102 Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 



them down, for they are very tenacious of life. 

 On one occasion I came upon a flock and shot an 

 old cock through the body with the rifle. He fell 

 over, fluttering and kicking, and I shot a young 

 one before the rest of the flock rose. To my aston 

 ishment the old cock recovered himself and made 

 off after them, actually flying for half a mile before 

 he dropped. When I found him he was quite dead, 

 the ball having gone clean through him. It was a 

 good deal as if a man had run a mile with a large 

 grapeshot through his body. 



Most of the sage fowl I have killed have been 

 shot with the rifle when I happened to run across 

 a covey while out riding, and wished to take two or 

 three of them back for dinner. Only once did I 

 ever make a trip with the shotgun for the sole 

 purpose of a day s sport with these birds. 



This was after having observed that there were 

 several small flocks of sage fowl at home on a great 

 plateau or high plain, crossed by several dry creeks, 

 which was about eight miles from the cow-camp 

 where I was staying; and I concluded that I would 

 devote a day to their pursuit. Accordingly, one 

 morning I started out on horseback with my double- 

 barrel lo-bore and a supply of cartridges loaded 

 with No. 4 shot ; one of my cowboys went with me 

 carrying a rifle so as to be ready if we ran across 

 any antelope. Our horses were fresh, and the only 

 way to find the birds was to cover as much ground 

 as possible; so as soon as we reached the plateau 

 we loped across it in parallel lines till we struck one 



