The Modoc and Pah Ute Indians are, or rather have been, the most
successful hunters of the wild sheep in the regions that have come under
my own observation. I have seen large numbers of heads and horns in the
caves of Mount Shasta and the Modoc lava-beds, where the Indians had
been feasting in stormy weather; also in the canons of the Sierra
opposite Owen's Valley; while the heavy obsidian arrow-heads found on
some of the highest peaks show that this warfare has long been going on.
In the more accessible ranges that stretch across the desert regions of
western Utah and Nevada, considerable numbers of Indians used to hunt in
company like packs of wolves, and being perfectly acquainted with the
topography of their hunting-grounds, and with the habits and instincts
of the game, they were pretty successful. On the tops of nearly every
one of the Nevada mountains that I have visited, I found small,
nest-like inclosures built of stones, in which, as I afterward learned,
one or more Indians would lie in wait while their companions scoured the
ridges below, knowing that the alarmed sheep would surely run to the
summit, and when they could be made to approach with the wind they were
shot at short range.
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