78 The Grizzly Bear 



will take his time and go along leisurely and without mak- 

 ing too much noise, he will, if the bear has not too great a 

 start of him, be reasonably likely to obtain a shot. But he 

 will find that cunning has to be matched with cunning, 

 and that unless he keeps his wits on watch and remembers 

 that he is not tracking some stupid beast that takes no 

 thought of who or what may be behind, the bear will 

 quietly make a detour, sniff the wind that reveals the 

 presence of the huntsman, and then, abandoning less 

 pressing interests for the time being, turn his attention to 

 preserving his own hide from capture, and either hur- 

 riedly cross the divide or take to the thickest jungles, to 

 lie low until the coast is clear. 



Once the hunter is discovered it is usually just as well 

 to look for another bear. I have always found a chase 

 under such conditions to be a long and useless one, and 

 not likely to result in the death of a bear once in a hun- 

 dred times. Twice only have I bagged my bear under 

 such circumstances; and then it was in a country where 

 I was able to cut across and head him off as he passed 

 along the side of a mountain. 



The hunter's first concern, of course, is to determine 

 as closely as possible how long it has been since the bear 

 passed by. Then, unless the wind is in the right direction 

 for direct trailing, wide detours must be made to the 

 right or left, striking the trail far ahead. If the bear is 

 still going in the same direction, another detour must be 

 made, and this must be kept up (sometimes for several 

 days) until the bear is either sighted or has taken a course 

 that the trailer can follow without fear of the wind's car- 

 rying his scent to the game. This method of roundabout 



