Wa i Ne RAS as oe * Se ear ¢. or D eli 2 are § Se, ter aren” bape 2 -47ne eae ie ig ites Ten agit {ty Ct ae & esa rh “a = ie eee a Loe ws ed wy Geis : ei : x a nae : Wid att ae early (f, , Cw a qay em, Oe wes seemonganyy tt a . ee oe Good Hunting A WOUNDED BULL ELK GOOD iwernc® In Pursuit of Big Game in the West BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT ‘) Illustrated **Good hunting all That keep the Jungle law.” RUDYARD KIPLING, New York and London _ Harper & Brothers Publishers => 1997 {LISRARY o CONGRES } 1 woeived D 107 minty ay ve, ‘Go 7 ASS AAG. N s © . . * ve Copyright, 1896, 1897, 1907,by HARPER & BRoTHERs. All rights reserved. Published February, 1907. Publisher’s Note Tus book offers to younger readers a series of pictures of out-door life and big- Be game hunting in the West. More than am & this, the author makes us feel not only *\*. bg SIS eat the zest of sport and adventure, but also . a WS i the interest attaching to the habits and Ne peculiarities of the remarkable animals *\, - ig % which he describes. It is a field-book, a since it is written by a true sportsman out * a ; G Ege! of his own experiences, and its general bes g spirit tends to a better appreciation of the value of close observation of animal life. The elk, bear, goats, deer, and other animals which are described, represent the most remarkable large fauna of ou country. These descriptions, by one#g: B : Vv i dee gerne gS 4 = yu > Dy yy wibar an) <= 44 z = J! weer ine age A UAL AL Pine ow SATS vrata evoye? (Nae M6 ENS * @ os > a : & _ op iites tien wv Hr} Publisher’s Note whose acquaintance with them has been so intimate, have an added value in view of the diminution in their number. It is interesting, also, to remember that the influence of the author has been con- stantly exerted in favor of the preserva- tion of big game and the maintenance of national parks and forest reserves, which, in addition to other advantages, include the protection of these noble forms of animal life. This series of articles upon big-game hunting was written for Harper’s Round Table, and published therein in 1897. “x The picture of ranch-life which forms the ae N closing chapter appeared in Harper’s « Round Table in 1896. ‘These articles are RS author. For the title of the book and the proof-reading the publishers are re- sponsible. Contents I. THe Wapiti, oR ROUND-HORNED ELK . II. A CatTTLE-KILLING Bear. III. A Curistmas Buck IV. Tue TIMBER-WOLF . V. SHOOTING THE PRONG-BUCK VI. A Tame WuitEe Goat VII. RANCHING. Oe a FET Lad i? “hy ~ AE GPa. aap ety St ena ANGE 3! ew toe eee oe D y & | ) SE] ty \\ N N AY Illustrations A WOUNDED BULL ELK. . . SIX-POINT ELK-ANTLERS FOLLOWING AN ELK-TRAIL IN WINTER. GREAT WAS THE BULL’S ASTONISHMENT THE GRIZZLY AND A VICTIM “THE SHAGGY BEAST WAS FOUND LYING DEAD WITHIN A DOZEN YARDS OF HIS LAST VICTIM”’ . ‘*¢T DROPPED ON ONE KNEE AND FIRED’22 CANADIAN WOLVES AT AN INDIAN GRAVE DOGS IN PURSUIT OF AN OLD WOLF. . STALKING BIG GAME. ***T LEAPED OFF, AND HELD WELL AHEAD OF THE REARMOST AND LARGEST ITOK oe eine A WOUNDED ANTELOPE. FINALLY THE GOAT GOT USED TO MOTION OF THE CANOE ... . COW-BOY AMUSEMENTS . TAILING A BULL . . . - . . . ““ THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF EXCITING GALLOPING 6") < Frontispiece . Facing p. 18 20 ' 22 32 = fo,) ° oor~ : oe 7 ? ng ae Ay i Pra een Tl n - — Sy - f awsanes gta? a PY cat | raed o- vant tase Bt ety : +¢ AQ): IP 7 r .) <2 Mi by The Wapiti, or Round-horned Elk te cee” a A AAS ree et Ls Ss és A UZ i i tite ~7LS Oe: We: : =? pad I THE WAPITI, OR ROUND-HORNED ELK Sj 0 country of the temperate; : de : \/ zone can begin to compare ae Je fs|| with South Asia, and, above BO RS C all, tropical and subtropical vy OY ; ASI} Africa, in the number and \ - Dey size of those great beasts of the chase ni OS which are known to hunters as big 4 ve : game; but after the Indian and Afri- Mb Gh BRS can hunting - grounds, the best are still fp g'3 a those of North America. Until a fewgy ja 2 years before 1897 there were large re-Y gions, even in the United States, where¢: the teeming myriads of wild game,¥3 though of far fewer and less varied » oe rau | Wwe aks trrcesstet fhe \ b +o teem Nip Aan ) Or adel 7 Vie Wy great wooded wilderness the sound is very musical, and to me—and, I suppose, to¢ most hunters—it is one of the most at-® tractive sounds in all nature. 2 17 Good Hunting At this season the big bulls are quite easy to approach by any man at all skilled in still-hunting, for their incessant challenging betrays their whereabouts, and they are so angry and excited as to be less watchful than usual. Some of my most pleasurable memories of hunting are connected with stalking some great bull-elk in frosty weather, when the woods rang with his challenges. if One evening in early October I was 4” camped high among the mountains of ay western Montana. We were travelling \. with a pack-train, and had pitched our a = ~~ ver we had caught a glimpse of a band of cows as they disappeared among the ™ pines. SIX-POINT ELK-ANTLERS The Wapiti, or Round-horned Elk Towards morning I was awakened by hearing a bull challenge not very far from camp. The sound of the challenge kept coming nearer and nearer, and finally I heard one of the horses snort loudly in response; evidently the elk saw them, and, not making out exactly what they were, was coming down to join them. Sometimes horses will stampede when Uf a | thus approached; but our ponies were ait 5, veterans, and were very tired, and evi- dently had no intention of leaving their good pasture. Sitting up in my blankets, I could tell ° from the sound that they were still in the J park, and then the challenge of the bull came pealing up not three hundred yards "% from the tent. This was more than I f Si i could stand, and I jumped up and put on 2 War, my shoes and jacket. The moon was te ot 7” \. er bright, but shooting by moonlight is very deceptive, and I doubt whether I would “ he: i‘ X 19 3 pslelh U Al X ta 6 ev. i ntigese n Fi F A an Pe ie a ri Good Hunting have hit him even had I got down to the park in time. However, he had moved on before I got down, and I heard his chal- lenge in the woods beyond. Looking at my watch, I saw that it was nearly dawn. I returned to the tent and laid down as I was under the blankets, and shivered and dozed for half an hour, then * =I came back to the meadow, where the KWa, pack- ponies stood motionless. In the W’ brightening light the moon paled, and \ ey , I was very soon able to pick out the bull’s inet Ss \ struck up a long valley, from which a pass led into a wooded basin. At the top of the pass I lost the trail entirely, and as it was almost impossible to see for any distance through the woods, I came ¥ to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to sit down and await events. int ae: walking in snow. I saw that he had o = ONIMOTION NV “1TH AaHLINIM NI TIVUL The Wapiti, or Round-horned Elk I did not have long to wait. In a couple of minutes the bugle of a bull came echoing across the basin through the frosty morning. Evidently my friend was still travelling, hunting for some possibly weaker rival. Almost imme- diately I heard far off another answering the challenge, and I stood up and medi- roe tated what to do. There was very little =: | de air, but such as there was blew to one Ae: IS side of the spot from which the last chal- - ‘a lenge seemed to come, and I immediately > _ ¢ SESS - nee, aly ana - struck off at a trot through the woods to i “3,2 ae get below the wind. ay Na was. The answer to the challenge had evi- pe dently greatly excited the bull whose yy trail I had been following; he called every #7? g two or three minutes. The other answer § was somewhat more irregular, and as I drew nearer I could tell from the volume of sound that the second challenge was ~ = wih pw»: earnccith MIrM, ry pe = Meath ” we “nwasee Gee Vr) See E a ef from some big master-bull, who probably @ =; SS XA | Na 21 Pear wae a =3 gotmen mag RED ene SEU SS eo” oo “Oy ¢ o” < : = 39 ane Py "23. = = f dd 2 =z = < CG 24 Eg r. tle ate Gage an Good Hunting had his herd around him, and was roaring defiance at his would-be despoiler, for the single bull was doubtless on the look- out for some weaker one whom he could supplant as master of a herd. It was likely that the second bull, being a herd-master, would have the larger antlers, and I therefore preferred to get a shot at him. However, I was doomed to disappointment. As I groped towards the herd, and was within a couple of hun- ay dred yards, as I knew by the volume of _/ -*'¢ sound, I almost stumbled upon a small <''&. spike-bull, who was evidently loitering a about the outskirts of the herd, not dar- “p> ing to go too near the bad-tempered old chief. This little bull dashed away, giving <3 the alarm, and a clash in the bushes soon Mg! ~ - told that the herd was following him. “Ws But luck favored me. The master- ~ Yh bull, being absorbed in thoughts of his &~ rival, evidently suspected that the cows Teche 22 GREAT WAS THE BULL’S ASTONISHMENT The Wapiti, or Round-horned Elk had some thought of fleeing from him, and, as they ran, tried to hold them to- gether. I ran too, going at full speed, with the hope of cutting him off; in this I failed, but I came almost face to face with the very bull which I had been following from camp, and which had evidently followed the herd at full speed as soon as they ran. Great was his astonishment when he saw me. He pulled up so suddenly to * wheel round that he almost fell on his i side; then off he went in a plunging gallop of terror; but he was near by, and step- ping to one side I covered an opening be- , ‘ tween, two trees, firing the minute he! appeared. A convulsive leap showed that “% a the bullet had struck, and after him I'q ‘¢ mi if went at full speed. Ina short time I saw 2 a him again, walking along with drooping x. head, and again I fired into his flank; he ale . seemed to pay no attention to the shot, ‘ “f: io ¢ 23 Som 2, SQ E : Mh me “hy Good Hunting but walked forward a few steps, then halted, faltered, and fell on his side. In another second I had placed my rifle against a tree, and was admiring his shapely form and massive antlers. Wee secatie ¢ a7 \Ea Neu 4 uundyne ony bed * oe odind i Bes aed ae 22447, N, % Saad = ie ora arte wye ane Ut mee Oayy(Ces eetontge A Cattle-killing Bear Yaw _ ae —e fo NE GH ¥, EGE Ss ee Nees ete eee Il A CATTLE-KILLING BEAR iis HERE were, in 1897, a few 4 r grizzlies left here and there #13 & i Bey : | along the Little Missouri a AU, C ¥ impenetrable jungle of timber and hones § 9 brush. In the old days they used to be‘ o @ very plentiful in this region, and vent- Pe 2 ured boldly out on the prairie. The : Little Missouri region was a famous hunt- ing-ground for both the white trappers N m= ?: ~ . (Lr vec ONTO ‘om H Z when the far West was still a wilderness, 83 ? AY : and the men who trapped beaver =, 3 BS 7 > ww = = SS 2 Sagas, WS a =) ; ¢e _! 2 5 3 oa ix Fas = i A ie Est F Je ~ : Good Hunting wander for years over the plains and mountains and see no white faces save those of their companions. Indeed, at that time the Little Missouri was very dangerous country, as it was the debatable-ground between many power- ful Indian tribes, and was only visited by formidable war-parties and hunting- parties. In consequence of nobody dar- " ing to live there, game swarmed—buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, mountain-sheep, and 7 = ay bear. The bears were then very bold, re ¢ and the hunters had little difficulty in qu «. getting up to them, for they were quite “as apt to attack as to run away. But when, in 1880, the Northern Pacific + Railroad reached the neighborhood of the aye Little Missouri, all this changed forever. “ty mor aN The game that for untold ages had trod- . den out their paths over the prairies and along the river-bottoms vanished, as the . ~~ Indians that had hunted it also vanished. ’ 28 y A Cattle-killing Bear The bold white hunters also passed away with the bears they had chased and the red foes against whom they had warred. In their places the ranchman came in with great herds of cattle and horses and flocks of sheep, and built their log cabins and tilled their scanty garden-patches, and cut down the wild hay for winter fodder. Now bears are as shy as they are scarce. No grizzly in such a settled region would dream of attacking a man unprovoked, and they pass their days in the deepest thickets, so that it is almost impossible to get at them. I never ° killed a bear in the neighborhood of my Yo former ranch, though I have shot quite a " x number some hundreds of miles to the % ; west in the Rocky Mountains. “afe § Usually the bears live almost ex- 2@% is oy clusively on roots, berries, insects, and {es the like. In fact, there is always some-* if I aq thing grotesque and incongruous in com- ft “Ol e. g Snes Vis Go tg’ i oy ay? BO Wey ¢ Di (| ih, * ? BA RWS ~ as Ay Ge -) A\ \\) Good Hunting paring the bear’s vast size, and his formidable claws and teeth, with the uses to which those claws and teeth are normally put. At the end of the season the claws, which are very long in spring, sometimes become so much blunted as to be tender, because the bear has worked on hard ground digging roots and the " like. “5 Bears often graze on the fresh tender ij Ns : Spe grass. Berries form their especial when in season as to become inordinately " fat. Indeed, a bear in a berry - patch amt. fhe frequently grows so absorbed in his work eo) XS as to lose his wariness, and as he makes a a good deal of noise himself in breaking ey > wen as r branches and gobbling down the fruit, i he is exposed to much danger from the we 3 re 9 hunter. Besides roots and berries, the bear will ? thy 3 “ feed on any small living thing he en- hog’ 30 £ awe 3 a: i em a. Te Stabe: ot hs A Cattle-killing Bear counters. If in plundering a squirrel’s cache he comes upon some young squirrels, down they go in company with the hoard- ed nuts. He is continually knocking to pieces and overturning old dead logs for the sake of devouring the insects living ‘beneath them. If, when such a log is overturned, mice, shrews, or chipmunks a are found underneath, the bear promptly } 3 fe scoops them into his mouth while they {.. Re are still dazed by the sudden inrush of . a: light. All this seems rather ludicrous “Qs ee as the life work of an animal of such huge | = ae proportions and such vast strength. a % a Sometimes, however, a bear will take” q to killing fresh meat for itself. Indeed, » I think it is only its clumsiness that gp: prevents it from becoming an habitual #3 flesh-eater. Deer are so agile that bears can rarely get them; yet on occasions§*, not only deer, but moose, buffalo, and ES elk fall victims to them. Wild game, - DAY COP 1 id Z ny COO ont om ee makintes « rT etree rete Mane AA) Ud &. RENE ’ s aS fe oe . Ny - = oc eat > da 4, “oe fee pv) we Gina ee Up i rig gritos oe eo veenen CBs ayy) one ond ea) +X if ; € $8 3 own’ ht em SSS SA ~ ¢ 0” 27 = z ee thy a = i // ae 3 x ; 3 Me anh? 4 f : =F * ie se 1% ‘$. : See he oe \ - “ Good Hunting however, are so shy, so agile, and so alert that it is only rarely they afford meals to old Ephraim—as the mountain hunters call the grizzly. Domestic animals are slower, more timid, more clumsy, and with far duller senses. It is on these that the bear by preference preys when he needs fresh meat. I have never, myself, known one to kill horses; but I have been informed that the feat is sometimes performed, usually in spring; and the ranchman who told me insisted that when a bear made his rush he went with such astonishing speed that the horse was usually over- taken before it got well under way. The favorite food of a bear, however, if he really wants fresh meat, is a hog or _ sheep—by preference the former. If a bear once gets into the habit of visiting a sheepfold or pigpen, it requires no slight skill and watchfulness to keep 32 THE GRIZZLY AND A VICTIM A Cattle-killing Bear him out. As for swine, they dread bears more than anything else. A drove of half-wild swine will make head against a wolf or panther; but the bear scatters them in a panic. This feat is entire- ly justifiable, for a bear has a peculiar knack in knocking down a hog, and then literally eating him alive, in spite of his fearful squealing. is Every now and then bears take to kill- i; Ne | ing cattle regularly. Sometimes the crim- A eh. inal is a female with cubs; sometimes an -— . s old male in spring, when he is lean, and has , o ie. the flesh hunger upon him. But on one ‘“@ffs.,., occasion a very large and cunning bear, : I me. ( some twenty-five miles below my ranch, a Wh took to cattle-killing early in the sum- ‘@ on ’ mer, and continued it through the fall.’4 She He made his home in a very densely a) Wa, wooded bottom; but he wandered far ; “Iss and wide, and I have myself frequently, K ped if seen his great, half - human footprints 3 33 ‘ K 3 r™ xg ihm ay “4 e ») aM wea YI, HN is AW ES y Good Hunting leading along some narrow divide, or across some great plateau, where there was no cover whatever, and where he must have gone at night. During the daytime, when on one of' these expedi- tions, he would lie up in some timber coulée, and return to the river-bottoms after dark, so that no one ever saw aes him; but his tracks were seen very fre- C7 Wn Cuently. IN He began operations on the bottom \ & where he had his den. He at first took \ wr to lying in wait for the cattle as they i) came down to drink, when he would seize ‘..* some animal, usually a fat young steer or \ heifer, knocking it over by sheer force. : i his furious rush he sometimes broke the back with a terrific blow from his WV fore-paw: at other times he threw the * Rs animal over and bit it to death. The aN rest of the herd never made any effort to Yretaliate, but fled in terror. Very soon 7e5 ‘ o ‘AS yr = SS Py mee a A Cattle-killing Bear the cattle would not go down on this bottom at all; then he began to wander over the adjoining bottoms, and finally to make excursions far off in the broken country. Evidently he would some- times at night steal along a coulée until he found cattle lying down on the hill- side, and then approach cautiously and seize his prey. : r Usually the animals he killed were cows #33. XS : or steers; and noticing this, a certain ae : ranchman in the neighborhood used to vey ee A boast that a favorite bull on his ranch, of - Ds * which he was particularly proud, would,’ ui Free Br surely account for the bear if the latter 8 ip us dared to attack him. The boast poved au: id vain. One day a cow-boy riding down f 2 as a a lonely coulée came upon the scene off Lat he what had evidently been a very hard con-¥ flict. There were deep marks of hoofsg and claws in the soft soil, bushes were®® smashed down where the strugglin 35 i st hea "2: a a ag $ ° : Oa ps oe Pr va 3 rs > : Py Se A eee roubles 4 eater, ee oyp MMtaa Denner cep) oryd' wre! Vb at) “US NOI G7, is Se 4 = ary oe Wyse a Gj v ee | ts e ee e ¢ ) : ’ ad @ te Good Hunting combatants had pressed against and over them, and a little farther on lay the re- mains of the bull. He must have been seized by surprise; probably the great bear rushed at him from behind, or at one side, and fastened upon him so that he had no fair chance to use his horns. Nevertheless, he made a gallant struggle for his life, staggering to and fro trying to shake off his murderous antagonist, and endeavoring in vain to strike back over his shoulder; but all was «.p useless. Even his strength could not 6. avail against the might of his foe, and ¥. ™ the cruel claws and teeth tore out his MR life. At last the gallant bull fell and breathed his last, and the bear feasted The angry ranchman swore vengeance, and set a trap for the bear, hoping it would return. The sly old beast, however, Wy. doubtless was aware that the body had aS 36 aN. xy pa Ae ae “THE SHAGGY ‘BEAST WAS FOUND LYING DEAD WITHIN A DOZEN YARDS OF HIS LAST VICTIM” A Cattle-killing Bear been visited, for he never came back, but returned to the river-bottom, and again from time to time was heard of as slay- ing some animal. However, at last his fate overtook him. Early one morning a cow was discovered just killed and not yet eaten, the bear having probably been scared off. Immediately the ranch- + man put poison in the bait which the bear ie & had thus himself left, and twenty-four TON hours later the shaggy beast was found 2S lying dead within a dozen yards of his last victim. 7 le gene * ee oe % ry” ce CZy, o SS ee St vad AG AS PZ FSs ‘ “ & a yh set 3, PE Kit Crbuore W “hy, Et ES, GME iy — hyn, & me oN Se gy gen a 0S / ¢ & INNS — Com 2 ay, SN ie eee ae ‘5 Veo N N rN LL say 0 A Christmas Buck III A CHRISTMAS BUCK A= || HROUGHOUT most of the = ranch country there are two kinds of deer, the 1 a! black-tail and the white- -»' tail. The white-tail is the, wo same as the deer of the East; it is a’g beautiful creature, a marvel of lightness: and grace in all its movements, and it loves to dwell in thick timber, so that in the plains country it is almost confined ae to the heavily wooded river bottoms. The black-tail is somewhat larger, with a different and very peculiar gait, con-, p i sisting of a succession of stiff- ae 3. \ ahs i clea “run 3 ihe bs PLE GE I fg t - ih —!: ee oe Se ee Good Hunting bounds, all four feet striking the earth at the same time. Its habits are like- wise very different, as it is a bolder ani- mal and much fonder of the open coun- try. Among the Rockies it is found in the deep forests, but it prefers scantily wooded regions, and in the plains country it dwells by choice in the rough hills, * spending the day in the patches of ash or i} cedar among the ravines. In 1882 the WW «oblack-tail was very much more abun- ty dant than the white-tail almost every- where in the West, but owing to the nat- ure of its haunts it is more easily killed out, and in 1897, though both species Dey A: < had decreased in numbers, the white-tail 4 Be was on the whole the more common. ‘ My ranch-house was situated on a Ae aut heavily wooded bottom, one of the places 7: , Where the white-tail were found. On one occasion I killed one from the ranch sem re o. £3” = 9% Pry DY aes usb vertu we A Christmas Buck them within half a mile of the house. Nevertheless, they are so cunning and stealthy in their ways, and the cover is so dense, that usually, although one may know of their existence right in one’s neighborhood, there is more chance of getting game by going off eight or ten miles into the broken country of the 3 black-tail. ; +, One Christmas I was to be at the noe on ; ranch, and I made up my mind that I ee ee A would try to get a good buck for our vagy 02 4 Christmas dinner; for I had not had \ i: Be ¥ much time to eee that: fall, and) Christ-is % ANS mas was almost upon us before we start-’ ed to lay in our stock of winter meat. So I arranged with one of the cow-boys to make an all-day’s hunt through some rugged hills on the other side of the river, where we knew there were black-tail. We were up soon after three o’clock, when it was yet as dark as at midnight. opi? pd 43 mom ONS ase ‘ S Shia : pee ~ Good Hunting We had a long day’s work before us, and so we ate a substantial breakfast, then put on our fur caps, coats, and mittens, and walked out into the cold night. The air was still, but it was biting weather, and we pulled our caps down over our ears as we walked towards the rough, low stable where the two hunting- ponies had been put overnight. Ina few minutes we were jogging along on our journey. There was a powder of snow over the ground, and this and the brilliant star- light enabled us to see our way without difficulty. The river was frozen hard, and the hoofs of the horses rang on the ice 1 SM as they crossed. For a while we followed * way the wagon road, and then struck off into yg SAN a cattle trail which led up into a long "2S We coulée. After a while this faded out, A Christmas Buck countries it is hard to take a horse during darkness. Indeed, we found we had left a little too early, for there was hardly a glimmer of dawn when we reached our proposed hunting-grounds. We left the horses in a sheltered nook where there was abundance of grass, and strode off on foot, numb after the ride. 4 ‘ The dawn brightened rapidly, and there was almost light enough for shooting when we reached a spur overlooking a large ” basin around whose edges there were sev- eral wooded coulées. Here we sat down.” to wait and watch. We did not have to 4 wait long, for just as the sun was coming up on our right hand we caught a glimpse; , of something moving at the mouth of one, Rc By i] of the little ravines some hundreds of Ue 7 yards distant. Another glance. showed 7 "6 Sk us that it was a deer feeding, while an-¥ Lg a! , other behind it was walking leisurely ine oii’ AQ our direction. : ss { Good Hunting There was no time to be lost, and, slid- ing back over the crest, we trotted off around a spur until we were in line with the quarry, and then walked rapidly towards them. Our only fear was lest they should move into some position where they would see us; and this fear was justified. While still one hundred yards from the mouth of the coulée in which we WA, had seen the feeding deer, the second one, WW =which all the time had been walking slow- ANS ly in our direction, came out on a ridge crest to one side of our course. It saw us at once and halted short; it was only a ie SC spike buck, but there was no time to lose, oh for we needed meat, and in another mo- RK ment it would have gone off, giving the & NX alarm to its companion. So I dropped : on one knee, and fired just as it turned. From the jump it gave I was sure it was SW hit, but it disappeared over the hill, WV and at the same time the big buck, its eeryaee Sere wees “e . ‘4 ae eae updys f Vv ‘ ’ ‘‘t? DROPPED ON ONE KNEE AND FIRED’’ A Christmas Buck companion, dashed out of the coulée in front, across the basin. It was broad- side to me, and not more than one hun- dred yards distant; but a running deer is difficult to hit, and though I took two shots, both missed, and it disappeared behind another spur. trail of the spike. I was cheered to find _ ne blood, and as there was a good deal of . ai: snow here and there it was easy to follow KG ay i it; nor was it long before we saw the buck “. =), 3a® moving forward slowly, evidently very a eg This looked pretty bad, and I felt Ye rather blue as I climbed up to look at the re é Syne - wy om oe —— E } sick. We did not disturb him, but 4: 3 Hy watched him until he turned down into ane ie a short ravine a quarter of a mile off; ae ti he did not come out, and we sat down and ef a? SY waited nearly an hour to give him time to o get stiff. When we reached the valley, one went down each side so as to be sure to get him when he jumped up. Our e N 47 P pall ee as 7& i) "ao 4% Ayn 3 3 17 ; - niemg ine litgatn soe co opeenratnuiine & i Sp Good Hunting caution was needless, however, for we failed to start him; and on hunting through some of the patches of brush we found him stretched out already dead. This was satisfactory; but still it was not the big buck, and we started out again after dressing and hanging up the deer. For many hours we saw nothing, and we had swung around within a couple of miles of the horses before we sat down be- hind a screen of stunted cedars for a last look. After attentively scanning every patch of brush in sight, we were about to go on when the attention of both of us was caught at the same moment by seeing a big buck deliberately get up, turn round, and then lie down again in a grove of - small, leafless trees lying opposite to us on a hill-side with a southern exposure. He had evidently very nearly finished his ~ day’s rest, but was not quite ready to go : 48 A Christmas Buck out to feed; and his restlessness cost him his life. As we now knew just where he was, the work was easy. We marked a place on the hill-top a little above and to one side of him; and while the cow-boy remained to watch him, I drew back and walked leisurely round to where I could get a shot. When nearly up to the crest I crawled into view of the patch of brush, rested my elbows on the ground, and G) > gently tapped two stones together. The buck rose nimbly to his feet, and at ae seventy yards afforded me a standing “ q shot, which I could not fail to turn to. good account. A winter day is short, and twilight had ‘¢e come before we had packed both bucks ’4 on the horses; but with our game behind 5% our saddles we did not feel either fatigue, or hunger or cold, while the horses trotted | steadily homeward. The moon was a Fn fo e, .* & we wees wy’ Prd ad) Good Hunting few days old, and it gave us light until we reached the top of the bluffs by the river and saw across the frozen stream the gleam from the fire-lit windows of the ranch-house. Q . ee -. —_ one The Timber-wolf ono Foner wae ‘ae eS Ss S mon ACB, cn wer aang erage es . 7 4) " 7 ae Ss ae oe we a, ft ras eo nr ee “ . —e s a oe ' ‘ sé % % ’ & 4 ? e rma apie IV THE TIMBER-WOLF HERE are two kinds of 0 wolves found in the United N @ &| States. One is the little | am) 4A coyote or prairie-wolf, or ~»3 barking-wolf, which never | 0 was found in the Eastern States, being an ‘4 ‘ . animal of the open country; the other is ‘My ° ( the big wolf, sometimes called the buffalo-yy7 R Nah wolf, and sometimes the timber-wolf or Wi: 0 gray wolf, which was formerly found’4 . mn everywhere from the Atlantic to thes h\ : Pacific. In some districts it runs to ei varieties of different kinds—red, black, J : a é 4 we i or white. 1-4) XY FO UY YE 3 palin EF hy ~~ TLS ee mG Me eS Nh Se) a) 24 WO ¢ 4 Ny anne Good Hunting The coyote is not at all a formidable beast, and holds its own quite persistently until civilization is well advanced in a country. Coyotes are not dangerous to either man or the larger domestic animals. Lambs, young pigs, hens, and cats often become their prey, and if very hungry several of them will combine to attack a ee young calf. In consequence, farmers and Meg aRe i i, ranchers kill them whenever the chance Wy ~ a VG Ss f offers; but they do not do damage which * MA oy 4 is even appreciable when compared with ps Ln 4 »' the ravages of their grim big brother, the Ns N} gray wolf, which in many sections of the 4 ie West is a veritable scourge of the stock- to. ~ men. aR The big wolves shrink back before the . < growth of the thickly settled districts, e ANN and in the Eastern States they often tend ey , to disappear even from districts that are ¥ uninhabited, save by a few wilderness hunters. They have thus disappeared 54 » usspuBl yee Ke CANADIAN WOLVES AT AN INDIAN GRAVE The Timber-wolf almost entirely from Maine, the Adiron- dacks, and the Alleghanies, although here and there they are said to be returning to their old haunts. Their disappearance is rather mysteri- ous in some instances, for they are cer- tainly not all killed off. The black bear is much more easily killed, yet the black ie, | bear holds its own in many parts of the Fs land from which the wolf has vanished. | aa j No animal is quite so difficult to killasis . a. US the wolf, whether by poison or rifle or hound. Yet, after a comparatively few 8 is have been slain, the entire species will a Egy : perhaps vanish from certain localities. ~ bie uy But with all wild animals it is a notice- we 3 able fact that a course of contact with # : man continuing over many generations of H% animal life causes a species so to adapt it-Y self to its new surroundings that it ceases$*, to diminish in numbers. When white% men take up a new country, the game, and we fiue. = v > aw °° ep)iop gd) Soa ed ce) ES BP LG GF 4 o gos’ ages se FAl(atguiiia wi 4, 4, « ’ of 4 *~ 4 bad fe 4 % oS a * 2 SS (fe: sap tas dacnnee ea) ‘ *)) Good Hunting especially the big game, being entirely unused to contend with the new foe, suc- cumbs easily, and is almost completely killed out. If any individuals survive at all, however, the succeeding genera- tions 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 much more wary and able to take care of itself than the game me 1 ay of an untrodden wilderness. It is a very Gey / & difficult matter to kill a Swiss chamois; a but it is a very easy matter to kill a white y Ake goat after a hunter has once penetrated iD among the almost unknown peaks of the Oe 4 ‘mountains of British Columbia. When ne 3 the ranchmen first drove their cattle to ar = ai the Little Missouri an found the deer The Timber-wolf In consequence, after a time, game may even increase in certain districts where settlements are thin. This has been true of the wolves throughout the northern cattle country in Montana, Wyoming, and the western ends of the Dakotas. In the old days wolves were very plenti- ful throughout this region, closely follow- ing 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 furs. With the dis- ’ appearance of the buffalo the wolves seemed so to diminish in numbers that gi they also seemed to disappear. During Q the last ten years their numbers have ’4 a : q steadily increased, and now they seem to 4h ANNA be as numerous as they ever were in the region in question, and they are infinitely ” Z (= \ more wary and more difficult to kill. y G @ AZ x > 57 7 TAR eS » z : J 4 wu Mer oraerr 2 - . ¢ Hy] = — = PJ =e -_ d > A wy witlatt tee # Good Hunting Along the Little Missouri their ravages were so serious from 1893 to 1897 as to cause heavy damage to the stockmen. Not only colts and calves, but young trail stock, and in midwinter even full-grown horses and steers, are continually slain; and in some seasons their losses have been so serious as to more than eat up all the He profits of the ranchman. The county {WN authorities put a bounty on wolf scalps of yw «three dollars each, and in my own neigh- WW, borhood the ranchmen of their own ac- ~ cord put on a further bounty of five dollars. This made eight dollars for every wolf, and as the skin is also worth something, the business of killing wolves , Was quite profitable. \. Wolves are very shy, and show ex- traordinary cunning both in hiding them- , selves and in slinking out of the way of the hunter. They are rarely killed with the rifle. I have never shot but one = Wee eee Oe I Mou f te < ow Me? a , if" i 8 - a Pied teat ye nurse The Timber-wolf myself. They are occasionally trapped, but after a very few have been procured in this way the survivors become so wary that it is almost impossible even for a master of the art to do much with them, while an ordinary man can never get one into a trap except by accident. More can be done with poison, but even ise oat in this case the animal speedily learns cau- r i B. . tion by experience. When poison is first 7°. Re used in a district wolves are very easily ‘ ‘a aS killed, and perhaps almost all of them will ! Gy Ad 4 be slain, but nowadays it is difficult to \ - wg y catch any but young ones in this way. a wi SS 5; Occasionally an old one will succumb, but e there are always some who cannot be persuaded to touch a bait. The old she- wolves teach their cubs, as soon as they are able to walk, to avoid man’s trace in every way, and to look out for traps and¢ poison. In consequence, though most cow- Good Hunting punchers carry poison with them, and are continually laying out baits, and though some men devote most of their time to poisoning for the sake of the bounty and the fur, the results are not very remu- nerative. The most successful wolf-hunter on the Little Missouri in 1896 was a man who did not rely on poison at all, but on dogs. He was a hunter 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 con- tinually disabled and sometimes killed, t and the hunter had always to be on the “ — watch to add animals to his pack. WS aN It was not a pack that would appeal, as WS Xe far as looks go, to an old huntsman, but vt it was thoroughly fitted for its own work. ~ Most of the dogs were greyhounds, either bo S 60 aS X ah 6 ea EC LE eae ea ens ae =< "Vy diets as oo —- a ‘ Pal A 1 yu ¥ bell 77 ™ > TRER SES DOGS IN PURSUIT OF AN OLD WOLF ms! : € shop eet The Timber-wolf rough or smooth haired, but many of them were big mongrels, and part some other breed, such as bull-dog, mastiff, Newfoundland, blood-hound, or collie. The only two necessary 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 two hundred » GQ. wolves in the course of the year. “9. Of course there was no pretence of -@? giving the game fair play. The wolves “ 4 were killed as vermin, not for sport. The: greatest havoc was in the spring-time, when the she- wolves were followed to ‘gs 5 aah their dens, which were sometimes holes4 SN in the earth and sometimes natural caves. 4 te There were from three to nine whelps i in hy a each litter. Some of the hounds were, Lat re y very fast, and they could usually over- fig DX 6 qi sgt i ‘ pthne Yee = 0 “Wy 5 ee ae “| rf N Good Hunting take a young or weak wolf; but an old wolf-dog, with a good start, unless run into at once, would surely get away if he were in running trim. Frequently, how- ever, he was caught when he was 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. Under these circumstances he ery /8\ we If possible, as with all such packs the “ah GEN x % hunter himself would get up in time to Od hy ' end the worry by a stab of his hunting- ah knife; but unless he was quick he would wi ‘“\~ have nothing to do, for the pack was i ae > ‘ thoroughly competent to do its own kill- o ‘ ‘ ~~ of 2 PRAIGNR ing. Grim fighter though a great wolf- ah \ = is, he stands no show before the Ges XS onslaught of ten such dogs, agile and "ag ie an who rush on their antagonist The Timber-wolf up within two or three minutes after the wolf was taken, the dogs literally tore him to pieces, though one or more of their number might be killed or crippled in the fight. Other hunters were striving to get to- gether packs thoroughly organized, and the wolves may be thinned out; they were certainly altogether too plentiful. During the fall of 1896 I saw a number small plateau, I found the body of a large * steer, while the torn and trodden ground as rz showed that he had fought hard for his ff parently two wolves engaged in the work, and the cunning beasts had evidently d see manaAtit : ‘ 2 33 y acted in concert. While one attracte ih = Gy = ‘J = Ses the steer’s attention, the other, according # 3} SS y 63 Fo OE a 5 OT EEE Bt Good Hunting 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 his mur- derers had slunk off, either seeing or smelling me. Their handiwork was un- mistakable, however, for, unlike bears and cougars, wolves invariably attack their victim at the hind-quarters, and be- gin their feast on the hams or flanks if the animal is of any size. ae Sa i ee ~ apy | NN Z = Ro eel Shooting the Prong-buck ARS Wy a ai tar ‘ all . ix Bie el lta eG a a V SHOOTING THE PRONG-BUCK OR a few years before 1897, : 4 BS when I visited my cattle *@ f & yeaa: || range I spent most of my .i Wy _ A time out on the great ! a AN Hy E 7 YG 3 prong-horned antelope; and as on such yee Y trips the party depends for fresh meat gp :% : upon the rifle, I have on each occasion gy: done a certain amount of antelope-9 shooting. 3 thea In the old days, when antelope were far¢*, more plentiful than they are now, they could often be procured by luring them evenly aiid U at = ooren outa WES, s\ . one . wap Abas Dan anse cea) Mog 9d) Saye! vb cea) M4, " sage intintyuiia & Good Hunting with a red flag—for they are very in- quisitive beasts—but now they have grown wary, and must usually be either stalked, which is very difficult, owing to their extreme keenness of vision and the absence of cover on the prairies, or else must be ridden into. With first-class greyhounds and good horses they can often be run down in fair chase; but ordinarily the rider can hope #f for nothing more than to get within fair 7’ shooting-range, and this only by taking advantage of their peculiarity of running straight ahead in the direction in which they are pointed when once they have settled to their pace. Usually antelope, SS as soon as they see a hunter, run straight ™Y away from him ; but sometimes they make "ge = their flight at an angle, and as they do not like to change their course when ‘once started, it is occasionally possible to cut ~ them off from the point towards which 68 STALKING BIG GAME Shooting the Prong-buck they are headed, and get a reasonably close shot. 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 » then new small-caliber, smokeless-powder rifles, a 30-30-160 Winchester. I had a half-jacketed bullet, the butt being cased in hard metal, while the nose was of pure lead. While travelling to and fro across the range we usually broke 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 J either side by rows of grassy hills, beyond which stretched the rolling prairie. The . creek bed, which at this season was of 4 * course dry in most places, wound in Z oe x, S-shaped curves, with here and there a ws - pool and here and there a fringe of stunted, i * Ne yg wind-beaten timber. We were camped We o u 6 ih, ‘ ro = ph Wb, ae We 4s ae of ms ye! Sore ff p S Good Hunting near a little grove of ash, box-alder, 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 to 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 -' 2s ESS. : f f Fs 3 = <4 y H oO gQ oO jade =) ous eo) a co = (@>) 5 Oo (om ro) fee =] gq i) = ct SS. ‘o) iS oO 0) Ss yy pase OES = NN or three hours before Sylvane and I saw Shooting the Prong-buck 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 mats 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 round- ing 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 start to run, and galloping towards ¥ : them at an oblique angle to their liney “4 E 4, at wes z “se a aeay wonve <~ em F > — ‘ Se: DAG: ME an ron s SSE SS AE Gy a aS ye nulie wrth oe et oo ee mane BIG ATE hee oe — =- > PT haa te ott! ae BE ~ 2, Soraya ee “Gne- tant sai ry of getting ashot. Sylvane was on a light P buckskin horse, and I left him on the eDhe #4 oP) ff, ° Noyy >) 9 Vb en) gad) awe aaet@ Wid; DM ; . - spp i btas Pease ae oeeueen oa oj! IMCntguina E 4 etre ROY ates tod 2 ae z RS ty { AY \ YY Vérse meee bes ob UUs TM gere Seid ‘ ““*T LEAPED OFF, AND HELD WELL AHEAD OF THE REARMOST AND LARGEST BUCK’” Shooting the Prong-buck 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. Muley stopped short, like the trained cow- pony he was; I leaped off, and held well ahead of the rearmost and largest buck. ; 2. At the crack of the little rifle down he 3 & went with his neck broken. In a minute é ae Ke ‘ or two he was packed behind me on f Muley, and we bent our steps towards 1, camp. + oy ee During the remainder of my trip we<’, wil AS i were never out of fresh meat, for I shot ~ a G@ igh iy! three other bucks—one after a smart m4 aE chase on horseback, and the other two after careful stalks. The game being both scarce and shy, I had to exercise much care, and afterg: sighting a band I would sometimes have to wait and crawl round for two or three Z LA SP iy2 3 Sy opp bar baeaee cert vat “ ff, N oy “VARS a ‘ S ~ * wn * s % é $ ry a Bs Qi So, ‘wa + hoes SA YES) ME KS NIGAIT FZ, iyi "e an MG Good Hunting hours before they would get into a posi- tion where I had any chance of ap- proaching. 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 €@X. morning or evening, for their times for «2G) sleeping and feeding are irregular. They Y never seek shelter from the sun, and when they lie down for a noonday nap they are yay 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 e&*" approach them than when they are up “as and feeding. MM They sometimes come down to water ww Xa in the middle of the day, sometimes in the SAN morning or evening. On this trip I came “hes: across bands feeding and resting at almost AN ‘te every time of the day. They seemed Wi & ~ usually to feed for a couple of hours, then a 76 A WOUNDED ANTELOPE Shooting the Prong-buck rest for a couple of hours, then begin 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 the spot I then was at. We had seen two or three bands that morning, and in each case, ‘ ee after a couple of hours of useless effort, 4 4 I failed to get near enough. At last, Ne towards mid-day, we got within range of | “ths: a small band lying down in a little cup- a 7 shaped hollow in the middle of a great flat.. % { I did not have a close shot, for they were 4 running about one hundred and eighty yards off. The buck was rear-most, andY o 3 at him I aimed; the bullet struck him in,” 4 % 4 the flank, coming out of the opposite 5 y i} shoulder, and he fell in his next bound. ie As we stood over him, Joe shook his head, 9 l : ace”; and I told him I guessed so too. St j \ = % 77 hep ig <5 “hy, 4s; : : a uw) me at = Ny ESS Pr tee os aan ris Oy urease ae ‘> a3 as “h.. 4) AEN e w& the chimney, which it would hastily23: \ 7 abandon, however, when a fire was lit. eS ae ane i &3 I Pi? 2 > e = ; ee hs: P} ar = BS a oe sot” os he Ti = = ean Gord 12 a ij > aw a 0 DEAE tt FT 7s se 3 ; = 3 Good Hunting The presence of a dog always resulted in immediate flight, first to the roof, and then to the chimney; and when it came inside the cabin it was fond of jumping on a big wooden shelf above the fireplace, which served as a mantel-piece. If teased it was decidedly truculent; but its tameness and confidence, and the quickness with which it recognized any friend, made it a great favorite, not only with the prospector, but with his few neighbors. However, the little thing did not live very long. Whether it was the change of climate or something wrong with its food, when the hot weather came on it pined gradually away, and one *t morning it was found dead, lying on its Ba beloved roof-tree. The prospector had SN grown so fond of it that, as he told me, he gave it a burial “just as if it were a Christian.” Ranching \ @ { AS Wr & INN ae e ww Ow iS) iN ain bag een : SINS * \ VII RANCHING HERE are in every com- «i munity young men to 7%: | whom life at the desk or ‘ {4 74) behind the counter is un- 1, = utterably dreary and un- “ attractive, and who long for some out-of- <", a door occupation which shall, if possible, Me contain a spice of excitement. These =: De ‘ea 7) Soe maa ¢ SS : Si tb Fev. mpadyornet on tes Be avd Ny Oe oe ante oa an ad 2 cc a (a Wa oe oe Fem . Sere ere WUE wel dleee young men can be divided into two ae classes—first, those who, if they get ag a q “th chance to try the life for which they long, Ss = ltt cS : oo % will speedily betray their utter inability GX Sat to lead it; and, secondly, those who¥§? CY 4 possess the physical capacity and the eR ~ sy 7) ‘ 95 Meee Vn BN ae: * ‘ Biss co ee ES os au 2 = S et eg pe Ba Cal sae a . *§. F ( ma | 3 - 7 4 * ‘ Good Hunting peculiar mental make-up necessary for success in an employment far out of the usual paths of civilized occupations. A great many of these young men think of ranching as a business which they might possibly take up, and what I am about to say* is meant as much for a warning *. to one class as for advice to the other. 4) Ranching is a rather indefinite term. : P Ina good many parts of the West a ranch LA Ne “#8 simply means a farm; but I shall not use ma iy! ie it in this sense, since the advantages and au oa disadvantages of a farmer’s life, whether 6. it be led in New Jersey or Iowa, have Br V4 i often been dwelt upon by men infinitely iD : a more competent than I am to pass judg- a ment. Accordingly, when I speak of wy ranching I shall mean some form of stock- Aye Wh = raising or sheep-farming as practised now 2 & ) s ny MS in the wilder parts of the United States, Ns < = Wy SQ” Sw A ; 1 Written in 1896. i) pas COW-BOY AMUSEMENTS Ranching where there is still plenty of land which, because of the lack of rainfall, is not very productive for agricultural purposes. The first thing to be remembered by any boy or young man who wishes to go West and start life on a cattle ranch, horse ranch, or sheep ranch is that he must know the business thoroughly before he can earn any salary to speak of, still ie less start out on his own accord. A 4 24 great many young fellows apparently * ) think that acow-boy is born and not made, __ and that in order to become one all they ye have to do is to wish very hard to be one. oy ‘ae Now, as a matter of fact, a young fellow J trained as a book-keeper would take quite a Nn as long to learn the trade of a cow-boy %% as the average cow- boy would take to “g i i learn the trade of book-keeper. The first Pah thing that the beginner anywhere in the i wilder parts of the West has to learn is [ the capacity to stand monotony, ee ed pe ¢ e Good Hunting and hardship; the next thing is to learn the nature of the country. A young fellow from the East who has been brought up on a farm, or who has done hard manual labor as a machinist, need not go through a novitiate of manual labor in order to get accustomed to the roughness that such labor implies; but Ke a boy just out of a high-school, or a FW, young clerk, will have to go through just ‘such a novitiate before he will be able to Nw, Command a dollar’s pay. Both alike will x have to learn the nature of the country, and this can only be learned by actual \.* experience on the ground. Again, the beginner must remember . that though there is occasional excite- -ment and danger in a ranchman’s life, Re it is only occasional, while the monotony s of hard and regular toil is not often broken. Except in the matter of fresh air and freedom from crowding, a smalt 4B fo ev * ca Ba s Mites ery Me? Vege We 6 metre ste LS * Ohya > me teeur le, 4 “f we i * he, fF: a2 sal th Ge vi yp 4 . ages een sg f . 9 wus hi ra) wy Ranching ranchman often leads a life of as grinding hardness as the average dweller in a New York tenement-house. His shelter is a small log hut, or possibly a dugout in the side of a bank, or in summer a shabby tent. For food he will have to depend mainly on the bread of his own baking, on fried fat pork, and on coffee or tea % with sugar and no milk. Of course he . : will occasionally have some canned stuff Nees i or potatoes. The furniture of the hut is . ‘a: US C of the roughest description—a roll of XQ Oe blankets for bedding, a bucket, a tin x : ae wash-basin, and a tin mug, with perhaps $, wip SS a cracked looking-glass four inches square. * < @ He will not have much society of any ~# kind, and the society he does have is not gy apt to be over-refined. If he is a lad of ag ‘3 = f SS ie: habits, he will find much that is uncom-¢%, 28 Wass fortable, and will need to show no small®X : AY 4 amount of pluck and fortitude if he is toy = Ss : ? ~» 99 ei He es EN i te a pas ie AOS care rene se Nn Good Hunting hold his own. The work, too, is often hard and often wearisome from mere sameness. It is generally done on horse- back even on a sheep ranch, and. always on a cow ranch. The beginner must learn to ride with indifference all kinds of rough and dangerous horses before he will be worth his keep. With all this before him, the beginner “will speedily find out that life on a YY ve Western ranch is very far from being a Oy! Si v) i ;: . ‘yy mere holiday. A young man who desires Cac /. We x to start in the life ought, if possible, to '&. have with him a little money — just < enough to- keep body and soul SCD — soe of Montana, the eee edge of the Dakotas, western Texas, and some por- tions of the Rocky Mountain States still offer chances for a man to go into the => hae WER: 100 ae ee Osa. TAILING A BULL Ranching ranch business. In different seasons in the different localities business may be good or bad, and it would be impossible to tell where was the best place to start. Wherever the beginner goes, he ought to make up his mind at the outset to start by doing any kind of work he can. Let him chop wood, hoe, do any chore that will bring him in twenty-five cents. If he is once able to start by showing that he is willing to work hard and do some- thing, he can probably get employment of some kind, although this employment will almost certainly be very ill paid and not "4 attractive. Perhaps it will be to dig in 4 a garden, or to help one of the men drive oxen, or to do the heavy work around 0 camp for some party of cow-punchers or ’4 > ad 4 lumberers. Whatever it is, let the boy hl | mb, go at it with all his might, and at the is - same time take every opportunity to get” Le ag: « acquainted with the kind of life which he Uh Od SX IOI Mig 4 6 fy At TPT gto? 29 .