Bodmer's sketch of the river landscape featuring the figures of bears and wolves devouring the carcass of a bison at the river's edge is presumed from the appearance of high bluffs pictured in the background to have been done at some point above Fort Union en route to Fort McKenzie in the summer of 1833. Such sights were common on the upper Missouri of that day, and Maximilian frequently mentioned in his account the presence of wolves near the buffalo and elk herds above Fort Union.