. Through the heart of Patagonia. Natural history. CHAPTER XVI WILD CATTLE Denseness of forest—Wild cattle originally escaped from early settlers— Grown somewhat shaggy—Indians will not hunt them in forest—Patagonia not a big-game country—Hunting wild cattle—Disappointment—Hunters para- dise—Twelve blank days—Sport on Punta Bandera—Big yellow bull—Losing the herd—Baffling ground—Charge of bull and cow—A shot at last—Hunting in forests on Mount Frias—Str:ng shoes—Winter hunting—Shoot bull—Shoot huemul five-pointer—Wild-cattle hunting first-class sport. Very different to the easy sport afforded
. Through the heart of Patagonia. Natural history. CHAPTER XVI WILD CATTLE Denseness of forest—Wild cattle originally escaped from early settlers— Grown somewhat shaggy—Indians will not hunt them in forest—Patagonia not a big-game country—Hunting wild cattle—Disappointment—Hunters para- dise—Twelve blank days—Sport on Punta Bandera—Big yellow bull—Losing the herd—Baffling ground—Charge of bull and cow—A shot at last—Hunting in forests on Mount Frias—Str:ng shoes—Winter hunting—Shoot bull—Shoot huemul five-pointer—Wild-cattle hunting first-class sport. Very different to the easy sport afforded by the huemul was our experience of hunting wild cattle in the forests which clothe more or less densely the ravines and slopes of the lower Andes. These forests, which in some parts are absolutely impenetrable in the spring, because at that season the pantanos are saturated with the rains and melting snow, give shelter to many scattered herds of wild cattle. Captain Musters, writing in 1871, speaks of hunting these animals under the Cordillera, but their existence in a wild state dates from a far earlier period—in fact, from the time of the first Spanish occupation, when catde escaped from the Valdez Penin- sula, and roaming over the pampas at length reached the hiah grass and sheltered places of the Cordillera. Finding these entirely to their liking, they have ever since lived and bred in that region ; their numbers, no doubt, being from time to time increased by deserters from the unfenced farms on the east coast of Pata- gonia. It is a strqnge thing that cattle which escape almost invariably head north-west towards the Cordillera. This fact has. FORESTS UNDER THE SNOWS WHERE WILD CATTLE BREED. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Prichard, Hesketh Vern
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1902
