Memories of a Bear Hunter 



might get a shot at him. Soon, however, it became 

 so dark that we could see nothing and returned to 

 camp. On the way in I shot an elk for meat, but 

 we did not find him until the next day. The day 

 after, Catlin climbed the mountains behind where 

 the bear was seen, and discovered that the animal, 

 probably frightened at my shot at the elk, had 

 gone back up the mountain. Catlin also reported 

 having seen three mountain goats or ibex. 55 



On the following day we made an exploring 

 expedition up the north fork of Shield's River, 

 where we saw some elk and deer, but it is a cold 

 country with narrow valleys, walled in by rock and 

 precipitous mountains on the north. These moun- 

 tains seemed a good sheep country, and we saw a 

 band pretty low down. We shot at them, but 

 without effect. It was windy and squally, with 

 occasional showers of snow or rain, but by getting 

 in the timber we escaped a wetting. On the return, 

 when we were within three miles of camp, a year- 

 ling bear jumped out of a gulch on the left and ran 

 ahead of us. I dismounted and fired at him with a 

 102-350 cartridge at 140 yards, and hit him 

 through and about the head, the ball passing 

 through the point of the shoulder, shattering it. 

 No pieces of the ball could be found. He ran 115 

 yards and was dead when we reached him. 



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