ON BIG GAME SHOOTING GENERALLY 23 



you are watching by a carcase or by a salmon pool, be satisfied 

 with a distant inspection of the bait, i.e. don't go and walk 

 about all round it, &c. 



Bears are especially shy of returning to a carcase when they 

 know that men are about, one grizzly that I know of in British 

 Columbia having defeated a very well-known Indian sportsman 

 by making a circuit round the carcase before coming in to feed. 

 If in that circuit he caught no taint of human kind upon the night 



air, he used to come in and sup ; but if he found that I y 



was on guard, he used to go quietly home to a canyon down 

 below, and wait for a more favourable opportunity. The tracks 

 in the morning told the whole story, of .course, as plainly as 

 if the unfortunate sportsman had been a witness of the per- 

 formance. 



The principal difficulties in this kind of shooting are to 

 keep sufficiently quiet to induce your bear to come, and to see 

 your sights sufficiently to kill him, even at short ranges, when 

 he has come. 



Go to the spot as lightly clad as possible, carrying any spare 

 things you can on your arm ; don't hurry or overheat yourself 

 on the way to your ambush, and put on a spare flannel shirt or 

 coat, or whatever it is you are carrying, before you begin to feel 

 chilled. Take a little sheet of macintosh with you to secure you a 

 dry seat, and if you have no fancy night sights on your rifle, you 

 can make a rough but serviceable one by twisting white string 

 or cotton with a large knot in it round the muzzle of your rifle, 

 while the thumb and finger of your left hand, as they embrace 

 your rifle barrels, may be held a little apart to make a very 

 coarse backsight. This is only a more or less clumsy Indian 

 device, but it is considerably better than nothing if you get 

 caught in the dark with no better appliances. After all, a sport 

 which keeps you up all night, and in camp without any exercise 

 all day, and which depends for success so entirely upon the good 

 will of the bear, is not one to hanker after. 



By the way, when you have shot your bear (if you should 

 shoot him), and when you have taken his hide off, be careful 



