Camping and Hunting in the Shoshone 



Sit down when you shoot, if it is possi- 

 ble. There is no better position than an 

 elbow on either knee ; you can shoot fast 

 and straight, and the position is high 

 enough to carry your head and rifle above 

 small inequalities of the ground. I let 

 drive and missed ; shot too far ahead, I 

 fancy. Always shoot too far ahead rather 

 than too far behind. Nine times out of 

 ten a bullet plumped in front of running 

 game will halt it for a moment ; and so 

 now it turned out. The leader reared up 

 for an instant, and the instant's pause was 

 fatal. The next bullet took him fair in 

 the centre of the chest. He had just time 

 to give his solicitous companion a wipe 

 with his paw, that would have come near 

 wiping out a strong man, when he rolled 

 over. 



Bear No. 2 concluded he had an engage- 

 ment somewhere else, and was settling 

 down to a business-like gait when he, too, 

 came to grief. There they lay, not fifty 

 yards apart, — two in one evening, not so 

 bad, — though in honesty it must be con- 

 fessed that such shots were more than or- 

 dinarily lucky. Skinning a tough hide 

 is a very trying bit of work, but how wil- 

 lingly was it undertaken ! What time we 

 made down the mountain, tying first our 



