Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-07-09 | Page 22 | Wild Horse Hunters Make Big Roundup

BIseHers' ; m Bia mm j Salt Lakers in Skull Valley j Shoot Hundred and Two in Four Weeks. j ' ! J. I-Trickson of Salt Lake has Just j returned from a wild horse hunt !n Skull ' alley., where he has been the last four . eks. According to Mr. F.rikson, it is not necessary to go to Africa or o;her foreign for-eign countries for b.g game sport, as a barul of wild horses when cornered will furnish all the exci tement of a Hon or tiger hunt. It is estimated that there are thousands of wild horses in Skull valley, which is located near the Nevada-Utah line, and the ranch owners in this part of the country have started to wage a war of extermination. The wild steeds are be-i-ommEr very troublesome, leading away the domestic stock and demolishing fences and destrovijig property In general. gen-eral. 1 1 fore the plan of shooting fhese horses was adopted the ranchers tried corral ing them and shipping them cast; but the expenses connected with this vc.-e far above the profit derived. The danger connected with capturing them was also greet. They are very vfelous and several cases are cited by Mr. Krick-hon Krick-hon where the animais have literally dashed their brains out against a post or tree, rather than give in to being tied. Air. Krickson was accompanied on the hunt by T. YV. James. Adam Cook and Clarence Anderson, all of Government creek. The party was conducted to the James brothers ranch of that place. Camping supplies sufficient to last several sev-eral weeks were taken, as it is necessary sometimes to stalk a band of the horses several days before it Is possil le to get close enough for accurate shooting. The largest day's shooting was ten head, and was made possible only by the fact that the leaders of two bands met at a water hole and immediately started a fight for supremacy. A fight of this kind is always to the death, and Mr. Erickson states that it was one of the most exciting moments of his life watching the two wild beasts biting, tearing and kicking, while the members of the two bands Intermingled and looked on, taking good care to keep away from the flying hoofs. It was while the mares were closely banded in this manner that the ten head were killed. The noise of the guns soon startled them, and they bolted over the hills in all directions. During the four weeks the party was out it secured 112 head, which they skinned. The skins bring from $7 to $$ each. Erickson says there is plenty of hunting hunt-ing for anyone who enres to go, and that the ranchers will welcome the hunters and assist in every manner possible.