SHEEP— BOTH WHITE AND DARK 



sense, leg muscle and marksmanship wrapped 

 in the make-up of such an one that I have not 

 even the faintest suspicion that I will ever reach 

 that distinction. But I have been out with good 

 sheep hunters and have seen their work. I have 

 had them point out sheep to me at 600 to 1,000 

 yards with the naked eye that I would have passed 

 by as nothing more important than gray rocks on 

 the distant cliffs, or shimmering sun pranks on 

 stumps or logs. I have had them pick up what 

 appeared to me at first glance as deer tracks, but 

 which when followed a few yards turned out to be 

 sheep tracks. This may sound odd to the hunter, 

 but I had this very thing happen many years ago 

 while hunting with Ned Frost, guide, in Wyo- 

 ming. His attention was first directed to the 

 track. It was not plain, or we could have arrived 

 at the correct solution immediately, but rather 

 ruffled up in loose, dry dirt. The toe points 

 came together so closely that I remarked that it 

 was "only a deer track." Ned said it did re- 

 semble a deer track a little, but he was satisfied it 

 was sheep, and such it proved to be when we 

 finally worked it out. This illustrates one of the 

 finer points of sheep hunting. I am satisfied 

 that many sheep hunters would have passed by 

 this track with no notice. While it was made by 

 a ram too small for us to consider, it might have 

 been the trail of an old fellow with a 17-inch head. 

 There is a factor in sheep hunting that makes 

 it one of the most dangerous of American hunt- 



9 1 



