154 



RECREATION, 



BIG GAME IN THE SIERRA 

 MADRES. 



CHAS. M. BARBER. 



With C, his partner S., his dog Julius 

 'Caesar, and an outfit of traps, jack, etc., I 

 dropped off the West edge of Horse mesa 

 into the valley of a branch of the Rio 

 de Alamos, Mexico, and made the first 

 camp. We trapped the canyons near the 

 higher country 3 weeks with moderate suc- 

 cess. C. and S, killed the only bear at 

 that camp, a female of good size. She trod 

 on the pan of one of C's home-made traps, 

 and after a few jumps broke the swivel. 

 Thus released she mad'' 2 or 3 miles into 

 rough country ; but th( re were good trail- 

 ers behind her and th ^ugh she held up 

 the trap, they followed ti e sign and shot 

 her. 



As bear sign was not abundant, I decid- 

 ed that the animals must be lower down. 

 Lions were abundant, however. We caught 

 6 at the first camp, and more were seen in 

 the open. A lion in a 17-pound trap is 

 tame sport. They are cowards at best, and 

 could be killed with a club. They snarl 

 and growl, but do not relish a fight, and 

 show no desire to attack man. The worst 

 scrapper among them was a young 

 spotted kitten about the size of a bobcat. 

 He was caught in a No. 3 trap, and was 

 held by 2 toes. Fearing he might 

 break loose, and not wishing to shoot him 

 full of holes, I tossed a small rope ovei his 

 head. I easily caught him ; but after that 

 I had to step high and lively until I had 

 him hanging from a limb. This lion was 

 of a new species recently described by 

 a Washington naturali<\, ;nd was a most 

 beautiful animal. 



A hasty trip about 10 miles down the 

 stream revealed fresh sign of bear, so we 

 moved camp and traps. I set 2 traps while 

 C. and S. toted the outfit. Nex' morning 

 I staid in camp to clean some skins, think- 

 ing, of course, that my traps set the day 

 before would have caught nothing. 



C. and S., with a pack of traps and bait, 

 left early to visit my traps, ar 1 set more. 

 The first trap was gone. They struck the 

 trail before they reached the place of the 

 setting, and following it about a mile, came 

 upon the biggest bear they had ever seen.. 

 C. shot him at about 100 yards, killing him 

 instantly. The boys did not care to go 

 nearer to see whether he would fight or 

 not. Later in the day, C. found the car- 

 cass of a 5-year old steer, which several 

 bears were feeding on. They had dragged 

 the steer about 100 feet. A trap was set, 

 and we visited it the next day. 



It was a long ride to the setting, and the 

 skinning of a few foxes and a bobcat de- 

 layed us ; but when we neared the spot we 

 found fresh bear tracks leading toward it. 

 A little nearer we saw where a bear had 

 left the country on a dead run. We de- 

 cided our game had been scared, and that 



the traps would be empty. Leaving our 

 horses on the hill we entered the little can- 

 yon, and found one trap gone and the 

 other sprung. The track was that of a 

 good sized bear, and as the country was 

 rough, we trailed afoot. Caesar, who is a 

 slow trailer, led out and we followed 

 closely. A mile and a half we trudged 

 after that bear. How she could drag a 17- 

 pound trap with a 75-pound pole, I do not 

 know ; but she seemed to do it easily 

 enough. The trail led to the foot of a 

 brushy mountain. I looked but could see 

 nothing in- the oak shrub, so kept the trail. 

 Ten feet farther I heard the bear breathe. 

 The dog had not seen nor winded her; but 

 he heard her and into the brush he went. 

 They came out together, and I shot her at 

 20 feet. That is closer than I care to get 

 again. The big brutes handle the trap and 

 themselves too well to suit me. This was 

 an old female. They are smaller than the 

 males, and will not run much over 500 

 pounds. 



The largest male silvertip caught had a 

 pad just 5 inches wide. A few days aft. r 

 the capture of the female above mentioned, 

 a monster bear made a visit to the steer, 

 and springing the traps, ate his fill and 

 departed.. Later he did it again, and then, 

 as he never cai-.e back, I presume he turned 

 in for a nap. The imprint of his pad meas- 

 ured 6 inch s wide ; I could not secure a 

 good measure of its length. He seemed 

 unusually heavy, pushing the dirt away 

 down; and his stride was so wide that he 

 stepped clear over a trap on one occasion. 



Later, Mr. K., hearing that we were 

 catching game, came and camped with us 

 a few days. The first day he rode the trap 

 line we had a lion and a good sized male 

 silvertip. K. shot the lion with his cam- 

 era and then with a rifle. As we approach- 

 ed the next trap we heard the roaring 

 sound made by a mad bear. Bruin had 

 gone only 50 yards, had wrapped the chain 

 around a stout oak and was fast. As we 

 rode up he made a lunge toward us, but 

 could not get loose. We dismounted and I 

 did the bodyguard act for K. while he, 

 with rifle under one arm and camera in the 

 other, walked up within 10 steps and pho- 

 tographed our game. 



The last bear I did not see. C. and S. 

 found him just as he broke loose from the 

 trap, and crippled him. He charged. C. 

 stuck a shell and S. tried to shoot an 

 empty gun ; then they both ran for tall 

 timber. The dog held up the bear, or he 

 would have got one or both of the men. 

 They finally killed him by shooting him 9 

 times. I would have given any 10 days of 

 life in town to see those scared Mormons 

 warming their cold feet. 



The bears trapped, 5 in all, were silver- 

 tips; 2 old females, 2 large males, and a 

 small male. Eight lions, 1 wolf, 4 cats, 12 

 foxes, 38 skunks, an owl, and deer and 

 turkeys made up the 6 weeks' bajj- 



