Camping and Hunting in the Shoshone 



was an evidence of their proverbial saga- 

 city. 



My next essay w^'s. undertaken thirteen 

 years after, in i 8 8 1 . We had, my friend 

 and I, a magnificent trip ; rode all over 

 the Big Horn Mountains, and killed plenty 

 of game — indeed, we could not help it. 

 In those days the mountains were full of 

 deer, elk, and bear too ; but somehow 

 none of us ever saw a grizzly. I cannot 

 to this day understand our want of success. 

 Four trips I have made since then ; but I 

 never saw half the amount of fresh signs 

 which we saw on the western slope of 

 those mountains, on a stream named, in 

 the maps. Shell Creek. Had I known as 

 much as I know now, I could have made 

 a much larger bag than the one I made 

 on my last trip, when I had extraordinary 

 luck, and killed eight grizzlies in three 

 weeks, our party accounting altogether for 

 twelve bears, two only of the twelve being 

 trapped. I think this is the largest au- 

 thentic score I have heard of, as made in 

 late years, in so short a time. 



I understand that the Big Horn region 

 is still a black-tail country ; but elk are 

 rare, buffalo extinct, and cattle have driven 

 out bear. As a rule, you will only find 

 grizzlies where elk are, or have recently 



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