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. a 
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. Takea little sheet of macintosh with you to secure youa 
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 
__allday, 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 
