American big game in its haunts; the book of the Boone and Crockett club . cougar. Cougars, known In the Park as elsewherethrough the West as mountain lions, are plenti-ful, having Increased In numbers of recent In the neighborhood of the Gardiner River,that Is within a few miles of Mammoth HotSprings, I found them feeding on elk, which in thePark far outnumber all other game put together,being so numerous that the ravages of the cougarsare of no real damage to the herds. But In theneighborhood of the Mammoth Hot Springs thecougars are noxious because of the antelope, moun-tain sh
American big game in its haunts; the book of the Boone and Crockett club . cougar. Cougars, known In the Park as elsewherethrough the West as mountain lions, are plenti-ful, having Increased In numbers of recent In the neighborhood of the Gardiner River,that Is within a few miles of Mammoth HotSprings, I found them feeding on elk, which in thePark far outnumber all other game put together,being so numerous that the ravages of the cougarsare of no real damage to the herds. But In theneighborhood of the Mammoth Hot Springs thecougars are noxious because of the antelope, moun-tain sheep and deer which they kill; and the Super-intendent has Imported some hounds with which tohunt them. These hounds are managed by BuffaloJones, a famous old plainsman, who is now In thePark taking care of the buffalo. On this first dayof my visit to the Park I came across thecarcasses of a deer and of an antelope which thecougars had killed. On the great plains cougarsrarely get antelope, but here the country Is brokenso that the big cats can make their stalks under 26. Wilderness Reserves favorable circumstances. To deer and mountainsheep the cougar Is a most dangerous enemy—much more so than the wolf. The antelope we saw were usually in bands offrom twenty to one hundred and fifty, and theytraveled strung out almost in single file, thoughthose in the rear would sometimes bunch up. Idid not try to stalk them, but got as near them asI could on horseback. The closest approach I wasable to make was to within about eighty yards oftwo which were by themselves—I think a doe anda last years fawn. As I was riding up to them,although they looked suspiciously at me, oneactually lay down. When I was passing them atabout eighty yards distance the big one becamenervous, gave a sudden jump, and away the twowent at full speed. Why the prong-bucks were so comparatively shyI do not know, for right on the ground with themwe came upon deer, and, in the immediate neigh-borhood, mountain shee
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