Grizzly Bears 
board and enough stores to last us a fortnight. 
Unfortunately, we found on our arrival that two 
or three lots of prospectors had been out in this 
direction shortly before, looking for gold, a 
circumstance warranted to disturb the country 
from a sporting point of view. 
The first day we pitched our tent at the 
mouth of Gleeson River. Here signs of grizzly 
bear were plentiful, one of the tracks which 
was quite fresh being enormous; it was in all 
probability the imprint of the foot of a big 
she-bear, for all round was the spoor of a 
smaller bear, a last year’s cub. Bears must 
have been extremely numerous here shortly 
before my visit—it was Hunter’s favourite place. 
The previous spring he had come over here and 
in a week shot seven big grizzlies, the recital of 
which fired me with envy. Bears come out of 
their dens in the early spring; at this time their 
coats are quite good, but a very little warm 
weather makes them shed their hair fast, so 
that the sooner you can get one after their first 
appearance the more likely are you to get a 
decent specimen. They come out on to the river 
flats in early spring to feed on the young grass, 
and it is then that you stand a good chance of 
obtaining a shot at one. The salmon too are 
running up the rivers, which is another attraction 
for Bruin. 
On the morning after our arrival I was stand- 
Q 225 
