He seemed to know instinctively what could be accomplished by himself and friends in positions of extreme peril, and he saw on the moment precisely how to do that which often was impossible to others.
His knowledge of woodcraft and the peculiarities of the savage tribes around him was as perfect as it could be.

He was a matchless hunter, and no man could handle a rifle with greater skill.

The wilderness, the mountains, the Indians, the wild animals--these constituted the sphere in which nature intended Kit Carson should move and serve his fellow men as no one before or after him has done.
Added to these extraordinary qualifications, was the crowning one of all--modesty.

Alas, how often transcendent merit is made repelling by overweening conceit.

Kit Carson would have given his life before he would have travelled through the eastern cities, with his long hair dangling about his shoulders, his clothing bristling with pistols and knives, while he strutted on the mimic stage as a representative of the untamed civilization of the great west.
Carson was a superior hunter when a boy in Missouri, and the experience gained among the experienced hunters and trappers, soon caused him to become noted by those who had fought red men, trapped beaver and shot grizzly bears before he was born.