Big Game in the Rockies 



of elk and deer fleeing from annihilation and 

 the encroaching haunts of men. As soon as 

 it was safe then, and in some instances un- 

 questionably before, cattlemen, not inaptly- 

 styled pioneers of civilization, began to drift 

 down along the valley of the Big Horn, and, 

 like the patriarchs of old, " brought their 

 flocks with them," settling here and there, 

 wherever they could find advantageous sites 

 for their ranches. 



And now, as I propose to give some hunt- 

 ing experiences of those days, if you will 

 accompany me to Billings, on the Northern 

 Pacific Railway, the nearest town to my ranch 

 and the Mecca to which the devout cattleman 

 drives his wagon for supplies, I will introduce 

 you to the foot-hills and mountains, and some 

 of the adventures therein. 



After four days on a sleeping-car, it is a 

 delightful release to tumble out on a frosty 

 September morning, and, being guided to 

 where the ranch-wagon and crew are bivou- 

 acked just outside the limits of the rapidly 

 growing town, to get one's breakfast on 

 terra firma. No time is now to be wasted ; 

 the mules are hitched up; the little band of 



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