156 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



wanted to give black bears the courage to attack and kill 

 cattle 



The white shoe on the breast is commonly, in some 

 sections of the country, the spot which the trapper waits 

 to be exposed, to shoot at. A ball entering there, and 

 going either upwards or horizontally, always proves fatal. 

 However, behind the shoulder, very low down, is the 

 favourite aim with me. In these cross shots, if obtainable, 

 you always have more to shoot at, and the regions of the 

 heart are reached nearer the surface. The butt of the ear,, 

 a little backwards, if close enough to make certain, is 

 another deadly point; but the size of this delicate and 

 mortal place is small, and should never be chosen beyond 

 thirty yards. The head-shot can, with conical bullets, 

 easily be performed; but a spherical bullet, especially 

 from a small-bore rifle, from the wedge-shape of the 

 cranium, is very apt to glance off without injuring more 

 than the skin. 



In hunting bears with dogs, the commonest cur that has 

 pluck enough to snap at his heels is the best animal for 

 the purpose. The bear getts worried, then cross, and 

 ultimately ascends the first tree that his judgment tells him 

 is suitable, resting most frequently on the soonest reached 

 branch, unless the hunter be seen or heard ; if so, then 

 the highest foot of timber sufficiently strong to support 

 him will be selected. On such occasions he has been 

 known to ascend too high lor the strength of the limb, 

 when, the bough breaking, both have come tumbling 

 to the earth. Although such a rapid and lofty descent 

 would certainly destroy a man. Bruin will arise unin- 



