Many a hunter, a few feet off the trail, has had the 

 alarmed bear rush by without noticing him, while 

 others, who were directly on the trail, have been 

 run over or assailed by the bear. 



When in a trap or cornered, a wounded grizzly 

 sometimes feigns death. Apparently, when he con- 

 siders his situation desperate, he sees in this method 

 the possibility of throwing his assailant off his 

 guard. A trapper once invited me to go the rounds 

 with him along his string of traps. In one of these 

 was a young grizzly. At short range the hunter fired 

 two shots and the bear fell in a heap. 



We advanced within a few feet and saw that the 

 bear was bleeding freely, but halted "to be sure he 

 was dead." "I make it a point," said the hunter, " to 

 wait until a bear dies before I start skinning him. 

 Once I made the mistake of putting down my rifle 

 and starting to skin the bear before he was dead." 



We stepped forward, and the hunter prodded 

 the bear with the end of the rifle-barrel. Like a 

 jumping-jack the bear sprang at the hunter, 

 knocked him over backwards, tore a hole through 

 his clothing, and ripped a bad wound in his skin on 

 the thigh. Fortunately the chain and clog on the 

 trap held the bear from following up his assault. 

 162 



