86 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK. 



ally, and will have a tendency to make sores on the animal's 

 back. Two good pack mules can carry a sufficient camp 

 outfit for four men, including blankets, provision, cooking 

 utensils, tent, etc., for a ten days' or two weeks' trip; how- 

 ever, in this case, game and fish must be looked after. If 

 saddle horses are used by the party each man can carry on 

 his horse, lashed to the saddle, quite a portion of the equip- 

 page, especially blankets. Pack mules will carry from two 

 to three hundred pounds from twelve to fifteen miles each 

 day, over mountain trails with ease. With an experienced 

 man as packer, and to look after the horses, a party of four 

 or five could have a jolly time in any of the mountains of 

 the western territories, especially on the Pacific slope, where 

 game and trout abound in almost unlimited numbers. 



The large game of the west is fast disappearing at the 

 hands of the skin hunters. The writer spent from the 15th 

 of last July to October 1st, in the territories of Montana, 

 Wyoming, Idaho and Washington without even seeing any 

 fresh buffalo signs, but was told that a few mountain bison 

 were still high up in the mountains of the Yellowstone 

 Park. Bear, deer and elk are yet quite plenty. Antelope 

 are quite scarce, compared to a few years ago, but the 

 mountain streams are swarming with trout, and will be for 

 years, as many of them will be rarely visited by any but the 

 boldest mountaineers. 



For mountain travel there is no way equal to saddle 

 horses and pack-mules; the baggage need only be limited 

 by the number of pack animals. The intelligence of a well 

 conditioned pack-mule is phenomenal; a source of continual 

 interesting enjoyment to watch their ingenious maneuvers 

 in climbing rugged places, fallen timber, and tangled 

 thickets. For saddle, as well as pack animals, mules are 

 better than horses; they are surer-footed, hardier, require 

 less care, and will carry a man safely where a horse would 



