56 HUNTING TRIPS 



loving ranchmen whose cattle range along 

 the waters of the Powder and the Bighorn, 

 the Little Missouri and the Yellowstone. 



Of course I have never myself gone out 

 hunting under the direction of a professional 

 guide or professional hunter, unless it was to 

 see one of the latter who was reputed a crack 

 shot ; all of my trips have been made either 

 by myself or else with one of my cowboys 

 as a companion. Most of the so-called hunt- 

 ers are not worth much. There are plenty 

 of men hanging round the frontier settle- 

 ments who claim to be hunters, and who 

 bedizen themselves in all the traditional finery 

 of the craft, in the hope of getting a job 

 at guiding some " tender foot " ; and there 

 are plenty of skin-hunters, or meat-hunters, 

 who, after the Indians have been driven away 

 and when means of communication have 

 been established, mercilessly slaughter the 

 game in season and out, being too lazy to 

 work at any regular trade, and keeping on 

 hunting until the animals become, too scarce 

 and shy to be taken without more skill than 



