The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1904-02-18


turned at bay. A flock of sheep is
constantly menaced by enemies of the
animal kingdom, coyotes, being the
chief pest. A coyote will keep far
out of range of herder and his dog,
but with infinite patience and cunning
will maneuver until 1t is able to "cut
out" a lamb or a fat eve from the
herd Sheep lose their heads easily
and when one has been separated from
its fellows the coyote easily turns il
towards the prairie and kills it as lei
sure. In order to guard against these
nenaces of the flock the herder must
keep constantly on the move. He de-
course, the intelligence of these ami
mails being little short of remarkable.
There is comradeship between the
herder and his dog which is broken
only by death. Some of the herders
spend all their spare time teaching the
dogs tricks, and the lover of intelligent
CANNES can find many wonderful and
well-trained animals in western sheep
camps.
A Bold HoId-Up.
Recently some sheep herders in the
Upper Wind river country found a
new foe in the shape of the red man.
Several Arapahoo bucks found a band
of several hundred sheep which had
strayed away from their herders and
drove them to spot where they could
be corralled. They then sent word to
the hcrders that the sheep would be
returned when the owner had paid a
certain ransom. The feed in the
country where the sheep were cor
rallied was very poor and the owner
took immediate steps to get back his
flock before their condition had been
DANCED. After some argument, the
owner managed to get the price down
to $50, which ransom was paid and
the sheep released. This was one of
the boldest hold-up cases in the history
Of Wyoming, yet nothing was done TO
the Indians.
In the spring, at lambing time, the
sheepman's life is about as hard and
disagreeable as can be imagined. The
lambs, which come in the cold months
OF early spring, have to be gathered
up in the arms and carried off with the
mothers and placed in a small pen,
in order that mother and offspring
may come to know each other. When
a band of 5000 ewes is dropping lambs
IN cold and stormy weather, the
sheepman's life is anything but pleas
ant one. Lambing crews are hard to
get, although as high as $50 month
and board are paid for men that do
such work.
All for $40 Per Month.
Notwithstanding the. dangers and
discomforts which the sheepherder is
constantly facing from one years end
to the other, and in spite of the fact
that he may at any time be called upon
to lay down his life, either in combat
with the elements, of with the cattle
men, he receives small pay. Forty dol
sheepherders in western states. OF
course. the owner provides food and
shelter in addition to this pay, but the
food is generally not of the best and
the shelter Of tent or sheep wagon
in the rough weather is not much to
boast of.
Despite the drawbacks of the life,
however, there seems to be no lack
of sheepherders. Many of the men are
intelligent, we'll read fellows who have
taken up such life in order to regain
health, or perhaps to take themselves
far from the madding crowd" The
loneliness of the life is liable to make
a man morose, and there is no exag-
geration in the many stories of sheep
herders who go insane. There are few
pleasant features to compensate for the
many disadvantages and dangers Of the
sheepherders existence. and it is hard
to understand how such life appeals
to anyone. The sheepmen are constant
ly gaining in their fight for the range,
however, and as long as they do so
the number of her6ers is bound to in
crease, while their more picturesque
rivals, the cowboys, will suffer a cor
responding decrease.