184 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



of the Yellowstone Park ; for there, at any rate, they 

 are not only very wary, but far from plentiful. The 

 ground they frequent in the autumn months is almost 

 entirely covered with dense pine forests; and until they 

 are driven down by heavy snow-storms, they keep pretty 

 high up, not far below timber line,, which in Wyoming 

 must be about eleven thousand feet above sea level. 

 The senses of scent, sight, and hearing have all been 

 highly developed in the wapiti by constant persecu- 

 tion; and when not thrown off their balance by pas- 

 sion, these animals are often extremely difficult to get 

 a shot at, as the forests in which they live are as a rule 

 so dense that even so large an animal as a wapiti bull 

 may be quite invisible at a distance of fifty yards. In 

 my small experience I have found wapiti bulls much 

 more wary, timid, and cunning than the cows. At the 

 slightest sound the former will usually run off, without 

 waiting an instant to verify their suspicions, whilst the 

 latter, as a rule, stand listening until they actually see 

 something. 



I can imagine no more perfect country in which to 

 hunt than the Rocky Mountains must once have been, 

 when game was still plentiful. A few fair heads can 

 still be got by hard work and perseverance ; but for 

 every head obtained, a good deal of hunting must 

 now be done, and the great herds of game which ac- 

 cording to tradition were once so numerous, and the 

 constant sight of which must have added such an 

 indescribable charm to their wild and beautiful sur- 



