210 The Wilderness Hunter 



fortable when the comfort does not interfere with 

 the sport; and although a man sometimes likes to 

 hunt alone, yet often it is well to be with some old 

 mountain hunter, a master of woodcraft, who is a 

 first-rate hand at finding game, creeping upon it, 

 and tracking it when wounded. With such a com- 

 panion one gets much more game, and learns many 

 things by observation instead of by painful experi- 

 ence. 



On this trip we had with us two hunters, Taze- 

 well Woody and Elwood Hofer, a packer who acted 

 as cook, and a boy to herd the horses. Of the lat- 

 ter, there were twenty ; six saddle-animals and four- 

 teen for the packs two or three being spare horses, 

 to be used later in carrying the elk-antlers, sheep- 

 horns, and other trophies. Like most hunters' pack- 

 animals, they were either half-broken, or else broken 

 down; tough, unkempt, jaded-looking beasts of 

 every color -. sorrel, buckskin, pinto, white, bay, 

 roan. After the day's work was over, they were 

 turned loose to shift for themselves ; and about once 

 a week they strayed, and all hands had to spend the 

 better part of the day hunting for them. The worst 

 ones for straying, curiously enough, were three 

 broken-down old "bear-baits," which went by them- 

 selves, as is generally the case with the cast-off horses 

 of a herd. There were two sleeping tents, another 

 for the provisions, in which we ate during bad 

 weather, and a canvas tepee, which was put up with 



