American Big Game m its Haunts 



he will very likely see far below him, lying on the 

 hill and commanding a view miles in extent in 

 every direction, a group of nine, ten or a dozen 

 sheep peacefully resting in the midday sun. 

 Those that he sees will be almost all of them ewes 

 and young animals. Perhaps there may be a 

 young ram or two whose horns have already begun 

 to curve backward, but for the most part they are 

 females and young. 



The question that the hunter is always asking 

 himself is where are the big rams ? Now and then, 

 to be sure, more by accident than by any wisdom 

 of his own, he stumbles on some monster of the 

 rocks, but of the sheep that he sees in his wander- 

 ings, not one in a hundred has a head so large as 

 to make him consider it a trophy worth possessing. 

 It is commonly declared that in summer the big 

 rams are "back along the range," by which it is 

 meant that they are close to the summits of the 

 tallest peaks. It is probable that this is true, and 

 that they gather by twos and threes on these tall 

 peaks, and, not moving about very much, escape 

 observation. 



During the spring, summer, and early fall the 

 females and their young keep together in small 

 bands in the mountains, well up, close under what 

 is called the "rim rock," or the "reefs," where the 



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