Oorial, like stags, seem to affect particular spots at that season, and certain hills which at other times of the year hold nothing but ewes and young ones will just then invariably have big rams on them. Oorial ground has hitherto been practically restricted to the Salt range, and a 30-in. ram there is now a rarity. The country on the right bank of the Indus is being yearly made more accessible, however, and there are large tracts of good oorial ground in that direction that are as yet practically unshot. Oorial shooting, however, is by no means a summer amusement, and there is little to be gained then except dysentery from bad water and sunstroke by hunting the deep stifling ravines and almost red-hot stony hills. In the cooler months it is most enjoyable. As a rule one gets a fair number of chances, the ground being so broken that stalking is by no means difficult. An old ram oorial is a fine game-looking animal, and though not to be compared to burrel, is still very fair eating. The best way of hunting them is by walking along the tops of the ridges and carefully examining the ground below; as there are often a good many bushes on the hillside, oorial are not always very easy to see, especially if they are lying down, so the pace should be slow. The natives of the salt range are generally expert trackers, and as a wounded oorial is by no means an easy beast to recover, their skill is doubly appreciable when following up a good ram with a broken leg. The way they will carry the trail through the marks of a flock of sheep or along stony nullahs and hillsides with perhaps only an occasional spot of blood to help them, is quite charming after the bungling attempts at the art one generally sees displayed by the natives of the Himalayas.
As oorial are perpetually seeing shepherds and other natives they do not become alarmed at the sight of man at a distance; but as they are a good deal driven about, especially by the cultivators whose crops at the foot of the hills they feed on at night, no liberties can be taken during the stalk, and the sides of the ravines being often excessively steep, good noiseless stalking shoes are requisite.
This variety is found in Khelat, and a few specimens have been procured near Quetta. Its horns are described as being longer and more slender than those of _O. cycloceros_ or _O. Vignei_, and as having a second twist outwards at the ends. It has a white beard, unlike either shapoo or oorial.
