THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
had taken alarm, at some distance where it could still be seen, he loosed 
the dogs. These, in the course of a mile or two, generally brought the ram 
to bay. This, perhaps, was not very sportsmanlike, but certainly effective. 
In old days, in Wyoming, when mountain sheep frequented isolated 
buttes on the prairies, they often left these to feed or to travel to the “bad- 
lands,” and in such situations they were often chased by the cowboys, 
who, however, seldom succeeded in roping them. It is interesting to note 
that on such occasions the old rams were said to far outstrip the ewes. 
They seem to gallop about as fast as a deer at a level easy pace, but are 
not nearly so swift as the pronghorn. 
The head of a bighorn ram is perhaps the most highly -prized trophy 
in North America. In its old range east of the Rockies the species is now 
becoming scarce, and, owing to constant harassment, it is perhaps more 
wideawake than any other American animal — with the possible exception 
of the pronghorn. Accordingly, the man who can add a couple of 40 -inch 
heads to his collection by fair hunting may be considered a real hunter; 
because the possession of those trophies generally means that he has 
toiled with patience for weeks, and sometimes months, over some of the 
worst ground in the world before he gained his prizes. In Alberta and East 
Kootenay sheep hunting still involves equal difficulties, but in the Lillooet 
region almost any hunter of moderate skill can obtain a couple of good 
rams without much labour. Broadly speaking, it is true that the further 
north we go the tamer wild animals become. The severities of winter 
seem to have a crushing effect on the nature of both man and animals, and 
to make them more confiding and less nervous as to their fate. Winter 
in the north lands has, as it were, a terrorizing effect, which in a measure 
dominates all other considerations. Man and the wild animals find they 
have to give in before it. It is too strong for them, and the terror of its 
threat seems, even in the brief summer, to be always with them. The 
sheep in these icy lands know that they have to come down, and that 
the area of their feeding grounds is a very limited one. Accordingly they 
are the more loath to leave it than are their southern cousins. Also the 
times when they are attacked are much rarer, and this again lulls them 
into a false security. 
Wherefore the hunter who goes to shoot Stone’s sheep in the Iskoot 
Mountains of British Columbia will not find them anything like as wild 
as the sheep of East Kootenay or Alberta. The sheep of Northern Cassiar, 
Atlin, and the Liard are tamer still; whilst, in unfrequented parts of 
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