1 64 RANCH LIFE AND THE HUNTING-TRAIL 



times in the gray of the morning ; when the moon is full they may not 

 go to the water until long after nightfall. Generally they drink later than 

 any other game ; but all game vary their habits now and then in this 

 regard. The prong-buck, though diurnal, sometimes comes to a water- 

 ing-hole during the night ; and I have once or twice seen both deer and 

 sheep drinking at midday. 



In ordinary weather they begin to feed early in the morning, and when 

 the sun has risen some little distance above the horizon they start to graze 

 their way slowly up to the high spur or ridge crest where they intend to 

 lie during the day. Here they stay until well on in the afternoon, and then 

 again descend to their feeding-grounds on the lower slopes. In very cold 

 weather, however, they are apt to be found grazing at midday. A raging 

 snow blizzard may keep them lying close under cover for three days at a 

 time : they naturally get ravenous, and when there is a lull, or especially 

 if it is succeeded by a short spell of good weather, they come hastily out to 

 feed, no matter what the time of day may be. 



As with almost all game except antelope, they can be best hunted 

 in the morning and evening ; but, unlike deer, they can also be followed 

 throughout the day, for whereas elk, black-tail, and white-tail have then all 

 alike retired to the thickets, the big-horn take their noontide rest lying out 

 in plain view. If the hunter means to catch them feeding he should 

 make a very early start. A good pair of field-glasses is of great service, 

 for the two essential requisites to success are the capacity to take long 

 walks over rough ground and painstaking care in scanning the country 

 far and wide, so as to see the game before it sees the hunter. There 

 is then a chance to stalk up close, the broken ground frequently yielding 

 good cover. 



Often it may be necessary to lie for hours carefully concealed, watch- 

 ing a flock that is in an unfavorable position, and waiting until it shifts 

 its ground. This is not very comfortable on a cold day in November or 

 December, the months in which I have usually hunted big-horn, devoting 

 the early fall to the chase of elk and deer. But it is often the only way 

 to secure success : patience and perseverance are two of the still-hunter's 

 cardinal virtues. Personally I have always owed whatever success I have 

 had to dogged perseverance and patient persistence, and on a lamentably 

 large number of occasions have had to draw heavily on these qualities to 

 make good a lack of skill, sometimes with the rifle, sometimes in moun- 

 taineering. Among many hunting trips I can recall not a few where 

 willingness to lie still two or three hours under trying circumstances in 

 the end got me the game ; and one such instance may serve as a sample 

 of the rest. 



