A SHOT AT A MOUNTAIN SHEEP 191 



in the fall of 1892. Whitetail were never as numer- 

 ous as the other game, but they held their own better, 

 and a few can be shot yet. In 1883 probably twenty 

 blacktail were killed for every one whitetail; in 1896 

 the numbers were about equal. Antelope were plenti- 

 ful in the old days, though not nearly so much so as the 

 buffalo and blacktail. The hunters did not molest them 

 while the buffalo and elk lasted, and they then turned 

 their attention to the blacktail. For some years after 

 1883! think the pronghorn in our neighborhood posi- 

 tively increased in numbers. In 1886 I thought them 

 more plentiful than I had ever known them before. 

 Then they decreased; after 189 3 the decrease was rapid. 

 A few still remain. Mountain sheep were never very 

 plentiful, and decreased proportionately with less rapid- 

 ity than any other game; but they are now almost exter- 

 minated. Bears likewise were never plentiful, and cou- 

 gars were always scarce. 



There were two stages of hunting in this country, as 

 in almost all other countries similarly situated. In 1880 

 the Northern Pacific Railroad was built nearly to the 

 edge of the Bad Lands, and the danger of Indian war 

 was totally eliminated. A great inrush of hunters fol- 

 lowed. In 1881, 1882 and 1883 buffalo, elk and black- 

 tail were slaughtered in enormous numbers, and a good 

 many whitetail and prongbuck were killed too. By 1884 

 the game had been so thinned out that hide-hunting and 

 meat-hunting ceased to pay. A few professional hunt- 

 ers remained, but most of them moved elsewhere, or 

 were obliged to go into other business. From that time 



