76 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



in Georgia and over the border in what are 

 now Alabama and Florida. These big dogs 

 can only overcome such foes by rushing in in 

 a body and grappling all together ; if they hang 

 back, lunging and snapping, a cougar or bear 

 will destroy them one by one. With a quarry 

 so huge and redoubtable as the grisly, no num- 

 ber of dogs, however large and fierce, could 

 overcome him unless they all rushed on him in a 

 mass, the first in the charge seizing by the head 

 or throat. If the dogs hung back, or if there 

 were only a few of them, or if they did not 

 seize around the head, they would be des- 

 troyed without an effort. It is murder to slip 

 merely one or two close-quarter dogs at a grisly. 

 Twice I have known a man take a large bull- 

 dog with his pack when after one of these big 

 bears, and in each case the result was the 

 same. In one instance the bear was trotting 

 when the bulldog seized it by the cheek, and 

 without so much as altering its gait, it brushed 

 off the hanging dog with a blow from the fore- 

 paw that broke the latter's back. In the other 

 instance the bear had come to bay, and when 

 seized by the ear it got the dog*s body up to 

 its jaws, and tore out the life with one crunch. 

 A small number of dogs must rely on 

 their activity, and must hamper the bear's 

 escape by inflicting a severe bite and avoid- 

 ing the counter-stroke. The only dog I ever 

 heard of which, single-handed, was really of 

 service in stopping a grisly, was a big Mexican 

 sheep-dog, once owned by the hunter Tazewell 

 Woody. It was an agile beast with powerful 



