Dec. 34, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



427 



finger on trigger, ready to rise into a sitting position and 

 deliver fire. Hark! the crackling of brush, almost behind me. 

 It is a moment of intense interest, for I don't know where 

 ho will appear. My attention is kept constantly to the rear 

 and left rear. No more noise. What has become of him? 

 It is getting very dark and may be it was a mistake. 

 Presently, there! right on me apparently, but really fifty 

 yards to the left rear, stands a black mass that must be the 

 bear. T rise cautiously to a sitting position, and as he stands, 

 looking wistfully up' toward the old horse, I pull away at 

 his side. The report is followed by a suppressed bawl, and 

 he rolls over. I am loaded in a moment and waiting to see 

 if he regains his feet. He does not, and it is unnecessary to 

 fire. 1 walk up to him with finger on trigger at a ready, 

 but the death rattle is in the throat, and another shot is un- 

 necessary. He turns out to be a 

 black bear with a very black coat 

 and pretty well furred. He is dress- 

 ed as quickly as possible, for it is 

 now dark and it is six miles to quar- 

 ters, over a trailless mountain. A 

 walk of half a mile to my horse 

 Pike, and then as rapid a ride home 

 as circumstances will admit, wind 

 up the evening's adventures. I am 

 well satisfied, but know I have not 

 yet gotten the right one, the "calf 

 killer." 



Rush skins and attends to the 

 hide the next morning, and I am 

 again on hand before sundown. 

 The old horse is fast disappearing, 

 and it is desirable to lose no time. 

 Position is taken this time a little 

 nearer the trail. In coming out from 

 the willow brush it passes for twen- 

 ty or thirty yards through a marsh 

 that is screened, to some extent, by 

 scattering willows on the near side, 

 and my position enables me to see, 

 through these willows 

 a portion of the trail 

 over which the bear 

 will probably come. 

 A storm had, late in 

 the evening, passed 

 around the mountain, 

 and a strong and fa- 

 vorable wind was 

 blowing. Lying down 

 prone among the sage- 

 brush, in a position 

 favorable for observa- 

 tion, with everything 

 at a ready, I wait 

 patiently. Sundown 

 comes; the mountain 

 to the west casts its 

 shadows around. It 

 becomes quite duskj^; 

 so much so that I ex- 

 periment as to wheth- 

 er the foresight can 

 be seen, otherwise a 

 wad of white paper 

 must be tied over the 

 front sight. It is yet 

 unnecessary. It is 

 now the witching 

 time when this bear 

 likes to prowl around. 

 The senses are all on 

 the strain as they are 

 directed to the left 

 rear. Just then a dark moving mass 

 flits by between the willows on the 

 trail and soon emerges in full view, 

 but again to disappear in a slight 

 depression passed by the trail. 

 Heavens! what a monster he seems 

 in the dim twilight. As soon as he 

 disappears I move rapidly and noise- 

 lessly forward to within about fifty 

 yards of the trail he has to pass, 

 drop on the right knee aiad am ready. He 

 does not come to time, however, and has 

 evidently stopped to listen; doubtless re- 

 membering the first evening's experience 

 and being in hearing of last evening's racket. 

 Has he taken the alarm and gone back? 

 When on the point of going to the left, peer- 

 ing over and taking a chance shot on the 

 run, his back appears over the sage brush 

 and he is moving confidently forward, hav- 

 ing satisfied himself there is no danger. At the 

 first favorable opportunity, as he passes through 

 the sage brush, I deliver fire into his side, a little 

 too high, and he rolls over, but with such a bawl 

 as to indicate he is dangerous, did he know from 

 what direction came the shot. He is soon on his 

 feet going back on his trail, toward the swamp 

 Loading quickly, I run forward to intercept him, 

 and find him, after stumbling along 40 or 50 yards, 

 in a sitting position near the edge of the marsh, evi- 

 dently near done for, with his back toward me. 

 A moment's interval was sufficient to place a ball 

 in the back of his head, he rolls over and is soon 

 dead. A hasty exammation showed him a large 

 bear and the handsomest and most symmetrically 

 formed 1 had ever killed. He was in just the 

 proper flesh for activity and business, though not 

 quite as large as the big bear kUled on the Big 

 Eear Fork of Four Bear Creek heretofore described. 



Before proceeding to disembowel him, I did 

 what had always been done under like circum- 

 stances, that is to place the loaded rifle convenient 

 for instant use. Something whispered this cau- 

 tion, especially at this time, as it was a time when 

 another bear might appear on the trail at any moment 

 Keeping my eyes as much as possible at the point on the op- 

 posite side of the marsh, where the trail debouched on to it 

 I had proceeded to rip the carcass from the throat to the 

 pelvis and had my hands already messed up in a mass of 

 liver, paunch, express balls, etc., etc., when my attention 

 was drawn to a dark mass at that point and in a moment my 

 rifle was in hand ready for the emergency. By the time I 

 T-as rpady to fire be had discoyejred gowethio]^ unusual 



his front and had "sat up" to make me out. Before doing 

 so aim had been quickly taken at his brisket, and at the 

 report he had tumbled over, the ball striking the left side, 

 fragments penetrating the heart. Judging from his boldness 

 in stumbling on to me, in not exceeding fifteen minutes' time 

 after my last shot, he was expected to show fight, but instead 

 he made back on his trail as fast as his condition would 

 allow. From previous experience in just such circumstances 

 the necessity was at once recognized of a cautious but vigor- 



ous pursuit, if he was secured before hiding in the brush, 

 and without hesitation I plunged through the marsh half 

 knee deep in mud and water and entered the narrow trail on 

 the opposite side. Pursuing it rapidly for thirty or forty 

 yards to where it passed through a little opening, there 

 within ten steps of me was a dark mass breathing heavily 

 and lying partially behind a small clump of willows. Put- 

 ting a telling shot through the center pf the mass he appeared 



ground and lofty tumbhng, at one time appearing to stand 

 upon his head and kicking with his hind feet ten feet straight 

 into the air. As he did not get upon his feet again another 

 shot was unnecessary and he soon settled down and was 

 dead. 



This bear was as large from tip to tip as he of the Big 

 Bear Fork, but not as fat nor as large-bodied ; in fact, not as 

 heavy as the one just killed. Neither of these bears, I think, 

 needed a second shot, and undisturbed, would not have 

 gotten on their feet again. A dense thicket was near, and 

 they might have scrambled into its cover and have been lost, so 

 another shot was given. At any rate, darkness was at hand 

 by the time the carcasses were dressed 

 and a dense fog was settling over the 

 mountain that had to be crossed. The 

 exhilaration of spirits from the killing 

 of two such large bears on the same even- 

 ing, the bear that I was after, caused me 

 to_ forget fatigue and fog, and it was 

 with a light heart Pike was mounted and 

 the mountain ascended . A th ick fog soon 

 enveloped us, so that nothing 

 could be seen beyond a hundred 

 feet. Pike and I soon disagreed 

 as to the direction, but I insisted 

 on my way. After going a half 

 mile and getting into some rough 

 ground, it was evident that I 

 was wrong and completely be- 

 fogged. The rein was then given 

 to Pike aud he turned squarely 

 to the left, and, having gone 600 

 yards over some pretty rough 

 ground, he came to the head of 

 the game trail leading down the 

 mountain, and which we had 

 several times traveled . Pike had 

 his way the balance of the ride, 

 and after passing across the 

 drainage for two miles we got 

 below the fog, and by 10 o'clock 

 we were at home. 



As an indication of the labor 

 usually undergone in hunting 

 this bear, it is stated that sev- 

 enty-five miles were traveled be- 

 fore the first shot (one half of 

 which was in the night) and one 

 hundred and five miles before 

 killing the three. I have since 

 traveled more than a hundred 

 miles after a special bear and was 

 repaid b}^ only one shot at long 

 range and no bear. 



The next day Rush and Mc- 

 Devitt skinned and packed in 

 the hides and fat of the two griz- 

 zlies. The weighing apparatus 

 was taken along and the "calf 

 killer" was found to weigh 405 

 pounds after being dressed six 

 teen hours, the other something 

 less. The black bear was not 

 weighed, but it is presumed he 

 weighed about the average of 

 this species (175 pounds) in life. 



The rifle used is the same used 

 for several years, a .45-cahber 

 Shai-ps, with which I have killed 

 nearly forty of these bears (thir- 

 ty-eight to be accurate), of which 

 number twenty-two were killed 

 with a single shot each, using 110 

 grains C. &. H. No. 6 and a 340- 

 grain express ball. As I have 

 before stated, the rise of its tra- 

 jectory is 7. 01 inch in 200 yards, 

 an average of about twenty shots 

 through a trajectory range. 

 Previously I had used a 44-cali- 

 ber Sharps, with a bottle-neck 

 shell holding 100 to 105 grains 

 of the same powder with which 

 a_ good many bears had been 

 killed. No especial ball has been 

 determined on as best for bear 

 and elk and sheep. With ex- 

 ceptional opportunities for sev- 

 eral years past among all our 

 big game, together with a care- 

 ful study of the subject, based 

 on a dissection of wounds made 

 by different combinations of 

 powder and ball, I think the 2^ 

 .45-cal shell with 110 grains strong powder 

 and a 340 grain express ball of the descrip- 

 tion used by me is most destructive for bear, 

 elk and she'ep of all American rifles. A little 

 hghter ball might answer, perhaps, but I am 

 not sure. _ The amount of powder would not 

 be sufficient for a heavier one for best re- 

 sults. The best results not only depend on 

 the relative proportion of powder and ball, but 

 also on the diameter and depth of the hole in 

 the point of ball. H" the walls around the 

 hole are too thin they will break off too soon 

 or in too fine pieces. If the walls are too thick 

 they may not disintegrate until the ball's veloc- 

 ity has been so much retarded that the par- 

 ticles will not have velocity to make their own 

 way, but will follow the channel made by the 

 butt; so that a good many considerations enter 

 into the problem. The ball in question, shot 

 directly into a bear, elk, sheep, etc., will, after 

 passing through the skin, break up, usually 

 tearing a hole through the ribs even of a fat 

 animal, through which the unclenched hand 

 can be passed, the fragments scattering in a 

 cone shape, the larger fragments penetrating to the opposite 

 ribs. In this way the whole momentum of the ball is ex- 

 pended on the vitals, the heart and hmgs. Hit further back 

 it breaks up into still smaller fragments, making a terrible 

 wound in the paunch and entrails that none of those ani- 

 mals can long survive. I have never known it to fail in 

 breaking the large bones of the largest bear or plk when 

 coming in contact with them. 



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