Mountain Sheep 



hardened earth, are to be seen eight or ten feet above the ad- 

 jacent surface, covered or coped with a slaty, flat rock, thus re- 

 sembling gigantic toadstools, and upon these singular places the 

 bighorns are frequently seen, gazing at the hunter who is wind- 

 ing about far below, looking like so many statues on their elevated 

 pedestals. One cannot imagine how these animals reach these 

 curious places, especially on these inaccessible points, beyond the 

 reach of their greatest enemies, the wolves, which prey upon 

 them whenever they stray into the plains below." 



Like all other big game the bighorn has been relentlessly 

 pursued by hunters and in many parts of its original range it 

 has been exterminated. In a number of localities, however, it 

 holds its own with remarkable persistency, thanks no doubt to 

 its agility, wariness and the inaccessibility of its favourite ranges. 

 The sheep furnishes not only good sport in the chase but ex- 

 cellent meat as well, and has the misfortune to possess a pair 

 of horns that are prized perhaps more than those of any of our 

 other big game. Hornaday truly says, "The head of the male 

 bighorn is a trophy which appeals to all sorts and conditions 

 of hunters, except Indians. In the grandest head the noble red- 

 man sees nothing more than a pair of horn spoons for his soup- 

 kettle. Thousands of Ovis cervina have been hunted down and 

 killed for their heads alone and thousands more have met their 

 death before the rifles of sportsmen because they are grand game." 



"Their ideal haunts," writes Hornaday, "are the slopes of 

 high mountains, above timber line, near the edge of the snow fields 

 that are perpetual." These he states are often covered with luxu- 

 riant grass as well as gray moss. In winter they seek lower altitudes 

 and frequent the glades of the pine woods known as "mountain 

 parks." "It is essential, however, that one side of the mountain 

 sheep's home ranch should fall away abruptly in ragged lines of 

 perpendicular rim-rock, with acres of slide-rock below, in order 

 that the sheep may have the means of escape from their numerous 

 enemies, particularly hunters." 



" I once had an illustration of the mountain sheep's tactics 

 on a mountain top where the rock seemed poorly provided for 

 means of escape. Two old rams were feeding at an elevation 

 of about 9,000 feet. The snow was fourteen inches in depth, 

 with a slight crust upon it. When first seen they were in a 

 fifteen-acre open meadow, near the edge of the rim-rock, bravely 



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