208 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



calls for the exercise in a high degree of a large num- 

 ber of these qualities. The grizzly is almost our only 

 dangerous game, and under certain conditions shooting 

 the grizzly calls for considerable courage on the part of 

 the hunter. Disregarding these comparatively rare occa- 

 sions, the chase of mountain game, especially the big- 

 horn, demands more hardihood, power of endurance, and 

 moral and physical soundness than any other kind of 

 sport, and so must come first. The wapiti and mule- 

 deer rank next, for they too must be killed by stalking 

 as a result of long tramps over very rough ground. To 

 kill a moose by still hunting is a feat requiring a high 

 degree of skill, and entailing severe fatigue. When game 

 is followed on horseback, it means that the successful 

 hunter must ride well and boldly. 



The whitetail is occasionally found where it yields 

 a very high quality of sport. But normally it lives in 

 regions where it is extremely difficult to kill it legiti- 

 mately, as the wapiti and mule-deer are killed, and yet 

 comparatively easy to kill it under circumstances which 

 make no demand for any particular prowess on the part 

 of the hunter. It is far more difficult to still hunt suc- 

 cessfully in the dense brushy timber frequented by the 

 whitetail than in the open glades, the mountains, and 

 the rocky hills, through which the wapiti and mule-deer 

 wander. The difficulty arises, however, because the chief 

 requirement is stealth, noiselessness. The man who goes 

 out into the hills for a mule-deer must walk hard and 

 far, must be able to bear fatigue, and possibly thirst and 

 hunger, must have keen eyes, and be a good shot. He 



