io6 The Grizzly Bear 



Creek country, a part of the Selkirk range in British Col- 

 umbia. 



We left Spokane about the middle of April, but upon 

 reaching the hunting grounds found that we were about 

 three weeks ahead of time, since in these northern hills 

 the bears do not come out of winter quarters so early, by 

 nearly a month, as in the more southern ranges where we 

 had hunted them for many years. Indeed, we found that 

 conditions in the Selkirks differed altogether from those of 

 the country in the south. The lay of the land was different. 

 The food of the bears was different. And the methods of 

 hunting, which depend largely upon these two features, 

 were necessarily different in proportion. The only factor 

 that remained comparatively constant was the nature of 

 "Old Ephraim" himself. 



In the Selkirks the mountains are very steep, and 

 their sides come down in the form of a sharp V to the bot- 

 toms of the canons that do duty for valleys between them. 

 In these rocky gorges run very rapid streams; and down 

 their steeply sloping sides in the spring, the snows rush in 

 great avalanches. These move with terrific force, sweep- 

 ing before them anything that offers resistance, and are apt 

 to follow the same tracks, year after year. And it is in 

 these tracks, locally known as *' slides," that, from neces- 

 sity, if not from choice, one hunts for bear. 



The grizzlies in this region very seldom get any animal 

 food, but live almost entirely on roots, bulbs, grass, and the 

 buds of the small maple bushes. In the early spring, when 

 the grizzlies first come out, the snow is piled up in aston- 

 ishing fashion at the bottom of these slides, and below, and 

 on either side of them, covers the country to a depth of 



