268 THE BEAR FAMILY 



of the utmost importance in bear-shooting to see well 

 for the second and other shots. 



A rifle made to fit, or " come up " well, as shooters 

 say, and which balances nicely, is far better than one 

 a little long or short in the stock or too straight or too 

 crooked. It is well to practise much at moving marks, 

 such as a wooden disk or wheel, shooting rapidly at it 

 as it is bowled along over the ground. A field-shot can- 

 not use his gun or rifle too often at moving objects. 

 The first quick sight is the best. The danger is of 

 over- rather than under-shooting. 



Mr. Van Dyke made a solid wheel two feet in diam- 

 eter, arranged in a frame on a hill-side, so that he could 

 start it with a string, and practised some two years on 

 this, and so improved his shooting at running game. 

 He says, however, that all the fine shots of his acquaint- 

 ance agree, when pinned down to it, that there is 

 always more luck than skill in shooting at moving 

 game at any considerable distance. He says the shot 

 which he considers his best was at a jack-rabbit, in- 

 spired by a greyhound, crossing over two hundred 

 yards ahead and gaining on the dog at every jump. 

 He raised the peep-sight for forty yards, aimed nearly 

 thirty feet ahead, and hit him square in the middle. 



The grizzly bear does not climb, and many a hunter 

 has saved his life by going up a tree before an enraged 

 bear reached him. 



In " Astoria," Irving tells us of a trooper who, while 

 making his way among the thickets, with his traps on 

 his shoulder and his rifle in his hand, heard a crushing 

 sound, and turning, beheld a huge grizzly bear ad- 

 vancing upon him with a terrific growl. " The sturdy 



