The Audubon Societies 



479 



TAMING WILD BIGHORNS 



A very delightful example of how the 

 shyest wild animals may be taught to 

 trust mankind, and will yield their fears 

 under the influences of continuous kind- 

 ness and a sense of security, is afforded by 

 the bighorn sheep that every winter come 

 down into the town of Ouray to get 

 food. 



Mountain sheep have become so rare 

 that it has become necessary to prohibit 



fifteen or twenty in all, and were again fed 

 as long as they cared to remain. The third 

 year they came in larger numbers and 

 earlier, seeming to prefer the easily obtained 

 alfalfa hay to the harder fare of the hills. 

 Last winter (1913-14) they first appeared 

 in December, and others during January 

 and February, until about seventy-five 

 were fed daily, the state providing the 

 feed under the supervision of the local 



A FLOCK OF MOUNTAIN SHEEP ON THE HILLSIDE NEAR OURAY 

 Copyrighted photograph by F. A. Rice 



by law all killing in Colorado. They seem 

 to know this, and of late years have been 

 venturing nearer to Ouray every winter. 

 In 1910 eight old bucks came down to the 

 edge of the town in March, and the towns- 

 people tried the experiment of placing hay 

 where the sheep could get it. They stayed 

 there until the middle of April, when the 

 snow began to melt in the hills, and they 

 returned to their range. In February of 

 the next year some of these bucks came 

 again, and brought with them a few does, 



game warden. A few stayed in town until 

 early June, but the majority moved up the 

 hillside as fast as the snow melted. Our 

 forest ranger says there are about 250 

 sheep in this vicinity, so that only a small 

 proportion of the flock visits Ouray. 



The sheep range in the mountains 

 (Sneffels Range) west of Ouray. During 

 the summer they are to be found high 

 above timber-line, which has an altitude 

 of about 11,500 feet in this range. There 

 they are very shy and diflScult to approach, 



