ii4 Deer and Antelope of North America 



and at the foot of this, thirty feet under me, the 

 prongbuck lay with its neck broken. After dress- 

 ing it I shouldered the body entire, thinking that 

 I should like to impress the newcomers by the 

 sight of so tangible a proof of my hunting prow- 

 ess as a whole prongbuck hanging up in the cot- 

 tonwoods 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 coun- 

 try. In fact, the occurrence was wholly excep- 

 tional; just as I once saw three bighorn rams, 

 which usually keep to the roughest country, delib- 

 erately crossing the river bottom below my ranch, 

 and going for half a mile through the thick Cot- 

 tonwood 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 Chim- 

 ney Butte ranch-house, and stalked them without 

 difficulty; for prongbuck are conspicuous and 

 make no effort to hide, and where 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 



