73 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



ing at the trap and the bar ; but it leaves a 

 broad wake and sooner or later is found tan- 

 gled up by the chain and bar. A bear is by 

 no means so difficult to trap as a wolf or fox 

 although more so than a cougar or a lynx. 

 In wild regions a skilful trapper can often 

 catch a great many with comparative ease. A 

 cunning old grisly however, soon learns the 

 danger, and is then almost impossible to trap, 

 as it either avoids the neighborhood alto- 

 gether or finds out some way by which to get 

 at the bait without springing the trap, or else 

 deliberately springs it first. I have been told 

 of bears which spring traps by rolling across 

 them, the iron jaws slipping harmlessly off 

 the big round body. An old horse is the 

 most common bait. 



It is, of course, all right to trap bears when 

 they are followed merely as vermin or for the 

 sake of the fur. Occasionally, however, 

 hunters who are out merely for sport adopt 

 this method ; but this should never be done. 

 To shoot a trapped bear for sport is a 

 thoroughly unsportsmanlike proceeding. A 

 funny plea sometimes advanced in its favor is 

 that it is "dangerous." No doubt in ex- 

 ceptional instances this is true ; exactly as it 

 is true that in exceptional instances it is " dan- 

 gerous " for a butcher to knock over a steer 

 in the slaughter-house. A bear caught only by 

 the toes may wrench itself free as the hunter 

 comes near, and attack him with pain- 

 maddened fury ; or if followed at once, and if 

 the trap and bar are light, it may be found in 



