THEODORE ROOSEVELT
[Copyright, 1533, by C. P. Putnam's Sons
Published under arrangement with G. Pi
Putnam's Sons, New York and London. ]
tlic wide plains when
I I the prong - buck dwell;
I Jr I the hunter must some!
L2LJ times face thirst, as wel|
lßpsgl as Are and frost. Th<|
""ly time I ever really
suffered from thirst wot
while hunting prong-buck.
It was late in the summer. I wasi
with the ranch wagon on the way t(;
join a round-up, and as we were out
of meat 1 started for a day's hunt.
After two or three hours' ride, ud
winding coulies, and through the
on went with me, driven by an all
round plainsman, a man of iron nerves
and varied past, the sheriff of out
county. He was an old friend oi
mine; at one time I had served as
deputy-sheriff for the northern end ol
the county. In the wagon we carried
our food and camp kit, and our threi
rolls of bedding, each wrapped in a
thick, nearly waterproof canvas sheet
we bad a tent, but we never needed it
The load being light, the wagon was
drawn by but a span of horses, a pail
of wild runaways, tough, and gooei
travellers. My foreman and I rod*
beside the wagon on our wiry, un
kempt, unshod cattle-ponies. They car
ried us all day at a rack, pace, single
foot or slow lope, varied by rapid gal
loping when we made long circles aft
er game; (lie trot, tln? favorite gaii
with eastern park-riders, is disliked bj
all peoples who have to do much ol
their life-work in the saddle.
The first day's ride was not attrac
tive. The heal was intense and the
dust stifling, as we had to drive somt
loose horses for the first few miles
and afterwards to rick- up and dowi
the sandy river bed, where the cattle
had gathered, to look over some yount:
steers we had put on the range the
preceding spring. When we did cami
it was by u pool of stagnant water, ir.
a creek bottom, and the mosquitoes
were a torment. Nevertheless, a.'
evening fell, it was pleasant to clirnl
a little knoll nearby and gaze at the
rows of strangely colored buttes. grass
clad, or of bare earth and scoria, theii
soft reels anel purples showing as
through a haze, and their irregular out
lines gradually losing their sharpness
in the fading twilight.
My foreman and 1 usually rode fai
off to one side of the wagon, looking
out for antelope. Of these we at ftrsl
saw few, but they grew more plentiful
as we journeyed onward, approaching
a big. scantily wooded creek, where I
had found the prong-horn abundant in
previous seasons. They were very
wary and watchful whether going sin
gly or iu small parties, and the lay of
the land made it exceedingly difficult
to get within range. The last time i
bad hunted in this neighborhood wa
in the fall, at the height of the rutting
season. Prong-bucks, even more than
other game, sevui fairly maddened by
erotic excitement. At the time of my
former hunt they were in coaseles?
motion; each master buck being inces
santly occupied in herding his harem,
and fighting would-be rivals, while sin
gle bucks chased single does as gray
hounds chase hares, or else, if no doe.-
were in sight, from sheer excitement
ran to and fro as if crazy, racing at
full speed in one direction, then halt
ing, wheeling, and tearing back again
just as bard as they coulel go.
At this time, however, the rut was
still some week.' off, and all the bucks
liail to do v.to feed and keep a look
out for enemies. Try my best, I cotilil
not get within less than four or five
hundred yards, and though I took u
number shots at these, or even
longer iii. . >.es. I missed. If a man
is out mere!, for a day's hunt, and has
—
||jj jjsj | jj
Il'i the levll I'K in arid tin:
herd followed.
all the time he wishes, lie will not
scare the game ami waste cartridges
by shooting at such long ranges, pre
ferring to spend half a day or more in
patient waiting anil earefill stalking;
but If he Is traveling, anel is therefore
cramped for time, he must take his
chances. e\;>n at the cost of burning
a gofxl deal of powder.
I was tin-illv hcliied to success by a
characteristic freak of the game I was
following. No other animals are as
keen-sighted, or are normally as wary
as prong-horns; but no others are so
whimsical and odd In their behavior
at times, or so subpect. to fits of the
most stupid curiosity anel panic. T.atr
Jn the afternoon, on topping 11 rise I
saw two to '1 bucks racing off about
three hundred yards to one side; I
scorched desolation of patches of Bad
Lands, I reached the rolling prairie.
The heat and drought had long burned
t lie short grass elull brown; the bot
toms of what had been pools were
covered with hard, dry, cracked earth.
The elay was cloudless, and the beat
oppressive l . There were many ante
lope, but I got only one shot, breaking
a buck's leg; and though I followed it
for a couple of hours I could not over
take it. By this time It was late in
the afternoon, and I was far away
from the river; so I pushed for a creek,
in the bed of which I had always
found pools of water, especially to
wards the head, as is usual with plains
water nurses. To my chagrin, how
ever, they all proved to be dry; and
though 1 rode up the creek bed to
ward the head, carefully searching for
any sign of water, night closed on me
before I found any. For two or three
hours I stumbled on. leading my horse,
in my fruitless search; then a tumble
over a cut bank in the dark warned
me that I might as well stay where 1
was for the rest of the warm night.
Accordingly I unsaddled the horse,
and tieel him to a sage brush; after
awhile he began to feed on the dewy
grass. At lirst I was too thirsty to
sleep. Finally ! fell into a sumber.
and when I awoke at dawn I felt no
thirst. For an hour or two more I
continued my search for water in the
creek bed: then abaneloned it and rode
straight for the river. By the time
we reached it my thirst had come
back with redoubled force, my mouth
was parched, and the horse was in
riuite as bad a plighf; we rushed down
to the brink, anel it seemed as if we
could neither of us ever drink our fill
of the tepid, rather muddy water. Of
course this experience was merely un
pleasant; thirst is not, a source of real
danger in the plains country proper,
whereas in the hideous eleserts that
extend from southern Idaho through
I'tah anel Nevada to Arizona, it ever
menaces with death the hunter and ex
plorer.
In the plain: the weather Is apt to
bo in extremes; the heat is tropical,
the cold arctic, and the droughts are
relieved by furious floods. These are
generally more severe and lasting in
the spring, aft or the melting of the
snow; anel fierce local freshets follow
the occasional cloudbursts. The large
rivers then become wholly impassa
ble, and even the smaller are formi
dable obstacles. It is not easy to get
cattle across a swollen stream, where
the current runs like a turbid mill-race
over the bed of shifting quicksand.
Once five of us took/a thousanel head
of trail steers across the Little Mis
souri when the river was up, and it
was no light task. The muddy current
was boiling past the banks covered
with driftwood and foul yellow froth,
and the frightened cattle shrank from
entering it. At last, by hard riding,
with much kunl shouting and swing
ing of ropes, we got the leaders in.and
the whole herd followed. After them
we went in our turn, the horses swim
ming at one moment, and the next
gtaggen'ing and floundering through
th" quicksand. I was riding ray pet
cutting horse, Muley. which has the
provoking habit of making great
bounds where the water is just not
di"."i enough for swimming; once he
all: I unseated mo. Some of the cat
tle v- caught b the currents and
rolled o\o;- a::d over; most of these we
were able, with tho help of our ropes,
to put on their feet again; only one
was drowned, or rather choked in a
qui -ksand. Many st\-am down stream,
and in consequence struck a difficult
lane 1 .?:".', where the river ran muler a
citi bank; these we had to haul out
with our ropes.
Altbor-v'i I have often lind a horse
down in quicksand or in crossing a
swollen river, and have had to work
hard to save him, I have never myself
lost one under such circumstances.
Yet once I saw the horse of one of my
men drown under him elirectly in front
of the ranch house, while he was try
ing to cross the river. This was in
early spring, soon after the ice had
broken.
When making long wagon trips over
the great plains, antelope often offer
the only source of meat supply, save
for occasional water fowl, sage fowl,
and prairie fowl —the sharp-tailed
prairie fowl, be it understood. This
is the characteristic grouse of the cat
tle" country; the true prairie fowl is a
bird of the farming land farther east.
Towards the end of the summer of
'O2 T found it necessary to travel from
iv. - ranch to the Black TTills. some two
' >:od miles sout' . The ranch wag
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1908
sprang to th * ground,. and flrod three |
shots at them in vain, as they ran lik»> I
quarter-horse;; until they disappeared |
over a slight swell, in a minute, how
ever, bark they came, suddenly ap- |
pearlng over Ihe crest of the same I
swell, immediately In front of me,
and, a:; I fi er-wards found by pacing,
some three hundred and thirty yards
away. They stood side by side facing
me, and remained motionless, unheed
ing the crack of the Winchester; I
aimed at the right-hand one, but a
front shot of the kind, at such a dis
tance, is rather difficult, and it was
not until I flred for the fourth time
that he sank back out of sip-lit. I
could not tell whether I had killed him,
and took two shots at his mate, as the
latter went off, but without effect.
Running forward, I found the first
®ne dead, the bullet having gone
through him lengthwise; the other did j
not seem satisfied even yet, and kept
hangiriK round In the distance for i
some minutes, looking at us.
I had thus bagged one prong-buck, j
as the net outcome of the expenditure >
of fourteen cartridges. This was cer
tainly not good shooting; but neither
was it as bad as it would seem to the |
man inexperienced in antelope hunting.
i
—€=?
They stood side by si<t< facing rnc, uml
remained motionless.
When fresh meat is urgently needed, j
and when time is too short, the hunter
who is after antelope in an open flat- 1
tisli country must risk many long j
shots. In no other kind of hunting is j
there so much long-distance shooting.
Throwing the buck into the wagon j
we continued our journey across the I
prairie, no longer following any road, j
and before sunset jolted down towards j
the big creek for which we had been j
heading. There were many water- j
holes therein, and timber of considera- J
ble size; box alder and ash gl'ew here j
and there in clumps and fringes, be- 1
side the serpentine curves of the near- 1
ly dry torrent bed. the growth being j
thickest under the shelter of the occa- j
sional low bluffs. \Ve drove down to
a heavily grassed bottom, near :t deep,
narrow pool, with, at one end, that i
rarest of luxuries in the plains coun- j
try. a bubbling spring of pure, cold
water. With plently of wood, delicious 1
water, ample feed for the horses, and j
fresh meal we had every comfort and j
luxury incident to camp life in good I
weather. The bedding was tossed out. j
011 a smooth spot beside the wagon; |
the horses were watered and tethered
to picket pius where the feed was 1
best; water was fetched from the I
spring; a deep hole was dug for the
tire, and the grass roundabout care- j
fully burned off; and in a few 1110- i
meuts the bread was baking in the j
Dutch oven, the potatoes were boiling, 1
antelope steaks were sizzling in the !
frying-pan, and the kettle was ready j
for the tea. After supper, eaten with j
the relish known well to every hard
working and successful liuuter, we sat 1
for half an hour or so round the fire, j
and then turned in under the blankets
and listened to the wailing of the j
coyotes until we fell sound asleep.
We determined to stay in this camp
all day, so as to try and kill another i
prong-buck, as we would soon lit; past j
the good hunting grounds. I did not 1
have 1o go far for my game next morn- ;
ing. for soon after breakfast, while
sitting 011 my canvas bag cleaning my j
Title, the sheriff suddenly called to me
that a bunch of antelope were coming 1
towards us. Sure enough -there they
were, four in number, rather over half
a mile off. on the first bench of the
prairie, two or three hundred yards ]
back of the creek, leisurely feeding in ,
our direction. In a minute or two J
they were out of si^cht, and I instantly j
ran along the creek towards them for |
a quarter of a mile, and then crawled j
up a short shallow coulie, close to the I
head of which they seemed likely to 1
pass. When nearly at the end I cau- I
tiously raised my hatless head, peered
through some straggling weeds, and j
at once saw the horns of the buck.
He was a big fellow, about a hundred
and twenty yards off; the others, a doe |
and two kids, were In front. As I lift- |
ed myself on my elbows he halted and j
turned his raised head towards mre; ,
the sunlight shone bright on his sup
ple, vigorous body with its markings
of sharply contrasted brown and
white. 1 pulled trigger, and away
lie went; but I could see that his race
was nearly run, and lie fell after going (
a few hundred yards.
w, ~*
CARIBOufa;
W TIDEODOEE iu X
ICopyrlgfct, 1593, by G. P. Putnam's Sons,
Published under arrangement with G. P.
Putnam's Sons. New York and Ixindon.]
iu September I was
camped on the shores ol
Kootenai Lake, having
with me as companions
.Tolm Willis and an im
passive-looking Indian
, lainet i Animal. Coming
across through the dense coniferous
forests of northern Idaho we had
struck the Kootenai Itiver. Then we
went down with the current as it
wound in lvilf circles through a loup
alluvial valley of mixed marsh and
woodland, hemmed in by lofty moun-
E?-- -■
those know who have gone through
.nuch hardship and some little hunger,
and have worked violently for several
days without tlesh food.
The morning after killing Bruin, we
again took up our march, heading up
stream, that we might goto its sources
amidst the mountains, where the snow
fields fed its springs. It was two full
days' journey thither, but we took
much longer to make it, as we kept
halting to hunt the adjoining moun
tains. On such occasions Ammal was
left as camp guard, while the white
hunter and I would start by daybreak
and return at dark utterly worn out
by the excessive fatigue. We knew
nothing of caribou, nor where to hunt
for them; and we had been told that
thus early in the season they were
above tree limit 011 the mountain sides.
Until within a couple of days of
turning our faces back towards the
lake we did not come aero's nr. •: i i
bou, and saw but a few old -i; • and
we began to In- fearful lest we should
have to return without getting any. for
our shoes had been cut to ribb nis by
the sharp rocks, we were almost out
of flour, and therefore had but little
to eat. However, our perseverance
was destined to be rewarded.
The first day after reaching our final
camp, we hunted across a set of spurs
and hollows, but saw nothing living.
The next day we started early, deter
mined to take a long walk and follow
the main stream up to its head, or at
least above timber line. The hunter
struck so brisk a pace, plunging
through thickets and leaping from
log to log in the slashes of fallen tim
ber, and from boulder to boulder in
crossing the rock-slides, that I could
hardly keep up to him, struggle as I
would, nnd we each of us got several
ugly tumbles, saving our ritles at the
expense of scraped hands and bruised
bodies. We went up . one side of the
stream, intending to come down the
otlief*; for the forest belt was narrow
enough to hunt thoroughly. For two
or three hours we toiled through dense
growth.
Then we came to a spur of open
hemlock forest; and 110 sooner had we
entered it than the hunter stopped and
pointed exultlngly to a well-marked
game trail, in which it: was easy at a
glance to discern the great round foot
prints of our quarry. We hunted care
fully over the spur and found several
trails, generally leading down alony
the ridge; we also found a number of
beds, some old and some recent, usual
ly placed where the animal could keep
a lookout for any foe coining up from
the valley. They were merely slight
hollows or identations in the pine
needles; and, 'ike the game trails,
were placed 111 localities similar to
those that would lie chosen by black
tail deer. The caribou droppings were
also very plentiful; and there were
signs of where they had browsed 011
the blueberry bushes, cropping off the
GHrtwj wc a beautiful shot, as lit shunt
sideways to me.
berries, and also apparently of where
they had here and there plucked a
mouthful of a pr ulisr kind of moss,
or cropped < a . ane little mushrooms.
But the beasts themselves lijhl evident
ly left the ridge, and we went 0:1.
Vier a little while the vallev be-
came so high that the large timber
ceased, and there were only occasional
groves of spindling evergreens. Be
yond the edge of the big timber was a
large boggy tract, studded with little
pools: and here again we found plenty
of caribou tracks. A caribou has an
enormous foot, bigger than a cow's,
and admirably adapted for traveling
over snow or bogs; hence they can
pass through places where the long
slender hoofs of moose or deer, or the
round hoofs of elk, would let their
owners sink at once; and they are very
difficult to kill by following on snow
shoes—a method much In vogue among
the brutal game butchers for slaughter
tains. The lake itself, when we reach
ed it, stretched straight away like a
great fiord, a hundred miles long and
about three in breadth. The frowning
and rugged Selkirks came down sheer
to the water's edge. So straight were
the rock walls that it was difficult for
us to land with our batteau, save at
the places where the rapid mountain
torrents entered the lake.
We had come down from a week's
fruitless hunting in the mountains; a
week of exee:-\ iv • toil, in a country
where we saw 110 gaiae—for in our ig
norance we had wasted time, not go
ing straight back to the high ranges,
from which the game had not yet de
scended. After three or four days of
rest, and of feasting on trout —a wel
come relief to the nonoton.v of frying
pan bread mid coarsey salt pork—we
were ready for another trial; and early
one morning we made the start. Hav
ing to pack everything for a fortnight's
use 011 our backs, through an excess
ively rough country we of course
traveled as light as possible, leaving
almost all we had with the tent and
boat.
We walked iu single tile, as is nec
essary in thick woods. The white
hunter led. and I followed, each with
rifle on shoufder and pack on back.
Animal, the Indian, pigeon toed along
behind, carrying his pack, uot as we
did ours, but by help of a forehead
band, which he sometimes shifted
across his breast. The traveling
through the tangled, brush choked for
est, and along the bowlder strewn and
precipitous mountain sides, was incon
ceivably rough and difficult.
An hour or two before sunset we
were traveling, as usual, in Indian
file, beside the stream, through an
open wood of great hemlock trees.
There was no breeze, and we made no
sound as we marched, for our feet
sunk noiselessly into the deep moss.
Suddenly the hunter, who was lead
ing, dropped down in his tracks, point
ing upward; and some fifty feet be
yond i saw the hca4 and shoulders of
a bear as he rose to make a sweep at
some berries. He was in :i hollow
where a tall, rank, prickly plant, with
broad leaves, grew luxuriantly; and he
was gathering its red berries, rising
on his hind legs and sweeping them
down into his mouth with bis paw,
and was much too intent on.his work
to notice us, for his head was pointed
the other way. The moment lie rose
again I tired, meaning to shoot through
the shoulders, but instead, in the hur
ry, taking him in the neck. Down he
went, but whether hurt or not we
could not see, for the second he was
011 all fours he was no longer visible.
It a the r to my surprise he uttered no
sound—for- bear when hit or when
charging often make a great noise—so
I raced toward the edge of the hollow,
tiie hunter close behind me, while Ani
mal danced about in the rear, very
much excited, as Indians always are
in the presence of big game. The in
stant we reached the hollow and look
ed down into it from the low bank on
which we stood we saw by the sway
ing of the tall plants that the bear
was coming our way. The hunter was
standing some ten feet distant, a hem
lock trunk being between us; and the
next moment the bear sprang clean up
the bank the other side of the hem
lock, and almost within arm's length
of my companion, i do not think lie
had intended to charge; he was prob
ably confused by the bullet through
his neck, and had by chance blundered
out of the hollow in our direction; but
when he saw the hunter so close he
turned for lfim, his hair bristling and
his teeth showing. The man had no
cartridge in his weapon, and with his
pack on could not have used it any
how; and for a moment it looked as if
he stood a fair chance of being hurt.
As the beast sprang out of the hollow
lie poised for a second on the edge of
the bank to recover his balance, giving
me a beautiful shot, as he stood side
ways to me; the bullet struck between
the eye and ear, and he fell as if hit
with a. pole axe.
Our prize was a large black bear,
with two curious brown streaks down
his back, one on each side the spine.
Wo skinned him and camped by tie
carcass, as ii was growing late. To \
take the chill off the evening air we '
built a huge fire, the logs roaring and |
crackling. To one side of it we made j
our beds —of balsam and hemlock
boughs; we did not build a brush lean
to, because the night seemed likely to
be clear. Then we s j. v.! on nr
lex-: tea, try Im s^-j>■'n hreid. nnd quanti
ties of !"»•• ••• <l, fried or ron-i-vd—
and !v • *. cry good i- t::sted ;v;|v
| In;? the more helpless animals. Spread-
I ing out his ureal hoofs, and bending
j his legs till lie walks almost, on the
1 joints, a i .ribou will travel swiftly
over a ■ :i <i:.'ough wliieli a u.oose
breaku at c.eiv stride, or through i! ep
snow in which a ileer cannot flounder
fifty yards. I'svally he trots; but
when pres « <i he \ ill spring awkward
ly along, leaving tracks in the snow
almost exactly like magnified imprints
of those of a great rabbit, the long
marks of the two hind legs forming
an angle with each other, while the
forefeet make a large point almost be
tween.
The caribou had wandered all over
the bogs and through the shallow
pools, but evidently only at night or
In the dusk, l:en feeding or in coming
to drink: and we again went on. Soon
the timber disappeared almost en
tirely, and thick brushwood took Its
place; we were in a high, bare alpine
valley, the snow lying in drifts along
the sides. In places there had been
enormous rock-slides, entirely filling
up the bottom, so that for a quarter of
11
The hunter irouchal, dinvn, while 1 run
noixrlcsul n for wit rtl.
a mile at a stretch the stream ran un
derground. la the rock masses of this
alpine valley we, as usual, saw many
conies and hoary woodchucks.
The caribou trails had ceased, and
it was evident that the beasts were
not ahead of us in the barren, treeless
recesses between the mountains of
rock and snow; and we turned back
down the valley, crossing over to the
opposite or south side of the stream.
We had already eaten our scanty
lunch, for it was afternoon. For sev
eral miles of hard walking, through
thicket, marsh, and rock-slide, we saw
no traces of the game. Then wC
reached the forest, which soon widen
ed out, and crept up the mountain
sides; and we came to whore another
stream entered the one we were follow
ing. ,\ high, steep shoulder betwei
the two valives was covered with an
open growth of great hemlock timber,
and in this we again found the trails
and beds plentiful. There was no
breeze, and after beating through the
forest nearly to its upper edge, we be
gan togo down ihe ridge, or point of
the shoulder. The comparative free
dom from brushwood made it easy to
walk without noise, and we descended
the steep incline with the utmost care,
scanning every object, and using every
caution not to slip on the hemlock
needles, nor to strike a stone or break
a stick with our feet. The sign was
very fresh, and when still half a mile
or so from the bottrAn we at last came
on three bull caribou.
Instantly the hunter crouched down,
while Iran noiselessly forward he
hind the shelter of a big hemlock
trunk until within fifty yards of the
grazing and unconscious quarry. The;
were feeding with their heads up-hil
but so greedily that they had not sec
us; and they were rather difficult t
see themselves, for their bodies ha
monized well in color with the brow
tree-trunks and lichen-covered bov
ders. *
The largest, a big bull with a go>
but by no means extraordinary her
was nearest. As he stood fronting l
with ills head down I tired into )
neck, breaking the bone, and he tu
ed a tremendous back somefsa
The other two halted a second in st
ned terror; then one, a yearling, n
ed past us up the valley down w'
we had come, while the other, a 1
bull with small antlers, crossed i
in front of me, at a canter, his i
thrust out, his head —so «>ot
looking compared to the delicate
lines of an elk':'—turned towards
Ilis movements seemed clumsy
awkward, utterly unlike those
deer; but he ban Tied his great !
cleverly enon;:!' id broke In
headlong, rattling gallop as he
down the hillside, crashing tii
the saplings and leaping ove
fallen logs. There was a spur a
beyond, and up this he went
swinging trot, halting when he r<
the top, and turning to look
once more. He was only a h
yards away; and though I had
tended to shoot him (for his he
nnt good), tlie temptation wa
and I was glad when, in anotl
ond. the stupid heart turned ar
went o'* v < valle at a i
run.
.7
J- ■ - "■ l