ioi8 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 29, 1906. 
EN ROUTE TO HOBACK CANYON. 
awaited our return, regardless of poor graz¬ 
ing and lapse of time, it was too late to ex¬ 
tricate ourselves from the mazes of the woods; 
indeed owing to the speedy approach of dark¬ 
ness, we had not time to select a comfortable 
sleeping place, and dropped almost in our 
tracks, after gathering wood for the night, and 
starting a lire. We had seen the fresh tracks 
of a grizzly bear, just here, earlier in the day. 
22d.— Clinging to the steep side of a hill and 
stoking a fire, are not concomitants of sound 
sleep, so that we were alert, and straining our 
ears for promising sounds by break of day, at 
which time we ate the two biscuits that re¬ 
mained from yesterday’s luncheon. Though 
the time of day was most propitious, not a call 
was heard, and, moreover, when looking 
through the woods for some such indications 
of animal life as would justify a campaign in this 
vicinity, we saw the imprint of partner’s hobnails, 
and thus learned that all four of us had been after 
the one elk. We were disgusted, and resolved 
to go to camp, but no sooner had we gotten 
underway than the eternal longing to “look 
behind the ranges,” repossessed George. He 
tackled every mountain peak in sight, it 
seemed, and nothing short of the pinnacles 
would appease him. Being hungry, tired and 
sleepy, 1 began to get peevish and made cut¬ 
ting remarks about the whole elk family. 
George said never a word; he just trudged 
along and hunted with all his senses. One 
lick, away up near the clouds, was momen¬ 
tarily diverting by reason of some newly made 
elk and deer tracks. Just beyond this, while 
seeking a blue grouse which my pistol had 
disabled. George signalled me and said that 
a fine blacktail buck had just moved delib¬ 
erately down the slope, and he suggestd that 
we follow. I will probably more than once 
regret not having been moved by his indom¬ 
itable spirit and enthusiasm; but when I looked 
down that almost perpendicular mountain, 
conscious that my belt buckle was in the last 
hole, and thought of the exertion necessary to 
the return climb, I said, “Let’s go to camp.” 
We did so by way of the topmost stone upon 
the tallest peak in the Snake River range—-11,- 
000 feet in height! I mumbled “lay on,'Mac 
Duff.” Partner and Selar were in camp, tak¬ 
ing a day off. They told us of their attempts 
to come up with a bull elk on the day pre¬ 
vious, but we refrained from damaging the 
reputation of the country by saying we, too, 
had been after him, and that he seem.ed to 
be about the only one in the hills. 
23d.—Partner made a speech this morning. 
There was a heavy coating of frost upon the 
inside of the tent, which meant ice outside, 
and owing to my head being drawn within 
the sleeping bag, T didn’t catch it entirely. 
His language, I well remember, was above 
proof, and because of his family and his stand¬ 
ing in the parish, I will dilute it: “I am tired' 
arid kinky, and this confounded business of 
studying tracks is not only unprofitable, but 
fast becoming monotonous. I have chased 
tracks up and down, and over all the moun¬ 
tains of this blooming country, a-horseback 
and afoot, on a diet of dough, bacon, rare air 
and well-done scenery for one whole week, 
and although I have contracted bowlegs and 
a string-halt, as well as a cavernous stomach, 
they have led to nothing but the ragged edge 
of nowhere. Gee whiz! I didn’t come two 
thousand miles from home to see tracks! Why, 
my back yard is full of them. I came away 
out here to this reputed excellent game coun¬ 
try with two rifles and a wagonload of am¬ 
munition for sporting purposes—with the ob¬ 
ject of seeing living things—things to shoot 
at, and I am shown tracks! To thunder with 
them. I shan’t look at any more.” 
We headed our pack train for the Ifloback 
Canon, through which pass we had intended 
reaching the antelope country, but hoped to 
obtain our elk beforehand because many hunt¬ 
ers seek these latter animals in the Hoback 
country, and large heads have become scarce. 
Partner, already out of patience, had his tem¬ 
per sorely tried during this day’s march 
through the dust, and under a burning sun. 
His impedimenta was entrusted to an outlaw 
mare, which, being excluded from the trail 
by the other horses, assumed an air of marked 
independence, and cavorted up and down the 
mountain sides, perilously near the edge of 
everything, and gave the duffle such, a shaking- 
up as to bust every breakable and tie every¬ 
thing else into hard knots. Then, too, he had 
the temerity to get out of his accustomed 
place in the line, and presumed to get ahead 
of a little pig-headed buckskin mare, which 
resented his intrusion, and insisted upon [lav¬ 
ing that particular place or none. Accord¬ 
ingly, with offended dignity, she walked by the 
side of his horse whenever the trail permitted, 
looked scornfully at him from the corners of 
her eyes and when a bend in the path or the 
ford of a stream made an opening, she prompt¬ 
ly cut him out. 
George paid a visit to a returning pack train, 
and learned that, as he feared, there were 
many hunters beyond, game was scarce, and 
the three heads being brought out by this 
outfit were cjuite small. We turned aside and 
determined to try a nearby piece of country, 
which was less popular with hunters, but we 
hoped not unpopular with elk. 
24th.—We arose soon after 5 o’clock this 
morning, hurried through our scant fares, and 
set out for the new series of hills. A half 
mile from camp George and I entered a ravine 
and overhead, near the top of one of the moun¬ 
tains, saw a bunch of elk. So much fallen 
timber lay near its base that we abandoned 
the horses and began the ascent with as much 
haste as possible. The elk disappeared over 
the crown, and when we reached it and peered 
over, they were a mile away and looking back, 
as though aware of our presence. We dis¬ 
cerned, by the aid of the glasses, one large 
bull in the band, and then retreated behind the 
summit to make an alternating crawling and 
running sneak until opposite their stopping 
place. At one point we were near enough to 
detect their strong bovine odor, but when we 
peeped over, prepared to shoot, they had fled, 
and the last of the cows was seen disappearing 
over a ridge a half mile away. The grass was 
too long and the earth too dry to admit of 
tracking them, and so, five hours of hard work 
were fruitless. Even the persevering George 
was weary, and we were so parched that our 
tongues Avould not work; but he, without a 
murmur, started off for our luncheon, which 
we had left upon the horses far below. After 
finding water in an uninviting elk lick, and 
breaking a seemingly long fast, vve rode along 
the high ground and pulled rein at a coulee 
just in time to hear the last sound of an elk 
bugle. 
Deserting the horses once more, we made 
a circuit so as to work up against the wind, 
but could find nothing else than the bull's fresh 
tracks. He was probably leaving when we 
heard him, and two more hours were wasted. 
This was rather discouraging, but to have been 
near two bulls in the same day was, for us, 
an unusual circumstance,"and so we remounted 
our horses and plodded on. 
Presently, while looking over the tops of the 
trees, George descried a recumbent bull away 
down the slope. We made a wide detour, dis¬ 
mounted, and sneaked until we found our¬ 
selves behind a clump of shrubs within a hun¬ 
dred yards of the still reclining animal, which 
at this moment returned a challenge to a dis¬ 
tant rival. I fired. Some twenty cow elk 
came at us—were all around us. The bull 
arose and started off. Another- shot, and he 
began to run. Thunder! After all these days 
of hard work, a chance at a fine, specimen 
and - 
“You’ve got him!” shouted George, and sure 
enough the huge animal fell and' was dead, 
the first shot having perforated his lung. 
We found water and drank large quantities 
of it to soothe our burning throats, and then 
dismemberment began. The distant bull sent 
another defiant message to his late • competi¬ 
tor. 
“Let’s go after him,” was George’s char¬ 
acteristic suggestion. 
“No, sir! It’s getting dark, we are more 
than tired, camp is far away, and besides, I 
have had all the elk hunting 1 want for several 
years to come.” 
Again we heard him call from a much nearer 
point. George looked up from his work and 
remarked sarcastically, 
“He is coming after you. Are you going to 
let him hook you?” 
We saw him in the fading light as he 
emerged from a pool. He was a five-point 
bull, with symmetrical antlers, but George did 
not approve of taking him because of the pos¬ 
sibility of getting another with six points. I 
resolved to hunt no more until we sought the 
antelope, and so I slew him. The cutting up 
of the two large animals, so that the meat 
could be saved for winter use, was finished 
by the aid of the moon, and by moonlight, 
also, we alternately rode and led our weary 
horses over the frowning mountains, picking 
our way amid fallen timber and rolling stones 
with much difficulty; but we carried strength¬ 
ening food with us, rest was in prospect, and 
our minds had already relaxed from a weari¬ 
some tension. 
As may be gathered from the foregoing re¬ 
cital, elk hunting was exceptionally hard this 
year, and many hunters failed to secure troph¬ 
ies. Partner shot at the back—the only visible 
part—of a bull on the following day and 
knocked him down; but he escaped neverthe¬ 
less, and then we agreed to try our luck with 
antelope. Lippincott. 
IN HOBACK CANYON. 
