Camping and Hunting in the Shoshone 



been. The truth must be toid : The first 

 real grizzly we did see (we once shot a 

 mule in mistake for one) was in a trap. 

 In the Eastern woods bears are commonly 

 trapped by baiting a pen, built of logs, 

 with fish or offal, and setting before it a 

 twenty-five pound spring-trap. I need not 

 now speak of traps built of logs only, 

 where a dead-fall is used ; none of these 

 are sufficiently strong to hold or to kill a 

 moderate-sized grizzly. To these traps, 

 as they are set in the East, a short chain 

 is attached, and this ends in a ring ; through 

 the ring a strong stake is driven securely 

 into the ground, and by this means the 

 captive is held until his hour arrives. Out 

 West the same trap is used ; but instead of 

 pinning it to the ground, a long chain is 

 attached, and the end of this chain is made 

 fast around a log, with a "cold-shut" or 

 split-ring, such as you put your pocket- 

 keys on, and which can be fastened by 

 hammering. As soon as the bear springs 

 the trap, with either fore or hind feet, 

 and so is fast, he begins to make things 

 lively all around, slashing at the trees, bit- 

 ing at the trap, and dragging the log. 

 This, of course, is an awkward customer 

 to pull along, especially if it is made of 

 part of a young, tough pine-tree, with the 



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