88 Hunting the Grisly 



at any speed. In consequence, if it once came 

 to close quarters with its quarry, Woody could 

 always get near enough for a shot 



Hitherto, however, the mountain hunters 

 as distinguished from the trappers who have 

 followed the grisly have relied almost solely 

 on their rifles. In my own case about half 

 the bears I have killed I stumbled across al- 

 most by accident; and probably this propor- 

 tion holds good generally. The hunter may 

 be after bear at the time, or he may be after 

 black-tail deer or elk, the common game in 

 most of the haunts of the grisly; or he may 

 merely be traveling through the country or 

 prospecting for gold. Suddenly he comes over 

 the edge of a cut bank, or round the sharp 

 spur of a mountain or the shoulder of a cliff 

 which walls in a ravine, or else the indistinct 

 game trail he has been following through the 

 great trees twists sharply to one side to avoid 

 a rock or a mass of down timber, and behold he 

 surprises old Ephraim digging for roots, or 

 munching berries, or slouching along the path, 

 or perhaps rising suddenly from the lush, rank 

 plants amid which he has been lying. Or it 

 may be that the bear will be spied afar root- 

 ing in an open glade or on a bare hill-side. 



In the still-hunt proper it is necessary to 



