THE PASSING OF THE FUR BEARER. 261 



But this sympathetic M. D. makes no mention of the bear 

 that is wounded by a gunshot, escapes and lies for weeks, and 

 then dies or recovers as the case may be. The wounding of a bear 

 from a gunshot is far more liable to occur than it is to take a 

 bear's foot by being caught in a trap. 



This sympathetic doctor makes no mention of the farmer who 

 has a number of sheep killed by bears, which is almost an every 

 day occurrence during the summer season in any section where 

 bear frequent. 



Now, Brother Trappers, it is not the great sympathy that 

 these gentlemen club men have for the bear. No, not in the least. 

 What these gentlemen want is to drive the lowly bear trapper out 

 of business, so that those very sympathetic gentlemen may more 

 easily kill a bear without losing too much of their precious sweat, 

 and not be compelled to get too far from camp and the cham- 

 pagne bottle. 



Now, Brother Bear Trappers, my object in writing these few 

 lines is to ask you and each of you to write your respective represen- 

 tative at once, advising him that you are opposed to any law to 

 abolish the trapping of the bear. 



I believe that I was the first to advocate some remedy against 

 the wasteful slaughter of the fur bearing animals through the 

 medium of our favorite magazine, the Hunter-Trader-Trapper. I 

 urged that the remedy was with the large raw fur dealers by 

 refusing to accept skins that were not in a reasonably prime con- 

 dition. Since my writing, other more capable writers have taken 

 up the matter and have advocated a remedy from the same stand- 

 point. 



Now by close observation I have become satisfied that there 

 is no use of looking further in that direction for a remedy of 

 this wasteful slaughter of the fur bearing animals. The city fur 

 dealers receive the goods which consist of all manner of skins and 

 all grades from good to poor and worthless. In most cases the 

 dealer received the goods from local dealers who have gathered 

 the furs up from among the trappers, paying such prices as he 

 thought would leave a fair profit on the whole bunch. In most 



