Hunting the Grisly 127 



near indeed to the game, we never so much 

 as heard it run. 



When bears are shot, as they usually must 

 be, in open timber or on the bare mountain, 

 the risk is very much less. Hundreds may 

 thus be killed with comparatively little dan- 

 ger; yet even under these circumstances they 

 will often charge, and sometimes make their 

 charge good. The spice of danger, especially 

 to a man armed with a good repeating rifle, 

 is only enough to add zest to the chase, and 

 the chief triumph is in outwitting the wary 

 quarry and getting within range. Ordinarily 

 the only excitement is in the stalk, the bear 

 doing nothing more than keep a keen lookout 

 and manifest the utmost anxiety to get away. 

 As is but natural, accidents occasionally oc- 

 cur; yet they are usually due more to some 

 failure in man or weapon than to the prowess 

 of the bear. A good hunter whom I once 

 knew, at a time when he was living in Butte, 

 received fatal injuries from a bear he attacked 

 in open woodland. The beast charged after 

 the first shot, but slackened its pace on com- 

 ing almost up to the man. The latter's gun 

 jammed, and as he was endeavoring to work 

 it he kept stepping slowly back, facing the 

 bear which followed a few yards distant, 



