44 GAME ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



derful sauce furnished by the free open air life of the plains and 

 mountains. The glory of " fat cow " pales, and even elk and black- 

 tailed deer meat hide their diminished heads before the rare tooth- 

 someness of a juicy saddle, or the dripping ribs of a young and 

 tender Bighorn. 



To hunt the Mountain Sheep successfully the candidate for 

 honors should have had some experience with other large game, 

 should have the patience and endurance possessed only by the most 

 enthusiastic of sportsmen, and should be a fair shot with the rifle. 

 In the grey of the morning, before attempting to look for his game, 

 he should seek the highest ground in his vicinity, whence a wide 

 view of the surrounding country may be obtained, and from this 

 point v/ith the good glass that is an indispensable part of a hunter's 

 outfit, he should search the little ravines and grassy meadows 

 running down from the hills. The sheep are always on the watch 

 for enemies from the lower ground, but rarely turn their glances to 

 the heights, which, if disturbed, they will seek for safety ; nor is the 

 danger of being winded nearly so great when the hunter is above 

 the game. 



The chief object to be accomplished is to discover the herd 

 before it is aware of your presence ; after this the task becomes 

 only a matter of the most careful stalking. All inequalities of the 

 ground, all rocks and vegetation will be utilized by the skillful 

 stalker who would approach within shot, and especially will the 

 wind be regarded, for it is quite certain that if the band catch the 

 scent of the hunter, his labor will all have been in vain. 



The facility with which these animals descend the most abrupl 

 precipices, and cross canons of which the sides are apparently ver- 

 tical, has given rise to the idea, vouched for by many an imagina- 

 tive hunter, that they can throw themselves from great heights and 

 striking on their horns can rebound uninjured, and land on their 

 feet. The vast size of the horns in the male, together with the fact 

 that these are often battered and splintered, has caused many to re- 

 ceive this statement as at least possible ; but it is scarcely necessary 

 to say that even if the animal's head could stand the shock, its neck 

 would not. Besides this the story makes no arrangement for the 

 manner in which the females and young males, whose horns are but 

 little larger than those of a goat, shall descend the cliffs, yet any one 



