464 



RECREATION. 



not more than 5 wolves in the bunch. I 

 put up more baits and soon returned again, 

 finding several baits had been taken and 

 that only 3 wolf tracks now led to the gulch. 

 Again I put up my baits and when I came 

 back, a few days later, several were gone. 

 There were now no fresh wolf tracks to be 

 found. For several weeks after that no 

 wolves were in that section of the range. 



The reader may have his doubts as to 

 whether the wolves were all killed or 

 whether many left the country; but even if 

 the latter were true the fact remains that the 

 destruction of live stock was stopped, and 

 therefore the object of the work attained. 



The one great advantage of this method 

 is that it enables one to successfully poison 

 the wolves in the early summer, when the 

 pups are just large enough to kill stock. 

 At this age they are much easier to poison 

 than when older. 



There will always be a few wolves too 

 cunning to take poison, in any way; but 

 if the wolfer is careful to pick out good 

 places to put up the baits, and to make as 

 few tracks, and as little sign as possible, 

 he can get most of them. He should al- 

 ways go on horse back, When putting out 

 baits, as he does not then need to make 

 many tracks. R. Howes. 



A REMARKABLE SHOT. 



HON. W. A. RICHARDS, GOVERNOR OF WYOMING. 



In 1873 I was hunting on Sheep Moun- 

 tain, in Southern Wyoming. On its sum- 

 mit, near the Little Snake river, there is a 

 well defined crater, now closed, at the bot- 

 tom, and overgrown with grass. 



Here I came on a small band of mountain 

 sheep, which immediately disappeared over 

 the farther rim of the crater. Crossing over 

 after them and looking down the side of 

 the mountain, which was a mass of broken 

 rock, without any timber, I saw the sheep 

 strung out, working their way around the 

 mountain side, about 200 yards below me. 

 The last in the line was a young buck, who 

 stopped and gazed up the mountain with 

 an evident desire to come back. Rest- 

 ing my gun across a large bowlder I took 

 deliberate aim, just behind the knuckle of 

 the shoulder, and fired. To my great sur- 

 prise he fell as though electrocuted. There 

 was scarcely a struggle, and I could not 

 imagine where I had hit him. If shot 

 through the heart he would have darted 

 forward a few yards, at least. With a 

 broken back he could still struggle; but he 

 lay perfectly still. It was no easy task to 

 get down to him, for he lay on a slide of 

 shale which was just about as steep as a 

 man could travel on. 



At last I reached him and took hold of 

 a hind leg, when it seemed the whole side 

 of the mountain had started for a lower 

 altitude. Naturally I at once sat down. I 

 retained my hold on the leg of the sheep, 

 with my left hand, while I had the gun in 

 my right hand, and was therefore unable 



to protect myself much. Some of the rocks 

 were exceedingly sharp. 



In the toboggan race the sheep was 

 ahead, part of the time, and the other part 

 I was ahead. The inevitable precipice lay 

 before us, but the grade changed some- 

 what, in our favor, and we stopped, just in 

 time to escape a plunge that would have 

 been disastrous. 



I was not hurt, to speak of, but some por- 

 tions of my clothing were decidedly the 

 worse for wear. The sheep was consider- 

 ably skinned up, and had left quite a trail 

 of hair down the mountain side. 



My first thought was to see where he had 

 been hit. He had stood with his left side 

 toward me, and examination showed he had 

 been struck just where I had aimed. The 

 ball, from a 50 calibre needle gun, had not 

 only gone through his heart but entirely 

 through his body; yet that should not have 

 killed him instantly. On examining his 

 horns, which were not unusually large, the 

 secret was revealed. The bullet had gone 

 through his head, just above the eyes, but 

 had entered at the right side and had gone 

 out at the left. 



It was evident that just as I fired he had 

 thrown his head around, on his side, ex- 

 actly in the line of sight, and the ball had 

 first gone through his brain, then through 

 his heart. 



No wonder he dropped dead. Probably 

 few animals have ever been shot sidewise, 

 through the head and through the body at 

 one shot, with one bullet. 



