TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 83 



savage fight when wounded. They ransack the country, 

 eating all kinds of berries, bugs and worms. They are 

 wonderfully clever in finding game that has been killed and 

 left by hunters ; I have known them to scent a dead elk sev- 

 eral miles off. A wounded animal stands no chance of re- 

 covery near one of these bears, for it is hunted down and 

 devoured. 



That bears are slow on foot and very awkward is an 

 idea prevalent among people who have never seen nor hunt- 

 ed them. They imagine that a good spry fellow can dodge 

 them very successfully. Let me give a word of advice to 

 those who are thinking of visiting the Rockies to play with 

 the grizzly for the first time. The mouse does not play with 

 the cat, but vice versa ; a man in the power of a bear has lit- 

 tle or no chance of escape; the bear is as quick as a cat in 

 proportion to his size; what more can be said of the man 

 and the mouse ? To hunt bears one needs a 45-60 Winches- 

 ter, or something as good, if it can be found, and a sharp 

 bowieknife. Armed thus, a man may tackle the grizzly 

 with safety, providing he knows how and when to use his 

 weapon. 



After the hunter has sighted his game, he approaches 

 it as closely as possible, keeping on the leeward side. He 

 takes his stand near a tree, or where he will have some 

 means of escape should his first shot fail to do its work. 

 When all is ready,, if he is unobserved, he draws a bead on 

 some small object to see how it is with his nerves ; if all is 

 right, he takes a good breath, gets his rifle in position and 

 gives a shrill whistle. When the grizzly deigns to raise him- 

 self gracefully upon his haunches to take a look at the hun- 

 ter, a bead is drawn just between the eye and ear ; or, if he 

 be facing the hunter squarely, a ball is given him in the 

 center of the throat. If the shot is well directed, one is apt 



