Okanagan 
notion that because a decent head has been 
bagged in a certain district, game is certain to 
be plentiful there. I was always finding, to my 
cost, that such was not the ease. 
In this particular part the numerous prospectors 
and Indians have so entirely shot out the place that 
not only was game shy and hard to get at, but the 
heads were hardly worth the time and trouble 
expended in looking for them. I spent about 
seven months in the mountains trying to kill a 
good sheep, but at the end of that time had to 
admit that my chances of being successful were 
but moderate. I killed a few decent rams, but 
not one that measured fifteen inches round the 
base of the horn. I also killed a good many 
black-tailed deer, but here again the heads were 
small. The Indians had long since found out 
that a fine head commanded a good sum in ready 
cash. Besides that, they sold the meat to the 
mining camps, so it was no wonder that my efforts 
were unavailing. I do not mean to say that I 
did not have a good time and enjoy myself, for 
I loved every minute spent in the woods; the 
freedom and lack of conventionality suited me 
so well that I felt I could never again live in a 
house. Most of us are more or less savages at 
heart—perhaps I am a little more so than most 
men. 
I had a great fright one day. I had killed a 
black-tailed buck, and poisoned the two hind- 
187 
