Camping and Hunting in the Shoshone 



branches left on. It leaves a trail that is 

 easily followed. Sometimes the bear will 

 take in the situation very soon, and set 

 himself to demolish, not the trap, but the 

 thing that makes the trap unendurable. I 

 have myself seen a pine-tree some fourteen 

 feet long and eight or nine inches in diam- 

 eter, perfectly tough and green, so chewed 

 up that there was not a piece of it left 

 whole that would weigh five pounds. In 

 this case we were able to trail the bear by 

 the trap-chain, and killed him farther on. 

 The best way to fix a trap is the simplest : 

 Scoop a hollow by the carcass of a dead 

 elk, and, drawing up a pine, fix the end 

 of it firmly to the trap. The branches of 

 the tree half cover the dead game, and can 

 be easily so arranged that, naturally, the 

 bear will have, for his convenience, to ap- 

 proach on the side where the trap is set. 

 Some old grizzlies, however, are extraor- 

 dinarily cunning ; and though they cannot 

 have had any extensive experience of traps, 

 — for none have been taken into the West 

 till the last five years or so, — seem to di- 

 vine just where those dangerous hidden 

 jaws lie, beneath the innocent brown pine- 

 needles and bunch-grass. They will spring 

 it again and again, and then feast to their 

 hearts' content. One great fellow did this 



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