RECREATION 



my partner Ray's .45-. 90 repeater in 

 lightning succession. I stopped and lis- 

 tened, but all was still for the space of 

 ten seconds, when four more reports 

 rang- out as quickly as before. My pulse 

 beat fast when I heard the brittle pine 

 twigs cracking nearby. 



I was standing in a small opening 

 with my gun primed for a quick shot, 

 as I did not know what sort of game I 

 was to meet. I did not have long to 

 wait, for soon out of the thicket came 

 a black nose poised high in the air and 

 a pair of little black eyes set in a broad 

 massive head. It dawmed upon my 

 mind at once that I was not prepared 

 for this emergency, but I realized that 

 the best thing to do was to stand my 

 ground with the bear, even with my 

 .40-. 82 black-powder gun. I took a 

 line for his breast and pulled the trig- 

 ger. Mr. Bear was so surprised that 

 he turned tail and made back into the 

 open park. I did not know my part- 

 ner's position, but expected every sec- 

 ond to hear his Winchester assert it- 

 self. I stepped to the edge of the open- 

 ing in time to see him taking a bead 

 on Bruin as he plowed through the 

 swamp grass to the opposite timber. He 

 had never disappointed me before, and 

 this time I was sure we would have 

 bear steaks our next meal. This was 

 no dream, either, for in two* seconds I 

 saw the bear reel as he fired. I "came 

 to" about this time and sent two balls 

 after him. Ray was not asleep either, 

 and by the time the bear reached the 

 opposite side of the park I knew he car- 

 ried a goodly quantity of lead. He tried 

 to climb over a large fallen tree when 

 he entered the timber, but was too 

 weak and fell back. I knew he was 

 gone and made toward him. Ray was 

 there as soon as I. We expected to 

 have some more shooting to do, but 

 Bruin was all in ; he tried to respond to 

 our unwelcome presence, but to no 

 avail. 



In going back to camp for a horse 

 to bring in the game I stumbled over 

 a fine buck deer lying in the grass. He 

 was the result of the three shots I 



heard before the bear came upon the 

 scene. On the way to camp I killed 

 two more grouse. 



We considered this good work for an 

 hour, and on returning to camp brought 

 the burro to pack the game on, We 

 couldn't get the burro within twenty 

 yards of the bear, but) with much dif- 

 ficulty we managed to get the deer on 

 his back and reached camp in good 

 season for bed. The next morning we 

 pressed one of our saddle horses into 

 service and landed Bruin in camp. He 

 was a big cinnamon, weighing over 400 

 pounds. We had planted four bullets 

 in his frame, one ball from the .45-.90 

 literally tearing his heart to pieces. 



In a few days we sought new coun- 

 try, going fourteen miles northwest of 

 Grand Lake, up Bowen Gulch, near the 

 foot of Park View Mountain. Deer 

 signs were plentiful, but we had suffi- 

 cient meat, so we examined the geo- 

 logical formation of the adjacent moun- 

 tain range, thereby securing a number 

 of rare specimens of gold, silver and 

 copper ore. In our long prospecting 

 trips we carried our guns with us and 

 managed to bag a few fat grouse. I 

 wish to make a suggestion here to my 

 fellow-sportsmen relative to the cook- 

 ing of grouse. Skin the bird, instead 

 of picking it, dress well, place two or 

 three slices of bacon on the inside and 

 place in a Dutch oven with about a 

 quart of water and season well. Dig a 

 hole in the ground, partially fill the 

 same with good hot coals of fire ; place 

 the oven in the hole over the hot coals 

 and rake live embers around it. It is 

 better to replenish the water several 

 times, as it boils down, and just be- 

 fore the bird is cooked let the water 

 boil out. Let it fry in the grease of 

 the bacon fifteen or twenty minutes, 

 set out of the fire and eat cold for 

 breakfast. You might call it a plot 

 roast. If you have an onion, slice it 

 in. Our Dutch oven held three grouse, 

 which we always cooked in the even- 

 ings as we sat around the camp fire 

 smoking. During our stay of ten days 

 in Bowen Gulch we had excellent sport, 





