278 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



attack, when the bear rushed up out of the slide. She was 

 then running diagonally away from them, and they could 

 catch only occasional glimpses of her. There was no such 

 thing as a fair shot, and a proper lead. In the difficult 

 snap-shot firing which followed, she simply ran away 

 from the bullets. 



Inasmuch as both the boys are excellent shots, 

 particularly when big game is afoot, I became deeply 

 interested in finding out how that bear got so many shots 

 in her feet, from below. It is quite true that when a bear 

 is galloping away from a hunter, the soles of the hind feet 

 are thrown so far up in the air that a bullet fired from 

 behind, and from a lower level, might strike them. But 

 it seems that Norboe last saw the bear alive, and 

 fired the eight shots which finished her as she lay on 

 her back, in a tangle of brush, at the edge of the creek. 

 He said, 



" Well, she laid thar on her back, and waved her hind 

 feet at me till she looked like a spinnin' wheel covered 

 with b'ar feet; and I shore shot at all I saw! " 



It is my opinion that the majority of those feet were 

 shot by Norboe, in the last assault, when there was 

 nothing else in sight at which to fire. Altogether, it was 

 one of the most remarkable results in shooting that I ever 

 examined. 



The pelage of this bear was very fine and beautiful, 

 being long, abundant, and of rich colors. Judging from 

 the skin, Charlie Smith and I guessed the weight of the 

 bear at between four hundred and four hundred and fifty 

 pounds, but she scaled only three hundred and twenty 



