Bear Hunting on the Alaska Peninsula 



bullet through the lungs with my heavy rifle, and 

 In a few moments he rolled over dead. 



It was my thought always to keep a wounded 

 bear from getting into the brush, as the blood trail 

 would have ruined future shooting. 



I think It important to point out that when my 

 bullet struck this bear he bit for the wound. As he 

 did so he was turned from his original direction, 

 which would have carried him In one bound out 

 of sight among the trees, and instead turned and 

 galloped across our front, thereby giving me an 

 opportunity to fire two more shots. It frequently 

 happened that bears were turned from their 

 original direction to the sides upon which they re- 

 ceived the first bullet, and we always gave this 

 matter careful consideration when making an 

 approach. 



My Aleuts were not permitted to shoot unless 

 we were following up a wounded bear In the thick 

 brush; but I found it most difficult to keep them 

 to this rule. The large hole of the bullet from 

 my .50-caliber which Nikolai carried made it easy 

 to distinguish his hits, and if a bear had received 

 the mortal wound from his rifle, I should not have 

 kept the skin. 



The. pelt of this bear which we had just killed 

 was in excellent condition, and although he was 



14s 



