^ Sport and Life. 



through which he passed. Others as persevering and lucky in 

 finding primeval spots have within the last ten years obtained 

 first-class trophies. 



The one great detrimental change that unquestionably has 

 overtaken the once unsurpassed Western hunting ground during 

 the last score of years is one which only those who have travelled 

 widely through the West can realise. It is that in those districts 

 notably Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho where sport was made 

 easy by the absence of dense timber, where all but the mo. c t 

 elevated points could be reached on horseback, where an un- 

 surpassed climate during summer and autumn added immensely to 

 the pleasures of the expedition, the cattle raising and mining 

 industries have so thinned out the more prized species of big 

 game as to make the success of a hunting trip in most cases 

 a matter of grave doubt. 



Without repeating myself too much concerning details I have 

 given in a previous volume on my earlier sport in the Rockies, it 

 will, perhaps, serve a useful purpose if I premise a brief description 

 of the ways and means I pursued to procure, at comparatively very 

 inconsiderable cost, sport of the very best kind. 



There are three ways of visiting the Far West for sport. The 

 orthodox mode, to which already reference has been made, is one 

 to which only a long purse can aspire. As a rule, none but men of 

 more than independent means visit trans-Missourian countries for 

 pleasure. The frontiersman calls them " top-shelfers," they are 

 accompanied by their servants from England, they hire some 

 western " hunters " as guides, and their expedition is provided 

 with an amazingly complete camping outfit. They are asked very 

 high wages and they pay them. 



The second way is cheaper, but far less independent. It is to 

 get letters to, or, if you chance to be of commanding personal 

 attractions, endeavour to make friends with, the officers in charge 

 of such of the frontier military forts that are near good game 

 ground. There were many of this kind in the northern 

 Territories ; and there, if properly introduced, you met with rare 



