Timbered valleys split the grassy slopes into long green fingers stretching down toward the river. Matt lifted the ten power binoculars to his eyes. A gust of wind blew his blond hair back and he could smell the wildflowers on the warm breeze. For weeks he’d been searching these slopes for a legal bear. Now, with only a day before the end of the 1997 spring bear season, warmer weather had the wildflowers in bloom and the elk out of the river bottoms in search of food.
