Method of Hunting 59 



dogs bay them. And all this running would be 

 unnecessary if the Indians exercised more hunt- 

 ing skill and judgment. 



Although the prairie form of the country is 

 not altogether the best for stalking, yet one could 

 stalk comparatively near a herd before turning 

 the dogs loose. The Indians never do this, and, 

 in addition, the dogs set up a yelping and a howl- 

 ing the moment they catch sight of the quarry. 

 This, of course, starts off the musk-oxen, which 

 invariably choose the roughest part of the coun- 

 try, no doubt feeling, and rightly, too, that their 

 pursuers will have the more difficult time follow- 

 ing. Indian dogs are not always to be relied 

 upon, for they have a disposition to hunt in a 

 group, and your entire bunch of dogs is apt to 

 stop and hold only three or four stragglers of 

 the herd while the remainder of the musk-oxen 

 escape. Sometimes when they stop practically 

 the entire herd, the dogs are very likely, before 

 you come up to them, to shift, leaving their 

 original position and gradually drawing together ; 

 perhaps, the whole pack of dogs finally holding 

 only half a dozen, while the rest of the musk-oxen 

 have run on. Musk-oxen, when stopped, invaria- 

 bly form a circle with their sterns in and their 



