80 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



seem to be pampered pets. I have seen as many as eight 

 tied around a house in Oregon, and five near another house 

 in Washington Territory; and I knew a half-hunter and 

 half-stock-raiser in Wyoming to have seventeen cubs in 

 his stable at a time. He kept them for sale, however, and 

 those that he did not dispose of were killed for their hides 

 and flesh. He informed me that he could catch as many 

 cubs as he wanted in February and March, by killing the 

 dam, but that they were not worth the time and trouble 

 devoted to their capture. 



To kill a bear in the Atlantic States is considered quite a 

 feat ; to kill twenty of them is not considered much by any 

 experienced Nimrod west of the Rocky Mountains. The 

 reason for this discrepancy in the feelings of the chase is, 

 that while the animal is very scarce in one division of the 

 country, it is very abundant in the other. Even in por- 

 tions of the Southern States, where it is still common, a 

 bear -hunt is a gala event, and armed and mounted men 

 and numerous dogs take part in it, much the same as they 

 would in a wolf-drive in Russia or a boar-hunt in the Ar- 

 dennes. I have hunted it in the Far West, not because I 

 wished to do so specially, but because it came in my way 

 when in search of other game, and I thought it better than 

 nothing. I have on a few occasions formed one of a party 

 organized specially for a chase after it ; but I soon learned 

 that we could not find it sometimes when we most wanted 

 it, and that, when found, it offered little or no sport unless 

 it was shot when running, or while trying to fight its way 

 through a pack of dogs. 



To hunt it successfully, a person should be accompanied 

 by dogs trained specially to pursue it. These ought not 

 to be large, fierce creatures, that would attack it boldly 

 and fight until it resulted in the death of either; they 

 should, on the contrary, be lithe, active, and high-tempered, 

 and pugnacious enough to nip at it whenever they get the 

 opportunity, and discreet enough to avoid a blow or a hug. 

 Large, rough - coated terriers make capital bear - dogs, as 

 they have endurance, mettle, a keen nose, and sufficient 



