IX 



THE RANCHMAN'S RIFLE ON CRAG AND PRAIRIE 



HE ranchman owes to his rifle not only the keen 

 pleasure and strong excitement of the chase, but also 

 much of his bodily comfort ; for, save for his prowess 

 as a hunter and his skill as a marksman with this, his 

 favorite weapon, he would almost always be sadly 

 stinted for fresh meat. Now that the buffalo have gone, and the Sharps 

 rifle by which they were destroyed is also gone, almost all ranchmen 

 use some form of repeater. Personally I prefer the Winchester, using 

 the new model, with a 45 -caliber bullet of 300 grains, backed by 90 

 grains of powder, or else falling back on my faithful old stand-by, 

 the 45-75. But the truth is that all good modern rifles are efficient 

 weapons ; it is the man behind the gun that makes the difference. An 

 inch or two in trajectory or a second or two in rapidity of fire is as noth- 

 ing compared to sureness of eye and steadiness of hand. 



From April to August antelope are the game we chiefly follow, killing 

 only the bucks ; after that season, black-tail and white-tail deer. Now and 

 then we get a chance at mountain sheep, and more rarely at larger game 

 still. As a rule, I never shoot anything but bucks. But in the rutting 

 season, when the bucks' flesh is poor, or when we need to lay in a good stock 

 of meat for the winter, this rule of course must be broken. 



The smoked venison stored away in the fall lasts us through the bitter 

 weather, as well as through the even less attractive period covering the 

 first weeks of spring. At that time we go out as little as possible. The 

 roads are mere morasses, crusted after nightfall with a shell of thin ice, 

 through which the shaggy horses break heavily. Walking is exceedingly 

 tiresome, the boots becoming caked with masses of adhesive clay. The 

 deer stay with us all the time; but they are now in poor condition, the 

 does heavy with fawn and the bucks with ungrown antlers. 



