OF A RANCHMAN 265 



best and manliest qualities in the men who 

 low them, and they should be encouraged 

 in every way. Long after the rifleman, as 

 well as the game he hunts, shall have van- 

 ished from the plains, the cattle country 

 !l -afFord fine sport in coursing hares ; and 

 both wolves and deer could be followed 

 and killed with packs of properly-trained 

 hounds, and such sport would be even more 

 exciting than still-hunting with the rifle. It 

 is on the great plains lying west of the Mis- 

 souri that riding to hounds will in the end 

 receive its fullest development as a national 

 pastime. 



But at present, for the reasons already, 

 stated, it is almost unknown in the cattle 

 country; and the ranchman who loves 

 sport must try still-hunting and by still- 

 hunting is meant pretty much every kind 

 of chase where a single man, unaided by a 

 dog, and almost always on foot, outgen- 

 erals a deer and kills it with the rifle. To 

 do this successfully, unless deer are vi 

 plenty and tame, implies a certain knowl- 



