On Sunday, April 14, 1805, the expedition found reminders of the hard winter along this section of the Missouri. Clark killed a meagre buffalo bull, and near Indian Creek Lewis shot an elk so poor that it was unfit for use. They also saw signs of spring, including many geese nesting in the trees, magpies, black-tailed prairie dogs, and at least two bears, though game was scarce and shy. Lewis collected aromatic herbs such as sage, hyssop, and wormwood, and water about the color of strong lye with the taste of glauber salts and slightly of allumn trickled from hillside springs. Near their campsite about 14 miles below Sanish townsite on the east bank, Lewis shot a great horned owl. On Tuesday, August 12, 1806, after a month of separation, the expedition reunited in this area of the Missouri. Clark's party, which had defended the Yellowstone River, tarried while two men were sent to the previous evening's camp to retrieve a lost tomahawk. While they waited, a hunter killed three elk and repaired a hole in a canoe with elk hide. When Lewis' party hove into sight, Clark was alarmed to learn that his partner had been shot below the right hip while hunting; the wound was painful, but not serious. The party camped below the mouth of Indian Creek on a sand point as the wind blew very hard from the southwest and some rain fell.