400 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 1905 



Adventures 



of 



a Woman 

 Who Hunts 



Big Game 

 in the West 



With 



Some Practical 



Suggestions 



to the Woman 



Who Camps 



By 

 Myra Emmons 



OR the city man and woman modern big 

 game hunting is one of the most expensive 

 sports. The encroachments of man have 

 driven the small remnant of big game into 

 far fields, where it can be reached only by 

 costly journeys. Guides and helpers are nec- 

 essary, and they charge well for their services, though not 

 more than they are worth. Camp outfits are expensive, espe- 

 cially when women are in the party. As for horses it is 

 cheapest to buy them outright, before starting, and take 

 chances of selling them on returning from the trip. Only a 

 tenderfoot will equip himself with elaborate guns and natty 

 togs, but no one goes hunting nowadays without a camera; 

 and enthusiasts who know the importance of a good lense 

 often spend hundreds of dollars on their photographic 

 outfits. 



For these reasons one woman, who has won in the wildest 

 parts of this country big game trophies which sportsmen 

 envy, has carried off the palm of feminine experience in out- 

 door life. She is Mrs. W. E. Bemis, of New York and 

 Larchmont Manor. Naturally, big game hunting is a phase 

 of outdoor life available to women only when some man of 

 the family acts as a companion; and in Mrs. Bemis' case that 

 companion was her husband. 



The Jackson Hole country, Wyoming, is the first place 

 recommended to the seeker after big game. The tenderfoot 

 may never have heard of the place before, but if he becomes 

 possessed of the desire to own an elk head, obtained by his 



personal skill, and begins to inquire how, he will soon be 

 talking fluently of Jackson Hole and the Teton Mountains, 

 because that region is the great feeding ground of the elk. 

 They have been killed off in other parts of the country, but 

 Jackson Hole is south of Yellowstone Park, where all wild 

 animals are perpetually protected by law. Under this pro- 

 tection their numbers increase, and many of them stray out- 

 side of the Park, thus stocking the adjacent regions, and 

 especially Jackson Hole. Once beyond the Park, the animals 

 become, in proper season, legitimate game for sportsmen. 



To Jackson Hole, therefore, Mr. and Mrs. Bemis made 

 their first trip for elk. Mountain travel on horseback is 

 fatiguing and often perilous for men, and much more so for 

 women. Guides insist that the women shall ride astride; and 

 the city woman, new to the dangers, is only too glad to safe- 

 guard herself in every possible way. Trails lie straight up 

 the mountains, over down timber, jagged rocks, foaming 

 streams, jutting crags and precipitous canyons. The worst 

 feature of a climb in the Rocky Mountains is the slide rock, 

 a shale that breaks off in slabs of all sizes, which slip around 

 over one another with the most alarming and treacherous 

 ease, making progress a fearful strain on the horses as well 

 as taxing the nerves of the rider. Besides, there is always the 

 possibility that a horse may slip back down the trail, carrying 

 himself and rider to a frightful death. 



Mrs. Bemis' first chance for a shot came after she had 

 spent an entire day in the saddle and was exhausted, but she 

 insisted on trying for it, which is probably more than many 



41 r <"-.v 





Making a Pie in the Camp 



Frozen In 



