3 o8 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



grizzled black hair which, flowing from his throat and chest down 

 to his knees, emulates the grand beard of a markhor ; this 

 beard drops off in the summer, but begins growing again in 

 August, and is at its full length during the rutting season late 

 in September, which is about the best time for procuring good 

 heads. 



Oorial, like stags, seem to affect particular spots at that 

 season, and certain hills which at other times of the year hold 

 nothing but ewes and young ones will just then invariably 

 have big rams on them. Oorial ground has hitherto been practi- 

 cally restricted to the Salt range, and a 3o-in. ram there is- 

 now a rarity. The country on the right bank of the Indus is 

 being yearly made more accessible, however, and there are 

 large tracts of good oorial ground in that direction that are 

 as yet practically unshot. Oorial shooting, however, is by no 

 means a summer amusement, and there is little to be gained 

 then except dysentery from bad water and sunstroke by hunt- 

 ing the deep stifling ravines and almost red-hot stony hills. 

 In the cooler months it is most enjoyable. As a rule one gets a 

 fair number of chances, the ground being so broken that stalking 

 is by no means difficult. An old ram oorial is a fine game- 

 looking animal, and though not to be compared to burrel, is 

 still very fair eating. The best way of hunting them is by 

 walking along the tops of the ridges and carefully examining 

 the ground below ; as there are often a good many bushes on 

 the hillside, oorial are not always very easy to see, especially 

 if they are lying down, so the pace should be slow. The 

 natives of the salt range are generally expert trackers, and as a 

 wounded oorial is by no means an easy beast to recover, their 

 skill is doubly appreciable when following up a good ram with 

 a broken leg. The way they will carry the trail through the marks 

 of a flock of sheep or along stony nullahs and hillsides with per- 

 haps only an occasional spot of blood to help them, is quite 

 charming after the bungling attempts at the art one generally 

 sees displayed by the natives of the Himalayas. 



As oorial are perpetually seeing shepherds and other natives 



