American Big-Game Hunting 
they long since left that ideal grazing- 
ground. The Upper Missouri and Yellow- 
stone valleys were the homes of magnificent 
herds; now they have disappeared forever. 
I never had the good fortune to see such 
enormous herds as frequently wandered over 
western Kansas; but I well remember one 
autumn afternoon, when seated in a railway 
car, book in hand, glancing out upon the 
prairie, as 1 ‘turned’ the pages, ll scarcely 
looked up from the volume but the shaggy 
forms of buffalo were visible; and this con- 
tinued until darkness cut off the view. To- 
day jnonelare tto' "be seen. Except under 
protection, buffalo have practically become 
extinct. Elk, moose, deer, antelope, and 
mountain sheep are gradually retiring to 
more and more secluded mountain recesses. 
Year by year game areas become more re- 
stricted, even in the mountain regions. The 
lumberman and railway-tie cutter, the ad- 
vance-guard of a constantly increasing civil- 
ization, are steadily encroaching upon the 
haunts of game. 
Large areas of the Rocky Mountain coun- 
try are timberless and in great part waterless 
244 
