, they were -by no means as familiar as the deer; and this particular -band of elk, some twenty or thirty in all, watched us -with interest as we approached. When we were still half -a mile off they suddenly started to run toward us, evidently -frightened by something. They ran quartering, -and when about four hundred yards away we saw that -an eagle was after them. Soon it swooped, and a yearling -in the rear, weakly, and probably frightened by the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>swoop, turned a complete somersault, and when it recovered -its feet stood still. The great bird followed the -rest of the band across a little ridge, beyond which they -disappeared. Then it returned, soaring high in the heavens, -and after two or three wide circles, swooped down -at the solitary yearling, its legs hanging down. We -halted at two hundred yards to see the end. But the eagle -could not quite make up its mind to attack. Twice it -hovered within a foot or two of the yearling’s head, -again flew off and again returned. Finally the yearling -trotted off after the rest of the band, and the eagle returned -to the upper air. Later we found the carcass of -a yearling, with two eagles, not to mention ravens and -magpies, feeding on it; but I could not tell whether they -had themselves killed the yearling or not.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Here and there in the region where the elk were abundant -we came upon horses, which for some reason had -been left out through the winter. They were much -wilder than the elk. Evidently the Yellowstone Park is -a natural nursery and breeding-ground of the elk, which -here, as said above, far outnumber all the other game put -together. In the winter, if they cannot get to open water, -they eat snow; but in several places where there had been -springs which kept open all winter, we could see by the -tracks that they had been regularly used by bands of elk. -The men working at the new road along the face of the -cliffs beside the Yellowstone River near Tower Falls -informed me that in October enormous droves of elk -coming from the interior of the Park and travelling -northward to the lower lands had crossed the Yellowstone just above Tower Falls. Judging by their description, -the elk had crossed by thousands in an uninterrupted -stream, the passage taking many hours. In fact -nowadays these Yellowstone elk are, with the exception -of the Arctic caribou, the only American game which -at times travel in immense droves like the buffalo of the -old days.</p> - -<div id='i_304' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_304.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ELK IN SNOW</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>A couple of days after leaving Cottonwood Creek—where -we had spent several days—we camped at the Yellowstone -Canyon below Tower Falls. Here we saw a -second band of mountain sheep, numbering only eight—none -of them old rams. We were camped on the west -side of the canyon; the sheep had their abode on the opposite -side, where they had spent the winter. It has -recently been customary among some authorities, especially -the English hunters and naturalists who have -written of the Asiatic sheep, to speak as if sheep were -naturally creatures of the plains rather than mountain -climbers. I know nothing of the Old World sheep, but -the Rocky Mountain bighorn is to the full as characteristic -a mountain animal, in every sense of the word, as -the chamois, and, I think, as the ibex. These sheep -were well known to the road builders, who had spent the -winter in the locality. They told me they never went -back on the plains, but throughout the winter had spent -their days and nights on the top of the cliff and along -its face. This cliff was an alternation of sheer precipices -and very steep inclines. When coated with ice it would -be difficult to imagine an uglier bit of climbing; but -throughout the winter, and even in the wildest storms, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>the sheep had habitually gone down it to drink at the -water below. When we first saw them they were lying -sunning themselves on the edge of the canyon, where the -rolling grassy country behind it broke off into the sheer -descent. It was mid-afternoon and they were under some -pines. After a while they got up and began to graze, -and soon hopped unconcernedly down the side of the cliff -until they were half-way to the bottom. They then -grazed along the sides, and spent some time licking at -a place where there was evidently a mineral deposit. Before -dark they all lay down again on a steeply inclined -jutting spur midway between the top and bottom of the -canyon.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Next morning I thought I would like to see them -close up, so I walked down three or four miles below -where the canyon ended, crossed the stream, and came up -the other side until I got on what was literally the stamping-ground -of the sheep. Their tracks showed that they -had spent their time for many weeks, and probably for -all the winter, within a very narrow radius. For perhaps -a mile and a half, or two miles at the very outside, they -had wandered to and fro on the summit of the canyon, -making what was almost a well-beaten path; always very -near and usually on the edge of the cliff, and hardly ever -going more than a few yards back into the grassy plain-and-hill -country. Their tracks and dung covered the -ground. They had also evidently descended into the -depths of the canyon wherever there was the slightest -break or even lowering in the upper line of the basalt -cliffs. Although mountain sheep often browse in winter, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>I saw but few traces of browsing here; probably on the -sheer cliff side they always get some grazing.</p> - -<p class='c010'>When I spied the band they were lying not far from -the spot in which they had lain the day before, and in -the same position on the brink of the canyon. They saw -me and watched me with interest when I was two hundred -yards off, but they let me get up within forty yards -and sit down on a large stone to look at them, without -running off. Most of them were lying down, but a couple -were feeding steadily throughout the time I watched -them. Suddenly one took the alarm and dashed straight -over the cliff, the others all following at once. I ran -after them to the edge in time to see the last yearling -drop off the edge of the basalt cliff and stop short on the -sheer slope below, while the stones dislodged by his hoofs -rattled down the canyon. They all looked up at me with -great interest, and then strolled off to the edge of a jutting -spur and lay down almost directly underneath me -and some fifty yards off. That evening on my return to -camp we watched the band make its way right down to -the river bed, going over places where it did not seem -possible a four-footed creature could pass. They halted -to graze here and there, and down the worst places they -went very fast with great bounds. It was a marvellous -exhibition of climbing.</p> - -<p class='c010'>After we had finished this horseback trip we went -on sleds and skis to the upper Geyser Basin and the Falls -of the Yellowstone. Although it was the third week in -April, the snow was still several feet deep, and only -thoroughly trained snow horses could have taken the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>sleighs along, while around the Yellowstone Falls it was -possible to move only on snowshoes. There was little -life in those woods. In the upper basin I caught a -meadow mouse on the snow; I afterwards sent it to Hart -Merriam, who told me it was of a species he had described -from Idaho, <i>Microtus nanus</i>; it had not been -previously found in the Yellowstone region. We saw an -occasional pine squirrel, snowshoe rabbit or marten; and -in the open meadows around the hot waters there were -Canada geese and ducks of several species, and now and -then a coyote. Around camp Clark’s crows and Stellar’s -jays, and occasionally magpies, came to pick at the refuse; -and of course they were accompanied by the whiskey -jacks, which behaved with their usual astounding familiarity. -At Norris Geyser Basin there was a perfect -chorus of bird music from robins, western purple finches, -juncos and mountain bluebirds. In the woods there were -mountain chickadees and pygmy nuthatches, together -with an occasional woodpecker. In the northern country -we had come across a very few blue grouse and ruffed -grouse, both as tame as possible. We had seen a pygmy -owl no larger than a robin sitting on the top of a pine in -broad daylight, and uttering at short intervals a queer -un-owl-like cry.</p> - -<div id='i_309' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_309.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>OOM JOHN</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>The birds that interested us most were the solitaires, -and especially the dippers or water-ousels. We were -fortunate enough to hear the solitaires sing not only when -perched on trees, but on the wing, soaring over a great -canyon. They are striking birds in every way, and their -habit of singing while soaring, and their song, are alike -noteworthy. Once I heard a solitaire singing at the top -of a canyon, and an ousel also singing but a thousand feet -below him; and in this case I thought the ousel sang -better than his unconscious rival. The ousels are to my -mind well-nigh the most attractive of all our birds, because -of their song, their extraordinary habits, their -whole personality. They stay through the winter in the -Yellowstone because the waters are in many places open. -We heard them singing cheerfully, their ringing melody -having a certain suggestion of the winter wren’s. Usually -they sang while perched on some rock on the edge or -in the middle of the stream; but sometimes on the wing; -and often just before dipping under the torrent, or just -after slipping out from it onto some ledge of rock or -ice. In the open places the Western meadow lark was -uttering its beautiful song; a real song as compared to -the plaintive notes of its Eastern brother, and though -short, yet with continuity and tune as well as melody. I -love to hear the Eastern meadow lark in the early spring; -but I love still more the song of the Western meadow -lark. No bird escaped John Burroughs’ eye; no bird -note escaped his ear.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I cannot understand why the Old World ousel should -have received such comparatively scant attention in the -books, whether from nature writers or poets; whereas -our ousel has greatly impressed all who know him. John -Muir’s description comes nearest doing him justice. To -me he seems a more striking bird than for instance the -skylark; though of course I not only admire but am very -fond of the skylark. There are various pipits and larks -<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>in our own country which sing in highest air, as does -the skylark, and their songs, though not as loud, are -almost as sustained; and though they lack the finer kind -of melody, so does his. The ousel, on the contrary, is a -really brilliant singer, and in his habits he is even farther -removed from the commonplace and the uninteresting -than the lark himself. Some birds, such as the ousel, -the mocking-bird, the solitaire, show marked originality, -marked distinction; others do not; the chipping sparrow, -for instance, while in no way objectionable (like the imported -house sparrow), is yet a hopelessly commonplace -little bird alike in looks, habits and voice.</p> - -<div id='i_311' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_311.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>BEARS AND TOURISTS</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>On the last day of my stay it was arranged that I -should ride down from Mammoth Hot Springs to the -town of Gardiner, just outside the Park limits, and there -make an address at the laying of the corner-stone of the -arch by which the main road is to enter the Park. Some -three thousand people had gathered to attend the ceremonies. -A little over a mile from Gardiner we came -down out of the hills to the flat plain; from the hills we -could see the crowd gathered around the arch waiting -for me to come. We put spurs to our horses and cantered -rapidly toward the appointed place, and on the way we -passed within forty yards of a score of blacktails, which -merely moved to one side and looked at us, and within -almost as short a distance of half a dozen antelope. To -any lover of nature it could not help being a delightful -thing to see the wild and timid creatures of the wilderness -rendered so tame; and their tameness in the immediate -neighborhood of Gardiner, on the very edge of the Park, -spoke volumes for the patriotic good sense of the citizens -of Montana. At times the antelope actually cross the -Park line to Gardiner, which is just outside, and feed -unmolested in the very streets of the town; a fact which -shows how very far advanced the citizens of Gardiner -are in right feeling on this subject; for of course the -Federal laws cease to protect the antelope as soon as they -are out of the Park. Major Pitcher informed me that -both the Montana and Wyoming people were cooperating -with him in zealous fashion to preserve the game -and put a stop to poaching. For their attitude in this -regard they deserve the cordial thanks of all Americans -interested in these great popular playgrounds, where -bits of the old wilderness scenery and the old wilderness -life are to be kept unspoiled for the benefit of our children’s -children. Eastern people, and especially Eastern -sportsmen, need to keep steadily in mind the fact that the -westerners who live in the neighborhood of the forest -preserves are the men who in the last resort will determine -whether or not these preserves are to be permanent. -They cannot in the long run be kept as forest and game -reservations unless the settlers roundabout believe in -them and heartily support them; and the rights of these -settlers must be carefully safeguarded, and they must be -shown that the movement is really in their interest. The -Eastern sportsman who fails to recognize these facts can -do little but harm by advocacy of forest reserves.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It was in the interior of the Park, at the hotels beside -the lake, the falls, and the various geyser basins, that -we would have seen the bears had the season been late -<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>enough; but unfortunately the bears were still for the -most part hibernating. We saw two or three tracks, but -the animals themselves had not yet begun to come about -the hotels. Nor were the hotels open. No visitors had -previously entered the Park in the winter or early spring, -the scouts and other employees being the only ones who -occasionally traverse it. I was sorry not to see the bears, -for the effect of protection upon bear life in the Yellowstone -has been one of the phenomena of natural history. -Not only have they grown to realize that they are safe, -but, being natural scavengers and foul feeders, they have -come to recognize the garbage heaps of the hotels as their -special sources of food supply. Throughout the summer -months they come to all the hotels in numbers, usually -appearing in the late afternoon or evening, and they have -become as indifferent to the presence of men as the deer -themselves—some of them very much more indifferent. -They have now taken their place among the recognized -sights of the Park, and the tourists are nearly as much -interested in them as in the geysers. In mussing over -the garbage heaps they sometimes get tin cans stuck on -their paws, and the result is painful. Buffalo Jones and -some of the other scouts in extreme cases rope the bear, -tie him up, cut the tin can off his paw, and let him go -again. It is not an easy feat, but the astonishing thing -is that it should be performed at all.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It was amusing to read the proclamations addressed -to the tourists by the Park management, in which they -were solemnly warned that the bears were really wild -animals, and that they must on no account be either fed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>or teased. It is curious to think that the descendants of -the great grizzlies which were the dread of the early explorers -and hunters should now be semi-domesticated -creatures, boldly hanging around crowded hotels for the -sake of what they can pick up, and quite harmless so long -as any reasonable precaution is exercised. They are -much safer, for instance, than any ordinary bull or stallion, -or even ram, and, in fact, there is no danger from -them at all unless they are encouraged to grow too familiar -or are in some way molested. Of course among the -thousands of tourists there is a percentage of fools; and -when fools go out in the afternoon to look at the bears -feeding they occasionally bring themselves into jeopardy -by some senseless act. The black bears and the cubs of -the bigger bears can readily be driven up trees, and some -of the tourists occasionally do this. Most of the animals -never think of resenting it; but now and then one is run -across which has its feelings ruffled by the performance. -In the summer of 1902 the result proved disastrous to a -too inquisitive tourist. He was travelling with his wife, -and at one of the hotels they went out toward the garbage -pile to see the bears feeding. The only bear in sight was -a large she, which, as it turned out, was in a bad temper -because another party of tourists a few minutes before -had been chasing her cubs up a tree. The man left his -wife and walked toward the bear to see how close he -could get. When he was some distance off she charged -him, whereupon he bolted back toward his wife. The -bear overtook him, knocked him down and bit him severely. -But the man’s wife, without hesitation, attacked -<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>the bear with that thoroughly feminine weapon, an umbrella, -and frightened her off. The man spent several -weeks in the Park hospital before he recovered. Perhaps -the following telegram sent by the manager of the -Lake Hotel to Major Pitcher illustrates with sufficient -clearness the mutual relations of the bears, the tourists, -and the guardians of the public weal in the Park. The -original was sent me by Major Pitcher. It runs:</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Lake. 7–27–’03. Major Pitcher, Yellowstone: As -many as seventeen bears in an evening appear on my -garbage dump. To-night eight or ten. Campers and -people not of my hotel throw things at them to make them -run away. I cannot, unless there personally, control this. -Do you think you could detail a trooper to be there -every evening from say six o’clock until dark and make -people remain behind danger line laid out by Warden -Jones? Otherwise I fear some accident. The arrest -of one or two of these campers might help. My own -guests do pretty well as they are told. James Barton -Key. 9 <span class='fss'>A. M.</span>”</p> - -<p class='c010'>Major Pitcher issued the order as requested.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At times the bears get so bold that they take to making -inroads on the kitchen. One completely terrorized a -Chinese cook. It would drive him off and then feast -upon whatever was left behind. When a bear begins to -act in this way or to show surliness it is sometimes necessary -to shoot it. Other bears are tamed until they will -feed out of the hand, and will come at once if called. Not -only have some of the soldiers and scouts tamed bears in -this fashion, but occasionally a chambermaid or waiter -girl at one of the hotels has thus developed a bear as -a pet.</p> - -<div id='i_314' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_314.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>GRIZZLY BEAR AND COOK</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>The accompanying photographs not only show bears -very close up, with men standing by within a few yards -of them, but they also show one bear being fed from the -piazza by a cook, and another standing beside a particular -friend, a chambermaid in one of the hotels. In these -photographs it will be seen that some are grizzlies and -some black bears.</p> - -<p class='c010'>This whole episode of bear life in the Yellowstone is -so extraordinary that it will be well worth while for any -man who has the right powers and enough time, to make -a complete study of the life and history of the Yellowstone -bears. Indeed, nothing better could be done by -some of our outdoor faunal naturalists than to spend at -least a year in the Yellowstone, and to study the life -habits of all the wild creatures therein. A man able to -do this, and to write down accurately and interestingly -what he had seen, would make a contribution of permanent -value to our nature literature.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In May, after leaving the Yellowstone, I visited the -Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and then went through -the Yosemite Park with John Muir—the companion -above all others for such a trip. It is hard to make comparisons -among different kinds of scenery, all of them -very grand and very beautiful; but nothing that I have -ever seen has impressed me quite as much as the desolate -and awful sublimity of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. -I earnestly wish that Congress would make it a -national park, and I am sure that such course would meet -<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>the approbation of the people of Arizona. The people -of California with wise and generous forethought have -given the Yosemite Valley to the National Government -to be kept as a national park, just as the surrounding -country, including some of the groves of giant trees, has -been kept. The flower-clad slopes of the Sierras—golden -with the blazing poppy, brilliant with lilies and tulips -and red-stemmed Manzinita bush—are unlike anything -else in this country. As for the giant trees, no words -can describe their majesty and beauty.</p> - -<p class='c010'>John Muir and I, with two packers and three pack -mules, spent a delightful three days in the Yosemite. -The first night was clear, and we lay in the open, on beds -of soft fir boughs, among the huge, cinnamon-colored -trunks of the sequoias. It was like lying in a great solemn -cathedral, far vaster and more beautiful than any -built by hand of man. Just at nightfall I heard, among -other birds, thrushes which I think were Rocky Mountain -hermits—the appropriate choir for such a place of -worship. Next day we went by trail through the woods, -seeing some deer—which were not wild—as well as -mountain quail and blue grouse. Among the birds which -we saw was a white-headed woodpecker; the interesting -carpenter woodpeckers were less numerous than lower -down. In the afternoon we struck snow, and had considerable -difficulty in breaking our trails. A snow-storm -came on toward evening, but we kept warm and comfortable -in a grove of splendid silver firs—rightly named -“magnificent”—near the brink of the wonderful Yosemite -Valley. Next day we clambered down into it and -at nightfall camped in its bottom, facing the giant cliffs -over which the waterfalls thundered.</p> - -<div id='i_316' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_316.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE BEAR AND THE CHAMBERMAID</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>Surely our people do not understand even yet the rich -heritage that is theirs. There can be nothing in the -world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of -giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, -the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and -our people should see to it that they are preserved for -their children and their children’s children forever, with -their majestic beauty all unmarred.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER X<br /> <span class='large'>BOOKS ON BIG GAME</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>The nineteenth century was, beyond all others, the -century of big game hunters, and of books about big -game. From the days of Nimrod to our own there have -been mighty hunters before the Lord, and most warlike -and masterful races have taken kindly to the chase, as -chief among those rough pastimes which appeal naturally -to men with plenty of red blood in their veins. But until -the nineteenth century the difficulties of travel were so -great that men of our race with a taste for sport could -rarely gratify this taste except in their own neighborhood. -The earlier among the great conquering kings of Egypt -and Assyria, when they made their forays into Syria and -the region of the Upper Euphrates, hunted the elephant -and the wild bull, as well as the lions with which the -country swarmed; and Tiglath-Pileser the First, as overlord -of Phœnicia, embarked on the Mediterranean, and -there killed a “sea-monster,” presumably a whale—a feat -which has been paralleled by no sport-loving sovereign -of modern times, save by that stout hunter, the German -Kaiser; though I believe the present English King, like -several members of his family, has slain both elephants -and tigers before he came to the throne. But the elephant -<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>disappeared from Eastern Asia a thousand years -before our era; and the lion had become rare or unknown -in lands where the dwellers were of European stock, long -before the days of written records.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There was good hunting in Macedonia in the days of -Alexander the Great; there was good hunting in the Hercynian -Forest when Frank and Bergund were turning -Gaul into France; there was good hunting in Lithuania -and Poland as late as the days of Sobiéski; but the most -famous kings and nobles of Europe, within historic times, -though they might kill the aurochs and the bison, the bear -and the boar, had no chance to test their prowess against -the mightier and more terrible beasts of the tropics.</p> - -<p class='c010'>No modern man could be more devoted to the chase -than were the territorial lords of the Middle Ages. -Two of the most famous books of the chase ever written -were the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Livre de Chasse</span></cite> of Count Gaston de Foix—Gaston -Phœbus, well known to all readers of Froissart—and -the translation or adaptation and continuation -of the same, the “Master of Game,” by that Duke of -York who “died victorious” at Agincourt. Mr. Baillie-Grohman, -himself a hunter and mountaineer of wide -experience, a trained writer and observer, and a close -student of the hunting lore of the past, has edited and -reproduced the “Master of Game,” in form which makes -it a delight to every true lover of books no less than to -every true lover of sport. A very interesting little book -is Clamorgan’s <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chasse du Loup</span></cite>, dedicated to Charles the -Ninth of France; my copy is of the edition of 1566. The -text and the illustrations are almost equally attractive.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>As the centuries passed it became more and more difficult -to obtain sport in the thickly settled parts of Europe -save in the vast game preserves of the Kings and great -lords. These magnates of Continental Europe, down to -the beginning of the last century, followed the chase -with all the ardor of Gaston Phœbus; indeed, they erred -generally on the side of fantastic extravagance and exaggeration -in their favorite pursuit, turning it into a solemn -and rather ridiculous business instead of a healthy and -vigorous pastime; but they could hunt only the beasts of -their own forests. The men who went on long voyages -usually had quite enough to do simply as travellers; the -occupation of getting into unknown lands, and of keeping -alive when once in them, was in itself sufficiently absorbing -and hazardous to exclude any chance of combining -with it the role of sportsman.</p> - -<p class='c010'>With the last century all this had changed. Even in -the eighteenth century it began to change. The Dutch -settlers at the Cape of Good Hope, and the English settlers -on the Atlantic coast of North America, found themselves -thrown back into a stage of life where hunting was -one of the main means of livelihood, as well as the most -exciting and adventurous of pastimes. These men knew -the chase as men of their race had not known it since the -days before history dawned; and until the closing decades -of the last century the Americans and the Afrikanders of -the frontier largely led the lives of professional hunters. -Oom Paul and Buffalo Bill led very different careers -after they reached middle age; but in their youth warfare -against wild beasts and wild men was the most serious -<span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>part of the life-work of both. They and their fellows -did the rough pioneer work of civilization, under conditions -which have now vanished for ever, and their type -will perish with the passing of the forces that called it -into being. But the big game hunter, whose campaigns -against big game are not simply incidents in his career as -a pioneer settler, will remain with us for some time -longer; and it is of him and his writings that we wish -to treat.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Toward the end of the eighteenth century this big -game hunter had already appeared, although, like all -early types, he was not yet thoroughly specialized. Le -Vaillant hunted in South Africa, and his volumes are excellent -reading now. A still better book is that of Bruce, -the Abyssinian explorer, who was a kind of Burton of his -days, with a marvellous faculty for getting into quarrels, -but an even more marvellous faculty for doing work -which no other man could do. He really opened a new -world to European men of letters and science; who thereupon -promptly united in disbelieving all he said, though -they were credulous enough toward people who really -should have been distrusted. But his tales have been -proved true by many an explorer since then, and his book -will always possess interest for big game hunters, because -of his experiences in the chase. Sometimes he shot -merely in self-defense or for food, but he also made regular -hunting trips in company with the wild lords of the -shifting frontier between dusky Christian and dusky infidel. -He feasted in their cane palaces, where the walls -were hung with the trophies of giant game, and in their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>company, with horse and spear, he attacked and overcame -the buffalo and the rhinoceros.</p> - -<p class='c010'>By the beginning of the nineteenth century the hunting -book proper became differentiated, as it were, from -the book of the explorer. One of the earliest was Williamson’s -“Oriental Field Sports.” This is to the present -day a most satisfactory book, especially to sporting parents -with large families of small children. The pictures -are all in colors, and the foliage is so very green, and the -tigers are so very red, and the boars so very black, and -the tragedies so uncommonly vivid and startling, that -for the youthful mind the book really has no formidable -rival outside of the charmed circle where Slovenly Peter -stands first.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Since then multitudes of books have been written -about big game hunting. Most of them are bad, of -course, just as most novels and most poems are bad; but -some of them are very good indeed, while a few are entitled -to rank high in literature—though it cannot be said -that as yet big game hunters as a whole have produced -such writers as those who dwell on the homelier and less -grandiose side of nature. They have not produced a -White or Burroughs, for instance. What could not Burroughs -have done if only he had cared for adventure and -for the rifle, and had roamed across the Great Plains and -the Rockies, and through the dim forests, as he has wandered -along the banks of the Hudson and the Potomac! -Thoreau, it is true, did go to the Maine Woods; but then -Thoreau was a transcendentalist and slightly anæmic. -A man must feel the beat of hardy life in his veins before -<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>he can be a good big game hunter. Fortunately, Richard -Jeffries has written an altogether charming little volume -on the Red Deer, so that there is at least one game -animal which has been fully described by a man of letters, -who was also both a naturalist and a sportsman; but it is -irritating to think that no one has done as much for the -lordlier game of the wilderness. Not only should the -hunter be able to describe vividly the chase, and the life -habits of the quarry, but he should also draw the wilderness -itself, and the life of those who dwell or sojourn -therein. We wish to see before us the cautious stalk and -the headlong gallop; the great beasts as they feed or rest -or run or make love or fight; the wild hunting camps; -the endless plains shimmering in the sunlight; the vast, -solemn forests; the desert and the marsh and the mountain -chain; and all that lies hidden in the lonely lands -through which the wilderness wanderer roams and hunts -game.</p> - -<p class='c010'>But there remain a goodly number of books which are -not merely filled with truthful information of importance, -but which are also absorbingly interesting; and if -a book is both truthful and interesting it is surely entitled -to a place somewhere in general literature. Unfortunately, -the first requisite bars out a great many hunting-books. There are not a few mighty hunters who have -left long records of their achievements, and who undoubtedly -did achieve a great deal, but who contrive to leave -in the mind of the reader the uncomfortable suspicion, -that besides their prowess with the rifle they were skilled -in the use of that more archaic weapon, the long bow. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>“The Old Shekarry,” who wrote of Indian and African -sport, was one of these. Gerard was a great lion-killer, -but some of his accounts of the lives, deaths, and especially -the courtships, of lions, bear much less relation to -actual facts than do the novels of Dumas. Not a few -of the productions of hunters of this type should be -grouped under the head-lines used by the newspapers of -our native land in describing something which they are -perfectly sure hasn’t happened—“Important, if True.” -The exactly opposite type is presented in another Frenchman, -M. Foa, a really great hunter who also knows how -to observe and to put down what he has observed. His -two books on big game hunting in Africa have permanent -value.</p> - -<p class='c010'>If we were limited to the choice of one big game -writer, who was merely such, and not in addition a scientific -observer, we should have to choose Sir Samuel Baker, -for his experiences are very wide, and we can accept without -question all that he says in his books. He hunted -in India, in Africa, and in North America; he killed all -the chief kinds of heavy and dangerous game; and he -followed them on foot and on horseback, with the rifle -and the knife, and with hounds. For the same reason, if -we could choose but one work, it would have to be the -volumes of “Big Game Shooting,” in the Badminton -Library, edited by Mr. Phillipps Wolley—himself a man -who has written well of big game hunting in out-of-the-way -places, from the Caucasus to the Cascades. These -volumes contain pieces by many different authors; but -they differ from most volumes of the kind in that all the -writers are trustworthy and interesting; though the palm -must be given to Oswell’s delightful account of his South -African hunting. The book on the game beasts of Africa -edited by Mr. Bryden is admirable in every way.</p> - -<div id='i_324' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_324.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE NORTH ROOM AT SAGAMORE HILL</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>In all these books the one point to be insisted on is that -a big game hunter has nothing in common with so many -of the men who delight to call themselves sportsmen. Sir -Samuel Baker has left a very amusing record of the -horror he felt for the Ceylon sportsmen who, by the term -“sport,” meant horse-racing instead of elephant shooting. -Half a century ago, Gordon-Cumming wrote of “the life -of the wild hunter, so far preferable to that of the mere -sportsman”; and his justification for this somewhat sneering -reference to the man who takes his sport in too artificial -a manner, may be found in the pages of a then noted -authority on such sports as horse-racing and fox-hunting; -for in Apperly’s “Nimrod Abroad,” in the course of an -article on the game of the American wilderness, there -occurs this delicious sentence: “A damper, however, is -thrown over all systems of deer-stalking in Canada by the -necessity, which is said to be unavoidable, of bivouacking -in the woods instead of in well-aired sheets!” Verily, -there was a great gulf between the two men.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the present century the world has known three -great hunting-grounds: Africa, from the equator to the -southernmost point; India, both farther and hither; and -North America west of the Mississippi, from the Rio -Grande to the Arctic Circle. The latter never approached -either of the former in the wealth and variety -of the species, or in the size and terror of the chief beasts -<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>of the chase; but it surpassed India in the countless numbers -of the individual animals, and in the wild and unknown -nature of the hunting-grounds, while the climate -and surroundings made the conditions under which the -hunter worked pleasanter and healthier than those in -any other land.</p> - -<p class='c010'>South Africa was the true hunter’s paradise. If the -happy hunting-grounds were to be found anywhere in -this world, they lay between the Orange and the Zambesi, -and extended northward here and there to the Nile countries -and Somaliland. Nowhere else were there such -multitudes of game, representing so many and such widely -different kinds of animals, of such size, such beauty, such -infinite variety. We should have to go back to the fauna -of the Pleistocene to find its equal. Never before did -men enjoy such hunting as fell to the lot of those roving -adventurers, who first penetrated its hidden fastnesses, -camped by its shrunken rivers, and galloped over its sun-scorched -wastes; and, alas that it should be written, no -man will ever see the like again. Fortunately, its memory -will forever be kept alive in some of the books that -the great hunters have written about it, such as Cornwallis -Harris’ “Wild Sports of South Africa,” Gordon-Cumming’s -“Hunter’s Life in South Africa,” Baldwin’s -“African Hunting,” Drummond’s “Large Game and -Natural History of South Africa,” and, best of all, -Selous’ two books, “A Hunter’s Wanderings in South -Africa” and “Travel and Adventure in Southeast -Africa.” Selous was the last of the great hunters of -South Africa, and no other has left books of such value -<span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>as his. In central Africa the game has lasted to our own -time; the hunting described by Alfred Neumann and -Vaughn Kirby in the closing years of the nineteenth century -was almost as good as any enjoyed by their brothers -who fifty years before steered their ox-drawn wagons -across the “high veldt” of the south land.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Moreover, the pencil has done its part as well as the -pen. Harris, who was the pioneer of all the hunters, -published an admirable illustrated folio entitled “The -Game and Wild Animals of South Africa.” It is perhaps -of more value than any other single work of the kind. -J. G. Millais, in “A Breath from the Veldt,” has rendered -a unique service, not only by his charming descriptions, -but by his really extraordinary sketches of the South -African antelopes, both at rest, and in every imaginable -form of motion. Nearly at the other end of the continent -there is an admirable book on lion-hunting in Somaliland, -by Captain C. J. Melliss. Much information about -big game can be taken from the books of various missionaries -and explorers; Livingstone and Du Chaillu doing -for Africa in this respect what Catlin did for North -America.</p> - -<p class='c010'>As we have said before, one great merit of these books -is that they are interesting. Quite a number of men who -are good sportsmen, as well as men of means, have written -books about their experiences in Africa; but the trouble -with too many of these short and simple annals of the rich -is, that they are very dull. They are not literature, any -more than treatises on farriery and cooking are literature. -To read a mere itinerary is like reading a guide-book. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>No great enthusiasm in the reader can be roused by such -a statement as “this day walked twenty-three miles, shot -one giraffe and two zebras; porter deserted with the load -containing the spare boots”; and the most exciting -events, if chronicled simply as “shot three rhinos and two -buffalo; the first rhino and both buffalo charged,” become -about as thrilling as a paragraph in Baedeker. There -is no need of additional literature of the guide-book and -cookery-book kind. “Fine writing” is, of course, abhorrent -in a way that is not possible for mere baldness of -statement, and would-be “funny” writing is even worse, -as it almost invariably denotes an underbred quality of -mind; but there is need of a certain amount of detail, and -of vivid and graphic, though simple, description. In -other words, the writer on big game should avoid equally -Carlyle’s theory and Carlyle’s practice in the matter of -verbosity. Really good game books are sure to contain -descriptions which linger in the mind just like one’s pet -passages in any other good book. One example is Selous’ -account of his night watch close to the wagon, when in -the pitchy darkness he killed three of the five lions which -had attacked his oxen; or his extraordinary experience -while hunting elephants on a stallion which turned sulky, -and declined to gallop out of danger. The same is true -of Drummond’s descriptions of the camps of native hunting -parties, of tracking wounded buffalo through the -reeds, and of waiting for rhinos by a desert pool under the -brilliancy of the South African moon; descriptions, by -the way, which show that the power of writing interestingly -is not dependent upon even approximate correctness -<span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span>in style, for some of Mr. Drummond’s sentences, in point -of length and involution, would compare not unfavorably -with those of a Populist Senator discussing bimetallism. -Drummond is not as trustworthy an observer as Selous.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The experiences of a hunter in Africa, with its teeming -wealth of strange and uncouth beasts, must have been, -and in places must still be, about what one’s experience -would be if one could suddenly go back a few hundred -thousand years for a hunting trip in the Pliocene or Pleistocene. -In Mr. Astor Chanler’s book, “Through Jungle -and Desert,” the record of his trip through the melancholy -reed beds of the Guaso Nyiro, and of his return -journey, carrying his wounded companion, through -regions where the caravan was perpetually charged by -rhinoceros, reads like a bit out of the unreckoned ages of -the past, before the huge and fierce monsters of old had -vanished from the earth, or acknowledged man as their -master. An excellent book of mixed hunting and scientific -exploration is Mr. Donaldson Smith’s “Through -Unknown African Countries.” If anything, the hunting -part is unduly sacrificed to some of the minor scientific -work. Full knowledge of a new breed of rhinoceros, or -a full description of the life history and chase of almost -any kind of big game, is worth more than any quantity -of matter about new spiders and scorpions. Small birds -and insects remain in the land, and can always be described -by the shoal of scientific investigators who follow -the first adventurous explorers; but it is only the pioneer -hunter who can tell us all about the far more interesting -and important beasts of the chase, the different kinds of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>big game, and especially dangerous big game; and it is -a mistake in any way to subordinate the greater work to -the lesser.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Books on big game hunting in India are as plentiful, -and as good, as those about Africa. Forsyth’s “Highlands -of Central India,” Sanderson’s “Thirteen Years -Among the Wild Beasts of India,” Shakespeare’s “Wild -Sports of India,” and Kinloch’s “Large Game Shooting,” -are perhaps the best; but there are many other -writers, like Markham, Baldwin, Rice, Macintyre, and -Stone, who are also very good. Indeed, to give even -a mere list of the titles of the good books on Indian -shooting would read too much like the Homeric catalogue -of ships, or the biblical generations of the Jewish -patriarchs. The four books singled out for special -reference are interesting reading for anyone; particularly -the accounts of the deaths of man-eating tigers at the -hands of Forsyth, Shakespeare, and Sanderson, and some -of Kinloch’s Himalayan stalks. It is indeed royal sport -which the hunter has among the stupendous mountain -masses of the Himalayas, and in the rank jungles and -steamy tropical forests of India.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Hunting should go hand in hand with the love of -natural history, as well as with descriptive and narrative -power. Hornaday’s “Two Years in the Jungle” is especially -interesting to the naturalist; but he adds not a little -to our knowledge of big game. It is earnestly to be -wished that some hunter will do for the gorilla what -Hornaday has done for the great East Indian ape, the -mias or orang.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>There are many good books on American big game, -but, rather curiously, they are for the most part modern. -Until within the present generation Americans only -hunted big game if they were frontier settlers, professional -trappers, Southern planters, army officers, or explorers. -The people of the cities of the old States were -bred in the pleasing faith that anything unconcerned with -business was both a waste of time and presumably immoral. -Those who travelled went to Europe instead of -to the Rocky Mountains.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Throughout the pioneer stages of American history, -big game hunting was not merely a pleasure, but a business, -and often a very important and in fact vital business. -At different times many of the men who rose to great -distinction in our after history took part in it as such: -men like Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston, for instance. -Moreover, aside from these pioneers who afterward won -distinction purely as statesmen or soldiers, there were -other members of the class of professional hunters—men -who never became eminent in the complex life of the -old civilized regions, who always remained hunters, and -gloried in the title—who, nevertheless, through and because -of their life in the wilderness, rose to national fame -and left their mark on our history. The three most -famous men of this class were Daniel Boone, David -Crockett, and Kit Carson, who were renowned in every -quarter of the Union for their skill as game-killers, Indian-fighters, -and wilderness explorers, and whose deeds -are still stock themes in the floating legendary lore of the -border. They stand for all time as types of the pioneer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>settlers who won our land; the bridge-builders, the road-makers -the forest-fellers, the explorers, the land-tillers, -the mighty men of their hands, who laid the foundations -of this great commonwealth.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There are good descriptions of big game hunting in -the books of writers like Catlin, but they come in incidentally. -Elliott’s “South Carolina Field Sports” is a -very interesting and entirely trustworthy record of the -sporting side of existence on the old Southern plantations, -and not only commemorates how the planters hunted -bear, deer, fox, and wildcat on the uplands and in the -canebrakes, but also gives a unique description of harpooning -the great devil-fish in the warm Southern waters. -John Palliser, an Englishman, in his “Solitary Hunter,” -has given us the best descriptions of hunting in the far -West, when it was still an untrodden wilderness. Another -Englishman, Ruxton, in two volumes, has left us a -most vivid picture of the old hunters and trappers themselves. -Unfortunately, these old hunters and trappers, -the men who had most experience in the life of the wilderness, -were utterly unable to write about it; they could -not tell what they had seen or done. Occasional attempts -have been made to get noted hunters to write books, either -personally or by proxy, but these attempts have not as -a rule been successful. Perhaps the best of the books -thus produced is Hittell’s “Adventures of James Capen -Adams, Mountaineer and Grizzly Bear Hunter.”</p> - -<p class='c010'>The first effort to get men of means and cultivation -in the Northern and Eastern States of the Union to look -at field sports in the right light was made by an Englishman -<span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>who wrote over the signature of Frank Forrester. -He did much for the shotgun men; but, unfortunately, -he was a true cockney, who cared little for really wild -sports, and he was afflicted with that dreadful pedantry -which pays more heed to ceremonial and terminology -than to the thing itself. He was sincerely distressed because -the male of the ordinary American deer was called -a buck instead of a stag; and it seemed to him to be a -matter of moment whether one spoke of a “gang” or a -“herd” of elk.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There are plenty of excellent books nowadays, however. -The best book upon the old plains country was -Colonel Richard Irving Dodge’s “Hunting-Grounds of -the Great West,” which dealt with the chase of most -kinds of plains game proper. Judge Caton, in his “Antelope -and Deer of America,” gave a full account of not -only the habits and appearance, but the methods of chase -and life histories of the prongbuck, and of all the different -kinds of deer found in the United States. Dr. -Allen, in his memoir on the bisons of America, and -Hornaday, in his book upon their extermination, have -rendered similar service for the vast herds of shaggy-maned -wild cattle which have vanished with such melancholy -rapidity during the lifetime of the present -generation. Mr. Van Dyke’s “Still-Hunter” is a noteworthy -book, which, for the first time, approaches the -still-hunter and his favorite game, the deer, from what -may be called the standpoint of the scientific sportsman. -It is one of the few hunting-books which should really -be studied by the beginner because of what he can learn -<span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>therefrom in reference to the hunter’s craft. The Century -Co.’s volume “Sport With Gun and Rod” contains -accounts of the chase of most of the kinds of American -big game, although there are two or three notable omissions, -such as the elk, the grizzly bear, and the white -goat. Warburton Pike, Caspar Whitney, and Frederick -Schwatka have given fairly full and very interesting accounts -of boreal sport; and Pendarves Vivian and Baillie-Grohman -of hunting trips in the Rockies. A new and -most important departure, that of photographing wild -animals in their homes, was marked by Mr. Wallihan’s -“Camera Shots at Big Game.” This is a noteworthy -volume. Mr. Wallihan was the pioneer in a work which -is of the utmost importance to the naturalist, the man -of science; and what he accomplished was far more -creditable to himself, and of far more importance to -others, than any amount of game-killing. Finally, in -Parkman’s “Oregon Trail” and Irving’s “Trip on the -Prairie,” two great writers have left us a lasting record -of the free life of the rifle-bearing wanderers who first -hunted in the wild Western lands.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Though not hunting-books, John Burroughs’ writings -and John Muir’s volumes on the Sierras should be -in the hands of every lover of outdoor life, and therefore -in the hands of every hunter who is a nature lover, -and not a mere game-butcher.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Of course, there are plenty of books on European -game. Scrope’s “Art of Deerstalking,” Bromley Davenport’s -“Sport,” and all the books of Charles St. John, -are classic. The chase of the wolf and boar is excellently -<span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>described by an unnamed writer in “Wolf-Hunting and -Wild Sports of Brittany.” Baillie-Grohman’s “Sport in -the Alps” is devoted to the mountain game of Central -Europe, and is, moreover, a mine of curious hunting lore, -most of which is entirely new to men unacquainted with -the history of the chase in Continental Europe during -the last few centuries. An entirely novel type of adventure -was set forth in Lamont’s “Seasons with the Sea -Horses,” wherein he described his hunting in arctic waters -with rifle and harpoon. Lloyd’s “Scandinavian Adventures” -and “Northern Field Sports,” and Whishaw’s -“Out of Doors in Tsar Land,” tell of the life and game -of the snowy northern forests. Chapman has done excellent -work for both Norway and Spain. It would -be impossible even to allude to the German and French -books on the chase, such as the admirable but rather -technical treatises of Le Couteulx de Canteleu. Moreover, -these books for the most part belong rather in the -category which includes English fox-hunting literature, -not in that which deals with big game and the life of -the wilderness. This is merely to state a difference—not -to draw a comparison; for the artificial sports of highly -civilized countries are strongly to be commended for -their effect on national character in making good the -loss of certain of the rougher virtues which tend to disappear -with the rougher conditions.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In Mr. Edward North Buxton’s two volumes of -“Short Stalks” we find the books of a man who is a -hardy lover of nature, a skilled hunter, but not a game-butcher; -a man who has too much serious work on hand -<span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>ever to let himself become a mere globe-trotting rifleman. -His volumes teach us just what a big game hunter, a true -sportsman, should be. But the best recent book on the -wilderness is Herr C. G. Schilling’s “<span lang="de" xml:lang="de">Mit Blitzlicht und -Büchse</span>,” giving the writer’s hunting adventures, and -above all his acute scientific observations and his extraordinary -photographic work among the teeming wild -creatures of German East Africa. Mr. Schilling is a -great field naturalist, a trained scientific observer, as well -as a mighty hunter; and no mere hunter can ever do work -even remotely approaching in value that which he has -done. His book should be translated into English at once. -Every effort should be made to turn the modern big -game hunter into the Schilling type of adventure-loving -field naturalist and observer.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I am not disposed to undervalue manly outdoor sports, -or to fail to appreciate the advantage to a nation, as well -as to an individual, of such pastimes; but they must be -pastimes, and not business, and they must not be carried -to excess. There is much to be said for the life of a -professional hunter in lonely lands; but the man able -to be something more, should be that something more—an -explorer, a naturalist, or else a man who makes -his hunting trips merely delightful interludes in his life -work. As for excessive game-butchery, it amounts to a -repulsive debauch. The man whose chief title to glory -is that, during an industrious career of destruction, he -has slaughtered 200,000 head of deer and partridges, -stands unpleasantly near those continental kings and -nobles who, during the centuries before the French Revolution, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>deified the chase of the stag, and made it into -a highly artificial cult, which they followed to the exclusion -of State-craft and war-craft and everything else. -James, the founder of the ignoble English branch of the -Stuart kings, as unkingly a man as ever sat on a throne, -was fanatical in his devotion to the artificial kind of chase -which then absorbed the souls of the magnates of continental -Europe.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There is no need to exercise much patience with men -who protest against field sports, unless, indeed, they are -logical vegetarians of the flabbiest Hindoo type. If no -deer or rabbits were killed, no crops could be cultivated. -If it is morally right to kill an animal to eat its body, -then it is morally right to kill it to preserve its head. A -good sportsman will not hesitate as to the relative value -he puts upon the two, and to get the one he will go a long -time without eating the other. No nation facing the unhealthy -softening and relaxation of fibre which tend to -accompany civilization can afford to neglect anything -that will develop hardihood, resolution, and the scorn of -discomfort and danger. But if sport is made an end instead -of a means, it is better to avoid it altogether. The -greatest stag-hunter of the seventeenth century was the -Elector of Saxony. During the Thirty Years’ War he -killed some 80,000 deer and boar. Now, if there ever -was a time when a ruler needed to apply himself to -serious matters, it was during the Thirty Years’ War in -Germany, and if the Elector in question had eschewed -hunting he might have compared more favorably with -Gustavus Adolphus in his own generation, or the Great -<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span>Elector of Brandenburg in the next generation. The -kings of the House of Savoy have shown that the love -of hardy field sports in no way interferes with the exercise -of the highest kind of governmental ability.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Wellington was fond of fox-hunting, but he did very -little of it during the period of the Peninsular War. -Grant cared much for fine horses, but he devoted his attention -to other matters when facing Lee before Richmond. -Perhaps as good an illustration as could be wished -of the effects of the opposite course is furnished by poor -Louis XVI. He took his sport more seriously than he -did his position as ruler of his people. On the day when -the revolutionary mob came to Versailles, he merely recorded -in his diary that he had “gone out shooting, and -had killed eighty-one head when he was interrupted by -events.” The particular event to which this “interruption” -led up was the guillotine. Not many sportsmen -have to face such a possibility; but they do run the risk -of becoming a curse to themselves and to everyone else, -if they once get into the frame of mind which can look -on the business of life as merely an interruption to sport.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <span class='large'>AT HOME</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>Only a few men, comparatively speaking, lead their -lives in the wilderness; only a few others, again speaking -comparatively, are able to take their holidays in the -shape of hunting trips in the wilderness. But all who -live in the country, or who even spend a month now -and then in the country, can enjoy outdoor life themselves, -and can see that their children enjoy it in the hardy -fashion which will do them good. Camping out, and -therefore the cultivation of the capacity to live in the -open, and the education of the faculties which teach observation, -resourcefulness, self-reliance, are within the -reach of all who really care for the life of the woods, -the fields, and the waters. Marksmanship with the rifle -can be cultivated with small cost or trouble; and if any -one passes much time in the country he can, if only he -chooses, learn much about horsemanship.</p> - -<p class='c010'>But aside from any such benefit, it is an incalculable -added pleasure to any one’s sum of happiness if he or -she grows to know, even slightly and imperfectly, how to -read and enjoy the wonder-book of nature. All hunters -should be nature lovers. It is to be hoped that the days -of mere wasteful, boastful slaughter, are past, and that -from now on the hunter will stand foremost in working -<span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>for the preservation and perpetuation of the wild life, -whether big or little.</p> - -<div id='i_341' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_341.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>RENOWN<br /><br />From a photograph by Arthur Hewitt</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span>The Audubon Society and kindred organizations -have done much for the proper protection of birds and -of wild creatures generally; they have taken the lead in -putting a stop to wanton or short-sighted destruction, and -in giving effective utterance to the desires of those who -wish to cultivate a spirit as far removed as possible from -that which brings about such destruction. Sometimes, -however, in endeavoring to impress upon a not easily -aroused public the need for action, they in their zeal overstate -this need. This is a very venial error compared to -the good they have done; but in the interest of scientific -accuracy it is to be desired that their cause should not -be buttressed in such manner. Many of our birds have -diminished lamentably in numbers, and there is every -reason for taking steps to preserve them. There are water -birds, shore birds, game birds, and an occasional conspicuous -bird of some other kind, which can only be -preserved by such agitation. It is also most desirable -to prevent the slaughter of small birds in the neighborhood -of towns. But I question very much whether there -has been any diminution of small-bird life throughout -the country at large. Certainly no such diminution has -taken place during the past thirty years in any region of -considerable size with which I am personally acquainted. -Take Long Island, for instance. During this period -there has been a lamentable decrease in the waders—the -shore-birds—which used to flock along its southern shore. -But in northern Long Island, in the neighborhood of my -own home, birds, taken as a whole, are quite as plentiful -as they were when I was a boy. There are one or two -species which have decreased in numbers, notably the -woodcock; while the passenger pigeon, which was then -a rarely seen straggler, does not now appear at all. Bobwhites -are less plentiful. On the other hand, some birds -have certainly increased in numbers. This is true, for -instance, of the conspicuously beautiful and showy scarlet -tanager. I think meadow larks are rather more -plentiful than they were, and wrens less so. Bluebirds -have never been common with us, but are now rather -more common than formerly. It seems to me as if the -chickadees were more numerous than formerly. Purple -grackles are more plentiful than when I was a boy, and -the far more attractive redwing blackbirds less so. But -these may all be, and doubtless some must be, purely -local changes, which apply only to our immediate neighborhood. -As regards most of the birds, it would be hard -to say that there has been any change. Of course, obvious -local causes will now and then account for a partial -change. Thus, while the little green herons are quite -as plentiful as formerly in our immediate neighborhood, -the white-crowned night herons are not as plentiful, because -they abandoned their big heronry on Lloyd’s Neck -upon the erection of a sand-mill close by. The only ducks -which are now, or at any time during the last thirty years -have been, abundant in our neighborhood are the surf-ducks -or scoters, and the old-squaws, sometimes known -as long-tailed or sou’-sou’-southerly ducks. From late -fall until early spring the continuous musical clangor of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span>the great flocks of sou’-sou’-southerlies, sounding across -the steel-gray, wintry waves, is well known to all who -sail the waters of the Sound.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Neither the birds nor the flowers are as numerous on -Long Island, or at any rate in my neighborhood, as they -are, for instance, along the Hudson and near Washington. -It is hard to say exactly why flowers and birds are -at times so local in their distribution. For instance, the -bobolinks hardly ever come around us at Sagamore Hill. -Within a radius of three or four miles of the house I do -not remember to have ever seen more than two or three -couples breeding. Sharp-tailed finches are common in -the marsh which lies back of our beach; but the closely -allied seaside finches and the interesting and attractive -little marsh wrens, both of which are common in various -parts of Long Island, are not found near our home. -Similarly, I know of but one place near our house where -the bloodroot grows; the may-flowers are plentiful, but -among hillsides to all appearance equally favored, are -found on some, and not on others. For wealth of bloom, -aside from the orchards, we must rely chiefly upon the -great masses of laurel and the many groves of locusts. -The bloom of the locust is as evanescent as it is fragrant. -During the short time that the trees are in flower the -whole air is heavy with the sweet scent. In the fall, in -the days of the aster and the golden-rod, there is no -such brilliant coloring on Long Island as farther north, -for we miss from among the forest hues the flaming -crimsons and scarlets of the northern maples.</p> - -<div id='i_343' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_343.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>HIS FIRST BUCK</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>Among Long Island singers the wood thrushes are -the sweetest; they nest right around our house, and also -in the more open woods of oak, hickory, and chestnut, -where their serene, leisurely songs ring through the leafy -arches all day long, but especially at daybreak and in -the afternoons. Baltimore orioles, beautiful of voice -and plumage, hang their nests in a young elm near a -corner of the porch; robins, catbirds, valiant kingbirds, -song-sparrows, chippies, bright colored thistle-finches, -nest within a stone’s throw of the house, in the shrubbery -or among the birches and maples; grasshopper -sparrows, humble little creatures with insect-like voices, -nest almost as close, in the open field, just beyond the -line where the grass is kept cut; humming-birds visit -the honeysuckles and trumpet-flowers; chimney swallows -build in the chimneys; barn swallows nest in the stable -and old barn, wrens in the bushes near by. Downy -woodpeckers and many other birds make their homes -in the old orchard; during the migrations it is alive -with warblers. Towhees, thrashers, and Maryland yellow-throats -build and sing in the hedges by the garden; -bush sparrows and dainty little prairie warblers in the -cedar-grown field beyond. Red-wing blackbirds haunt -the wet places. Chickadees wander everywhere; the -wood-pewees, red-eyed vireos, and black-and-white creepers -keep to the tall timber, where the wary, thievish -jays chatter, and the great-crested fly-catchers flit and -scream. In the early spring, when the woods are still -bare, when the hen-hawks cry as they soar high in the -upper air, and the flickers call and drum on the dead -trees, the strong, plaintive note of the meadow lark is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>one of the most noticeable and most attractive sounds. -On the other hand, the cooing of the mourning doves -is most noticeable in the still, hot summer days. In -the thick tangles chats creep and flutter and jerk, and -chuckle and whoop as they sing; I have heard them sing -by night. The cedar birds offer the most absolute contrast -to the chats, in voice, manner, and habits. They -never hide, they are never fussy or noisy; they always -behave as if they were so well-bred that it is impossible -to resent the inroads the soft, quiet, pretty creatures make -among the cherries. One flicker became possessed of a -mania to dig its hole in one corner of the house, just -under the roof. It hammered lustily at boards and -shingles, and returned whenever driven away; until at -last we were reluctantly forced to decree its death. Oven-birds -are very plentiful, and it seems to me that their -flight song is more frequently given after dusk than in -daylight. It is sometimes given when the whippoorwills -are calling. In late June evenings, especially by -moonlight, but occasionally even when the night is dark, -we hear this song from the foot of the hill where the -woods begin. There seems to be one particular corner -where year after year one or more oven-birds dwell -which possess an especial fondness for this night-singing -in the air. It is a pity the little eared owl is called -screech-owl. Its tremulous, quavering cry is not a -screech at all, and has an attraction of its own. These -little owls come up to the house after dark, and are fond -of sitting on the elk antlers over the gable. When the -moon is up, by choosing one’s position, the little owl -appears in sharp outline against the bright disk, seated -on his many-tined perch.</p> - -<div id='i_344' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_344.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ALGONQUIN AND SKIP</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>The neighborhood of Washington abounds in birds -no less than in flowers. There have been one or two -rather curious changes among its birds since John Burroughs -wrote of them forty years ago. He speaks of the -red-headed woodpecker as being then one of the most -abundant of all birds—even more so than the robin. It -is not uncommon now, and a pair have for three years -nested in the White House grounds; but it is at present -by no means an abundant bird. On the other hand, John -Burroughs never saw any mocking-birds, whereas during -the last few years these have been increasing in numbers, -and there are now several places within easy walking or -riding distance where we are almost sure to find them. -The mocking-bird is as conspicuous as it is attractive, -and when at its best it is the sweetest singer of all birds; -though its talent for mimicry, and a certain odd perversity -in its nature, often combine to mar its performances. The -way it flutters and dances in the air when settling in a -tree-top, its alert intelligence, its good looks, and the comparative -ease with which it can be made friendly and -familiar, all add to its charm. I am sorry to say that -it does not nest in the White House grounds. Neither -does the wood thrush, which is so abundant in Rock -Creek Park, within the city limits. Numbers of robins, -song-sparrows, sputtering, creaking purple grackles—crow -blackbirds—and catbirds nest in the grounds. So, I -regret to say, do crows, the sworn foes of all small birds, -and as such entitled to no mercy. The hearty, wholesome, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>vigorous songs of the robins, and the sweet, homelike -strains of the song-sparrows are the first to be regularly -heard in the grounds, and they lead the chorus. -The catbirds chime in later; they are queer, familiar, -strongly individual birds, and are really good singers; -but they persist in interrupting their songs with catlike -squalling. Two or three pairs of flickers nest -with us, as well as the red-headed woodpeckers above -mentioned; and a pair of furtive cuckoos. A pair of -orchard orioles nested with us one spring, but not -again; the redstarts, warbling vireos, and summer warblers -have been more faithful. Baltimore orioles frequently -visit us, as do the scarlet tanagers and tufted -titmice, but for some reason they have not nested here. -This spring a cardinal bird took up his abode in the -neighborhood of the White House, and now and then -waked us in the morning by his vigorous whistling in -a magnolia tree just outside our windows. A Carolina -wren also spent the winter with us, and sang freely. -In both spring and fall the white-throated sparrows -sing while stopping over in the course of their migrations. -Their delicate, plaintive, musical notes are among -the most attractive of bird sounds. In the early spring -we sometimes hear the fox-sparrows and tree-sparrows, -and of course the twittering snow-birds. Later warblers -of many kinds throng the trees around the house. -Rabbits breed in the grounds, and every now and then -possums wander into them. Gray squirrels are numerous, -and some of them so tame that they will eat out of -our hands. In spring they cut the flowers from the stately -tulip trees. In the hot June days the indigo birds are -especially in evidence among the singers around Washington; -they do not mind the heat at all, but perch in the -tops of little trees in the full glare of the sun, and chant -their not very musical, but to my ears rather pleasing, -song throughout the long afternoons. This June two new -guests came to the White House in the shape of two little -saw-whet owls; little bits of fellows, with round heads, -and no head tufts, or “ears.” I think they were the -young of the year; they never uttered the saw-whet -sound, but made soft snoring noises. They always appeared -after nightfall, when we were sitting on the south -porch, in the warm, starlit darkness. They were fearless -and unsuspicious. Sometimes they flew noiselessly to -and fro, and seemingly caught big insects on the wing. -At other times they would perch on the iron awning-bars, -directly overhead. Once one of them perched over -one of the windows, and sat motionless, looking exactly -like an owl of Pallas Athene.</p> - -<div id='i_346' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_346.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>PETER RABBIT<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1904, by E. S. Curtis</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span>At Sagamore Hill we like to have the wood-folk and -field-folk familiar; but there are necessary bounds to such -familiarity where chickens are kept for use and where -the dogs are valued family friends. The rabbits and gray -squirrels are as plenty as ever. The flying squirrels and -chipmunks still hold their own; so do the muskrats in -the marshes. The woodchucks, which we used to watch -as we sat in rocking-chairs on the broad veranda, have -disappeared; but recently one has made himself a home -under the old barn, where we are doing our best to protect -him. A mink which lived by the edge of the bay -<span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>under a great pile of lumber had to be killed; its lair -showed the remains not only of chickens and ducks, but -of two muskrats, and, what was rather curious, of two -skates or flatfish. A fox which lived in the big wood lot -evidently disliked our companionship and abandoned his -home. Of recent years I have actually seen but one fox -near Sagamore Hill. This was early one morning, when -I had spent the night camping on the wooded shores near -the mouth of Huntington Harbor. The younger children -were with me, this being one of the camping-out -trips, in rowboats, on the Sound, taken especially for their -benefit. We had camped the previous evening in a glade -by the edge of a low sea-bluff, far away from any house; -and while the children were intently watching me as I -fried strips of beefsteak and thin slices of potatoes in -bacon fat, we heard a fox barking in the woods. This -gave them a delightfully wild feeling, and with refreshing -confidence they discussed the likelihood of -seeing it next morning; and to my astonishment see -it we did, on the shore, soon after we started to row -home.</p> - -<div id='i_348' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_348.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE GUINEA PIGS</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>One pleasant fall morning in 1892 I was writing in -the gun-room, on the top floor of the house, from the -windows of which one can see far over the Sound. Suddenly -my small boy of five bustled up in great excitement -to tell me that the hired-man had come back from -the wood-pile pond—a muddy pool in a beech and -hickory grove a few hundred yards from the house—to -say that he had seen a coon and that I should come -down at once with my rifle; for Davis, the colored gardener, had been complaining much about the loss of his -chickens and did not know whether the malefactor was -a coon or a mink. Accordingly, I picked up a rifle and -trotted down to the pond holding it in one hand, while -the little boy trotted after me, affectionately clasping the -butt. Sure enough, in a big blasted chestnut close to -the pond was the coon, asleep in a shallow hollow of -the trunk, some forty feet from the ground. It was a -very exposed place for a coon to lie during the day-time, -but this was a bold fellow and seemed entirely undisturbed -by our voices. He was altogether too near the -house, or rather the chicken-coops, to be permitted to -stay where he was—especially as but a short time before -I had, with mistaken soft-heartedness, spared a possum -I found on the place—and accordingly I raised my rifle; -then I remembered for the first time that the rear sight -was off, as I had taken it out for some reason; and in -consequence I underwent the humiliation of firing two -or three shots in vain before I got the coon. As he -fell out of the tree the little boy pounced gleefully on -him; fortunately he was dead, and we walked back to -the house in triumph, each holding a hind leg of the -quarry.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The possum spoken of above was found in a dogwood -tree not more than eighty yards from the house, one afternoon -when we were returning from a walk in the woods. -As something had been killing the hens, I felt that it was -at least under suspicion and that I ought to kill it, but -a possum is such an absurd creature that I could not -resist playing with it for some time; after that I felt that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>to kill it in cold-blood would be too much like murder, -and let it go. This tender-heartedness was regarded as -much misplaced both by farmer and gardener; hence the -coon suffered.</p> - -<p class='c010'>A couple of years later, on a clear, cold Thanksgiving -Day, we had walked off some five miles to chop out a -bridle-path which had become choked with down-timber; -the two elder of our little boys were with us. The -sun had set long ere our return; we were walking home -on a road through our own woods and were near the -house. We had with us a stanch friend, a large yellow -dog, which one of the children, with fine disregard -for considerations of sex, had named Susan. Suddenly -Susan gave tongue off in the woods to one side and we -found he had treed a possum. This time I was hardhearted -and the possum fell a victim; the five-year-old -boy explaining to the seven-year-old that “it was the -first time he had ever seen a fellow killed.”</p> - -<p class='c010'>Susan was one of many dogs whose lives were a joy -and whose deaths were a real grief to the family; among -them and their successors are or have been Sailor Boy, -the Chesapeake Bay dog, who not only loves guns, but -also fireworks and rockets, and who exercises a close and -delighted supervision over every detail of each Fourth -of July celebration; Alan and Jessie, the Scotch terriers; -and Jack, the most loved of all, a black smooth-haired -Manchester terrier. Jack lived in the house; -the others outside, ever on the lookout to join the family -in rambles through the woods. Jack was human in his -intelligence and affection; he learned all kinds of tricks, -was a high-bred gentleman, never brawled, and was a -dauntless fighter. Besides the family, his especial friend, -playfellow, and teacher was colored Charles, the footman -at Washington. Skip, the little black-and-tan terrier -that I brought back from the Colorado bear hunt, -changed at once into a real little-boy’s dog. He never -lets his small master out of his sight, and rides on every -horse that will let him—by preference on Algonquin the -sheltie, whose nerves are of iron.</p> - -<div id='i_350' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_350.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>FAMILY FRIENDS</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>The first night possum hunt in which I ever took part -was at Quantico, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, -some twenty miles below Washington. It was a number -of years ago, and several of us were guests of a loved -friend, Hallett Phillips, since dead. Although no hunter, -Phillips was devoted to outdoor life. I think it was at -this time that Rudyard Kipling had sent him the manuscript -of “The Feet of the Young Men,” which he read -aloud to us.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Quantico is an island, a quaint, delightful place, with -a club-house. We started immediately after dark, going -across to the mainland, accompanied by a dozen hounds, -with three or four negroes to manage them and serve as -axemen. Each member of the party carried a torch, -as without one it was impossible to go at any speed -through the woods. The dogs, of course, have to be specially -trained not to follow either fox or rabbit. It was -dawn before we got back, wet, muddy, and weary, carrying -eleven possums. All night long we rambled through -the woods and across the fields, the dogs working about -us as we followed in single file. After a while some dog -<span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>would strike a trail. It might take some time to puzzle -it out; then the whole pack would be away, and all the -men ran helter-skelter after them, plunging over logs and -through swamps, and now and then taking headers in -the darkness. We were never fortunate enough to strike -a coon, which would have given a good run and a fight -at the end of it. When the unfortunate possum was overtaken -on the ground he was killed before we got up. -Otherwise he was popped alive into one of the big bags -carried by the axemen. Two or three times he got into a -hollow log or hole and we dug or chopped him out. Generally, -however, he went up a tree. It was a picturesque -sight, in the flickering glare of the torches, to see the dogs -leaping up around the trunk of a tree and finally to make -out the possum clinging to the trunk or perched on some -slender branch, his eyes shining brightly through the -darkness; or to watch the muscular grace with which the -darky axemen, ragged and sinewy, chopped into any tree -if it had too large and smooth a trunk to climb. A possum -is a queer, sluggish creature, whose brain seems to -work more like that of some reptile than like a mammal’s. -When one is found in a tree there is no difficulty -whatever in picking it off with the naked hand. Two -or three times during the night I climbed the tree myself, -either going from branch to branch or swarming up some -tangle of grape-vines. The possum opened his mouth as -I approached and looked as menacing as he knew how; -but if I pulled him by the tail he forgot everything except -trying to grab with all four feet, and then I could -take him by the back of the neck and lift him off—either -<span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span>carrying him down, held gingerly at arm’s length, or -dropping him into the open mouth of a bag if I felt sufficiently -sure of my aim.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the spring of 1903, while in western Kansas, a little -girl gave me a baby badger, captured by her brother, and -named after him, Josiah. I took Josiah home to Sagamore -Hill, where the children received him literally with -open arms, while even the dogs finally came to tolerate -him. He grew apace, and was a quaint and on the whole -a friendly—though occasionally short-tempered—pet. -He played tag with us with inexhaustible energy, looking -much like a small mattress with a leg at each corner; he -dug holes with marvellous rapidity; and when he grew -snappish we lifted him up by the back of the neck, which -rendered him harmless. He ate bread and milk, dead -mice and birds, and eggs; he would take a hen’s egg in -his mouth, break it, and avoid spilling any of the contents. -When angered, he hissed, and at other times he made low -guttural sounds. The nine-year-old boy became his especial -friend. Now and then he nipped the little boy’s -legs, but this never seemed to interrupt the amicable relations -between the two; as the little boy normally wore -neither shoes nor stockings, and his blue overalls were -thin, Josiah probably found the temptation at times irresistible. -If on such occasions the boy was in Josiah’s -wire-fenced enclosure, he sat on a box with his legs tucked -under him; if the play was taking place outside, he -usually climbed into the hammock, while Josiah pranced -and capered clumsily beneath, tail up and head thrown -back. But Josiah never bit when picked up; although -<span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span>he hissed like a teakettle as the little boy carried him -about, usually tightly clasped round where his waist -would have been if he had had one.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At different times I have been given a fairly appalling -number of animals, from known and unknown friends; in -one year the list included—besides a lion, a hyena, and a -zebra from the Emperor of Ethiopia—five bears, a wildcat, -a coyote, two macaws, an eagle, a barn owl, and several -snakes and lizards. Most of these went to the Zoo, -but a few were kept by the children. Those thus kept -numbered at one end of the scale gentle, trustful, pretty -things, like kangaroo rats and flying squirrels; and at the -other end a queer-tempered young black bear, which the -children named Jonathan Edwards, partly because of certain -well-marked Calvinistic tendencies in his disposition, -partly out of compliment to their mother, whose ancestors -included that Puritan divine. The kangaroo rats and -flying squirrels slept in their pockets and blouses, went to -school with them, and sometimes unexpectedly appeared -at breakfast or dinner. The bear added zest to life in -more ways than one. When we took him to walk, it was -always with a chain and club; and when at last he went -to the Zoo, the entire household breathed a sigh of relief, -although I think the dogs missed him, as he had occasionally -yielded them the pleasure of the chase in its -strongest form.</p> - -<div id='i_354' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_354.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>JOSIAH</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>As a steady thing, the children found rabbits and -guinea pigs the most satisfactory pets. The guinea pigs -usually rejoiced in the names of the local or national -celebrities of the moment; at one time there were five, -which were named after naval heroes and friendly ecclesiastical -dignitaries—an Episcopalian Bishop, a Catholic -Priest, and my own Dutch Reformed Pastor—Bishop -Doane, Father O’Grady, Dr. Johnson, Fighting Bob -Evans, and Admiral Dewey. Father O’Grady, by the -way, proved to be of the softer sex; a fact definitely established -when two of his joint owners, rushing breathless -into the room, announced to a mixed company, “Oh, oh, -Father O’Grady has had some children!”</p> - -<p class='c010'>Of course there are no pets like horses; and horsemanship -is a test of prowess. The best among vigorous -out-of-door sports should be more than pastimes. Play -is good for play’s sake, within moderate limits, especially -if it is athletic play; and, again within moderate limits, -it is good because a healthy body helps toward healthiness -of mind. But if play serves only either of these -ends, it does not deserve the serious consideration which -rightly attaches to play which in itself fits a man to do -things worth doing; and there exists no creature much -more contemptible than a man past his first youth who -leads a life devoted to mere sport, without thought of the -serious work of life. In a free Government the average -citizen should be able to do his duty in war as well as in -peace; otherwise he falls short. Cavalrymen and infantrymen, -who do not need special technical knowledge, are -easily developed out of men who are already soldiers in -the rough, that is, who, in addition to the essential qualities -of manliness and character, the qualities of resolution, -daring and intelligence, which go to make up the “fighting -edge,” also possess physical hardihood; who can live -<span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span>in the open, walk long distances, ride, shoot, and endure -fatigue, hardship, and exposure. But if all these traits -must be painfully acquired, then it takes a long time indeed -before the man can be turned into a good soldier. -Now, there is little tendency to develop these traits in our -highly complex, rather over-civilized, modern industrial -life, and therefore the sports which produce them serve -a useful purpose. Hence, when able to afford a horse, -or to practise on a rifle range, one can feel that the enjoyment -is warranted by what may be called considerations -of national ethics.</p> - -<p class='c010'>As with everything else, so with riding; some take to -it naturally, others never can become even fairly good -horsemen. All the children ride, with varying skill. -While young, a Shetland pony serves; the present pony, -Algonquin, a calico or pinto, being as knowing and -friendly as possible. His first small owner simply adored -him, treating him as a twin brother, and having implicit -faith in his mental powers. On one occasion, when a -naval officer of whom the children were fond came to -call, in full dress, Algonquin’s master, who was much -impressed by the sight, led up Algonquin to enjoy it too, -and was shocked by the entire indifference with which the -greedy pony persisted in eating grass. One favorite polo -pony, old Diamond, long after he became a pensioner -served for whichever child had just graduated from the -sheltie. Next in order was a little mare named Yagenka, -after the heroine of one of Sienkewicz’s blood-curdling -romances of mediæval Poland. When every rideable -animal is impressed, all the children sometimes go out -with their mother and me; looking much like the Cumberbatch -family in Caldecott’s pictures.</p> - -<div id='i_356' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_356.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>BLEISTEIN JUMPING<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1902, by Clinedinst, Washington, D. C.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span>Of recent years I have not been able to ride to hounds; -but when opportunity has offered I have kept as saddle -horses one or two hunters, so that instead of riding the -road I could strike off across country; the hunter scrambling -handily through rough places, and jumping an occasional -fence if necessary. While in Washington this -is often, except for an occasional long walk down Rock -Creek or along the Virginia side of the Potomac, the -only exercise I can get. Among the various horses I have -owned in recent years Bleistein was the one I liked best, -because of his good nature and courage. He was a fair, -although in no way a remarkable, jumper. One day, -May 3, 1902, I took him out to Chevy Chase and had -him photographed while jumping various fences and -brush hurdles; the accompanying picture is from one of -these photos. Another hunter, Renown, was a much -higher, but an uncertain, jumper. He was a beautiful -horse, and very good-tempered, but excessively -timid.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We have been able to fix a rifle range at Sagamore, -though only up to 200 yards. Some of the children take -to shooting naturally, others can only with difficulty be -made to learn the rudiments of what they regard as a -tiresome business. Many friends have shot on this range. -We use only sporting rifles; my own is one of the new -model Government Springfields, stocked and sighted to -suit myself. For American game the modern small calibre, -high power, smokeless-powder rifle, of any one -<span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>among several makes, is superseding the others; although -for some purposes an old 45–70 or 45–90, even with black -powder, is as good as any modern weapon, and for very -heavy game the calibre should be larger than that of the -typical modern arm, with a heavier ball and more -powder. But after all, any good modern rifle is good -enough; when a certain pitch of excellence in the weapon -has been attained, then the determining factor in achieving -success is the quality of the man behind the gun.</p> - -<p class='c010'>My eldest boy killed his first buck just before he was -fourteen, and his first moose—a big bull with horns -which spread 56 inches—just before he was seventeen. -Both were killed in the wilderness, in the great north -woods, on trips sufficiently hard to afford some test of -endurance and skill. Such a hunting trip is even more -than a delightful holiday, provided the work is hard as -well as enjoyable; and therefore it must be taken in the -wilderness. Big private preserves may serve a useful -purpose if managed with such judgment and kindliness -that the good will of the neighborhood is secured; but -the sport in them somehow seems to have lost its savor, -even though they may be large enough to give the chance -of testing a man’s woodcraft no less than his marksmanship. -I have but once hunted in one of them. That -was in the fall of 1902, when Senator Proctor took me -into the Corbin Park game preserve in New Hampshire. -The Senator is not merely a good shot; he is a good -hunter, with the eye, the knowledge of the game, and the -ability to take advantage of cover and walk silently, -which are even more important than straight powder. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>He took me out alone for the afternoon, and, besides the -tame buffalo, he showed me one elk and over twenty deer. -We were only after the wild boar, which have flourished -wonderfully. Just at dusk we saw a three-year-old boar -making his way toward an old deserted orchard; and -creeping up, I shot him as he munched apples under one -of the trees.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER XII<br /> <span class='large'>IN THE LOUISIANA CANEBRAKES</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>In October, 1907, I spent a fortnight in the canebrakes -of northern Louisiana, my hosts being Messrs. -John M. Parker and John A. McIlhenny. Surgeon-General -Rixey, of the United States Navy, and Dr. Alexander -Lambert were with me. I was especially anxious -to kill a bear in these canebrakes after the fashion of the -old Southern planters, who for a century past have followed -the bear with horse, hound and horn in Louisiana, -Mississippi and Arkansas.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Our first camp was on Tensas Bayou. This is in the -heart of the great alluvial bottom-land created during -the countless ages through which the mighty Mississippi -has poured out of the heart of the continent. It is in the -black belt of the South, in which the negroes outnumber -the whites four or five to one, the disproportion in the -region in which I was actually hunting being far greater. -There is no richer soil in all the earth; and when, as will -soon be the case, the chances of disaster from flood are -over, I believe the whole land will be cultivated and -densely peopled. At present the possibility of such flood -is a terrible deterrent to settlement, for when the Father -of Waters breaks his boundaries he turns the country -for a breadth of eighty miles into one broad river, the -plantations throughout all this vast extent being from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span>five to twenty feet under water. Cotton is the staple -industry, corn also being grown, while there are a few -rice fields and occasional small patches of sugar cane. -The plantations are for the most part of large size and -tilled by negro tenants for the white owners. Conditions -are still in some respects like those of the pioneer -days. The magnificent forest growth which covers the -land is of little value because of the difficulty in getting -the trees to market, and the land is actually worth more -after the timber has been removed than before. In consequence, -the larger trees are often killed by girdling, -where the work of felling them would entail disproportionate -cost and labor. At dusk, with the sunset glimmering -in the west, or in the brilliant moonlight when the -moon is full, the cotton fields have a strange spectral look, -with the dead trees raising aloft their naked branches. -The cotton fields themselves, when the bolls burst open, -seem almost as if whitened by snow; and the red and -white flowers, interspersed among the burst-open pods, -make the whole field beautiful. The rambling one-story -houses, surrounded by outbuildings, have a picturesqueness -all their own; their very looks betoken the lavish, -whole-hearted, generous hospitality of the planters who -dwell therein.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Beyond the end of cultivation towers the great forest. -Wherever the water stands in pools, and by the edges of -the lakes and bayous, the giant cypress looms aloft, -rivalled in size by some of the red gums and white oaks. -In stature, in towering majesty, they are unsurpassed by -any trees of our eastern forests; lordlier kings of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span>green-leaved world are not to be found until we reach -the sequoias and redwoods of the Sierras. Among them -grow many other trees—hackberry, thorn, honey locust, -tupelo, pecan and ash. In the cypress sloughs the singular -knees of the trees stand two or three feet above the -black ooze. Palmettos grow thickly in places. The canebrakes -stretch along the slight rises of ground, often extending -for miles, forming one of the most striking and -interesting features of the country. They choke out other -growth, the feathery, graceful canes standing tall, slender, -serried, each but a few inches from his brother, and -springing to a height of fifteen or twenty feet. They look -like bamboos; they are well-nigh impenetrable for a man -on horseback; even on foot they make difficult walking -unless free use is made of the heavy bushknife. It is impossible -to see through them for more than fifteen or -twenty paces, and often for not half that distance. Bears -make their lairs in them, and they are the refuge for -hunted things. Outside of them, in the swamp, bushes -of many kinds grow thick among the tall trees, and vines -and creepers climb the trunks and hang in trailing festoons -from the branches. Here likewise the bushknife -is in constant play, as the skilled horsemen thread their -way, often at a gallop, in and out among the great tree -trunks, and through the dense, tangled, thorny undergrowth.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the lakes and larger bayous we saw alligators and -garfish; and monstrous snapping turtles, fearsome brutes -of the slime, as heavy as a man, and with huge horny -beaks that with a single snap could take off a man’s hand -<span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>or foot. One of the planters with us had lost part of his -hand by the bite of an alligator; and had seen a companion -seized by the foot by a huge garfish from which he -was rescued with the utmost difficulty by his fellow-swimmers. -There were black bass in the waters too, and -they gave us many a good meal. Thick-bodied water -moccasins, foul and dangerous, kept near the water; and -farther back in the swamp we found and killed rattlesnakes -and copperheads.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Coon and possum were very plentiful, and in the -streams there were minks and a few otters. Black squirrels -barked in the tops of the tall trees or descended to the -ground to gather nuts or gnaw the shed deer antlers—the -latter a habit they shared with the wood rats. To me the -most interesting of the smaller mammals, however, were -the swamp rabbits, which are thoroughly amphibious in -their habits, not only swimming but diving, and taking -to the water almost as freely as if they were muskrats. -They lived in the depths of the woods and beside the -lonely bayous.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Birds were plentiful. Mocking-birds abounded in -the clearings, where, among many sparrows of more common -kind, I saw the painted finch, the gaudily colored -brother of our little indigo bunting, though at this season -his plumage was faded and dim. In the thick woods -where we hunted there were many cardinal birds and -Carolina wrens, both in full song. Thrashers were even -more common; but so cautious that it was rather difficult -to see them, in spite of their incessant clucking and calling -and their occasional bursts of song. There were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>crowds of warblers and vireos of many different kinds, -evidently migrants from the north, and generally silent. -The most characteristic birds, however, were the woodpeckers, -of which there were seven or eight species, the -commonest around our camp being the handsome red-bellied, -the brother of the red-head which we saw in the -clearings. The most notable birds and those which most -interested me were the great ivory-billed woodpeckers. -Of these I saw three, all of them in groves of giant -cypress; their brilliant white bills contrasted finely with -the black of their general plumage. They were noisy -but wary, and they seemed to me to set off the wildness of -the swamp as much as any of the beasts of the chase. -Among the birds of prey the commonest were the barred -owls, which I have never elsewhere seen so plentiful. -Their hooting and yelling were heard all around us -throughout the night, and once one of them hooted at -intervals for several minutes at midday. One of these -owls had caught and was devouring a snake in the late -afternoon, while it was still daylight. In the dark nights -and still mornings and evenings their cries seemed strange -and unearthly, the long hoots varied by screeches, and -by all kinds of uncanny noises.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At our first camp our tents were pitched by the bayou. -For four days the weather was hot, with steaming rains; -after that it grew cool and clear. Huge biting flies, -bigger than bees, attacked our horses; but the insect -plagues, so veritable a scourge in this country during the -months of warm weather, had well-nigh vanished in the -first few weeks of the fall.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>The morning after we reached camp we were joined -by Ben Lilley, the hunter, a spare, full-bearded man, with -wild, gentle, blue eyes and a frame of steel and whipcord. -I never met any other man so indifferent to fatigue and -hardship. He equalled Cooper’s Deerslayer in woodcraft, -in hardihood, in simplicity—and also in loquacity. -The morning he joined us in camp, he had come on foot -through the thick woods, followed by his two dogs, and -had neither eaten nor drunk for twenty-four hours; for -he did not like to drink the swamp water. It had rained -hard throughout the night and he had no shelter, no -rubber coat, nothing but the clothes he was wearing, and -the ground was too wet for him to lie on; so he perched -in a crooked tree in the beating rain, much as if he had -been a wild turkey. But he was not in the least tired -when he struck camp; and, though he slept an hour after -breakfast, it was chiefly because he had nothing else to -do, inasmuch as it was Sunday, on which day he never -hunted nor labored. He could run through the woods -like a buck, was far more enduring, and quite as indifferent -to weather, though he was over fifty years old. -He had trapped and hunted throughout almost all the -half century of his life, and on trail of game he was as -sure as his own hounds. His observations on wild creatures -were singularly close and accurate. He was particularly -fond of the chase of the bear, which he followed -by himself, with one or two dogs; often he would be -on the trail of his quarry for days at a time, lying down -to sleep wherever night overtook him, and he had killed -over a hundred and twenty bears.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>Late in the evening of the same day we were joined -by two gentlemen to whom we owed the success of our -hunt: Messrs. Clive and Harley Metcalf, planters from -Mississippi, men in the prime of life, thorough woodsmen -and hunters, skilled marksmen, and utterly fearless -horsemen. For a quarter of a century they had hunted -bear and deer with horse and hound, and were masters -of the art. They brought with them their pack of bear -hounds, only one, however, being a thoroughly staunch -and seasoned veteran. The pack was under the immediate -control of a negro hunter, Holt Collier, in his own -way as remarkable a character as Ben Lilley. He was a -man of sixty and could neither read nor write, but he -had all the dignity of an African chief, and for half a -century he had been a bear hunter, having killed or assisted -in killing over three thousand bears. He had been -born a slave on the Hinds plantation, his father, an old -man when he was born, having been the body servant and -cook of “old General Hinds,” as he called him, when the -latter fought under Jackson at New Orleans. When ten -years old Holt had been taken on the horse behind his -young master, the Hinds of that day, on a bear hunt, -when he killed his first bear. In the Civil War he had -not only followed his master to battle as his body servant, -but had acted under him as sharpshooter against the -Union soldiers. After the war he continued to stay with -his master until the latter died, and had then been adopted -by the Metcalfs; and he felt that he had brought them -up, and treated them with that mixture of affection and -grumbling respect which an old nurse shows toward the -lad who has ceased being a child. The two Metcalfs -and Holt understood one another thoroughly, and understood -their hounds and the game their hounds followed -almost as thoroughly.</p> - -<div id='i_366' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_366.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE BEAR HUNTERS<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Alexander Lambert, M.D.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>They had killed many deer and wildcat, and now and -then a panther; but their favorite game was the black -bear, which, until within a very few years, was extraordinarily -plentiful in the swamps and canebrakes on both -sides of the lower Mississippi, and which is still found -here and there, although in greatly diminished numbers. -In Louisiana and Mississippi the bears go into their dens -toward the end of January, usually in hollow trees, often -very high up in living trees, but often also in great logs -that lie rotting on the ground. They come forth toward -the end of April, the cubs having been born in the interval. -At this time the bears are nearly as fat, so my informants -said, as when they enter their dens in January; -but they lose their fat very rapidly. On first coming out -in the spring they usually eat ash buds and the tender -young cane called mutton cane, and at that season they -generally refuse to eat the acorns even when they are -plentiful. According to my informants it is at this season -that they are most apt to take to killing stock, almost -always the hogs which run wild or semi-wild in the -woods. They are very individual in their habits, however; -many of them never touch stock, while others, usually -old he-bears, may kill numbers of hogs; in one case -an old he-bear began this hog-killing just as soon as he -left his den. In the summer months they find but little -to eat, and it is at this season that they are most industrious -<span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>in hunting for grubs, insects, frogs and small mammals. -In some neighborhoods they do not eat fish, while in other -places, perhaps not far away, they not only greedily eat -dead fish, but will themselves kill fish if they can find -them in shallow pools left by the receding waters. As -soon as the mast is on the ground they begin to feed upon -it, and when the acorns and pecans are plentiful they eat -nothing else; though at first berries of all kinds and -grapes are eaten also. When in November they have -begun only to eat the acorns they put on fat as no other -wild animal does, and by the end of December a full-grown -bear may weigh at least twice as much as it does -in August, the difference being as great as between a very -fat and a lean hog. Old he-bears which in August weigh -three hundred pounds and upward will, toward the end -of December, weigh six hundred pounds, and even more -in exceptional cases.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Bears vary greatly in their habits in different localities, -in addition to the individual variation among those -of the same neighborhood. Around Avery Island, John -McIlhenny’s plantation, the bears only appear from June -to November; there they never kill hogs, but feed at first -on corn and then on sugar cane, doing immense damage -in the fields, quite as much as hogs would do. But when -we were on the Tensas we visited a family of settlers who -lived right in the midst of the forest ten miles from any -neighbors; and although bears were plentiful around -them they never molested their corn fields—in which the -coons, however, did great damage.</p> - -<p class='c010'>A big bear is cunning, and is a dangerous fighter to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>the dogs. It is only in exceptional cases, however, that -these black bears, even when wounded and at bay, are -dangerous to men, in spite of their formidable strength. -Each of the hunters with whom I was camped had been -charged by one or two among the scores or hundreds of -bears he had slain, but no one of them had ever been injured, -although they knew other men who had been injured. -Their immunity was due to their own skill and -coolness; for when the dogs were around the bear the -hunter invariably ran close in so as to kill the bear at once -and save the pack. Each of the Metcalfs had on one -occasion killed a large bear with a knife, when the hounds -had seized it and the men dared not fire for fear of shooting -one of them. They had in their younger days hunted -with a General Hamberlin, a Mississippi planter whom -they well knew, who was then already an old man. He -was passionately addicted to the chase of the bear, not -only because of the sport it afforded, but also in a certain -way as a matter of vengeance; for his father, also a keen -bear-hunter, had been killed by a bear. It was an old he, -which he had wounded and which had been bayed by the -dogs; it attacked him, throwing him down and biting -him so severely that he died a couple of days later. This -was in 1847. Mr. W. H. Lambeth sends the following -account of the fatal encounter:</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I send you an extract from the <i>Brother Jonathan</i>, -published in New York in 1847:</p> - -<p class='c019'>“‘Dr. Monroe Hamberlin, Robert Wilson, Joe Brazeil, -and others left Satartia, Miss., and in going up Big Sunflower -<span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>River, met Mr. Leiser and his party of hunters returning -to Vicksburg. Mr. Leiser told Dr. Hamberlin that he -saw the largest bear track at the big Mound on Lake George -that he ever saw, and was afraid to tackle him. Dr. Hamberlin -said, “I never saw one that I was afraid to tackle.” Dr. -Hamberlin landed his skiff at the Mound and his dogs soon -bayed the bear. Dr. Hamberlin fired and the ball glanced on -the bear’s head. The bear caught him by the right thigh and -tore all the flesh off. He drew his knife and the bear crushed -his right arm. He cheered the dogs and they pulled the bear -off. The bear whipped the dogs and attacked him the third -time, biting him in the hollow back of his neck. Mr. Wilson -came up and shot the bear dead on Dr. Hamberlin. The party -returned to Satartia, but Dr. Hamberlin told them to put the -bear in the skiff, that he would not leave without his antagonist. -The bear weighed 640 pounds.’</p> - -<p class='c019'>“Dr. Hamberlin lived three days. I knew all the parties. -His son John and myself hunted with them in 1843 and 1844, -when we were too small to carry a gun.”</p> - -<p class='c010'>A large bear is not afraid of dogs, and an old he, -or a she with cubs, is always on the lookout for a chance -to catch and kill any dog that comes near enough. While -lean and in good running condition it is not an easy matter -to bring a bear to bay; but as they grow fat they become -steadily less able to run, and the young ones, and -even occasionally a full-grown she, will then readily tree. -If a man is not near by, a big bear that has become tired -will treat the pack with whimsical indifference. The -Metcalfs recounted to me how they had once seen a bear, -which had been chased quite a time, evidently make up -its mind that it needed a rest and could afford to take it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span>without much regard for the hounds. The bear accordingly -selected a small opening and lay flat on its back with -its nose and all its four legs extended. The dogs surrounded -it in frantic excitement, barking and baying, and -gradually coming in a ring very close up. The bear was -watching, however, and suddenly sat up with a jerk, -frightening the dogs nearly into fits. Half of them turned -back somersaults in their panic, and all promptly gave -the bear ample room. The bear having looked about, lay -flat on its back again, and the pack gradually regaining -courage once more closed in. At first the bear, which -was evidently reluctant to arise, kept them at a distance -by now and then thrusting an unexpected paw toward -them; and when they became too bold it sat up with a -jump and once more put them all to flight.</p> - -<p class='c010'>For several days we hunted perseveringly around this -camp on the Tensas Bayou, but without success. Deer -abounded, but we could find no bears; and of the deer we -killed only what we actually needed for use in camp. I -killed one myself by a good shot, in which, however, I -fear that the element of luck played a considerable part. -We had started as usual by sunrise, to be gone all day; -for we never counted upon returning to camp before -sunset. For an hour or two we threaded our way, first -along an indistinct trail, and then on an old disused road, -the hardy woods-horses keeping on a running walk without -much regard to the difficulties of the ground. The -disused road lay right across a great canebrake, and while -some of the party went around the cane with the dogs, the -rest of us strung out along the road so as to get a shot -<span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span>at any bear that might come across it. I was following -Harley Metcalf, with John McIlhenny and Dr. Rixey -behind on the way to their posts, when we heard in the -far-off distance two of the younger hounds, evidently on -the trail of a deer. Almost immediately afterward a -crash in the bushes at our right hand and behind us made -me turn around, and I saw a deer running across the few -feet of open space; and as I leaped from my horse it disappeared -in the cane. I am a rather deliberate shot, and -under any circumstances a rifle is not the best weapon -for snap shooting, while there is no kind of shooting more -difficult than on running game in a canebrake. Luck -favored me in this instance, however, for there was a spot -a little ahead of where the deer entered in which the cane -was thinner, and I kept my rifle on its indistinct, shadowy -outline until it reached this spot; it then ran quartering -away from me, which made my shot much easier, although -I could only catch its general outline through the cane. -But the 45–70 which I was using is a powerful gun and -shoots right through cane or bushes; and as soon as I -pulled trigger the deer, with a bleat, turned a tremendous -somersault and was dead when we reached it. I -was not a little pleased that my bullet should have -sped so true when I was making my first shot in company -with my hard-riding, straight-shooting planter -friends.</p> - -<p class='c010'>But no bears were to be found. We waited long hours -on likely stands. We rode around the canebrakes -through the swampy jungle, or threaded our way across -them on trails cut by the heavy wood-knives of my companions; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>but we found nothing. Until the trails were -cut the canebrakes were impenetrable to a horse and were -difficult enough to a man on foot. On going through -them it seemed as if we must be in the tropics; the silence, -the stillness, the heat, and the obscurity, all combining to -give a certain eeriness to the task, as we chopped our -winding way slowly through the dense mass of close-growing, -feather-fronded stalks. Each of the hunters -prided himself on his skill with the horn, which was an -essential adjunct of the hunt, used both to summon and -control the hounds, and for signalling among the hunters -themselves. The tones of many of the horns were full -and musical; and it was pleasant to hear them as they -wailed to one another, backward and forward, across the -great stretches of lonely swamp and forest.</p> - -<p class='c010'>A few days convinced us that it was a waste of time -to stay longer where we were. Accordingly, early one -morning we hunters started for a new camp fifteen or -twenty miles to the southward, on Bear Lake. We took -the hounds with us, and each man carried what he chose -or could in his saddle-pockets, while his slicker was on -his horse’s back behind him. Otherwise we took absolutely -nothing in the way of supplies, and the negroes -with the tents and camp equipage were three days before -they overtook us. On our way down we were joined by -Major Amacker and Dr. Miller, with a small pack of cat -hounds. These were good deer dogs, and they ran down -and killed on the ground a good-sized bobcat—a wildcat, -as it is called in the South. It was a male and weighed -twenty-three and a half pounds. It had just killed and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>eaten a large rabbit. The stomachs of the deer we killed, -by the way, contained acorns and leaves.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Our new camp was beautifully situated on the bold, -steep bank of Bear Lake—a tranquil stretch of water, -part of an old river bed, a couple of hundred yards broad -with a winding length of several miles. Giant cypress -grew at the edge of the water; the singular cypress knees -rising in every direction round about, while at the bottoms -of the trunks themselves were often cavernous hollows -opening beneath the surface of water, some of them -serving as dens for alligators. There was a waxing moon, -so that the nights were as beautiful as the days.</p> - -<p class='c010'>From our new camp we hunted as steadily as from the -old. We saw bear sign, but not much of it, and only one -or two fresh tracks. One day the hounds jumped a bear, -probably a yearling from the way it ran; for at this season -a yearling or a two-year-old will run almost like a -deer, keeping to the thick cane as long as it can and then -bolting across through the bushes of the ordinary swamp -land until it can reach another canebrake. After a three -hours’ run this particular animal managed to get clear -away without one of the hunters ever seeing it, and it ran -until all the dogs were tired out. A day or two afterward -one of the other members of the party shot a small yearling—that -is, a bear which would have been two years old -in the following February. It was very lean, weighing -but fifty-five pounds. The finely chewed acorns in its -stomach showed that it was already beginning to find -mast.</p> - -<p class='c010'>We had seen the tracks of an old she in the neighborhood, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span>and the next morning we started to hunt her out. -I went with Clive Metcalf. We had been joined overnight -by Mr. Ichabod Osborn and his son Tom, two -Louisiana planters, with six or eight hounds—or rather -bear dogs, for in these packs most of the animals are of -mixed blood, and, as with all packs that are used in the -genuine hunting of the wilderness, pedigree counts for -nothing as compared with steadiness, courage and intelligence. -There were only two of the new dogs that were -really staunch bear dogs. The father of Ichabod Osborn -had taken up the plantation upon which they were living -in 1811, only a few years after Louisiana became part of -the United States, and young Osborn was now the third -in line from father to son who had steadily hunted bears -in this immediate neighborhood.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On reaching the cypress slough near which the tracks -of the old she had been seen the day before, Clive Metcalf -and I separated from the others and rode off at a -lively pace between two of the canebrakes. After an hour -or two’s wait we heard, very far off, the notes of one -of the loudest-mouthed hounds, and instantly rode -toward it, until we could make out the babel of the pack. -Some hard galloping brought us opposite the point -toward which they were heading,—for experienced hunters -can often tell the probable line of a bear’s flight, and -the spots at which it will break cover. But on this occasion -the bear shied off from leaving the thick cane and -doubled back; and soon the hounds were once more out -of hearing, while we galloped desperately around the -edge of the cane. The tough woods-horses kept their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span>feet like cats as they leaped logs, plunged through bushes, -and dodged in and out among the tree trunks; and we had -all we could do to prevent the vines from lifting us out -of the saddle, while the thorns tore our hands and faces. -Hither and thither we went, now at a trot, now at a run, -now stopping to listen for the pack. Occasionally we -could hear the hounds, and then off we would go racing -through the forest toward the point toward which we -thought they were heading. Finally, after a couple of -hours of this, we came up on one side of a canebrake on -the other side of which we could hear, not only the pack, -but the yelling and cheering of Harley Metcalf and Tom -Osborn and one or two of the negro hunters, all of whom -were trying to keep the dogs up to their work in the thick -cane. Again we rode ahead, and now in a few minutes -were rewarded by hearing the leading dogs come to bay -in the thickest of the cover. Having galloped as near to -the spot as we could we threw ourselves off the horses and -plunged into the cane, trying to cause as little disturbance -as possible, but of course utterly unable to avoid making -some noise. Before we were within gunshot, however, -we could tell by the sounds that the bear had once again -started, making what is called a “walking bay.” Clive -Metcalf, a finished bear-hunter, was speedily able to determine -what the bear’s probable course would be, and -we stole through the cane until we came to a spot near -which he thought the quarry would pass. Then we -crouched down, I with my rifle at the ready. Nor did -we have long to wait. Peering through the thick-growing -stalks I suddenly made out the dim outline of the -bear coming straight toward us; and noiselessly I cocked -and half-raised my rifle, waiting for a clearer chance. In -a few seconds it came; the bear turned almost broadside -to me, and walked forward very stiff-legged, almost -as if on tiptoe, now and then looking back at -the nearest dogs. These were two in number—Rowdy, -a very deep-voiced hound, in the lead, and Queen, a -shrill-tongued brindled bitch, a little behind. Once or -twice the bear paused as she looked back at them, evidently -hoping that they would come so near that by a -sudden race she could catch one of them. But they were -too wary.</p> - -<div id='i_376' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_376.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>LISTENING FOR THE PACK<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Alexander Lambert, M.D.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span>All of this took but a few moments, and as I saw the -bear quite distinctly some twenty yards off, I fired for -behind the shoulder. Although I could see her outline, -yet the cane was so thick that my sight was on it and not -on the bear itself. But I knew my bullet would go true; -and sure enough, at the crack of the rifle the bear stumbled -and fell forward, the bullet having passed through -both lungs and out at the opposite side. Immediately the -dogs came running forward at full speed, and we raced -forward likewise lest the pack should receive damage. -The bear had but a minute or two to live, yet even in -that time more than one valuable hound might lose its -life; when within half a dozen steps of the black, angered -beast, I fired again, breaking the spine at the root -of the neck; and down went the bear stark dead, slain -in the canebrake in true hunter fashion. One by one the -hounds struggled up and fell on their dead quarry, the -noise of the worry filling the air. Then we dragged -<span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>the bear out to the edge of the cane, and my companion -wound his horn to summon the other hunters.</p> - -<p class='c010'>This was a big she-bear, very lean, and weighing two -hundred and two pounds. In her stomach were palmetto -berries, beetles and a little mutton cane, but chiefly -acorns chewed up in a fine brown mass.</p> - -<p class='c010'>John McIlhenny had killed a she-bear about the size -of this on his plantation at Avery’s Island the previous -June. Several bears had been raiding his corn fields and -one evening he determined to try to waylay them. After -dinner he left the ladies of his party on the gallery of his -house while he rode down in a hollow and concealed himself -on the lower side of the corn field. Before he had -waited ten minutes a she-bear and her cub came into the -field. Then she rose on her hind legs, tearing down an -armful of ears of corn which she seemingly gave to the -cub, and then rose for another armful. McIlhenny shot -her; tried in vain to catch the cub; and rejoined the party -on the veranda, having been absent but one hour.</p> - -<p class='c010'>After the death of my bear I had only a couple of -days left. We spent them a long distance from camp, -having to cross two bayous before we got to the hunting -grounds. I missed a shot at a deer, seeing little more than -the flicker of its white tail through the dense bushes; -and the pack caught and killed a very lean two-year-old -bear weighing eighty pounds. Near a beautiful pond -called Panther Lake we found a deer-lick, the ground not -merely bare but furrowed into hollows by the tongues of -the countless generations of deer that had frequented -the place. We also passed a huge mound, the only hillock -<span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span>in the entire district; it was the work of man, for it had -been built in the unknown past by those unknown people -whom we call moundbuilders. On the trip, all told, -we killed and brought into camp three bears, six deer, a -wildcat, a turkey, a possum, and a dozen squirrels; and -we ate everything except the wildcat.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the evenings we sat around the blazing camp-fires, -and, as always on such occasions, each hunter told tales -of his adventures and of the strange feats and habits of -the beasts of the wilderness. There had been beaver all -through this delta in the old days, and a very few are still -left in out-of-the-way places. One Sunday morning we -saw two wolves, I think young of the year, appear for a -moment on the opposite side of the bayou, but they vanished -before we could shoot. All of our party had had a -good deal of experience with wolves. The Metcalfs had -had many sheep killed by them, the method of killing -being invariably by a single bite which tore open the -throat while the wolf ran beside his victim. The wolves -also killed young hogs, but were very cautious about meddling -with an old sow; while one of the big half-wild -boars that ranged free through the woods had no fear of -any number of wolves. Their endurance and the extremely -difficult nature of the country made it difficult to -hunt them, and the hunters all bore them a grudge, because -if a hound got lost in a region where wolves were -at all plentiful they were almost sure to find and kill him -before he got home. They were fond of preying on dogs, -and at times would boldly kill the hounds right ahead of -the hunters. In one instance, while the dogs were following -<span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>a bear and were but a couple of hundred yards -in front of the horsemen, a small party of wolves got in -on them and killed two. One of the Osborns, having a -valuable hound which was addicted to wandering in the -woods, saved him from the wolves by putting a bell -on him. The wolves evidently suspected a trap and -would never go near the dog. On one occasion another -of his hounds got loose with a chain on, and they found -him a day or two afterward unharmed, his chain having -become entangled in the branches of a bush. One or -two wolves had evidently walked around and around the -imprisoned dog, but the chain had awakened their suspicions -and they had not pounced on him. They had -killed a yearling heifer a short time before, on Osborn’s -plantation, biting her in the hams. It has been my experience -that fox-hounds as a rule are afraid of attacking -a wolf; but all of my friends assured me that their -dogs, if a sufficient number of them were together, would -tackle a wolf without hesitation; the packs, however, were -always composed, to the extent of at least half, of dogs -which, though part hound, were part shepherd or bull -or some other breed. Dr. Miller had hunted in Arkansas -with a pack specially trained after the wolf. There -were twenty-eight of them all told, and on this hunt they -ran down and killed unassisted four full-grown wolves, -although some of the hounds were badly cut. None of -my companions had ever known of wolves actually -molesting men, but Mr. Ichabod Osborn’s son-in-law -had a queer adventure with wolves while riding alone -through the woods one late afternoon. His horse acting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>nervously, he looked about and saw that five wolves were -coming toward him. One was a bitch, the other four -were males. They seemed to pay little heed to him, and -he shot one of the males, which crawled off. The next -minute the bitch ran straight toward him and was almost -at his stirrup when he killed her. The other three wolves, -instead of running away, jumped to and fro growling, -with their hair bristling, and he killed two of them; -whereupon the survivor at last made off. He brought -the scalps of the three dead wolves home with him.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Near our first camp was the carcass of a deer, a -yearling buck, which had been killed by a cougar. When -first found, the wounds on the carcass showed that the -deer had been killed by a bite in the neck at the back -of the head; but there were scratches on the rump as if -the panther had landed on its back. One of the negro -hunters, Brutus Jackson, evidently a trustworthy man, -told me that he had twice seen cougars, each time under -unexpected conditions. Once he saw a bobcat race up a -tree, and riding toward it saw a panther reared up -against the trunk. The panther looked around at him -quite calmly, and then retired in leisurely fashion. Jackson -went off to get some hounds, and when he returned -two hours afterward the bobcat was still up the tree, -evidently so badly scared that he did not wish to come -down. The hounds were unable to follow the cougar. -On another occasion he heard a tremendous scuffle and -immediately afterward saw a big doe racing along with -a small cougar literally riding it. The cougar was biting -the neck, but low down near the shoulders; he was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_382'>382</span>hanging on with his front paws, but was tearing away -with his hind claws so that the deer’s hair appeared to -fill the air. As soon as Jackson appeared the panther -left the deer. He shot it, and the doe galloped off, -apparently without serious injury.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I wish those who see cougars kill game, or who come -on game that they have killed, would study and record -the exact method employed in killing. Mr. Hornaday -sent me a photograph of a cougar killing a goat, which -he had seized high up on the back of the neck in his -jaws, not using his claws at all. I once found where one -had killed a big buck by seizing him by the throat; the -claws also having evidently been used to hold the buck -in the struggle. Another time I found a colt which had -been killed by a bite in the neck; and yet another time a -young doe which had been killed by a bite in the head. -In most cases where I came across the carcasses of deer -which had been killed by cougars they had been partially -eaten, and it was not possible to find out exactly how -they had been slain. In one instance at least the neck -had been broken, evidently in the struggle; but I could -not tell whether this had been done designedly, by the -use of the forepaws. Twice hunters I have known saw -cougars seize mountain sheep, in each case by the throat. -The information furnished me inclines me to believe that -most game is killed by cougars in this fashion. Most of -the carcasses of elk which had been killed by cougars -that I have examined showed fang marks round the -throat and neck; but one certainly did not, though it is -possible in this case that the elk died in some other way, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_383'>383</span>and that the cougar had merely been feeding on its dead -body. But I have read of cases in which elk and large -deer were slain where the carcasses were said to have -shown wounds only on the flanks, and where the writers -believed—with how much justification I cannot say—that -the wounds had been inflicted by the claws. I should -be surprised to find that such was the ordinary method -with cougars of killing game of any kind; but it is perhaps -unsafe to deny the possibility of such an occurrence -without more information than is at present available; -especially in view of the experience of Brutus Jackson, -which I give above. In a letter to Mr. Hornaday a New -Mexican hunter, Mr. J. W. Carter, of Truchas, states -that cougars rip with their claws in killing game, and -that, whether the quarry is a horse, deer, or calf, the -cougar begins to eat at the neck. When at bay a cougar -kills dogs by biting them, usually in the head; the claws -are used merely to scratch or rip, or to drag the dog -within reach of the jaws, and to hold it for the fatal bite.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Miss Velvin’s studies of dangerous wild beasts in captivity -show that the cougar is ordinarily more playful -and less wantonly ferocious than the big spotted cats; -but that there is a wide individual variation among cougars, -a few being treacherous, bad-tempered and dangerous. -Mr. Bostock, the animal trainer, states that the -cougar is as a rule rather stupid and far less courageous -or dangerous than the other big cats, the proportion of -vicious individuals being very small. He regards bears -as being very dangerous.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Mr. Charles Sheldon informs me that while on a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_384'>384</span>ranch near Chihuahua he at different times kept loose, -as pets, a female cougar, three wolves, and several coyotes, -all taken when very young. All were exceedingly tame -and even affectionate, save at the moment of eating.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Mr. W. H. Wright, of Spokane, Wash., is a hunter -of wide experience, and has probably made as close a life -study of the bear—particularly the grizzly—as anyone -now alive. In speaking to me, he dwells on its wide -variation in habits, not only as among individuals, but as -between all the individuals of one locality when compared -with those of another. Thus, in the Big Horn or -the Teton Mountains if an animal is killed, he has in his -experience found that any grizzly within range is almost -sure to come to the carcass (and this has been my experience -in the same region). In the Bitter Roots, where -the bears live largely on fish, berries and roots, he found -the chances just about even whether the bears would or -would not come; whereas in the Selkirks, he found that -the bears would very rarely pay any attention to a carcass, -this being a place where game is comparatively -scarce and where there are no salmon, so that the bears -live exclusively as vegetarians, save for eating small mammals -or insects. In the Bitter Roots Mountains the bears -used to live chiefly on fish in the spring and early in the -fall; in the summer they fed to a large extent on the -shooting star, which grows on all the marshes and is one -of the familiar plants of the region, but did not touch -either the dog-tooth violet or the spring beauty, both of -which have little tubers on the roots. But in the Kootenay -country he found that the bears dug up acres and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_385'>385</span>acres of these very dog-tooth violets and spring beauties -for the sake of the bulbs on their roots; and that they -rarely or never touched the shooting stars. All this illustrates -the extreme care which should be taken in making -observations and in dogmatizing from insufficient data; -and also the absolute necessity, if a full and accurate -natural history is to be written, of drawing upon the -experience of very many different observers—provided, -of course, that they are trustworthy observers.</p> - -<p class='c010'>For every one of our large beasts there should be at -least one such work as Lewis Morgan’s book on the -beaver. The observations of many different men, all -accurate observers of wide experience, will be needed to -make any such book complete. Most hunters can now -and then supply some interesting experiences. Thus Gifford -Pinchot and Harry Stimson, while in the Montana -Rockies last fall saw a she white goat beat off a war eagle -which had attacked her yearling young. The eagle -swooped on the yearling in most determined fashion; but -the old she, rising on her hind legs, caught the great bird -fairly on her horns; and the eagle was too roughly handled -to repeat the onslaught. At nearly the same time, -in British Columbia, Senator Penrose and his brother -were hunting bears. The brother killed a yearling -grizzly. While standing over the body, the old she -appeared and charged him. She took two bullets without -flinching, knocked him down, bit him severely, and -would undoubtedly have killed him had she not in the -nick of time succumbed to her own mortal wounds.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Recently there has appeared a capital series of observations -<span class='pageno' id='Page_386'>386</span>on wolves by a trained field naturalist, Mr. Vernon -Bailey. These first-hand studies of wolves in their -natural haunts show, among other things, that, unlike the -male cougar, the male wolf remains with the female -while she is rearing her young litter and, at least sometimes, -forages for her and them. According to Mr. -Bailey’s observations the female dens remote from all -other females, having a large number of pups in a litter; -but the following interesting letter shows that in exceptional -cases two females may den together or near by -one another. It is written to Mr. Phillips, the joint -author, with W. T. Hornaday, of the admirable “Camp-Fires -in the Canadian Rockies,” a book as interesting and -valuable to the naturalist as to the hunter. The letter -runs as follows:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>Meyers Falls, Wash.</span>, <i>Dec. 23, 1906</i>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<i>Mr. John M. Phillips, Pittsburg, Pa.</i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Friend Jack</span>: Your favor of the 18th inst. to hand, and -was very much pleased to hear you had called on the President -and to know that you take so much interest in the protection -of Pennsylvania game. It is a step in the right direction. In -regard to wolves I have hunted them a great deal when they -had pups and do not think I would exaggerate any to say that -I had found one hundred dens and had destroyed the young. -Often would be able to kill the mother. What you read in the -East about the dog wolf helping to raise the young is true. -They stay together until the young is large enough to go with -them and they all kill their food together because they can -handle a large brute easier. I found once, in Wyoming, seventeen -wolf pups in one den, eight black ones and nine greys. -One of the females was also black and one grey, and both dogs -<span class='pageno' id='Page_387'>387</span>were grey. One of the dogs was the largest I ever seen, and -had the biggest foot. He made a track a third larger than -any I ever saw. The old ones had evidently just butchered and -was feeding the little ones when I came in sight about 400 -yards away. I believe a wolf has got the quickest eye of any -animal living, and just as my head came up over the hill the -old ones all looked my way apparently at the same time. It -was too far to shoot so I thought I would pretend I did not -see them and just simply ride by. After riding some distance -three of the old ones began to move away and to my surprise -the big fellow came over to head me off. He was just on top -of a bench about 100 feet high, and I knew it would not do -to get down to shoot as one jump would take him out of sight -so I cracked my heels and let my pony have them in the abdomen -and ran for the top of the hill, but was running against -the wind and when I reached the top my eyes was watering -so I could not kill him, but give him a close call as I got a -lock of his hair. I found another den the same spring (in -1899) and I got eight pups and there was five old ones. They -had to go some distance to find horses and cattle and there was -a plain trail that I could follow at least five miles without snow. -Colts seem to be their favorite dish when they can get them.<a id='r6' /><a href='#f6' class='c018'><sup>[6]</sup></a> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_388'>388</span>Wolves mate in January and have their pups in March, but -found one den once in February. Have known a few to have -their young as late as April 1st. The pups grow faster than -our domestic animals and usually leave the dens in May. I -do not think the mother enters the den (after the pups get -large enough to come out) in order to suckle them, as you -can call them out by hiding and making a whining noise. For -example, I set a No. 4 beaver trap in a hole where there was -a lot of large pups and hid a little way off and made a noise -like the female when calling and apparently they all started -out at the same time and I caught two at once in the same trap -and of course each one thought the other was biting his leg -and I saw the most vicious scrap I ever seen out of animals -of their size. They just held on to one another like bull dogs -and apparently did not know I was around.</p> - -<div class='footnote c020' id='f6'> -<p class='c010'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. My own experience has been that wolves are more apt to kill cattle than -horses, whereas with cougars the reverse is true. It is another instance of -variability—doubtless both in the observed and the observers. Wolves may -seize an animal anywhere in a scuffle, and a pack will literally tear a small deer to -pieces; but when one or two wolves attack a big animal, like a bull caribou, elk or -moose, or a horse or a steer, the killing or crippling wounds are inflicted in the -flanks, hams or throat. Very rarely an animal is seized by the head. To any -real naturalist or hunter, or indeed to any competent observer, it is unnecessary -to say that no wolf, and no other wild beast, ever bites, or can by any possibility -bite, one of these large animals, like a horse, moose, or caribou, in the heart; -yet an occasional “nature fakir,” more than usually reckless in his untruthfulness, -will assert that such incidents do happen; and, what is even more remarkable, -uninformed people of more than average credulity appear to believe the assertion.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c019'>“Wolves go a long way sometimes for their food. I have -tracked them twenty-five miles from where they made a killing -before finding their den. The old dog will sometimes go off -alone but does not often kill when by himself. Would just -as soon have a male track as a female to follow for if you will -stay with it it is dead sure to lead to a den and it is easy to -distinguish the difference between the two tracks if you are on -to your job.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“Wishing you a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year, -I am,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Your same old friend,</div> - <div class='line in20'>“<span class='sc'>R. M. Norboe</span>.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>Mr. Bailey is one of a number of faunal naturalists, -who, together with certain big game hunters who care -more for natural history than for mere slaughter, are -doing invaluable work in preserving the records of wilderness -life. If Mr. George Shiras will put in book -<span class='pageno' id='Page_389'>389</span>form his noteworthy collection of photographs of game, -and of other wild creatures, and his numerous field notes -thereon, he will render a real and great service to all -lovers of nature.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The most exciting and interesting hunting book that -has recently appeared deals with African big game. -Many thrilling adventures with lions have been recorded -since the days when the Assyrian kings engraved on stone -their exploits in the chase; but the best lion stories that -have ever been written are those in Colonel Patterson’s -“Maneaters of Tsavo.”</p> - -<p class='c010'>It is now (January, 1908) nearly five years since my -last trip to the Yellowstone Park. General Samuel -Young, who is now in charge of the park, informs me -that on the whole the game and the wild creatures generally -in the park have increased during this period. The -antelope he reports as being certainly three times as -numerous as they were ten years ago, and nearly twice -as numerous as when I was out there. In the town of -Gardiner they graze freely in the streets; not only the -inhabitants but even the dogs recognizing them as friends. -Their chief foes are the coyotes. Last October four full-grown -antelope were killed by coyotes on the Gardiner -and Yellowstone flats, and many fawns were destroyed by -them during the season. Practically all of the antelope -in the park herd on the Gardiner flat and round about -during the winter, and during the present winter there -is a good supply of hay on this flat, which is being used -to feed the antelope, mountain sheep, deer and elk. The -sheep are increasing in numbers. Probably about two -<span class='pageno' id='Page_390'>390</span>hundred of them now exist in the park. There are probably -one hundred whitetail and one thousand blacktail -deer, both of which species are likewise increasing; and -the moose, although few in numbers, are also on the -increase. General Young reports that from his best information -he believes there are 25,000 wapiti in the park. -Of the buffalo there are now in fenced pastures fifty-nine. -These increase very slowly, the number of calves being -small. There are probably about twenty-five of the original -wild buffalo still alive. The bears are as numerous -as ever. Last summer it became necessary to kill one -black and two grizzlies that had become dangerous; for -some individuals among the bears grow insolent under -good treatment. The mountain lions, which five years -ago were so destructive to the deer and sheep, have been -almost exterminated. The tracks show that one still -exists. Coyotes are numerous and very destructive to the -antelope, although ninety-nine were destroyed during the -past year. Beaver are abundant and are increasing. -Altogether the American people are to be congratulated -upon the success of the Yellowstone Park, not only as a -national pleasure ground, but as a national reserve for -keeping alive the great and beautiful wild creatures of -the wilderness.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_391'>391</span> - <h2 class='c008'>CHAPTER XIII<br /> <span class='large'>SMALL COUNTRY NEIGHBORS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>There is ample room for more complete life histories -of many small beasts that are common enough around our -country homes; and fortunately the need is now being -met by various good field naturalists. Just last summer, -in mid-July, 1907, I had an entirely novel experience -with foxes, which illustrates how bold naturally shy creatures -sometimes are after nightfall. Some of the boys and -I were camping for the night on the beach by the Sound, -under a clay bluff, having gone thither in the dory and -the two light rowing skiffs; it was about a quarter of a -mile from the place where we had seen the big red fox -four or five years previously. The fire burned all night, -and one or other of the party would now and then rise -and stand by it; nevertheless, two young foxes, evidently -cubs of the year, came round the fire, within plain sight, -half a dozen times. They were picking up scraps; two -or three times they came within ten yards of the fire. -They were very active, scampering up the bluffs; and -when in the bushes made a good deal of noise, whereas a -full-grown fox generally moves in silence even when in -dead brush.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Small mammals, with the exception of squirrels, are -so much less conspicuous than birds, and indeed usually -pass their lives in such seclusion, that the ordinary observer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_392'>392</span>is hardly aware of their presence. At Sagamore -Hill, for instance, except at haying time I rarely see the -swarming meadow mice, the much less plentiful pine -mice, or the little mole-shrews, alive, unless they happen -to drop into a pit or sunken area which has been dug at -one point to let light through a window into the cellar. -The much more graceful and attractive white-footed mice -and jumping mice are almost as rarely seen, though if -one does come across a jumping mouse it at once attracts -attention by its extraordinary leaps. The jumping mouse -hibernates, like the woodchuck; and so does the chipmunk, -though not always. The other little animals just -mentioned are abroad all winter, the meadow mice under -the snow, the white-footed mice, and often the shrews, -above the snow. The tell-tale snow, showing all the -tracks, betrays the hitherto unsuspected existence of many -little creatures; and the commonest marks upon it are -those of the rabbit and especially of the white-footed -mouse. The shrew walks or trots and makes alternate -footsteps in the snow. White-foot, on the contrary, always -jumps, whether going slow or fast, and his hind feet leave -their prints side by side, often with the mark where the -tail has dragged. I think white-foot is the most plentiful -of all our furred wild creatures, taken as a whole. -He climbs trees well; I have found his nest in an old -vireo’s nest; but more often under stumps or boards. The -meadow mice often live in the marshes, and are entirely -at home in the water.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The shrew-mouse which I most often find is a short-tailed, -rather thickset little creature, not wholly unlike -<span class='pageno' id='Page_393'>393</span>his cousin the shrew-mole, and just as greedy and ferocious. -When a boy I captured one of these mole-shrews -and found to my astonishment that he was a bloodthirsty -and formidable little beast of prey. He speedily killed -and ate a partially grown white-footed mouse which I -put in the same cage with him. (I think a full-grown -mouse of this kind would be an overmatch for a shrew.) -I then put a small snake in with him. The shrew was -very active but seemed nearly blind, and as he ran to and -fro he never seemed to be aware of the presence of anything -living until he was close to it, when he would instantly -spring on it like a tiger. On this occasion he -attacked the little snake with great ferocity, and after -an animated struggle in which the snake whipped and -rolled all around the cage, throwing the shrew to and -fro a dozen times, the latter killed and ate the snake -in triumph. Larger snakes frequently eat shrews, by -the way.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Once last summer, while several of us were playing -on the tennis ground, a mole-shrew suddenly came out -on the court. I first saw him near one of the side lines, -and ran after him; I picked him up in my naked hand, -whereupon he bit me, and I then took him in my handkerchief. -After we had all looked at him I put him -down, and he scuttled off among the grass and went down -a little hole. We resumed our game, but after a few -minutes the shrew reappeared, and this time crossed the -tennis court near the net, while we gathered about him. -He was an absurd little creature and his motion in running -was precisely like that of one of those mechanical -<span class='pageno' id='Page_394'>394</span>toys in the shape of mice or little bears which are wound -up and run around on wheels. When we put our rackets -before him he uttered little, shrill, long-continued squeals -of irritation. We let him go off in the grass, and this -time he did not reappear for the day; but next afternoon -he repeated the feat.</p> - -<p class='c010'>My boys have at intervals displayed a liking for natural -history, and one of them during some years took to -trapping small mammals, discovering species that I had -no idea existed in certain places; near Washington, but -on the other side of the Potomac, he trapped several of -those very dainty little creatures, the harvest mice.<a id='r7' /><a href='#f7' class='c018'><sup>[7]</sup></a> One -of my other boys—the special friend of Josiah the badger—discovered -a flying-squirrel’s nest, in connection with -which a rather curious incident occurred. The little -boy had climbed a tree which is hollow at the top; and -in this hollow he discovered a flying-squirrel mother with -six young ones. She seemed so tame and friendly that the -little boy for a moment hardly realized that she was a -wild thing, and called down that he had “found a guinea -pig up the tree.” Finally, the mother made up her mind -to remove her family. She took each one in turn in her -mouth and flew or sailed down from the top of the tree -to the foot of another tree near by; ran up this, holding -the little squirrel in her mouth; and again sailed down -to the foot of another tree some distance off. Here she -deposited her young one on the grass, and then, reversing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_395'>395</span>the process, climbed and sailed back to the tree where the -nest was; then she took out another young one and returned -with it, in exactly the same fashion as with the -first. She repeated this until all six of the young ones -were laid on the bank, side by side in a row, all with their -heads the same way. Finding that she was not molested -she ultimately took all six of the little fellows back to -her nest, where she reared her brood undisturbed.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f7'> -<p class='c010'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. A visit of this same small boy, when eleven years old, to John Burroughs, -is described by the latter in “Far and Near,” in the chapter called “Babes in -the Woods.”</p> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>Flying squirrels become very gentle and attractive -little pets if taken into the house. I cannot say as much -for gray squirrels. Once when a small boy I climbed up -to a large nest of dry leaves in the fork of a big chestnut -tree, and from it picked out three very young squirrels. -One died, but the other two I succeeded in rearing on a -milk diet, which at first I was obliged to administer with -a syringe. They grew up absolutely tame and would -climb all over the various members of the household; but -as they grew older they grew cross. If we children did -something they did not like they would not only scold us -vigorously, but, if they thought the provocation warranted -it, would bite severely; and we finally exiled them -to the woods. Gray squirrels, I am sorry to say, rob nests -just as red squirrels do. At Sagamore Hill I have more -than once been attracted by the alarm notes of various -birds, and on investigation have found the winged woodland -people in great agitation over a gray squirrel’s assault -on the eggs or young of a thrush or vireo; and once -one of these good-looking marauders came up the hill to -harry a robin’s nest near the house. Many years ago I -had an extraordinary experience with a gray squirrel. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_396'>396</span>I was in the edge of some woods, and, seeing a squirrel, I -stood motionless. The squirrel came to me and actually -climbed up me; I made no movement until it began to -nibble at my elbow, biting through my flannel shirt. -When I moved, it of course jumped off, but it did not -seem much frightened and lingered for some minutes in -view, about thirty yards away. I have never understood -the incident.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Among the small mammals at Sagamore Hill the -chipmunks are the most familiar and the most in evidence; -for they readily become tame and confiding. For -three or four years a chipmunk—I suppose the same chipmunk—has -lived near the tennis court; and it has developed -the rather puzzling custom of sometimes scampering -across the court while we are in the middle of a game. -This has happened two or three times every year, and is -rather difficult to explain, for the chipmunk could just -as well go round the court, and there seems no possible -reason why he should suddenly run out on it while the -game is in full swing. If we see him, we all stop to -watch him, and then he may himself stop and look about; -but we may not see him until just as he is finishing a -frantic scurry across, in imminent danger of being -stepped on.</p> - -<div id='i_396' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_396.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>AUDREY TAKES THE BARS<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_397'>397</span>The most attractive and sociable pet among wild -creatures of its size I have found to be a coon. One -which when I was a boy I brought up from the time it -was very young, was as playful and affectionate as any -little dog, and used its little black paws just as if they -were hands. Coons, by the way, sometimes appear in -political campaigns. Frequently when I have been on -the stump in places where there was still a strong tradition -of the old Whig party as it was in the days of Henry -Clay and Tippecanoe Harrison, I have reviewed processions -in which log cabins and coons were prominent -features. The log cabins were usually miniature representations, -mounted on wheels, but the coons were genuine. -Each was usually carried by some enthusiast, who -might lead it by a chain and collar, but more frequently -placed it upon a platform at the end of a pole, chained -up short. Most naturally the coon protested violently -against the proceedings; his only satisfaction being the -certainty that every now and then some other parader -would stumble near enough to be bitten. At one place -an admirer suddenly presented me with one of these coons -and was then swept on in the crowd; leaving me gingerly -holding by the end of a chain an exceedingly active and -short-tempered little beast, which I had not the slightest -idea how to dispose of. On two other occasions, by the -way, while off on campaign trips I was presented with -bears. These I firmly refused to receive. One of them -was brought to a platform by an old mountain hunter -who, I am afraid, really had his feelings hurt by the -refusal. The other bear made his appearance at Portland, -Ore., and, of all places, was chained on top of a -wooden platform just aft the smokestack of an engine, -the engine being festooned with American flags. He -belonged to the fireman, who had brought him as a -special gift; I being an honorary member of the Brotherhood -of Locomotive Firemen. His owner explained that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_398'>398</span>normally he was friendly; but the surroundings had curdled -his temper.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Usually birds are very regular in their habits, so that -not only the same species but the same individuals breed -in the same places year after year. In spite of their wings -they are almost as local as mammals and the same pair -will usually keep to the same immediate neighborhood, -where they can always be looked for in their season. -There are wooded or brush-grown swampy places not far -from the White House where in the spring or summer I -can count with certainty upon seeing wrens, chats, and -the ground-loving Kentucky warbler, an attractive little -bird, which, by the way, itself looks much like a miniature -chat. There are other places, in the neighborhood of -Rock Creek, where I can be almost certain of finding -the blue-gray gnatcatcher, which ranks just next to the -humming-bird itself in exquisite daintiness and delicacy. -The few pairs of mocking-birds around Washington have -just as sharply defined haunts.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Nevertheless it is never possible to tell when one may -run across a rare bird; and even birds that are not rare -now and then show marked individual idiosyncrasy in -turning up, or even breeding, in unexpected places. At -Sagamore Hill, for instance, I never knew a purple finch -to breed until the summer of 1906. Then two pairs -nested with us, one right by the house and the other near -the stable. My attention was drawn to them by the bold, -cheerful singing of the males, who were spurred to rivalry -by one another’s voices. In September of the same year, -while sitting in a rocking-chair on the broad veranda -<span class='pageno' id='Page_399'>399</span>looking out over the Sound, I heard the unmistakable -“ank-ank” of nuthatches from a young elm at one corner -of the house. I strolled over, expecting to find the -white-bellied nuthatch, which is rather common on Long -Island. But instead there were a couple of red-bellied -nuthatches, birds familiar to me in the Northern woods, -but which I had never before seen at Sagamore Hill. -They were tame and fearless, running swiftly up and -down the tree-trunk and around the limbs while I stood -and looked at them not ten feet away. The two younger -boys ran out to see them; and then we hunted up their -picture in Wilson. I find, by the way, that Audubon’s -and Wilson’s are still the most satisfactory large ornithologies, -at least for nature lovers who are not specialists; -of course any attempt at serious study of our birds -means recourse to the numerous and excellent books and -pamphlets by recent observers. Bendire’s large work -gives admirable biographies of all the birds it treats of; -unfortunately it was never finished.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In May, 1907, two pairs of robins built their substantial -nests, and raised their broods, on the piazza at Sagamore -Hill; one over the transom of the north hall door -and one over the transom of the south hall door. Another -pair built their nest and raised their brood on a -rafter in the half-finished new barn, quite undisturbed by -the racket of the carpenters who were finishing it. A pair -of scarlet tanagers built near the tennis ground; the male -kept in the immediate neighborhood all the time, flaming -among the branches, and singing steadily until the last -part of July. To my ears the song of the tanager is like -<span class='pageno' id='Page_400'>400</span>a louder, more brilliant, less leisurely rendering of the -red-eyed vireo’s song; but with the characteristic “chip-churr” -every now and then interspersed. Only one pair -of purple finches returned to us last summer; and for -the first time in many years no Baltimore orioles built -in the elm by the corner of the house; they began their -nest but for some reason left it unfinished. The red-winged -blackbirds, however, were more plentiful than -for years previously, and two pairs made their nests near -the old barn, where the grass stood lush and tall; this was -the first time they had ever built nearer than the wood-pile -pond, and I believe it was owing to the season being -so cold and wet. It was perhaps due to the same cause -that so many black-throated green warblers spent June -and July in the woods on our place; they must have been -breeding, though I only noticed the males. Each kept to -his own special tract of woodland, among the tops of the -tall trees, seeming to prefer the locusts, and throughout -June, and far into July, each sang all day long—a drawling, -cadenced little warble of five or six notes, the first -two being the most noticeable near by, though, rather -curiously, the next two were the notes that had most carrying -power. The song was usually uttered at intervals -of a few seconds; sometimes while the singer was perched -motionless, sometimes as he flitted and crawled actively -among the branches. With the resident of one particular -grove I became well acquainted, as I was chopping a -path through the grove. Every day when I reached the -grove, I found the little warbler singing away, and at -least half the time in one particular locust tree. He paid -<span class='pageno' id='Page_401'>401</span>not the slightest attention to my chopping; whereas a pair -of downy woodpeckers and a pair of great-crested fly-catchers, -both of them evidently nesting near by, were -much put out by my presence. While listening to my -little black-throated friend, I could also continually hear -the songs of his cousins, the prairie warbler, the redstart, -the black-and-white creeper and the Maryland yellow-throat; -not to speak of oven-birds, towhees, thrashers, -vireos, and the beautiful golden-voiced wood thrushes.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The black-throated green warblers have seemingly -become regular summer residents of Long Island, for -after discovering them on my place I found that two or -three bird-loving neighbors were already familiar with -them; and I heard them on several different occasions as -I rode through the country roundabout. I already knew -as summer residents in my neighborhood the following -representatives of the warbler family: the oven-bird, chat, -black-and-white creeper, Maryland yellow-throat, summer -yellow-bird, prairie warbler, pine warbler, blue-winged -warbler, golden-winged warbler (very rare), blue -yellow-backed warbler and redstart.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The black-throated green as a breeder and summer -resident is a newcomer who has extended his range southward. -But this same summer I found one warbler, the -presence of which, if more than accidental, means that a -southern form is extending its range northward. This -was the Dominican or yellow-throated warbler. Two of -my bird-loving neighbors are Mrs. E. H. Swan, Jr., and -Miss Alice Weekes. On July 4th Mrs. Swan told me -that a new warbler, the yellow-throated, was living near -<span class='pageno' id='Page_402'>402</span>their house, and that she and her husband had seen it -there on several occasions. I was rather skeptical, and -told her I thought that it must be a Maryland yellow-throat. -Mrs. Swan meekly acquiesced in the theory that -she might have been mistaken; but two or three days -afterward she sent me word that she and Miss Weekes -had seen the bird again, had examined it thoroughly -through their glasses, and were sure that it was a yellow-throated -warbler. Accordingly on the morning of the 8th -I walked down and met them both near Mrs. Swan’s -house, about a mile from Sagamore Hill. We did not -have to wait long before we heard an unmistakably new -warbler’s song, loud, ringing, sharply accented, just as -the yellow-throat’s song is described in Chapman’s book. -At first the little bird kept high in the tops of the pines, -but after a while he came to the lower branches and we -were able to see him distinctly. Only a glance was needed -to show that my two friends were quite right in their -identification and that the bird was undoubtedly the Dominican -or yellow-throated warbler. Its bill was as long -as that of a black-and-white creeper, giving the head a -totally different look from that of any of its brethren, -the other true wood-warblers; and the olive-gray back, -yellow-throat and breast, streaked sides, white belly, black -cheek and forehead, and white line above the eye and -spot on the side of the neck, could all be plainly made -out. The bird kept continually uttering its loud, sharply -modulated, and attractive warble. It never left the pines, -and though continually on the move, it yet moved with -a certain deliberation like a pine warbler, and not with -the fussy agility of most of its kinsfolk. Occasionally it -would catch some insect on the wing, but most of the time -kept hopping about among the needle-clad clusters of the -pine twigs, or moving along the larger branches, stopping -from time to time to sing. Now and then it would -sit still on one twig for several minutes, singing at short -intervals and preening its feathers.</p> - -<div id='i_402' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_402.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>THE STONE WALL<br /><br />From a photograph by Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_403'>403</span>After looking at it for nearly an hour we had to solve -the rather difficult ethical question as to whether we -ought to kill it or not. In these cases it is always hard -to draw the line between heartlessness and sentimentality. -In our own minds we were sure of our identification, -and did not feel that we could be mistaken, but we were -none of us professed ornithologists, and as far as I knew -the bird was really rare thus far north; so that it seemed -best to shoot him, which was accordingly done. I was -influenced in this decision, in the first place because warblers -are so small that it is difficult for any observer to -be absolutely certain as to their identification; and in the -next place by the fact that the breeding season was undoubtedly -over, and that this was an adult male, so that -no harm came to the species. I very strongly feel that -there should be no “collecting” of rare and beautiful -species when this is not imperatively demanded. Mocking-birds, -for instance, are very beautiful birds, well -known and unmistakable; and there is not the slightest -excuse for “collecting” their nests and eggs or shooting -specimens of them, no matter where they may be found. -So, there is no excuse for shooting scarlet tanagers, summer -redbirds, cardinals, nor of course any of the common, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_404'>404</span>well-known friends of the lawn, the garden and -the farm land; and with most birds nowadays observations -on their habits are of far more value than their -skins can possibly be. But there must be some shooting, -especially of obscure and little-known birds, or we would -never be able to identify them at all; while most laymen -are not sufficiently close observers to render it possible -to trust their identification of rare species.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In one apple tree in the orchard we find a flicker’s -nest every year; the young make a queer, hissing, bubbling -sound, a little like the boiling of a pot. This same -year one of the young ones fell out; I popped it back into -the hole, whereupon its brothers and sisters “boiled” for -several minutes like the cauldron of a small and friendly -witch. John Burroughs, and a Long Island neighbor, -John Lewis Childs, drove over to see me, in this same -June of 1907, and I was able to show them the various -birds of most interest—the purple finch, the black-throated -green warbler, the redwings in their unexpected -nesting place by the old barn, and the orchard orioles and -yellow-billed cuckoos in the garden. The orchard orioles -this year took much interest in the haying, gleaning in -the cut grass for grasshoppers. The barn swallows that -nest in the stable raised second broods, which did not -leave the nest until the end of July. When the barn -swallows gather in their great flocks just prior to the -southward migration, the gathering sometimes takes place -beside a house, and then the swallows seem to get so -excited and bewildered that they often fly into the house. -When I was a small boy I took a keen, although not a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_405'>405</span>very intelligent, interest in natural history, and solemnly -recorded whatever I thought to be notable. When I was -nine years old we were passing the summer near Tarrytown, -on the Hudson. My diary for September 4, 1868, -runs as follows: “Cold and rainy. I was called in from -breakfast to a room. When I went in there what was -my surprise to see on walls, curtains and floor about forty -swallows. All the morning long in every room of the -house (even the kitchen) were swallows. They were -flying south. Several hundred were outside and about -seventy-five in the house. I caught most of them (and -put them out of the windows). The others got out themselves. -One flew on my pants where he stayed until I -took him off.”</p> - -<p class='c010'>At the White House we are apt to stroll around the -grounds for a few minutes after breakfast; and during the -migrations, especially in spring, I often take a pair of -field glasses so as to examine any bird as to the identity -of which I am doubtful. From the end of April the -warblers pass in troops—myrtle, magnolia, chestnut-sided, -bay-breasted, blackburnian, black-throated blue, -blue-winged, Canadian, and many others, with at the very -end of the season the black-poll—all of them exquisite -little birds, but not conspicuous as a rule, except perhaps -the blackburnian, whose brilliant orange throat and -breast flame when they catch the sunlight as he flits among -the trees. The males in their dress of courtship are easily -recognized by any one who has Chapman’s book on the -warblers. On May 4, 1906, I saw a Cape May warbler, -the first I had ever seen. It was in a small pine. It was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_406'>406</span>fearless, allowing a close approach, and as it was a male -in high plumage, it was unmistakable.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In 1907, after a very hot week in early March, we -had an exceedingly late and cold spring. The first bird -I heard sing in the White House grounds was a white-throated -sparrow on March 1st, a song sparrow speedily -following. The white-throats stayed with us until the -middle of May, overlapping the arrival of the indigo -buntings; but during the last week in April and first week -in May their singing was drowned by the music of the -purple finches, which I never before saw in such numbers -around the White House. When we sat by the south -fountain, under an apple tree then blossoming, sometimes -three or four purple finches would be singing in the fragrant -bloom overhead. In June a pair of wood thrushes -and a pair of black-and-white creepers made their homes -in the White House grounds, in addition to our ordinary -homemakers, the flickers, redheads, robins, catbirds, song -sparrows, chippies, summer yellow-birds, grackles, and, -I am sorry to say, crows. A handsome sapsucker spent a -week with us. In the same year five night herons spent -January and February in a swampy tract by the Potomac, -half a mile or so from the White House.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At Mount Vernon there are of course more birds than -there are around the White House, for it is in the country. -At present but one mocking-bird sings around the house -itself, and in the gardens and the woods of the immediate -neighborhood. Phœbe birds nest at the heads of the -columns under the front portico; and a pair—or rather, -doubtless, a succession of pairs—has nested in Washington’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_407'>407</span>tomb itself, for the twenty years since I have known -it. The cardinals, beautiful in plumage, and with clear -ringing voices, are characteristic of the place. I am -glad to say that the woods still hold many gray—not red—foxes; -the descendants of those which Washington so -perseveringly hunted.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At Oyster Bay on a desolate winter afternoon many -years ago I shot an Ipswich sparrow on a strip of ice-rimmed -beach, where the long coarse grass waved in -front of a growth of blue berries, beach plums and -stunted pines. I think it was the same winter that we -were visited not only by flocks of cross-bills, pine linnets, -red-polls and pine grossbeaks, but by a number of snowy -owls, which flitted to and fro in ghost-like fashion across -the wintry landscape and showed themselves far more -diurnal in their habits than our native owls. One fall -about the same time a pair of duck-hawks appeared off -the bay. It was early, before many ducks had come, and -they caused havoc among the night herons, which were -then very numerous in the marshes around Lloyd’s Neck, -there being a big heronry in the woods near by. Once -I saw a duck-hawk come around the bend of the shore, -and dart into a loose gang of young night herons, still in -the brown plumage, which had jumped from the marsh -at my approach. The pirate struck down three herons in -succession and sailed swiftly on without so much as looking -back at his victims.<a id='r8' /><a href='#f8' class='c018'><sup>[8]</sup></a> The herons, which are usually -<span class='pageno' id='Page_408'>408</span>rather dull birds, showed every sign of terror whenever -the duck-hawk appeared in the distance; whereas, they -paid no heed to the fish-hawks as they sailed overhead. -I found the carcass of a black-headed or Bonaparte’s -gull which had probably been killed by one of these -duck-hawks; these gulls appear in the early fall, before -their bigger brothers, the herring gulls, have come for -their winter stay. The spotted sand-pipers often build -far away from water; while riding, early in July, 1907, -near Cold Spring, my horse almost stepped on a little -fellow that could only just have left the nest. It was in -a dry road between upland fields; the parents were near -by, and betrayed much agitation. The little fish-crows -are not rare around Washington, though not so common -as the ordinary crows; once I shot one at Oyster Bay. -They are not so wary as their larger kinsfolk, but are -quite as inveterate destroyers of the eggs and nestlings -of more attractive birds. The soaring turkey buzzards, -so beautiful on the wing and so loathsome near by, are -seen everywhere around the Capital.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f8'> -<p class='c010'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. Dr. Lambert last fall, on a hunting trip in Northern Quebec, found a gyrfalcon -on an island in a lake which had just killed a great blue heron; the heron’s -feathers were scattered all over the lake. Lambert also shot a great horned owl -in the dusk one evening, and found that it had a half-eaten duck in its claws.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>Bird songs are often puzzling, and it is nearly impossible -to write them down so that any one but the writer -will recognize them. Moreover, as we ascribe to them -qualities, such as plaintiveness or gladness, which really -exist in our own minds and not in the songs themselves, -two different observers, equally accurate, may ascribe -widely different qualities to the same song. To me, for -instance, the bush sparrow’s song is more attractive than -the vesper sparrow’s; but I think most of my friends feel -just the reverse way about the two songs. To most of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_409'>409</span>us the bobolink’s song bubbles over with rollicking merriment, -with the glad joy of mere living; whereas the -thrushes, the meadow lark, the white-throated sparrow, -all have a haunting strain of sadness or plaintiveness in -their melody; but I am by no means sure that there is -the slightest difference of this kind in the singers. Most -of the songs of the common birds I recognize fairly well; -but even with these birds there will now and then be a -call, or a few bars, which I do not recognize; and if I -hear a bird but seldom, I find much difficulty in recalling -its song, unless it is very well marked indeed. Last -spring I for a long time utterly failed to recognize the -song of a water thrush by Rock Creek; and later in the -season I on one occasion failed to make out the flight song -of an oven-bird until in the middle of it the singer suddenly -threw in two or three of the characteristic “teacher, -teacher” notes. Even in neighborhoods with which I am -familiar I continually hear songs and calls which I cannot -place.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In Albemarle County, Virginia, we have a little place -called Pine Knot, where we sometimes go, taking some -or all of the children, for a three or four days’ outing. -It is a mile from the big stock farm, Plain Dealing, -belonging to an old friend, Mr. Joseph Wilmer. The -trees and flowers are like those of Washington, but their -general close resemblance to those of Long Island is set off -by certain exceptions. There are osage orange hedges, -and in spring many of the roads are bordered with bands -of the brilliant yellow blossoms of the flowering broom, -introduced by Jefferson. There are great willow oaks -<span class='pageno' id='Page_410'>410</span>here and there in the woods or pastures, and occasional -groves of noble tulip trees in the many stretches of forest; -these tulip trees growing to a much larger size than on -Long Island. As at Washington, among the most plentiful -flowers are the demure little Quaker Ladies, which -are not found at Sagamore Hill—where we also miss -such northern forms as the wake robin and the other -trilliums, which used to be among the characteristic -marks of spring-time at Albany. At Pine Knot the red -bug, dogwood and laurel are plentiful; though in the -case of the last two no more so than at Sagamore Hill. -The azalea—its Knickerbocker name in New York was -pinkster—grows and flowers far more luxuriantly than -on Long Island. The moccasin flower, the china-blue -Virginia cowslip with its pale pink buds, the blood-red -Indian pink, the painted columbine and many, many -other flowers somewhat less showy carpet the woods.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The birds are, of course, for the most part the same as -on Long Island, but with some differences. These differences -are, in part, due to the more southern locality; but -in part I cannot explain them, for birds will often be -absent from one place seemingly without any real reason. -Thus around us in Albemarle County song-sparrows are -certainly rare and I have not seen savanna sparrows at -all; but the other common sparrows, such as the chippy, -field sparrow, vesper sparrow, and grasshopper sparrow -abound; and in an open field where bind-weed morning -glories and evening primroses grew among the broom -sedge, I found some small grass-dwelling sparrows, which -with the exercise of some little patience I was able to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_411'>411</span>study at close quarters with the glasses; as I had no gun -I could not be positive about their identification, though -I was inclined to believe that they were Henslow’s sparrows. -Of birds of brilliant color there are six species—the -cardinal, the summer redbird and the scarlet tanager, -in red, and the bluebird, indigo bunting, and blue grossbeak, -in blue. I saw but one pair of blue grossbeaks; -but the little indigo buntings abound, and bluebirds are -exceedingly common, breeding in numbers. It has always -been a puzzle to me why they do not breed around -us at Sagamore Hill, where I only see them during the -migrations. Neither the rosy summer redbirds nor the -cardinals are quite as brilliant as the scarlet tanagers, -which fairly burn like live flames; but the tanager is -much less common than either of the others in Albemarle -County, and it is much less common than it is at Sagamore -Hill. Among the singers the wood thrush is not -common, but the meadow lark abounds. The yellow-breasted -chat is everywhere and in the spring its clucking, -whistling and calling seem never to stop for a minute. -The white-eyed vireo is found in the same thick undergrowth -as the chat and among the smaller birds it is one -of those most in evidence to the ear. In one or two places -I came across parties of the long-tailed Bewick’s wren, -as familiar as the house wren but with a very different -song. There are gentle mourning doves; and black-billed -cuckoos seem more common than the yellow-bills. The -mocking-birds are, as always, most interesting. I was -much amused to see one of them following two crows; -when they lit in a plowed field the mocking-bird paraded -<span class='pageno' id='Page_412'>412</span>alongside of them six feet off, and then fluttered around -to the attack. The crows, however, were evidently less -bothered by it than they would have been by a kingbird. -At Plain Dealing many birds nest within a stone’s throw -of the rambling attractive house, with its numerous outbuildings, -old garden, orchard, and venerable locusts -and catalpas. Among them are Baltimore and orchard -orioles, purple grackles, flickers and red-headed woodpeckers, -bluebirds, robins, kingbirds and indigo buntings. -One observation which I made was of real interest. On -May 18, 1907, I saw a small party of a dozen or so of -passenger pigeons, birds I had not seen for a quarter of -a century and never expected to see again. I saw them -two or three times flying hither and thither with great -rapidity, and once they perched in a tall dead pine on the -edge of an old field. They were unmistakable; yet the -sight was so unexpected that I almost doubted my eyes, -and I welcomed a bit of corroborative evidence coming -from Dick, the colored foreman at Plain Dealing. Dick -is a frequent companion of mine in rambles around the -country, and he is an unusually close and accurate observer -of birds, and of wild things generally. Dick had -mentioned to me having seen some “wild carrier pigeons,” -as he called them; and, thinking over this remark -of his, after I had returned to Washington, I began to -wonder whether he too might not have seen passenger -pigeons. Accordingly I wrote to Mr. Wilmer, asking -him to question Dick and find out what the “carrier -pigeons” looked like. His answering letter runs in part -as follows:</p> - -<p class='c019'><span class='pageno' id='Page_413'>413</span>“On May 12th last Dick saw a flock of about thirty wild -pigeons, followed at a short distance by about half as many, -flying in a circle very rapidly, between the Plain Dealing -house and the woods, where they disappeared. They had -pointed tails and resembled somewhat large doves—the breast -and sides rather a brownish red. He had seen them before, -but many years ago. I think it is unquestionably the passenger -pigeon—<i>Ectopistes migratorius</i>—described on p. 25 of the 5th -volume of Audubon. I remember the pigeon roosts as he describes -them, on a smaller scale, but large flocks have not been -seen in this part of Virginia for many years.”</p> - -<p class='c010'>I fear, by the way, that the true prairie chicken, one -of the most characteristic American game birds, will soon -follow the passenger pigeon. My two elder sons have -now and then made trips for prairie chickens and ducks -to the Dakotas. Last summer, 1907, the second boy returned -from such a trip—which he had ended by a successful -deer hunt in Wisconsin—with the melancholy information -that the diminution in the ranks of the prairie -fowl in the Dakotas was very evident.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The house at Pine Knot consists of one long room, -with a broad piazza, below, and three small bedrooms -above. It is made of wood, with big outside chimneys -at each end. Wood rats and white-footed mice visit it; -once a weasel came in after them; now a flying squirrel -has made his home among the rafters. On one side the -pines and on the other side the oaks come up to the walls; -in front the broom sedge grows almost to the piazza and -above the line of its waving plumes we look across the -beautiful rolling Virginia farm country to the foothills -<span class='pageno' id='Page_414'>414</span>of the Blue Ridge. At night whippoorwills call incessantly -around us. In the late spring or early summer we -usually take breakfast and dinner on the veranda listening -to mocking-bird, cardinal, and Carolina wren, as well -as to many more common singers. In the winter the little -house can only be kept warm by roaring fires in the -great open fireplaces, for there is no plaster on the walls, -nothing but the bare wood. Then the table is set near -the blazing logs at one end of the long room which makes -up the lower part of the house, and at the other end the -colored cook—Jim Crack by name—prepares the delicious -Virginia dinner; while around him cluster the -little darkies, who go on errands, bring in wood, or fetch -water from the spring, to put in the bucket which stands -below where the gourd hangs on the wall. Outside the -wind moans or the still cold bites if the night is quiet; -but inside there is warmth and light and cheer.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There are plenty of quail and rabbits in the fields -and woods near by, so we live partly on what our guns -bring in; and there are also wild turkeys. I spent the -first three days of November, 1906, in a finally successful -effort to kill a wild turkey. Each morning I left -the house between three and five o’clock, under a cold -brilliant moon. The frost was heavy; and my horse -shuffled over the frozen ruts as I rode after Dick. I -was on the turkey grounds before the faintest streak of -dawn had appeared in the east; and I worked as long -as daylight lasted. It was interesting and attractive in -spite of the cold. In the night we heard the quavering -screech owls; and occasionally the hooting of one of -their bigger brothers. At dawn we listened to the lusty -hammering of the big logcocks, or to the curious coughing -or croaking sound of a hawk before it left its roost. -Now and then loose flocks of small birds straggled past -us as we sat in the blind, or rested to eat our lunch; -chickadees, tufted tits, golden-crested kinglets, creepers, -cardinals, various sparrows and small woodpeckers. -Once we saw a shrike pounce on a field mouse by a -haystack; once we came on a ruffed grouse sitting motionless -in the road.</p> - -<div id='i_414' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_414.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ROSWELL BEHAVES LIKE A GENTLEMAN<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_415'>415</span>The last day I had with me Jim Bishop, a man who -had hunted turkeys by profession, a hard-working farmer, -whose ancestors have for generations been farmers and -woodmen; an excellent hunter, tireless, resourceful, with -an eye that nothing escaped; just the kind of a man one -likes to regard as typical of what is best in American life. -Until this day, and indeed until the very end of this day, -chance did not favor us. We tried to get up to the turkeys -on the roost before daybreak; but they roosted in pines -and, night though it was, they were evidently on the lookout, -for they always saw us long before we could make -them out, and then we could hear them fly out of the tree-tops. -Turkeys are quite as wary as deer, and we never -got a sight of them while we were walking through the -woods; but two or three times we flushed gangs, and my -companion then at once built a little blind of pine boughs -in which we sat while he tried to call the scattered birds -up to us by imitating, with marvellous fidelity, their -yelping. Twice a turkey started toward us, but on each -occasion the old hen began calling some distance off and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_416'>416</span>all the scattered birds at once went toward her. At other -times I would slip around to one side of a wood while -my companion walked through it, but either there were -no turkeys or they went out somewhere far away from me.</p> - -<p class='c010'>On the last day I was out thirteen hours. Finally, -late in the afternoon, Jim Bishop marked a turkey into -a point of pines which stretched from a line of wooded -hills down into a narrow open valley on the other side -of which again rose wooded hills. I ran down to the -end of the point and stood behind a small oak, while -Bishop and Dick walked down through the trees to drive -the turkey toward me. This time everything went well; -the turkey came out of the cover not too far off and -sprang into the air, heading across the valley and offering -me a side shot at forty yards as he sailed by. It was -just the distance for the close-shooting ten-bore duck -gun I carried; and at the report down came the turkey -in a heap, not so much as a leg or wing moving. It was -an easy shot. But we had hunted hard for three days; -and the turkey is the king of American game birds; and, -besides, I knew he would be very good eating indeed -when we brought him home; so I was as pleased as possible -when Dick lifted the fine young gobbler, his bronze -plumage iridescent in the light of the westering sun.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Formerly we could ride across country in any direction -around Washington and almost as soon as we left -the beautiful, tree-shaded streets of the city we were -in the real country. But as Washington grows, it naturally—and -to me most regrettably—becomes less and -less like its former, glorified-village, self; and wire fencing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_417'>417</span>has destroyed our old cross-country rides. Fortunately -there are now many delightful bridle trails in -Rock Creek Park; and we have fixed up a number of -good jumps at suitable places—a stone wall, a water -jump, a bank with a ditch, two or three posts-and-rails, -about four feet high, and some stiff brush hurdles, one -of five feet seven inches. The last, which is the only formidable -jump was put up to please two sporting members -of the administration, Bacon and Meyer. Both of them -school their horses over it; and my two elder boys, and -Fitzhugh Lee, my cavalry aide, also school my horses -over it. On one of my horses, Roswell, I have gone over -it myself; and as I weigh two hundred pounds without -my saddle I think that the jump, with such a weight, in -cold blood, should be credited to Roswell for righteousness. -Roswell is a bay gelding; Audrey a black mare; -they are Virginia horses. In the spring of 1907 I had -photographs of them taken going over the various jumps. -Roswell is a fine jumper, and usually goes at his jumps -in a spirit of matter-of-fact enjoyment. But he now and -then shows queer kinks in his temper. On one of these -occasions he began by wishing to rush his jumps, and -by trying to go over the wings instead of the jumps themselves. -He fought hard for his head; and as it happened -that the best picture we got of him in the air was at this -particular time, it gives a wrong idea of his ordinary -behavior, and also, I sincerely trust, a wrong idea of my -hands. Generally he takes his jumps like a gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Many of the men with whom I hunted or with whom -I was brought in close contact when I lived on my ranch, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_418'>418</span>and still more of the men who were with me in the Rough -Riders, have shared in some way or other in my later -political life. Phil Stewart was one of the Presidential -Electors who in 1904 gave me Colorado’s vote; Merrifield -filled the same position in Montana and is now Marshal -of that State. Cecil Lyon and Sloan Simpson, of -Texas, were delegates for me at the National Convention -which nominated me in 1904. Sewell is Collector of Customs -in Maine; Sylvans and Joe Ferris are respectively -Register of the Land Office and Postmaster in North -Dakota; Dennis Shea with whom I worked on the Little -Missouri round-up holds my commission as Marshal of -North Dakota. Abernathy the wolf hunter is my Marshal -in Oklahoma. John Willis declined to take any -place; when he was last my guest at the White House he -told me, I am happy to say, that he does better with his -ranch than he could have done with any office. Johnny -Goff is a forest ranger near the Yellowstone Park. Seth -Bullock is Marshal of South Dakota; he too is an old -friend of my ranch days and was sheriff in the Black -Hills when I was deputy sheriff due north of him in -Billings County, in the then Territory of Dakota. -Among the people that we both arrested, by the way, was -a young man named “Calamity Joe,” a very well-meaning -fellow but a wild boy who had gone astray, as wild -boys often used to go astray on the frontier, through bad -companionship. To my great amusement his uncle -turned up as United States Senator some fifteen years -later, and was one of my staunch allies. Of the men of -the regiment Lieutenant Colonel Brodie I made Governor of Arizona, Captain Frantz, Governor of Oklahoma, -and Captain Curry Governor of New Mexico. -Ben Daniels I appointed Marshal of Arizona; Colbert, -the Chickasaw, Marshal in the Indian Territory. Llewellyn -is District Attorney in New Mexico. Jenkins is -Collector of Internal Revenue in South Carolina. Fred -Herrig, who was with me on the Little Missouri, where -we hunted the blacktail and the bighorn together, and -who later served under me at Santiago, is a forest ranger -in Montana; and many other men of my old regiment -have taken up with unexpected interest occupations as -diverse as those of postmaster, of revenue agent, of land -and forest officers of various kinds. Joe Lee is Minister -to Ecuador; John McIlhenny is Civil Service Commissioner; -Craig Wadsworth is Secretary of Legation at -the Court of St. James; Mason Mitchell is Consul in -China, having already been Consul at Mozambique, -where he spent his holidays in hunting the biggest of -the world’s big game.</p> - -<div id='i_418' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_418.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>ROSWELL FIGHTS FOR HIS HEAD<br /><br />From a photograph, copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_419'>419</span>Appointments to public office must of course be made -primarily because of the presumable fitness of the man -for the position. But even the most rigid moralist ought -to pardon the occasional inclusion of other considerations. -I am glad that I have been able to put in office certain -outdoor men who were typical leaders in the old life of -the frontier, the daring adventurous life of warfare -against wild man and wild nature which has now so -nearly passed away. Bat Masterson, formerly of Dodge -City and the Texas cattle trail, the most famous of the oldtime -marshals, the iron-nerved gun-fighters of the border, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_420'>420</span>is now a deputy marshal in New York, under District -Attorney Stimson—himself a big game hunter, by the -way. Pat Garret, who slew Billy the Kid, I made Collector -of Customs at El Paso; and other scarred gun-fighters -of the vanished frontier, with to their credit deeds -of prowess as great as those of either Masterson or Garret, -now hold my commissions, on the Rio Grande, in the -Territories, or here and there in the States of the Rocky -Mountains and the Great Plains.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c007' /> -</div> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='section ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - - <ol class='ol_1 c006'> - <li>Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - - </li> - <li>Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. - </li> - </ol> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter, by -Theodore Roosevelt - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER *** - -***** This file should be named 61935-h.htm or 61935-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/9/3/61935/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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