388 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



heart linished him, and it was but a few minutes' work to 

 carry him back to the level ground. Then I took a seam- 

 less grain-bag that I had brought for the purjiose, w^ent 

 down and cut off all the best meat from the ram, and 

 brought it up. The task was equally as severe as that of 

 bringing up the head; but I never waste meat when it is 

 possible to save it. 



I brought old Blue to the front again, and with great 

 difficulty succeeded in loading the ewe onto him and cinch- 

 ing it down. Then I put the bag of meat and the lamb on; 

 and just as I had finished packing and cinching the load, 

 I heard a snort, and looking in the direction whence it 

 came, I saw a large ram standing looking at me, not more 

 than fifty yards away. I had not expected to need my rifle 

 on my way to camp, and had x)acked it in with the load. I 

 seized it by the stock, and after tugging frantically at it for 

 a minute or two, brought it out; but my visitor had con- 

 cluded that he had seen all he cared to see of the outfit, and 

 had taken a header down the mountain-side. We had now 

 all the meat, heads, and skins our horses could carry, and 

 returning to camp, made preparations to start home the 

 next morning. 



Anyone who may wish to visit the Ashanola country will 

 find the route T took perhaps the easiest, shortest, and 

 most pleasant — i. e. , by way of the Northern Pacific Rail- 

 road to Spokane Falls, Washington; thence by team to 

 Loomis' ranch, and from there by saddle and pack animals. 

 It is about two hundred and twenty -five miles from Spo- 

 kane to the hunting-grounds; but the trail leads through 

 an interesting and beautiful country all the way, and, when 

 once reached, the mountains along Ashanola Creek are, as 

 I have already said, unquestionably the finest Sheep-range 

 remaining on the continent. Deer are also there in count- 

 less numbers. We never saw less than twenty-five or 

 thirty in a day, and one day we counted seventy-two. We 

 were not hunting them. If we had been, we could, of 

 course, have found a great many more. But I hope that no 

 man will ever be so unmanly as to go there and slaughter 



