Old Ephraim, the Grisly Bear 89 



find some favorite feeding ground, where 

 there are many roots or berry-bearing bushes, 

 or else to lure the grisly to a carcass. This 

 last method of "baiting" for bear is under or- 

 dinary circumstances the only way which af- 

 fords even a moderately fair chance of killing 

 them. They are very cunning, with the sharp- 

 est of noses, and where they have had experi- 

 ence of hunters they dwell only in cover where 

 it is almost impossible for the best still-hunters 

 to approach them. 



Nevertheless, in favorable ground a man 

 can often find and kill them by fair stalking, 

 in berry time, or more especially in the early 

 spring, before the snow has gone from the 

 mountains, and while the bears are driven by 

 hunger to roam much abroad and sometimes 

 to seek their food in the open. In such cases 

 the still-hunter is stirring by the earliest dawn, 

 and walks with stealthy speed to some high 

 point of observation from which he can over- 

 look the feeding-grounds where he has previ- 

 ously discovered sign. From the coign of 

 vantage he scans the country far and near, 

 either with his own keen eyes or with power- 

 ful glasses; and he must combine patience and 

 good sight with the ability to traverse long 

 distances noiselessly and yet at speed. He may 



