1 88 Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 



which he can only escape by going back a mile or 

 two and striking out afresh. In very difficult coun- 

 try the horsemen must be on hand to help the team 

 pull up the steep places. Many horses that will not 

 pull a pound in harness will haul for all there is in 

 them from the saddle; Manitou is a case in point. 

 Often obstacles will be encountered across which it 

 is simply impossible for any team to drag a loaded 

 or even an empty wagon. Such are steep canyons, 

 or muddy-bottomed streams with sheer banks, espe- 

 cially if the latter have rotten edges. The horses 

 must then be crossed first and the wagon dragged 

 over afterward by the aid of long ropes. Often it 

 may be needful to build a kind of rude bridge or 

 causeway on which to get the animals over; and if 

 the canyon is very deep the wagon may have to be 

 taken in pieces, let down one side, and hauled up 

 the other. An immense amount of labor may be 

 required to get over a very trifling distance. Pack 

 animals, however, can go almost anywhere that a 

 man can. 



Although still-hunting on foot, as described above, 

 is on the whole the best way to get deer, yet there 

 are many places where from the nature of the land 

 the sport can be followed quite as well on horseback, 

 than which there is no more pleasant kind of hunt- 

 ing. The best shot I ever made in my life a shot 

 into which, however, I am afraid the element of 

 chance entered much more largely than the element 

 of skill was made while hunting black-tail on horse- 

 back. 



