The charm of ranch life comes in its freedom, and the vigorous, open-air existence it forces a man to lead.
Theodore Roosevelt
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
