Hunting the Grisly 107 



hunted for his pelt, and hunted for the bounty, 

 and hunted as a dangerous enemy to stock, 

 until, save in the very wildest districts, he 

 has learned to be more wary than a deer, and 

 to avoid man's presence almost as carefully 

 as the most timid kind of game. Except in 

 rare cases he will not attack of his own ac- 

 cord, and, as a rule, even when wounded, his 

 object is escape rather than battle. 



Still, when fairly brought to bay, or when 

 moved by a sudden fit of ungovernable anger, 

 the grisly is beyond peradventure a very dan- 

 gerous antagonist. The first shot, if taken 

 at a bear a good distance off and previously 

 unwounded and unharried, is not usually 

 fraught with much danger, the startled ani- 

 mal being at the outset bent merely on flight. 

 It is always hazardous, however, to track a 

 wounded and worried grisly into thick cover, 

 and the man who habitually follows and kills 

 this chief of American game in dense timber, 

 never abandoning the bloody trail whitherso- 

 ever it leads, must show no small degree of 

 skill and hardihood, and must not too closely 

 count the risk to life and limb. Bears differ 

 widely in temper, and occasionally one may 

 be found who will not show fight, no matter 

 how much he is bullied; but, as a rule, a 



