Hunting American Big Gavte 



sixteen inches circumference of horns, and 

 the girth of chest was forty-six inches. In 

 returning to camp for horses to pack him 

 on, I jumped five more sheep ; but having 

 done vi^ell enough, they were allowed to 

 disappear in safety. 



Sheep have a wonderfully keen vision, 

 and it is absolutely useless to try to get 

 to them if they once see you, unless you 

 happen to be above them, and on their 

 favorite runway ; then they huddle to- 

 gether, and try to break back past you. 

 The only safe rule is to travel high, and 

 keep working up above their feeding- 

 grounds. In the spring of the year they 

 are much easier to kill than in the fall ; 

 for then the heavy winter snows have 

 driven them out of the mountains, and 

 they come low down after the fresh green 

 grass. The rams are then in bands, hav- 

 ing laid aside the hostility that later in 

 the year seems to possess each and every 

 one of them. 



I was much interested once in watch- 

 ing a band of eight rams, all of them old 

 fellows. They would feed early in the 

 morning, and then betake themselves to 

 a large rock which stood on a grassy 

 slope, where they would play for hours. 

 One of them would jump on the rock, 



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