MY FIRST TRIP TO THE ROCKIES 175 



found that nothing had approached the carcass. On 

 the second morning the trap was found sprung, and 

 there also were the tracks of a large bear that had 

 supped freely off the dead elk. The third day we 

 again rode out, and as Jack, who was ahead, came 

 in sight of the trap we saw him throw up his arm 

 and give a view-halloo. There, seated calmly on the 

 ground, one great paw firmly fixed in the trap's 

 teeth, was a large old male grizzly waiting our arrival. 

 It seemed a kind of murder to put a rifle bullet 

 through his heart, but the deed was promptly done, 

 and so our first grizzly died. I have assisted to trap 

 many bears since, but this was the only one I can 

 remember that had not broken away with the trap, 

 and did not require to be hunted down. The log to 

 which the trap was attached had in this case wedged 

 firmly between two large rocks, and grizzly had ex- 

 pended his energies and broken his teeth in gnawing 

 vainly at his iron prison. 



After a country has been hunted for a year or two, 

 bears become extremely difficult to find, frequenting 

 thick fallen timber, and only coming out at night. 

 On several subsequent hunting expeditions one or two 

 large bear-traps formed part of our outfit. We used 

 to set them by a dead elk or deer, in the manner 

 already described, and then visit them periodically. 

 The signs of a successful catch were unmistakable. 

 The trap, as a rule, had disappeared along a trail 

 easily followed, and marked by uprooted trees, torn- 

 up ground, and sometimes the log to which the trap 

 had been attached, torn into chips and toothpicks by 

 the infuriated animal's teeth. A cautious advance 

 along the trail was very necessary, as a full-grown 

 grizzly in thick cover, with his temper completely 



