Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-04-17
HUNTING IN THE ROCKIES


statesmen and Dakota ranchefo, is
writing q series Of hunting articles
for Outing. The second of the series
appears in the April number. From
it we take tho following:
| Next day, accordingly. I determin-
ed to devote to going after antelope,
one or two bands of which we had
seen near the trail The cattle were
more than content to feed quietly on
the thick bunch-g grass, and from the
nature of the ground, two men at a
time were amply able to watch them
and to head off any bunch which
seemed inclined to wander far away.
I started soon after breakfast, for
antelope are the only game which can
be hunted as we'll in the middle OF the
day as early or late. I waa riding a
we'll l-trained hunting pony and had
with me the little fortysix Winchester
saddle gun. Before I had left the
wagon camp mile behind me, I
came across little band of prong
horns, cutching glimpse of them as
they lay summing themselves on the
side of hill very long distance off.
Tying my pony to a sage bush, [ ex-
ecuted a most careful stalk up shall
low dry watercourse to point from
which I deemed I could get a shot,
only to tindto my ehagrin that the
band had left the place, I supposed
they had sten me in tho distance and
had promptly run off the instant
that I began tho approach--a fayorite
trick with antelope.
[ made one other unsuccessful
stalk in the morning, and spent nearly
half an hour in trying to flag an old
buck up to me, lying behind a ridge
and waving a handkerchief fixed to
the end Of rifle to and fro over its
top. Curiosity is with antelope a
perfect disease, and they will often
DO unable to resist the temptation to
find out what an unknown object, or
one going through singular motions,
means, even if the price of gratifying
their mania for information has to be
paid with their lives. This particu-
lar old buck. however, although
greatly interested and excited by the
motions Of the handkerchief, could
not make up his mind to approach
close enough to give NE fair shot,
and after cantering to and fro, snort
ing and stamping his feet, advancing
a few yards toward me, suddenly
boiling back rs many and then re-
turning. he eventually evidently came
to the conclusion that there was
something uncanny about the whole
affair, and took to his heels for good.
went back to the pony and rode
on several miles further to where the
country became less prairie-like in
character, the valleys being somewhat
deeper and the ridges closer together,
when [ again dismounted and began
to hunt over the ground on foot; and
this time my perseverance was re-
warded. AS I was topping one ridge
I saw little band Of five bucks
slowly walking over the crest Of the
one directly across, / had come up
very cautiously and felt certain that [
had not been seen. The instant
that the last of the animals disappear
ed I raced forward at sharp gallop,
pulling up as breasted the hillside
opposite 80 that I could not. be blown
when [ came to shoot The antelope
had been proceedingin very leisure
ly manner, stopping to indulge in
mock combats with each other or to
nibble a mouthful Of grass now and
then, and when I came to the top of
the ridge they had halted for good,
perhaps one hundred and fifty yards
away.
I was out Of meat, not for trophies,
and SO / took the one that offered me
the fairest shot, young buck which
stood broadside to me; he was fat
and in good condition for an antelope,
but with small horns. The bullet
went fairly in behind the shoulder,
and though he galloped off with the
rest of the band for a couple of
hundred yards, his pace gradually
slackened, he came to halt, then
walked backward in curious manner
for few feet, fell over, and was dead
when came to him.
After dressing him-and I may re-
mark parenthetically, that this work
Of butehering, especially when far
from water, is one Of the disagreeable
sides Of q hunters life-I got him
on the pony 1t was a quiet little
beast, used to packing all sorts of
strange things behind its rider), and
started toward the camp. The shad-
oWs had begun to lengthen ont well