Memories of a Bear Hunter 



who followed the sheep as they hurried up the 

 mountain, fired two more shots and knocked down 

 an animal, but failed to secure it. 



This was Sunday, and the anniversary of the 

 Battle of Shiloh, in 1862. The following morn- 

 ing I set out to look for mountain sheep, and going 

 up a small ridge just below the camp saw a small 

 band of sheep on the mountain, which, however, 

 saw us at the same time and made off. The climb 

 was a long one, but it was not so steep but we could 

 ride our horses to the top, which the aneroid 

 showed to be i ,000 feet higher than the camp. No 

 sheep were seen on the top of the mountain, but 

 by working along and looking down into the next 

 ravine, we discovered another band of sheep feed- 

 ing about a mile away. To get around the head 

 of the gulch to the ridge they were feeding on 

 proved impossible because of snowdrifts, and we 

 were therefore obliged to make a long circuit, de- 

 scending to a level lower than that of the camp. 

 The wind was baffling and uncertain, and I was 

 somewhat afraid that they might scent us and go 

 off. As we climbed the backbone of a ridge we 

 came upon the fresh tracks of a bear going down. 



After a hard climb we got near the sheep, but 

 meanwhile they had fled down the ridge and we 

 came upon them unexpectedly. They scampered 



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