Memories of a Bear Hunter 



I had caught twenty- three ; my twenty-three weigh- 

 ing, after being dressed, sixteen pounds. I sent 

 these to Fort Benton with my friend Donelly. I 

 did most of the hunting for the ranch, though 

 Olinger occasionally went with me to help pack in 

 the game. 



During my stay here I exchanged my horse 

 Charlie for Olinger's mare Kate, a little animal 

 only fourteen hands high, well formed and endur- 

 ing, and trained through Olinger's long use of her 

 in hunting as a most perfect hunting animal. I 

 valued her very highly and owned and cared for 

 her during the remainder of her life. At this date 

 she was six years of age, and she died at my ranch 

 on the Grey Bull River in 1893, which made her 

 twenty-one years of age at death. Olinger had a 

 well- trained dog, Major, thoroughly broken to fol- 

 low at heel, and if a deer was wounded he always 

 caught and held it. 



At this time and earlier, the plains bordering 

 the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, the Marias 

 River, the Judith Basin and Musselshell country 

 and the Yellowstone Valley on the south were 

 roamed over by antelope and buffalo in countless 

 numbers. In the foothills of the mountains which 

 rose from the plains were large bands of elk and 

 white and black-tail deer in great abundance. Many 



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