April, 1918 
FOREST AND S T R E A M 
207 
This mountain goat has horns that measure very close to the record 
me his. Leaving the pack train to con¬ 
tinue to camp Billy and I started ahead to 
get the bull, I on horseback and Billy trav¬ 
eling ahead on foot as fast as my horse 
could go. The caribou disappeared over 
a little ridge, but soon a young cow ap¬ 
peared on top of the ridge and we imme¬ 
diately stopped. She stared at us for a 
while, then slowly approached, tossing her 
head into the air to get the wind, and 
finally trotted over to a point from which 
she could get our scent. Then, with head 
and tail up, away she went towards the 
band, displaying that magnificent carriage 
that only a caribou can. In the meantime 
Billy was earnestly and energetically abus¬ 
ing her for all she was worth. “You spoil 
it all. If I had my gun I shoot you. You 
nothing but a spy. You go back and tell 
old . bull all you know and more too.” 
Billy was a much provoked Indian. But 
after she disappeared we followed and 
from the second or third ridge saw the 
cows feeding up a little draw, but no bull 
in sight. We waited and watched and 
soon he came into view, following their 
path, and when opposite us I killed him 
at ninety-eight yards. His horns were 
52J4 inches in length, the spread 46 inches, 
there were 35 points, and the head is very 
symmetrical. The neck is almost white 
and the mane of good length. I do not 
think much of caribou as big game. Hunt¬ 
ing them is too easy. 
Hunting the Mountain Goat. 
HILE we were dressing the caribou, 
we heard a shot and then much 
shouting from the direction taken 
by the pack train. Billy could not make it 
out so went to a high point from which 
he saw goats in some cliffs. Then we un¬ 
derstood the cause of the excitement. We 
hastened our work on the caribou and then 
went over to the cliff and found that 
Arthur, Blair and the Indians had cor¬ 
ralled seven billies in a precipitous cliff. 
Their method was unique. The hunters 
rode to the top of the cliff and the Indians 
remained at the bottom. Those below 
shouted while those above rolled and threw 
rocks down the cliffs towards the goats. 
The camp dog in the meantime, with more 
valor than discretion, rushed down the 
cliff and bayed them. The stolid goats 
knew not which way to turn. Then 
someone suggested that the goats were not 
billies at all, but nannies and not worth 
killing. The suggestion evidently created 
what criminal lawyers term “a reasonable 
doubt,” as neither Arthur nor Blair had 
killed one of them. When Billy Fan ar¬ 
rived he pronounced them all billies and 
“tarn big ones.” 
Arthur and Blair still showed but little 
inclination to kill one of these goats as 
they told Billy Fan where the biggest one 
was located so we went to get him. I 
shot him twice and down the cliff he rolled, 
but at the point where the slide rock meets 
the base of the cliff the goat struck an ice 
bank and rolled under it. The fall of the 
goat down the face of the cliff had dis¬ 
turbed the loose rocks and they occasion¬ 
ally fell from the cliff after the goat came 
down. The goats still in the cliff were 
moving about and also caused rocks to fall. 
This made it dangerous for one to get 
under the ice and bring out the goat, as 
he could not be on the lookout for falling 
rocks. So Billy stationed me where I 
could see whether any rocks were falling 
and he went under the ice. His instruc¬ 
tions were to watch the cliff all thei time 
and warn him if a rock was falling. He 
brought the goat out all right and no 
rocks came down, but the slide rock was 
so shifting, and so easily put in motion, 
and so dangerous when in motion, that he 
had to let the goat roll down and as the 
goat rolled over and over, like a wheel 
turning at a rapid speed, his horns were 
round off considerably by the rocks. 
This was an unfortunate occurrence. 
When the other hunters saw what a good 
specimen this goat was, each killed one. 
The goat Arthur killed was standing on a 
very narrow ledge and when struck by the 
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