TAMP IN TH& JUDITH MOUNTAINS. 303 



white- and black-tailed deer, elk, mountain-sheep, bears of 

 three kinds, wolves and foxes, not to mention grouse and 

 ducks. The ranges average about 8000 feet, and have no snow 

 on them in summer. The valley had grass as high as one's 

 knees, and was intersected by a number of small clear trout- 

 streams which, although only a few yards wide, held trout up 

 to three and four pounds in weight, while in the willows along 

 the banks you could always jump deer. 



Bowles and Reed's ranche was the only building in the 

 valley, and neither of these men ever did any hunting, so that 

 the game was very tame, the only hunters being Indians, who 

 did not trouble deer much when buffalo were so plentiful. 



We moved camp into the Judith mountains, but found deer 

 scarce, barely getting enough to supply us with food, though 

 we were only about ten miles from where they had been so 

 numerous. It is very curious how the game in this basin 

 moves from range to range, being in one of them one year 

 and in the next one the year after, though there is no apparent 

 reason for the change. We went from this camp into the 

 middle of the range, going up high and leaving our waggon at 

 the bottom, and we put up our tent by a fine spring, which 

 seemed a favourite drinking-place for bears, as their tracks 

 were very numerous. This was a lovely spot, surrounded by 

 peaks which were now covered with snow, and there was just 

 room to picket out the two horses we had with us, the rest of 

 them having been sent on to Reed's ranche in charge of one of 

 the men. Here game was more plentiful than below, and we 

 soon found a band of mountain-sheep and killed two of them. 

 The meat was delicious, tasting like mutton with a wild 

 flavour. 



