Hunting in Many Lands 



as the other game, but they have held their 

 own well. Though they have decreased in 

 numbers, the decrease is by no means as great 

 as of the blacktail, and a good many can be 

 shot yet. A dozen years ago probably twenty 

 blacktail were killed for every one whitetail ; 

 now the numbers are about equal. Antelope 

 were plentiful in the old days, though not 

 nearly so much so as buffalo and blacktail. 

 The hunters did not molest them while the 

 buffalo and elk lasted, and they then turned 

 their attention to the blacktails. For some 

 years after 1880 I think the pronghorn in 

 our neighborhood positively increased in num- 

 bers. In 1886 I thought them more plentiful 

 than I had ever known them before. Since 

 then they have decreased, and in the last 

 two years the decrease has been quite rapid. 

 Mountain sheep were never very plentiful, and 

 during the last dozen years they have de- 

 creased proportionately less than any other 

 game. Bears have decreased in numbers, and 

 have become very shy and difficult to get at ; 

 they were never plentiful. Cougars were al- 

 ways very scarce. 



There were two stages of hunting in our 

 country, as in almost all other countries simi- 



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