Hunting at High Altitudes 



The next evening, while riding along the hill- 

 side, I saw a black-tail buck, which, like the 

 proverbial ostrich, hid his head behind a small 

 bush and thought that he was concealed, even 

 though his body was in full view. I rode up 

 within ten steps of him before he ran. He was 

 quite thin. 



The next day, which was Saturday, I set out to 

 look for fat elk or bear, as meat was getting low. 

 I killed two young yearling elk, one a heifer with- 

 out a calf, and the other a bull with a spike four 

 inches long. These two animals were killed, one at 

 no yards and the other at 130 yards, with 102- 

 550 cartridges. They fell in their tracks. The 

 weather seemed to be getting constantly warmer, 

 and the elk were following up the grass, which 

 was growing green on the mountainside. The elk 

 seemed to* be separating into smaller bands. The 

 elk and the antelope would soon be dropping young. 

 From this time on, no bear sign was seen, and 

 though there was plenty of game, it was useless to 

 kill any of it unless we had some use for it. There- 

 fore, on May 26 I had a settlement with Catlin 

 and returned to Bozeman on the 3Oth. 



Experience had taught me that the only way to 

 travel through the mountains was with a pack 



138 



