DEN BEARS. 263 



his den. It requires two persons for safety and 

 convenience of work. 



In hunting out a bear's den a knowledge of 

 what is a likely locality shortens the work very 

 much. There are dens found in freak and un- 

 looked for places, but as a general rule there 

 are certain conditions that go towards their se- 

 lection and one who knows these, narrows down 

 his area of hunting very considerably. 



The dens are, as a rule, on a high elevation 

 with a southern aspect. This selection is made, 

 no doubt, with the knowledge given by instinct 

 that it keeps clear longer in the autumn and 

 opens earlier with the melting snows of spring. 

 In my long experience I have found bears three 

 times in very unlikely places. One time, when 

 on a long trail with dispatches, two Indians and 

 myself jumped, one after the other, from the 

 trunk of a large fallen pine, with our snow 

 shoes, fair and square onto a very large bear 

 who had in the fall made his bed at the lea side 

 of this shelter and allowed the winter snows to 

 fall and bury him. 



It was only three weeks later when we were 

 returning by the same trail that the leading man 

 of the party, when getting to this spot and look- 

 ing for an easy place to clamber up onto the 

 giant trunk noticed a suspiciously frosted little 

 breathing hole in the snow. Word was passed 



