Hunting at High Altitudes 



to the bait to see to shoot after night, the bear 

 would smell me, while, if I remained out of gun- 

 shot, I could not creep up to him because of the 

 noise made by the frozen snow, so that night after 

 dinner I rode over to the bait, picketing old Jim, 

 the pack horse, at a little distance and going to a 

 point within a hundred yards of the bait, where I 

 could command a view of all approaches. I 

 watched until dark, but saw no; sign of him, and 

 returned to camp. 



Two days later we moved camp to one of the 

 springs of Elk Creek, about two miles from the 

 base of the mountains. The spot should be a good 

 one for game, for it was a park in the mountain 

 about five miles in circumference. On the way 

 there we saw seven or eight bull elk, one of which 

 I tried to shoot at, but the rifle was unloaded. I 

 saw some large bands of antelope, and one band 

 of white-tail deer. 



While riding next day, I witnessed the extraor- 

 dinary sight of a sickle-billed curlew chasing a 

 large eagle. Other summer birds were beginning 

 to appear larks, flickers, bluebirds and others. 

 For a week past I had heard the sandhill cranes 

 and geese passing over. Although there was 

 little or no snow on the prairie, still in the narrow 

 valleys, which were shadowed by the hills, the 



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