Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1889-09-19
HtNTING BIG HORNS.
@REAT SPORT ON THE SNOW.
COVERED MOUNTAINS OF
IDAHO.
Hos ~dad Sheep and Goats Are Fol-
lowed On the Dizzy Crags-A Won
derful Loog- Distance Shot.

What kind Of sport do enjoy best
Well, outside a hunting for grizzly OF
polar bears, or baflaloes, when you have
lots of them to kill, there is no more ex-
hilarating sport noe to be had than 60
ing after wild sheep and goats" said
William Kennedy, OF Leesburg, Idaho,
to San Francisco ExaExscer reporter.
''The heights of tho Bitter Root
Mountains are now covered with snow,
and there are plenty of big horn and
white wild goats up there. Every win
ter we go up there and have hunt. 1t
is no trouble to get this kind of game,
especially the goats. The big horn are
a little harder to get and require more
skill.
"These are the things you read about
in your early school books, that, like
the chamois, leap from lofty heights
and light on their heads, not damaged
in the least, by reason of the great
horns they have. These mountain
sheep weigh from 300 to $50 pounds
each. They are strong, stalwart fell
lows, and well muscled, and their necks,
though long, are carried we'll up over
their forelegs, so that the perpendicular
from their ponderous horns is well pre-
served. The horns themselves, with the
head, weigh from so to rs pounds. The
female is smaller than the male, and
has smaller horns, resembling those of
the goat. This is the animal known by
naturalists rs the orois montana, and it
is only found in the Bitter Root Noun
tains, in Bearshed County, Mont, and
in the same range of mountains over in
Idaho.
"Last winter shot and killed ten of
these big horns. They are splendid
eating, tasting something like venison.
We ascend the Black Fork of the Sal
mon River and it is right on the very
top of the mountains that you find the
big horn and the mountain goats SO
numerous.
'"Ihe goat is the apolceros nontanus
zoology. 1t has t-black, polished,
slender horns, much like the chamois,
and is clothed with long, white hair.
1t has also tolerably long, bushy white
tail and beard. These goats are exceed
ingly active and if they see the hunter
before he sees them they will elude him,
and it is pretty nearly impossible to
find them Being white, they are hard
to see in the snow, and the only way to
do is to keep keen watch out for their
horns. They roam in bands of from
ten to twenty, while not often more than
three of the sheep are found together.
The goat meat is very much like NUT
ton.
81 am an old resident Of Leesburg.
which is just up from the Gibbon Val
ley. For years past whenever the snow
| gets very deep III the Bitter Root Noun
tains. the big horn sheep and goats
come down to feed. 1t is at such times
that we have made our biggest hauls.
Going after them in the mountains one
is obliged to wear snowshoes. We usu-
ally take two kinds-the web-foot ones
| in going up and the Norwegian, or long,
runner shoes in coming down. The
only way to kill this kind of game is to
watch your chance. Hounds are of no
avail. You can't bring anything to your
assistance, but must depend alone on
your individual skill. A light step.
keen eye and as good long range rifle
as can be had are the essentials.
8! went hunting for goats and sheep
the last OF October. Far up on crag
on the side of old Mount Williams saw
what appeared to be little white speck.
covered by two straight, short lines Of
black. knew it was goat, but he was
so far away on his dizzy eyrrie in the
sky that was afraid I would miss him.
l had a magnificent 38-calibre Henry
rifle, however, and took as careful aim
IS possible. The two dark lines, follow
ed by feecy body, which showed
against blue cloud, turned = double
somersault, it seemed, fifty feet out
from the crag, and shot down into
the gorge almost one thousand
feet below. l had wearisome
trip getting down into the CANYON.
| had to dodge fallen trees and rocks and
avoid deep ravines, but finally 1 got
there, and he was as dead as mackerel.
l had made centre shot, and taken him
through the heart. I got four goats that
trip, all OF them very fine ones. John
kincaid and Tom Wilson, of Salmon
Clty, who were with me, also got five or
six goats and three mountain sheep.
We could not begin to pack the meat
down, OF course, SO we merely took the
hams and other choice parts, besides
the skins.
"Both the big horn and goat skins
make very fine robes. They are used in
that part of Idaho great deal. Spread
on the floor they make room exceed
ingly warm and comfortable.
"a number of English sportsmen
have come in over the Northern Pacific
Road and spent good deal of time in
the Bitter Root Mountains during the
past two or three winters. They have
killed great deal Of game but there is
plenty of it there yet. The biggest
wild animal there is the elk. The elk
we have up there arc as large as oxen.
Aside from these in the Saskatchewan
country, they have no peers on the con-
tinent. As to small game. like timber
wolves, coyotes, foxes, beaver and sable.
the mountain regions of Idaho arc
pretty we'll filed. The country is not
settling up fast enough in such locali-
ties as to make the game timid.
"There are many men in the Bitter
Root and Sawtooth Mountains who
make hupting and trapping business,
and they make good money out Of Il.
They market their meat and skins at
HALEY and Ketchum principally, but
spend most of the winter III the wild
regions of the noun! ains, where they
have erected cabins, and are well aitu-
n tad f>.<