Blackbear 1059 



There is abundance of testimony for this. L. Allen says:° 

 "I have noticed that Bears are methodical in their habits, 

 always following their own trail until their tracks are deep 

 depressions in the ground." 



After telling of a long hunt through the snow after three 

 Bears, C. Wasgatt adds:'" "All this time the Bears had 

 walked in the track made by the leader." 



In detailing the methods of a successful Bear trapper, J. B. 

 Burnham says :" " Bear-trails in places are well-defined paths. 

 * * * In passing over these trails the Bears step in each other's 

 foot-prints, and if one Bear fifty years ago crossed a log at a 

 certain spot, every Bear that followed is morally certain to have 

 chosen the same place. Moreover, they never deviate from 

 the exact line of their trail if it is in any way possible to avoid 

 leaving it. Knowing these facts, Guy never baits his traps. In 

 setting them he has two considerations to keep in mind— first, 

 placing the trap where a man will not set his foot in it, and, 

 second, where a Bear will. 



"On the Twin Pond runway he found a spot where a 

 small spruce tree had grown up directly in the Bear's path. 

 A man would step to one side to pass this if he happened to 

 be following the Bear's route, but the Bears themselves, on 

 account of their conservatism, preferred to go under the low 

 reaching boughs." 



To this I can add my own corroborative experience in 

 the Rocky Mountains. Where the Bears abound, the whole 

 country is laid out in trails that are the outcome of necessity 

 in a rough country, and knowledge of the best sources of sup- 

 plies. They differ from human trails only in that the Bear 

 makes no eff^ort to improve the road; it merely selects the best 

 available. In this particular many rodents are in advance of 

 their betters. 



In some regions where I have camped — the Bitterroots, 

 for example — where the forests on the bottom lands are par- 



° Recreation Magazine, April, 1900, p. 305. 

 '" Maine Sportsman, October, 1900, p. 12. 

 " Forest and Stream, January 7, 1899, p. 3. 



