210 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



carcass and the thief. The Elk must have weighed well 

 on to a thousand pounds, and such a feat of strength seems 

 almost impossible. 



As you lean over the carcass of a large Grizzly, you realize 

 the utter nonsense of attacking such an animal with a 

 knife. Even as he lies dead, you may pick out your own 

 place in his huge muscular chest — he on the ground, you 

 above him— it will take the blow of a strong man to drive 

 your knife up to the haft in the skin and muscle; and when 

 you have done so, the chances are ten to one you don' t go 

 near striking a vital place. The muscles of the arms and 

 chest are simply tremendous. I have seen a Bear, when 

 wounded, knock quite a large piece out of the side of a 

 pine-tree with a blow of his paw. 



As to knives, few men go properly provided. Though 

 'experience ought to have taught them otherwise, I find that 

 professional hunters are often just as badly provided as 

 the tenderfeet they conduct. It is difficult to get a really 

 good piece of steel. After trying a great variety of 

 makes in England and the United States, I got a num- 

 ber of knives from Mr. Price, of San Francisco. I have 

 used these knives now on four different trips, and they 

 have given me satisfaction; but, though I gave careful 

 orders as to their making, Mr. Price made the same mis- 

 take that nearly all cutlers do, and forged them far too 

 thick. The blades are just six inches long, one curved and 

 one almost straight, with solid handles, and leather thongs 

 attached, to tie them to the belt. Knives sold as hunting- 

 knives in our large cities are worse than useless. The best 

 way that I know of to provide one's self with a knife is 

 to buy a dozen or so of the ordinary skinning-knives, 

 to be procured in any Western mining-camp or cattle- 

 town. They cost about fifty or seventy-five cents apiece, 

 and in the dozen you may perhaps find two good blades. 

 A good stone for whetting them should also be carried, for 

 if you have any real work to do, it is necessary, again and 

 again, to sharpen the blades while skinning. 



