A FINE IBEX 189 



snow began to fall, and we must have given our wind in 

 some way to a bear and her cub, for we came on their 

 marks, evidently not many minutes old, as we entered a 

 small birch wood. We followed the track as lonq- as it 

 led us towards the ibex, and then gave it up, for, as the 

 animals were aroused, there was little chance of our over- 

 taking them. 



We found the herd w^here it was impossible to get 

 near it, and so sat down to wait till it should think fit to 

 move. This did not occur till close to 4 p.m., and even 

 then the best male kept watching the others going down 

 without moving himself We were tired of waiting up 

 there in the snow and numbed with cold, so, though it 

 was risky, we endeavoured to get nearer. The going was 

 terribly bad, over very precipitous and smooth rocks, and 

 it was as much as we could do to get along at all. 



When we w^ere about 250 yards from the best male, 

 he detected us, so, as endeavouring to remain unseen was 

 no longer of any use, I sat down and had a shot at him 

 with the .303. The result was a miss, and he jumped 

 clown after the others, whom I now saw racing down the 

 hill at top speed. The big buck when he jumped down 

 was momentarily out of sight, so I had a couple of running 

 shots, with the 300 yards' sight up, at the nearer of the 

 other two. At the second shot he stopped suddenly and 

 lay down, and it was evident he was hit. Then the big 

 one came again into view and I had a shot or two at him, 

 but without effect, and he and the remainder of the herd 

 were quickly out of sight. 



We then went down to the wounded ibex, and found 

 him leaning against a bank apparently dying. He let 



