354 THE TRAPPER. 



still deep, they are induced by mild weather to leave 

 their dens, and are then easily run down by the hunter if 

 he comes on their tracks. An old Indian told me that 

 they are sometimes savage on these occasions, and that 

 once he ran down a bear, and, his gun missing fire, the 

 chase continued, with the slight difference that Bruin 

 became the pursuer. Young bears are very playful and 

 gentle in confinement up to a certain age, but they are 

 apt to become treacherous as they grow older. I saw a 

 cub at Campbelton, on the Bestigouche, that had been 

 suckled by a squaw. 



The best time to shoot bears is in the month of 

 August, when they come out on the plains and barrens 

 for blueberries. I have seldom found a bear when 

 I have been looking for them, though I have seen 

 and shot several when salmon fishing and small game 

 shooting. On one occasion, when partridge shooting, I 

 heard my dogs making a tremendous fuss, and ran up, 

 expecting to find them engaged with a porcupine. They 

 were running round a huge bear, who did not seem much 

 put out, but now and then made an ugly wipe at the dogs 

 with his paw. As the dogs engaged his attention, he 

 allowed me to come up to within 8 or 10 yards, when 

 I rolled him over with a couple of charges of No. 6 shot. 

 In some parts of Canada a reward of $3 is given by the 

 Government for each bear killed; but this incentive is 

 not needed. There is a gun in every settler's house in 

 Canada, and a young fellow who is only too glad of 

 the chance of using it. Where sheep have been killed 

 by bears they invariably return to the carcases on the 



