Trail and Camp-Fire 



one shot should be warranted to be effective. 

 This, however, was before smokeless powder, 

 with its resultant high velocity, had come into 

 sporting use, and I had to depend upon black 

 powder. The following winter the Winchester 

 Company made me up a gun which, I think, 

 will fulfill the conditions above given. It is 

 a single shot .577-caliber rifle, shooting 167 

 grains of powder, and a 6c)0-grain bullet, with 

 a small hollow in the point Even after the 

 point breaks off and scatters there is over 

 400 grains of solid butt left — more than suffi- 

 cient to break any bone. 



I have only shot it at one animal as yet. 

 This was a rather small bear, of the kind 

 known as the cinnamon in many parts of the 

 Northwest, but short-clawed, and really a 

 variety of black. He was standing on all four 

 legs, facing me, some fifty yards away, with 

 his head down at the bait. At the shot he 

 fell forward, and never moved. The bullet 

 entered the heavy muscles of the neck, and 

 passed backward and downward through the 

 thorax. After entering, its front end broke 

 up, and left a track through which I could 

 pass my unclenched hand. Fox, who was 



there, looked at the hole, and said solemnly : 



260 



