Big Game Shooting 253 



A bear-hunter I used to know well told me a 

 story that sounds apocryphal, but which I firmly 

 believe. He employed an Indian, who always ac- 

 companied him. One fine morning the pair sighted 

 a large wapiti, which they shot and wounded. The 

 Indian took the trail ; but the hunter, knowing the 

 habits of wounded deer, took a short cut across 

 some hills, hoping to get another shot at the wapiti 

 as it crossed a certain divide. He reached the 

 divide and climbed a tree. Presently the wapiti 

 came slowly up the steep slope ; the Indian followed, 

 knife in hand; and then, behind the Indian, not 

 forty yards intervening, waddled a huge bear. So 

 intent was the Indian upon his quarry that he was 

 unaware that he, in his turn, was being tracked, till 

 a bullet from the trapper's rifle whistled past his 

 head and laid the bear low. 



It is certainly imprudent to tackle grizzly, silver- 

 tip, or cinnamon bears on foot and alone, particu- 

 lary in the brush thickets to which they nearly 

 invariably retreat. Many a seasoned trapper has 

 been killed or horribly mangled because he had 

 the temerity to follow a wounded bear into the 

 chaparral. Two men, side by side, can stop any 

 bear; but beware the braggart who undertakes to 

 show you bear and to help you kill them. I saw 

 one of these fellows take to his heels at a critical 

 moment, and he had previously boasted of slaying 

 three grizzlies, single-handed, in one morning ! Upon 

 strength of this statement we engaged him as guide 

 and protector. He never knew that we came within 

 an ace of shooting him as he scuttled away. 



It would be as well to particularly mention at 



