Many of the early wars in Scotland and Ireland were wars over stolen cattle, and many of the customs of western men can be traced to Scottish Highlanders. There was no set pattern of stealing cattle. Of course, the usual way was simply to round up a few cows on the range and drive them off. Another common practice was to simply drift cattle into a remote corner of the range, then, when the occasion offered, nudge them a little farther away, often into some remote canyon where the grass and water were good and the cattle not likely to return to old pastures. In due time the brands would be altered by a good rewrite man and the cattle drifted into the thief’s own herd. “Sleepering” cattle was another device. During the round-up, when each ranch was represented by its own hands or perhaps simply a rep—a cowhand representing brands whose hands were not officially involved in the roundup—all cattle were being checked off and the unbranded marked with the appropriate brands and returned to the herd to be released on the range.
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