The expense of a Western hunting trip after big game, and what is necessary to make it a success, will largely depend upon how much or how little one requires. The average man, accustomed to the ordinary comforts of civilized environment, should be careful to supply himself with as many of these as possible, without too greatly increasing the expense and the bulk of what has to be transported.

The season of the year makes a difference also. In the late fall or during the winter any one who is not accustomed to camping out in cold weather will find a tent with a light, portable sheet-iron stove, which can easily be carried on a horse’s back, very serviceable.

My last hunting trip in the West was late in the fall, and I had everything complete. I will enumerate what I took and then state the cost: I had a guide and a cook; a tent for myself and another which served as quarters for the three men and also for a dining pavilion; a sheet-iron stove for each tent, which, with several lengths of pipe weighed very little; two folding tables and several chairs that packed into very small space; plenty of warm bedding and underwear; a liberal supply of canned stuff—soups, meats, vegetables, preserves, etc.—besides the usual standbys, flour, bacon, my rifle, ammunition, etc., and a few books to read when I was tired of hunting and wanted to loaf in camp. The cost was as follows: Guide, $3 per day; horse wrangler, $2 per day; cook, $3 per day; eight pack horses, 50 cents apiece per day; six dogs, no charge.

Provisions, consisting principally of canned stuff, at from 15 to 20 cents a can, I purchased at St. Anthony, Idaho. I had about $60 worth of canned stuff, and had some left over after camping out thirty days. In round figures it cost me about $14 a day while camping out. This expense can be cut down, if one wishes to economize. Great care, however, should be taken about attempting to cut off too much.

I have heard much adverse criticism in regard to canned goods, but in my own experience I find them most serviceable. What are generally sold contain, as a rule, a large quantity of water, and this adds unnecessarily to the weight and bulk. A great deal of this may be had in a condensed form; before cooking, water can be added to it.

The success of a hunting trip depends almost entirely upon the guide. Great care should be taken against securing the services of any one without first finding out something about him in advance. If you are fifty or one hundred miles out in the wilderness and your guide should prove unsatisfactory, you cannot conveniently dispense with his services. In that case you have nothing to do but to make the best of a bad bargain.

With the disappearance of big game almost everywhere, and the greater difficulty of securing it, more skill and special knowledge are required now than formerly. There are a good many men who have shot large game and lived in the wilderness who would not make competent guides. The man whose time is limited must select as his guide someone who has a good knowledge of woodcraft, understands the habits of wild animals and is able to furnish a good outfit.