The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1912-10-04
70 big-game-hunter will deny,
think. the difficulties that at
tend the shooting of mountain
sheep. To the so-called sports

tenQ the SnOOtlng OF mountain
sheep. To the so-called sports
man who gauges his sue
cess by the number of heads Sc
cured, irrespective of their value, 1t
cannot, of course. appeal; but to the
hunter-naturalist, who can enjoy and
appreciate the wild and imposing
country in which his quarry lives, and
finds his greatest pleasure in pittlng
his own skill and cunning against
those of a worthy foe, this form of
shooting yields most exciting, If
arduous, sport. But today the number
of mountain sheep is fast diminishing,
and it is exceedingly difficult in Ameri-
ca to find and obtain good, or even
moderate, head without an extraordi-
nary amount of travelling and hunting
even then success is not assured
while the short open season for sheep
presents an added obstacle. Nor is
such trip by any means inexpensive,
for American guides have way Of
charging for their services which is
altogether out of proportion of their
value.
Mountain sheep, however, can be
found In the very northwest of Next
CO, around the head of the Gulf Of
California, in Lower California, and
rarely in Chihuahua. Further south
they cannot go, for the torrid heat
and waterlSss desert of the TERRA
Caliente (hot country prevent their
further progress. Therefore this re-
gion forms tie vanishing point of the
genus Owls in America, and the study
of these sheep is all the more inter
esting on that account, writes l. N.
Dracopoli in Country Life.
OF the mountain sheep found in
Mexico there are four species or sub
species: The Owls mexicanus, whose
type locality is the Lake Santa Maria
district in Chihuahua; the Owls cana
densis gaillardi of the Pinacate noun
tains in Sonora; and the Owls nelsoni
and Owls cervina cremnobates of
Lower California. The first-named of
these is now almost extinct, for they
used to inhabit country which was
plentifully supplied with water and
easily accessible, and they were soon
almost exterminated by so-called
"sportsmen." They are distinguished
by the large size of their ears and
molar teeth, while their forehead is
noticeably less concave than that of
the typical Owls canadensis. These
sheep have been rightly, think, de-
scribed as a new species; but the 9TH
er three are only sub-species or local
varieties of the true Owls canadensis
typicus. 1t would be tedious, there
fore, to go fully into the minute pc
culiarities that differentiate them from
the well known Rocky Mountain sheep,
as they are of interest only to- the
zoologist, and not to the big-game-
hunter. There is one point, however,
that makes the Owls canadensis gail
lardi a particularly fine trophy, and
that is the remarkable bulk of the
horns, which are much bigger and
more massive in comparison with the
bodily size Of the animal than those
of the sheep in Wyoming and the
north.
Not Wild or Shy.
At present in the Pinacate noun
tains and in the Sierra del Pozo In
Sonora there is large number of
them, and they are not very wild or
shy, as they have not been much mo-
Tested by the Indians and not at all
by the white man. for the country is
unknown, and has a bad name owing
to its extreme aridity and lack OF wa
ter. It was In this region that my
brother and obtained some excellent
heads. some of which are shown in
the accompanying photographs.
In the daytime and during hot
weather the sheep are always found
high up In the mountains. They come
down to feed during the night, but
invariably return to the rocky lodges
and precipitous cliffs. which are their
favorite haunts, soon after dawn. Here
they bed down in the inches of the
lava or under some overhangine
boulder for the rest Of the day; and
SO well does their coloring harmonic
with their surroundings that not even
the trained eyesight of the Indian can
detect them. The hunter must, there
fore, be early In the field. He should.
If possible, camp high up the noun
.ains in the sheep country, for this
will givs him the best chance Of sue
cess.
When these animals are moving
about they are not difficult to see, for
their white rump patch is most con-
spicuous and can be detected at
grea: distance. The secret Of success
is not to be In hurry. Like nearly
all other animals. they have always q
sentinel on tho lookout when they are
feeding ronnral1v a ave and fha