AN ENCOUNTER WITH A GRIZZLY 433 



escape. There seemed one sure way to prevent 

 that — to smash his shoulder so he couldn't travel, 

 I could attend to the killing later. My rifle was 

 of .40 caliber and its 260 grain bullet was 

 driven by 82 grains of powder and there were 

 reserves in the magazine. 



There wasn't a doubt left in my mind and the 

 bullet struck the grizzly within a hair's breadth of 

 the point I had selected. With his shoulder 

 broken the crippled monster turned away from 

 me as he sought to escape. A second bullet tore 

 through his body and then he turned and rising 

 upon his hind legs threw himself toward me. As 

 he sprang I fired again and the third bullet en- 

 tered his chest and penetrated his heart. The 

 great grizzly lay dead before me and I could hear 

 the beating of my heart ! 



Removing the skin and skull was a big job and 

 levers had to be cut to roll the body over for skin- 

 ning. It was night when the work was done and 

 after that an hour was wasted in persuading my 

 bronco to allow my trophy to lie across his body. 

 This had to be done for nothing must be omitted 



