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 



