BIG OAShT'^iiUO i ING 



IT was the writer's good fortune to visit the haunts 

 of the big game of North America and form a 

 somewhat intimate acquaintance with most of the ani- 

 mals while they were marvellously abundant and sur- 

 prisingly tame. 



Only a little more than a score of years ago the gun 

 was literally " the wolf's dinner-bell," and as the hunter 

 moved away from his fallen quarry, having taken that 

 part which he wished, the wolves responded to the 

 call to dinner, and came in great numbers to devour 

 what was left and fight over the bones. 



The elk and deer were then seen peacefully grazing 

 with the bison and the antelope on the open plains 

 and prairies. I have ridden upon the mountain-lion on 

 the fields of wild sage when shooting the sage-cock, or 

 cock of the plains. I have come upon the grizzly 

 bears but a short distance from our camps when 

 shooting the blue grouse or deer. 



I have seen the buffalo, in vast herds, covering the 

 plain for many miles, when it was no difficult matter 

 for a few horsemen to cut one out and run him into 

 camp before killing him. 



The bison is practically extinct as a wild animal 



3 



