A WEST TEXAS HUNT. 



HON. H. S. MORAN. 



Perhaps no State in the Union has held 

 so great a plenitude of game as Texas, 

 but hide and meat hunters, until the passage 

 of the act of 1897, prohibiting the shipment 

 of game and hides, held high carnival on 

 her broad prairies. They pursued the ever 

 retreating quarry to the Rio Grande, and 

 have left but a small remnant of antelope, 

 deer and turkeys. These live now in the 

 most remote and roughest districts, includ- 

 ing the river bottoms and canebrakes of 

 Eastern and Southern Texas, the mountain 

 districts of Western and Southwestern 

 'i exas, and on large ranches where they 

 are protected ; hence before one can hunt 

 it is necessary in many parts of the State 

 to obtain permission from the ranchers. 



I was one of a party of 10 that traveled 

 600 miles within the State last fall for a 

 few days of hunting. We were bound for 

 Alpine, the county seat of Brewster county, 

 in the mountains of West Texas ; a typical 

 Western village, nestling in a grassy valley 

 at an elevation of 4,500 feet and surrounded 

 by mountains towering 7,000 to 8,000 feet. 



There, with the assistance of our friend, 

 Judge Vanssickle, we outfitted with grub 

 wagon, 2 mountain hacks, a Mexican cook 

 and a negro horse wrangler and general 

 servant. Saddle horses were furnished by 

 the ranchmen. The most appreciated of 

 John's varied duties, he having been recom- 

 mended as an expert broncho buster, was 

 to mount first,- in the morning, all ponies 

 suspected of a disposition to gratify that 

 ever present propensity of the West Texas 

 cow pony, to convert the landscape into a 

 circus ring for the amusement of himself 

 and all except the tenderfoot who hap- 

 pens to be "clawing the leather." 



Our eagerness to reach the game fields, 

 which the old stagers of the party could 

 not repress, led to a hurried start for 

 Haley's ranch, 15 miles out, leaving the 

 grub wagon to follow as best it could. To 

 our dismay we found the ranch house de- 

 serted and everything locked tight and fast. 

 After traveling the road, we knew no wagon 

 could reach us that night. We had not seen 

 a house on the way, and had no idea 

 whether it was 10 or 40 miles to another. 

 A foraging party found 2 cans of corn, a 

 can of tomatoes, a can of lobsters, and a can 

 of cove oysters, which had been indiscreet- 

 ly left out on the porch. We built a fire in 

 front of the house and were preparing to 

 cook the food in a tin bucket when to our 

 great relief a man rode up, having been 

 sent by Mr. Haley, who happened to be in 

 town. The man took us in and prepared a 

 good hot supper. 



365 



The next day we concluded to try for a 

 deer, while waiting for our delayed grub 

 wagon and cook, and on Cathedral moun- 

 tain I killed a doe, which gave us our first 

 fresh meat. Our party sighted 5 deer and a 

 bear that day; but we were going for our 

 hunt farther down toward the Rio Grande, 

 and the next day set out, Charley vowing 

 that never again would he get out of sight 

 of the grub wagon. That day we reached 

 Jackson & Harmon's ranch, where we were 

 received and entertained with Western hos- 

 pitality. Not only were we fully informed 

 as to the haunts of game, the few watering 

 places, and such useful and practical points, 

 but the store house, the ranch horses, sad- 

 dles, and the services of the cowboys were 

 ours to command. They even offered us 

 the fattest yearling on the ranch if we 

 needed it, but we did not. 



We pitched our camp a few miles below 

 the main ranch house, and Mr. Harmon 

 joined us, assuring us that plenty of game 

 was to be had there. Having spent 2 

 days prospecting the range I was convinced 

 that it was unnecessary to go farther, but 

 nothing short of a demonstration by a 

 day's slaughter, of which we were heartily 

 ashamed, when the game was piled up in 

 camp, would avail to convince others ; so 

 with Charley, one of the best shots in the 

 crowd, I mounted at daylight and set out 

 for the South end of Elephant mountain. 

 After riding as far up as we could get the 

 horses, we dismounted. 



It is a most peculiar country, evidently 

 having at some time formed the bed of an 

 ocean. It now consists of valleys, or mesas, 

 perfectly level and at places many miles 

 across, but out of which, ever and anon, 

 rough, rocky mountains shoot up several 

 thousand feet, seamed and stratified with 

 different kinds and colors of rocks, and 

 strewn with burnt out lava beds. Some of 

 these mountains are almost without timber, 

 but most of them have more or less live oak, 

 cedar, pine and pinon. Their sides are cut 

 with deep and sometimes impassable can- 

 yons, affording favorite haunts for bears 

 and mountain lions, of which there are 

 many. The mountains consist of a series of 

 steps, or benches, which, viewed from be- 

 low, look smooth and of easy ascent, but a 

 closer acquaintance discloses an extremely 

 rough, rocky surface, covered with all the 

 prickly, thorny growths known to the Mex- 

 ican dialect, and to withstand which, shoes 

 and clothing must be of the best. 



The top of Elephant mountain is a preci- 

 pice of rock, at most places impassable for 

 man or beast. Sending Charley, who had 



