206 GAME. 



encountered two or three herds in a day's hunt, some con- 

 taining not less than fifty animals. They are, however, 

 exceedingly difficult to kill, especially by a hunter on 

 horseback. Though they come down from their rocky 

 fastnesses for water and occasionally for food, they must 

 do so at night. I have many times seen their tracks 

 about a water hole or spring in a valley, but in all my 

 experience have only found the animals themselves in the 

 valleys some three or four times. They are usually to be 

 found high up on the mountain side where the precipitous 

 rocks rise from the natural slope of the mountain. 



The sportsman who wishes to bag mountain sheep 

 must be a good mountaineer, patient, and careful, with a 

 keen eye and noiseless tread. He must always have the 

 wind, for the sheep's nose is as keen and accurate as that 

 of the elk. 



With these advantages, and wind and pluck enough 

 for a mountain scramble of fifteen or twenty miles a day, 

 the sportsman may in many portions of the plains very 

 surely count on finding c big-horn,' and if he does find 

 him, and is cool, he may bag several from one herd. 

 When surprised in his rocky home, the action of the 

 mountain sheep is greatly dependent on the sense which 

 notifies him of the vicinity of his enemy. If he smells 

 the hunter he is off at once, and without taking the 

 trouble to notify his pursuer that he has been near. If 

 he hears him he will run about, prying inquisitively with 

 eyes and nose to discover the nature of the approaching 

 danger. If the hunter succeeds in approaching near 

 enough for a shot without being either smelt, seen, or 

 heard, he may count on a splendid opportunity. 



The animals, on the report of the rifle, will rush to- 

 gether and stand gazing at the smoke of the piece, until 

 time and repeated explosions have convinced them of the 

 necessity for a retreat. In this way I have known four 

 or five to be bagged before they decided to leave. I am 

 a very poor mountaineer, and have had less personal 



