Old Epkraim, the Grisly Bear. 289 



It is, of course, all right to trap bears when they are 

 followed merely as vermin or for the sake of the fur. 

 Occasionally, however, hunters who are out merely for 

 sport adopt this method ; but this should never be done. 

 To shoot a trapped bear for sport is a thoroughly un- 

 sportsmanlike proceeding. A funny plea sometimes 

 advanced in its favor is that it is "dangerous." No 

 doubt in exceptional instances this is true ; exactly as it 

 is true that in exceptional instances it is " dangerous " 

 for a butcher to knock over a steer in the slaughter- 

 house. A bear caught only by the toes may wrench 

 itself free as the hunter comes near, and attack him with 

 pain-maddened fury ; or if followed at once, and if the 

 trap and bar are light, it may be found in some thicket, 

 still free, and in a frenzy of rage. But even in such 

 cases the beast has been crippled, and though crazy with 

 pain and anger is easily dealt with by a good shot ; while 

 ordinarily the poor brute is found in the last stages of 

 exhaustion, tied tight to a tree where the log or bar has 

 caught, its teeth broken to splintered stumps by rabid 

 snaps at the cruel trap and chain. Some trappers kill 

 the trapped grislies with a revolver ; so that it may 

 easily be seen that the sport is not normally danger- 

 ous. Two of my own cowboys, Seawell and Dow, were 

 originally from Maine, where they had trapped a number 

 of black bears ; and they always killed them either with 

 a hatchet or a small 32-calibre revolver. One of them, 

 Seawell, once came near being mauled by a trapped bear, 

 seemingly at the last gasp, which he approached in- 

 cautiously with his hatchet. 

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