THE MOUNTAIN SHEEP 
of sheep hunters could be collected they would probably agree in saying 
that female sheep are slightly quicker to notice danger than the males, 
though both are smart enough. 
Owing to the enormous destruction of wild sheep by man and the charm 
which these interesting animals add to their native mountains, it is 
worthy of note that many states have enacted laws for their whole or 
partial protection. In Colorado for instance, now almost depleted of sheep, 
there are several instances where public sentiment has been aroused just 
in time and saved some remnants of the once abundant flocks. At Silver 
Plume there is a bunch of sheep which is absolutely protected by the miners 
and residents, and which have become quite tame. In North Dakota, parts 
of California, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Texas, and New Mexico, 
sheep are more or less protected. Whilst in South Dakota, Wyoming and 
Idaho, only one mountain sheep is allowed to be killed during the open 
season. In Oregon and Nevada they are not protected, and in Alberta there 
seems to be one law for the Indian, and another for the white man. Broadly 
speaking it may be said that most of the states have excellent laws, but no 
means of enforcing them. 
The hunter, whether British or American, going out with a certified 
guide, seldom infringes the law, but residents, prospectors, trappers, etc., 
always do what they like when meat is required, and to this the game 
wardens regularly shut their eyes. In British Columbia there is very little 
unauthorized shooting, and in Alaska, where sheep are still abundant, 
the hunter has to produce the heads he has shot before being permitted 
to take them out of the country. 
Enormous numbers of sheep have, of recent years, been killed by the 
Stony Indians in the great mountainous area extending to the north as 
far as the head waters of the Peace River, west to the Ashnola region in 
British Columbia, and south from Banff to the Montana frontier. In fact, 
nearly all the fine sheep heads, just as good as the old time rams of 
Montana and Wyoming, that have been brought to the taxidermists at 
Banff, have been illegally shot by the Stony Indians. Mr Bryan Williams, 
the energetic game warden at Vancouver, tells me that he has stopped 
these Indians coming into British Columbia on the eastern boundary, but 
not before they had decimated the splendid flocks of the Ashnola country. 
This was, fifteen years ago, the finest resort of mountain sheep in the 
North American continent. To-day the authorities of Alberta still permit 
the Stony Indians to harass the game at all seasons, but take good care 
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