28 Ranching in the Bad Lands. 



after a sharp struggle in which one or two of the pack 

 were badly scratched. 



Cougars are occasionally killed by poisoning, and they 

 may be trapped much more easily than a wolf. I have 

 never known them to be systematically hunted in the 

 West, though now and then one is accidentally run across 

 and killed with the rifle while the hunter is after some 

 other game. 



As already said, ranchmen do not have much idle time 

 on their hands, for their duties are manifold, and they 

 need to be ever on the watch against their foes, both ani- 

 mate and inanimate. Where a man has so much to do 

 he cannot spare a great deal of his time for any amuse- 

 ment ; but a good part of that which the ranchman can 

 spare he is very apt to spend in hunting. His quarry will 

 be one of the seven kinds of plains game bear, buffalo, 

 elk, bighorn, antelope, blacktail or whitetail deer. 

 Moose, caribou, and white goat never come down into the 

 cattle country ; and it is only on the southern ranches near 

 the Rio Grande and the Rio Colorado that the truculent 

 peccary and the great spotted jaguar are found. 



Until recently all sporting on the plains was confined 

 to army officers, or to men of leisure who made extensive 

 trips for no other purpose ; leaving out of consideration 

 the professional hunters, who trapped and shot for their 

 livelihood. But with the incoming of the cattle-men, there 

 grew up a class of residents, men with a stake in the 

 welfare of the country, and with a regular business carried 

 on in it, many of whom were keenly devoted to sport, a 

 class whose members were in many respects closely akin 



