Hunting Trips of a Ranchman

Sketches of Sport on the Northern Cattle Plains

Theodore Roosevelt

Perhaps rivaling his passion for politics was Roosevelt’s passion for the wild outdoors. Hunting Trips of a Ranchman is Roosevelt’s ode to the beauty, vigor and challenges of the Dakota Badlands and the frontier life.

Bibliographic Record

Contents

Illustrations    Introductory Note

ILLUSTRATED BY A. B. FROST, R. SWAIN GIFFORD, J. C. BEARD, FANNIE E. GIFFORD, HENRY SANDHAM

TO THAT KEENEST OF SPORTSMEN AND TRUEST OF FRIENDS MY BROTHER ELLIOTT ROOSEVELT

NEW YORK & LONDON: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS, 1885 NEW YORK: BARTLEBY.COM, 1999

CHAPTER I. RANCHING IN THE BAD LANDS.

The northern cattle plains — Stock-raising — Cowboys, their dress and character — My ranches in the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri — Indoor amusements — Books — Pack-rats — Birds — Ranch life — The round-up — Indians — Ephemeral nature of ranch life — Foes of the stockmen — Wolves, their ravages — Fighting with dogs — Cougar — My brother kills one — One killed by blood-hounds — The chase one of the chief pleasures of ranch life — Hunters and cowboys — Weapons — Dress — Hunting-horses — Target-shooting and game-shooting

CHAPTER II. WATER-FOWL.

Stalking wild geese with rifle — Another goose killed in early morning — Snow-goose shot with rifle from beaver meadow — Description of plains beaver — Its rapid extinction — Ducks — Not plenty on cattle plains — Teal — Duck-shooting in course of wagon trip to eastward — Mallards and wild geese in cornfields — Eagle and ducks — Curlews — Noisiness and curiosity — Grass plover — Skunks

CHAPTER III. THE GROUSE OF THE NORTHERN CATTLE PLAINS.

Rifle and shot-gun — Sharp-tailed prairie fowl — Not often regularly pursued — Killed for pot — Booming in spring — Their young — A day after them with shot-gun in August — At that time easy to kill — Change of habits in fall — Increased wariness — Shooting in snow-storm from edge of canyon — Killing them with rifle in early morning — Trip after them made by my brother and myself — Sage-fowl — The grouse of the desert — Habits — Good food — Shooting them — Jack-rabbit — An account of a trip made by my brother, in Texas, after wild turkey — Shooting them from the roosts — Coursing them with greyhounds

CHAPTER IV. THE DEER OF THE RIVER BOTTOMS.

The White-tail deer best known of American large game — The most difficult to exterminate — A buck killed in light snow about Christmas-time — The species very canny — Two “tame fawns” — Habits of deer — Pets — Method of still-hunting the white-tail — Habits contrasted with those of antelope — Wagon trip to the westward — Heavy cloud-burst — Buck shot while hunting on horseback — Moonlight ride

CHAPTER V. THE BLACK-TAIL DEER.

The black-tail and white-tail deer compared — Different zones where game are found — Hunting on horseback and on foot — Still-hunting — Anecdotes — Rapid extermination — First buck shot — Buck shot from hiding-place — Different qualities required in hunting different kinds of game — Still-hunting the black-tail a most noble form of sport — Dress required — Character of habitat — Bad Lands — Best time for shooting, at dusk — Difficult aiming — Large buck killed in late evening — Fighting capacity of bucks — Appearance of black-tail — Difficult to see and to hit — Indians poor shots — Riding to hounds — Tracking — Hunting in fall weather — Three killed in a day’s hunting on foot — A hunt on horseback — Pony turns a somersault — Two bucks killed by one ball at very long range

CHAPTER VI. A TRIP ON THE PRAIRIE.

The prong-horn antelope — Appearance, habits, and method of hunting — Hunting on horseback — Wariness, speed, curiosity, and incapacity to make high jumps — Fawns as pets — Eagles — Horned frogs — Rattlesnakes — Trip on the prairie in June — Sights and sounds — Desolate plains — Running antelope — Night camp — Prairie dogs — Badgers — Skylarks — A long shot — Clear weather — Camping among Medicine Buttes — Sunset on plateau

CHAPTER VII. A TRIP AFTER MOUNTAIN SHEEP.

Spell of bitter weather — News brought of mountain sheep — Start after them — False alarm about bear — Character of Bad Lands — Description of mountain sheep or big-horn — Its wariness — Contrasted with other game — Its haunts — The hardest of all game to successfully hunt — Our trip — Cold weather and tiresome walking — Very rough ground — Slippery, ice-covered crags — Ram killed

CHAPTER VIII. THE LORDLY BUFFALO.

Extinction of the vast herds — Causes — A veritable tragedy of the animal world — Sentimental and practical sides — Traces left by buffalo — Skulls and trails — Merciless destruction by hunters and by cattle-men — Development of mountain race of the buffalo — Buffalo-hunting — Noble sport — Slight danger — A man killed — My brother charged — Adventure of my cousin with a wounded buffalo — Three of my men and wounded cow — Buffalo and cattle — Hunting them on foot — Hunting on horseback — My brother in Texas — I take a trip in buffalo country — Wounded bull escapes — Miserable night camp — Miss a cow in rain — Bad luck — Luck turns — Kill a bull — A wagon-trip

CHAPTER IX. STILL-HUNTING ELK ON THE MOUNTAINS.

Former range of elk — Rapid destruction — Habits — Persecuted by hunters — Other foes — Lordly game — Trip to Bighorn Mountains — Managing pack-train — See elk and go into camp — Follow up band in moccasins — Kill two — Character of the deep woods — Sights and sounds of the forest — Blue grouse — Snow — Cold weather — Trout — Calling of bull elk — Killing elk in burned timber — Animals of the wilderness — Kill great bull elk — Kill another

CHAPTER X. OLD EPHRAIM.

Dangerous game, but much less dangerous than formerly — Old-time hunters and weapons — Grizzly and other ferocious wild beasts — Only fights if wounded — Anecdotes of their killing and wounding men — Attacks stock — Our hunting on the Bighorn Mountains — Merrifield kills black bear — Grizzly almost comes into camp — Tracks of grizzly — Watch for one at elk carcass — Follow him up and kill him — Merrifield kills one — Five shot with seven bullets — She and cub killed — Return home

Addendum.