CHAPTER VII
THE MOUNTAIN GOAT AS A SPORTING ANIMAL

WuiLez the mountain goat is a most interesting animal to
watch when he is engaged in climbing about on bluffs,
from a sporting point of view he is about the poorest of
all our game. It is true that if you hunt them on the
coast mountains you will need to be strong on your legs
to stand the amount of hard climbing you may have to
do to get up to them; also you can always find plenty of
excitement if you choose to go clambering about on
vertical walls, and very easily lose your life if you are reck-
less or careless. It is not, however, at all necessary to
take foolish risks, as it is nearly always possible to find
goats, at some time or other, in places where they are
extremely easy to approach.

With the modern high-velocity rifle the necessity for
skill in stalking is rapidly disappearing, which, to the class
of men who go out just to collect an array of trophies—
a class of men that is, I regret to say, increasing in numbers
—is by no means a matter of regret. Such men never
take any more exertion than they can avoid. To save
themselves labour they shoot their game at long ranges,
regardless of the fact that they wound many animals they
never recover, and consequently, to them, a goat is often
as welcome as any other species of game. But to a man
who loves big-game hunting for the pleasure of testing his
skill in getting within reasonable range of his game, and
not just for the lust for slaughter, it must be admitted
that the goat does not rank very highly.

Provided that your quarry is in a stalkable position,
but little ability is required to get right up to it, unless

that particular beast has been previously hunted and shot
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