199 TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



carried it into the mountains and killed it. 



On the 1st of August, the report reached 

 camp that the bears were having a picnic 

 on the Mutaw ranch and were killing hogs 

 by the score. John F. Cuddy's sons, the 

 best vaqueros and bronco-riders in this 

 part of the country, offered to go over to 

 the Mutaw with the correspondent and 

 lasso a bear if one could be found on open 

 ground; accordingly, the party saddled up 

 and took the trail up the Piru, arriving 

 at the Mutaw meadows late in the night, 

 after a rough ride of twenty miles. 



In the morning Mr. Taylor, one of the 

 owners of the ranch, was found skinning 

 a grizzly that had eaten strychnine in pork 

 during the night. Mr. Taylor had put poi 

 son out all over the ranch and the prospect 

 of catching a live bear seemed dubious, but 

 all the poisoned meat that could be found 

 was buried at once, and Bowers and the 

 correspondent began building a trap to 

 catch a bear that had been making twelve- 

 inch tracks around the cabins. The Cuddy 



