Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1895 — ON A SHEEP RANCH. [ARTICLE]

ON A SHEEP RANCH.

Amusing Sight When the Bucks Meet in Conflict. One of the amusing sights out West is the flocks of bucks on the sheep ranches in Arizona and New Mexico. There are certain regions given up to sheep raising, and one can find outfits which number as high as 50,000 sheep. These are divided into flocks, never more than 5,000 in a bunch, and while the bunches may be within a few miles of each other, they are kept separate and apart, and never allowed to ■single. Five thousand sheep in a

bunch is about all that the genius of man or dog can handle to advantage. During certain seasons of the year the bucks are bunched together by themselves, and these are the woolly folk who furnish the entertainment. All day long they fight sham duels with each other, and every waking moment in the twenty-four hours will offer the onlooker a spectacle of full thirty of these combats raging at a time. The sheep seem to have a fashion of code, and conduct these affairs of honor with a great deal of order and decorum. They are never for blood, and resemble a sparring match for points between boxors, or a joust with blunted spears between knights of olden time. As you watch the flock grazing along your eye will be aroused to some buck, who suddenly ceases feeding and stands for a moment in a thoughtfvl attitude. It has suddenly occurred to this champion that he would enjoy a brief bunting bout, and he looks up and down the block for an adversary. Having selected his fellow duelist, he walks toward him with a very dignified, almost haughty air. The buck honored by his notice raises his head as he is approached and looks at the other with great calmness. The particular merino who is resolved on trouble goes quite close to the other, and in a stiff, formal way strikes him once or twice with his fore foot. This hoof manoeuvre would seem to.be the challenge. The buck thus tapped, and the blow is bestowed somewhere about the fore legs, bows profoundly, as if in haughty acquiescence, and begins to back slowly away. The challenger does the same. When they have separated to a distance of about thirty yards, they will spring into the air once or twice, in a stiff legged way, as if testing their thews. Having satisfied themselves that they are decidedly in working order, and as if with the same impulse, they lower their heads and rush at each other.

They meet half way with a crash which may be heard across the plains for a mile, and each buck is so severely jolted as to be driven backward several feet. Bowing w r ith great deference to each other, they then retreat backward as they did before, and to about the same distance,and charge again. Their woolly pates will crash together a second time, after which they will retreat for a third. Before one or the other is entirely satisfied they will run some six or seven of these courses. At last one will signify in a dignified wav, and by simply turning his attention to cropping the grass, that he doesn’t care for any more exercise of that sort at that time. His adversary may feel like another bunt, but he never urges his wish, and if there is still any combat in him, which must be worked off, he hunts another sheep. Sometimes when tivo bucks are pulling off a duel some other buck will be attracted by the sight. Without asking anybody's permission he will lower his head and charge with the others . Instead of a duel there will be a trio. Occasionally a fourth, even a fifth, will take part, and as many as eight bucks have been seen all hilariously charging for a common center in the fashion of a woolly Donnybrook fair. These buck tournaments appear to afford the sheep great satisfaction. They conduct them with gravity, and as none of them ever get hurt, and all of them seem much refreshed thereby, the sheep herders never interfere.