202 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



black-tail deer and to leave the body untouched. If this course is 

 pursued throughout the day, three or four deer may have been shot 

 in various localities, and these will lie as baits for the bears. 



At daybreak on the following morning the hunter visits his 

 baits, and he will probably find that the bears have been extremely 

 busy during the night in scratching a hole somewhat like a shallow 

 grave or trench, in which they have rolled the carcase ; they have 

 then covered it with earth and grass, and in many cases the bears 

 may be discovered either in the act of working, or, having completed 

 their labour, they may be lying down asleep half gorged with flesh, 

 and resting upon their own handiwork. In this position it is not 

 difficult to obtain a shot. 



When I was in the Big Horn range in 1881 several shooting 

 parties had preceded me on the two previous seasons, and the bears 

 liad been worried to such an extent that they were extremely 

 cautious and wary. There was a small party of professional skin 

 hunters who were camped within a mile of my position, consisting 

 of two partners, Big Bill and Bob Stewart. The latter went by 

 the name of Little Bob, in contrast to his enormous companion. 

 Bob was of Scotch extraction ; he was about 5 feet 5 inches in 

 height, very slight, and as active as a cat. In his knowledge of 

 every living creature upon the mountains he was perfect ; from the 

 smallest insect to the largest beast he was an infallible authority. 

 Bob was a trapper and hunter ; he followed the different branches 

 of these pursuits according to the seasons ; at one time he would 

 be trapping beavers and red foxes, at another he would be shooting 

 deer for the value of their hides. This cruel and wasteful practice 

 I shall speak of in another portion of this work. 



His only weapon was a single-barrelled Sharp's '450 rifle, and 

 he possessed the most lovely mare, beautifully trained for shooting, 

 and not exceeding 14J hands in height. Little Bob, on his little 

 mare, would have formed a picture. On one occasion I had re- 

 turned to camp a little after 5.30 P.M., and as the sun sank low, 

 the deep shadows of the hills darkened our side of the narrow glen, 

 and by 6 o'clock we were reduced to a dim twilight. Presently, 

 in this uninhabited region, a figure halted within 15 paces of our 

 tent, which was evidently Bob Stewart, mounted upon some peculiar 

 animal of enormous bulk, but with a very lovely high-bred-looking 

 head. This was Bob's pretty mare, loaded, and most carefully 

 packed with the trophies of his day's sport, as a solitary hunter, 

 quite alone and unaided since 8 A.M. His pony carried the skins 

 of three bears and four black-tail deer, which he had shot, skinned, 

 and packed upon his sturdy little companion. 



