Still-Hunting Elk. 283 



yards from camp without a compass, plenty of matches, 

 and his rifle ; then he need never feel nervous, even if he 

 is lost, for he can keep himself from cold and hunger, and 

 can steer a straight course until he reaches some settle- 

 ment. But he should not get lost at all. Old plainsmen 

 or backwoodsmen get to have almost an instinct for find- 

 ing their way, and are able to tell where they are and the 

 way home in almost any place ; probably they keep in 

 their heads an accurate idea of their course and of the 

 general lay of the land. But most men cannot do this. 

 In hunting through a new country a man should, if possi- 

 ble, choose some prominent landmarks, and then should 

 learn how they look from different sides for they will 

 with difficulty be recognized as the same objects, if seen 

 from different points of view. If he gets out of sight of 

 these, he should choose another to work back to, as a 

 kind of half-way point ; and so on. He should keep 

 looking back ; it is wonderful how different a country 

 looks when following back on one's trail. If possible, he 

 should locate his camp, in his mind, with reference to a 

 Hne, and not a point ; he should take a river or a long 

 ridge, for example. Then at any time he can strike back 

 to this line and follow it up or down till he gets home. 



If possible, I always spend the first day, when on new 

 ground, in hunting up-stream. Then, so long as I am sure 

 I do not wander off into the valleys or creeks of another 

 water-course, I am safe, for, no matter on what remote 

 branch, all I have to do is to follow down-stream until I 

 reach camp ; while if I was below camp, it would be diffi- 

 cult to tell which fork to follow up every time the stream 



