IN THE ALASKA-YUKON GAMELANDS 



Figgins Mountain, Cap and I saw several small 

 bunches of sheep, easily picked out with the 

 naked eye. At noon we camped eight miles 

 from main camp, in a draw protected by the 

 last remnant of trees available near timberline, 

 pitched our tent, ate a hurried lunch and, after 

 allowing Longley to go to permanent camp (with 

 advice to return tomorrow afternoon for us), we 

 were ready to talk sheep. As we faced the moun- 

 tain, to our right reposed a band of ewes and 

 lambs a couple of miles away on the side of a 

 ridge that sloped down from the mountain. To 

 the left, the same distance, on another ridge 

 similarly sloping from the main eminence, lay a 

 bunch of six or seven rams. Ordinarily those 

 rams would have looked the most tempting of 

 the two chances open to us, but there were other 

 things to consider. We really needed a lamb 

 worse than a ram, and besides, we had it figured 

 out that we could go up that afternoon and get 

 our lamb, and be able to bag a ram or two on 

 the following day. 



So, very bold-heartedly we approached the 

 draw which led to the ewes and lambs. It was 

 i -.30 p. m. when, nearly two miles from camp, at 

 a point where it canoned up, we saw the ewes 

 and lambs cross the little canon about 500 yards 

 ahead of us. There were five ewes and two 

 lambs in the flock. We circled to the opposite 

 side of the gulch from that to which they were 

 crossing and crawled up behind a rock 300 yards 



166 



