252 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



June 



hunt them. These hounds are managed 

 by Buffalo Jones, a famous old plains- 

 man, who is now in the park taking 

 care of the buffalo. On this first day of 

 my visit to the park I came across the 

 carcasses of a deer and of an antelope 

 which the cougars had killed. On the 

 great plains cougars rarely get antelope 

 but here the country is broken, so that 

 the big cats can make their stalks under 

 favorable circumstances. To deer and 

 mountain sheep the cougar is a most 

 dangerous enemy much more so than 

 the wolf. 



The antelope we saw were usually in 

 bands of from twenty to one hundred 

 and fifty, and they traveled strung out 

 almost in single file, though those in the 

 rear would sometimes bunch up. I did 

 not try to stalk them, but got as near 

 them as I could on horseback. The 

 closest approach I was able to make 

 was to within about eighty yards of two 

 which were by themselves I think a 

 doe and a last year's fawn. As I was 

 riding up to them, although they looked 

 suspiciously at me, one actually lay 

 down. When I was passing them at 



about eighty yards distance the big one 

 became nervous, gave a sudden jump, 

 and away the two went at full speed. 



Why the prong-bucks were so com- 

 paratively shy I do not know, for right 

 on the ground with them we came upon 

 deer, and in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood mountain sheep, which were ab- 

 surdly tame. The mountain sheep were 

 nineteen in number, for the most part 

 does and yearlings, with a couple of 

 three-year-old rams, but not a single big 

 fellow, for the big fellows at this season 

 are off by themselves, singly or in little 

 bunches, high up in the mountains. 

 The band I saw was tame to a degree 

 matched by but few domestic animals. 



They were feeding on the brink of a 

 steep washout at the upper edge of one 

 of the benches on the mountain side, just 

 below where the abrupt slope began. 

 They were alongside a little gully with 

 sheer walls. I rode my horse to within 

 forty yards of them, one of them occa- 

 sionally looking up and at once contin- 

 uing to feed. Then they moved slowly 

 off and leisurely crossed the gully to 

 the other side. I dismounted, walked 



"OOM JOHN" (JOHN BURROUGHS). 



