446 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



iN-bv. M 18S8. 



BEAR HUNTING IN NEW MEXICO. 



New Mexico, October, 1893.— This year I have con- 

 fined myself mostly to trapping, for, thinking it might be 

 my last trip for a while, I was anxious to obtam all the 

 fur I could. The best part of the year (April and May) 

 was lost owing to the illness of a friend, whom I nursed 

 through what I believe to have been a bad case of la 

 grippe, although I am no doctor, neither was there any 

 near. As might be expected from traps, not a great deal 

 of actual sport fell to our lot, but such as it has been I 

 am ready to narrate for the benefit of others who may be 

 making for New Mexico. 



On May 38, 1892, we camped at the Paerco Espin or 

 Porcupine. In the previous year this country had been 

 overrun with bears, but they had all gone or been killed, 

 and after having traps out till June 7, with no effect bar- 

 ring that one small black bear had got into and out of a 

 trap, we moved to the valles (valleys) where there is a 

 pretty little river full of trout, some growing over one 

 pound, fishermen say they grow over two pounds, but 

 these I have not seen. There are also hot sulphur springs 

 to which many invalids resort from Santa Fe, Albu- 

 querque and other cities. Here we stayed till the ]3th, 

 catchmg muskrats, bathing, shooting ducks and fishing. 



Our next camp was at the Calabaza (Squash) Caiion. 

 Here bears had evidently been plenty, but the sign was 

 mostly two and three days old. Two traps were sprung 

 though nothing killed except a wildcat. On the 23i we 

 started and on the 2M camped at the CeboUa (Onion) 

 Canon. Here things looked brighter. During the night 

 a gun was fired close to the camp, and the morning dis- 

 closed to our anxious gaze a large black bear shot through 

 the head and dead as mutton. So we had come to the 

 24th of June before getting any bear. However, I felt 

 sure the tables would turn soon, and so they did, for on 

 the 25ch a cinnamon was trapped and duly brought into 

 camp; two more traps had also been tampered with but 

 failed to act. On the 36th a cinnamon was shot, and on 

 the 29bh another large male cinnamon was killed and the 

 body left at the gun. The next day a man was sent to 

 fetch it, and found it half eaten by a big black bear, 

 which fell a victim to the same gun on the Ist of July. 

 On the 3d a big she silvertip was successfully trapped, 

 and on the 5th I killed an enormous male cinnamon. 

 This bear bit the muzzle of the gun, a 13-bore Riley shot- 

 gun, and crumpled it up like paper. 



Nothing more happened till the 12th, when we moved 

 to the Piedras Ndgras (Black Stones). Here were two 

 large dirty-looking rocks, standing by themselves in the 

 center of a sheep-eaten valley, surrounded by towering 

 peaks covered with black-looking pine trees, the monotony 

 of which was broken by patches of quaking asp of an 

 emerald green hue. On the l6fch a bear went over the 

 back of the pen where a trap was fixed (an old trick), 

 took the meat and skedaddled. On the 17th I had in- 

 tended to go and watch a trail, where I had recently seen 

 a big bear track, about half a mile from camp; but "worse 

 luck to it," a lazy fit took me, and I sent an Indian. He 

 had been gone but a few minutes when three shots were 

 heard in quick succession, followed by a triumphant yell, 

 as of glee. Then I straddled a burro and started to fetch 

 the game. On arriving there I found Andres, who had 

 just posted himself behind a tree to wait events, when he 

 heard something coming up the canon, and was not a 

 little astonished to see a huge brown bear appear on the 

 brow of the hill about ten yards from him. He fired, 

 striking the side of its head. This knocked the bear down, 

 but he was soon on his legs again, and making a dash at 

 Andres, who had mighty little time to put a bullet 

 through his heart, which, however, he succeeded in doing. 

 The third shot was fired juBt to make sure there was no 

 kick coming. 



On the 19th I rode to the Senorita Canon, about fifteen 

 miles, where we found huckleberries, raspberries, goose- 

 berries, ground mulberries, and loads of unripe cherries 

 and acorns, also plenty of fresh sign. On my return next 

 day I found two bears had been to the traps, and one, a 

 cinnamon, had been killed. At about 10 A. M. on the 

 22d I strolled out to the trail before mentioned, where 

 two traps were now set. Not expecting to see anything, 

 I did not even take any extra cartridges, having three in 

 my gun. I saw the traps, aud then thought I would take 

 a short circular walk home. Coming to the summit of a 

 ridgp, I heard a branch crack, and looking over spied a 

 cinnamon bear, sitting bolt upright, staring at me. There 

 were two others jumping about her, one jet black and the 

 other brown. A "Highland gathering," thought T, as 

 recollections of Oban and Inverness, and of big burly 

 Highlanders with their legs all covered with hair— some 

 black, some cinnamon, and others, well, silvertip— 

 flittea throiigh my brain. 



But away with imagination; I must look to practical 

 business, and that right quickly. I did not at first take 

 in the fact that the other two were cubs, for the grass 

 and ferns were very high and I could only see them now 

 and then, and could not move my eyes from the old lady, 

 who went down on all-fours, still facing me, probably at 

 a distance of 15yde. Taking steady aim I fired at her 

 forehead. She fell, but scrambled up again, and instead 

 of makmg for me, which I expected she would do, bolted 

 uke a streak with a second bullet from my express in her 

 leg, leaving her cubs to shift for themselves, which they 

 did, promptly enough. The black one scooted* up the 

 nearest tree, and the brown one disappeared in the scrub 

 in double-quick time. I had one cartridge left and with 

 It brought down the cub, who let out a dving yell that 

 caused mamma to stop in her insane gallop through the 

 woods and answer her lost child. Just about this time 

 It struck me 1 had no more cartridges and no more busi- 

 ness m the locality. Picking up my cub I departed for 

 camp, takmg many a glance back and trying to stretch 

 ray ears to catch the faintest sound in case the old vixen 

 might follow, but she did not, and I soon arrived safe at 

 home, where I at once had three horses saddled, and left 

 with the hounds, one Mexican and M., my companion 

 giving orders to my cook that any one who might return 

 trom huntmg should follow immediately, as I contem- 

 plated a split with the hounds and required all hands 

 knowmg ihat the she bear and cubs had taken separate 

 du-eciions. The dogs, however, when turned loose, in- 

 sisted on following the track of the latter, and after a 

 sharp little gallop through shin oak, cedar and pine, down 

 tfff • P ""^I'^P ^""^ cafion, they treed him 



within 20ft. of the spot where I first distui-hed the family 

 gathering at their feast cf berries. M. and 1 dismounted 

 and watched him for a few minutes whHe our horses 



recovered their breath, after which he was brought to 

 bag. 



It was now getting late, but notwithstanding I put the 

 hounds on the trail of the old one, and off we went again. 

 She had too long a start, however, and we could not keep 

 up with the dogs through such dense timber, so ^ter gal- 

 loping about six miles we gave it up and returned. The 

 dogs did not come back till midnight. So ended the 22d. 

 Oq the 33d a cinnamon was trapped and shot. On the 

 39th all traps were taken up and the dogs turned loose in 

 the Pedras Negras Caiion to work their wicked will on 

 the first bear they came across. 



They scented one from afar and instantly set up a roar, 

 rushing off at full speed with heads and tails held high. 

 They raced up and down this big rough valley for the 

 best part of an hour, during which time I never moved 

 from the spot where they were loosed, for I was saving 

 my horse and could locate them far better from above 

 than the men who went with them trying to follow close. 

 When I was satisfied that they had treed I led my horse 

 quietly down the almost perpendicular sides to where 

 bruin was lying dead, just shot by one of the men, whose 

 horses were blowing like grampuses. This turned out to 

 be the she bear of the 22d.. My first shot had cut a strip 

 about ten inches long from the center of her back, and 

 the copper tube of the second bullet was found in her leg. 

 My excuse for these bad shots is that the front sight of 

 my rifle was broken. 



On Monday, July 1, we had a very long run after a sil- 

 vertip. They never tree, and I think this one must have 

 gone to Arizona. Soon we lost the dogs and came home 

 to feed. The repast over, I sent men to the tops of the 

 surrounding hills to listen for the dogs. One of the boys 

 had walked up a she silvertip and two cubs. He missed 

 the old bear two or three times, but killed a male silver- 

 tip cub with as pretty a fur as I ever saw. 



On the 5th we moved to Senorita Cafion. Here I got 

 a touch of poison ivy, and should have been badly off but 

 for some remedies 1 cut out of Fokest and Stream a long 

 time ago. I applied salt and saltpeter, of which I had 

 plenty on hand for corning meat. For about three weeks 

 I had an ungovernable desire to tear myself to pieces 

 and then I recovered. 



On the llth a brown bear and a porcupine were trapped, 

 and then a big sheep dog, which gave us no end of 

 trouble, but we got him out safely, and glad enough he 

 was to skip out of that country. On the 13th another 

 brown bear was brought in, and on the 13th. we killed a 

 cinnamon and a wildcat. 



On the loth a bear came to the trap, pulled the pen to 

 pieces, took the bait, and walked off. The same aggra- 

 vating beast came again on the 16th, with like result. 

 On the 18th a large beast (too large for a seventeen-pound 

 trap) got in and out again, leaving a little fur to show his 

 color. Another bear pulled off a set-gun and escaped. 

 On the 19th we killed a yearling and a big bear, both 

 brown, and a skunk. On the 20th a brown cub was 

 brought in, and on the 231 a magnificent old male silver- 

 tip, with pure white neck, who had been known to the 

 miners and Mexicans for years by the soubriquet of 

 "Jumbo:" he had several old bullet wounds and consider- 

 able lead in him. 



On the 25th the bait was taken from the trap, and on 

 the 27th the meat was eaten off two guns which had got 

 damp, and another bear got into and out of a trap. 

 On the 28th a man came back from his line, early, re- 

 porting the escape of a wounded bear and a fresh lion 

 track in the road, the latter beast having been seen in the 

 morning by two lumbermen. I decided, however, to 

 hunt the bear first, so sent one man to lift the traps and 

 guns on that side of the range, and took another with 

 me, turning the hounds loose near the discharged gun. 

 This bear had two cubs with her, and either she fooled 

 the dogs or else they ran another one. Anyway, I got 

 disgusted, and started to return with Bulger and Tiger, 

 two half-bred dogs, who had likewise given up the chase. 

 Now came the fun. As we were riding casually along 

 the narrow mesa, overlooking deep canons of Nacimiento 

 (Birthplace) on one side and Senorita on the other, 

 two dogs threw up their heads and trotted to the 

 the brink of the Nacimiento; then they went down, 

 and in a few minutes the canon was ringing again with 

 frantic yells of the hounds and the barring noise of 

 cubs. We dismounted at once and walked down about 

 one hundred yards, when I spied a cub in a cedar tree. 

 A ball from my riflle soon settled him, and I sent another 

 after the old lady as I caught a fleeting glimpse of her 

 on the ground fighting the dogs. All moved on now some 

 hundred yards more, where the other cub was treed. 

 This one was shot by my companion, and on we went, 

 this time very cautiously, for the bear was near and the 

 brush so dense as to make traveling very difficult. 



When we arrived in sight of the dogs we found that my 

 bullet had found the right place, and she was lying dead 

 in a little ditch. As quickly as possible we removed the 

 hides, and hung up the meat, and returned to our horses, 

 who after a slight remonstrance were packed with the 

 skins. Telling the Mexican to hunt up the missing dogs 

 I returned to camp. During supper, my cook remarked 

 that she could hear the horn blowing, and going to the 

 top of the hill, I could hear from far away down in the 

 bed of the river, quite two miles off, the baying of the 

 pack, while from che mesa above the frantic blowing of 

 a horn was plainly audible. Lanterns were lit and off 

 we went, two Mexicans and myself, this time on foot, as 

 riding through oak brush at night is not safe for shins or 

 eyes. We had made about half the way, when we met 

 the other man, who had descended into the cafion, in 

 hopes of calling off the dogs, for they had run their bear 

 into a trap. We soon located him by the noise, but in 

 such a place! Down in a caiion as black as ink, in a per- 

 fect network of brush, probably 20ft. below us, could be 

 easily distinguished the hog-like blowing, grunting, pant- 

 ing and puffing of old bruin in his desperate attempts to 

 escape; these sounds, combined with the delighted yowl- 

 ing of eight long-eared hounds, completed the pandemo- 

 nium. After firing a few random shots, we caught the 

 dogs and retired for the night. 



Next morning, M., I and a Mexican, started on horse- 

 back for our bear, while the others went their daily 

 rounds to look after and reset traps. On arriving at the 

 place we left the night before, we found he had moved 

 out and gone up the hill. Next we discovered the log 

 that had been attached to the trap all chewed up and dis^ 

 carded. It was no use going further, for a bear simply 

 take8_a labs. trap (without a log) under his arm and trots 

 ott: with It as if nothing were the matter, so we sat down 



and sent Lucero, the Mexican, back for the dogs. When 

 they arrived, I turned them loose, and in a few minutes 

 more they had him. But here it became too rough to 

 ride, so we dismounted and tying our horses started to 

 climb the rocks in hot pursuit. We were somewhat 

 blown, not being accustomed to this sort of fun, but 

 struggled on bravely enough. 



The Mexican, who was still mounted, took a wrong 

 direction, and soon there was a huge dyke between us, 

 As I had anticipated, the bear (a very large black male) 

 took along our side of the ditch, ahd came in sight about 

 80yds. off on the opposite side of a hollow filled with 

 dense oak from 8 to 12ft, high. On catching sight of him 

 I fired and missed, and fired again, this time he faced 

 around and charged down the hdl into the hollow, mak- 

 ing a bee line for us, Suddenly all was stiU, then from 

 the brush came two or three great roars or groans, and 

 the dogs began to yell again; another calm and I decided 

 to go in after him, which M. and I did and found him 

 dead, while the dogs were earnestly endeavoring to tear 

 a hole in his hide and secure a hot lunch. He was the 

 largest bear I ever took with" a ITlbs. trap. While we 

 were resting "crack, whiz," and a bullet flew over my 

 head, and looking up, there was Lucero above us on a 

 very poivited rock, floundering about in vain efforts to 

 find us, for we were hidden by oak. I yelled out to know 

 what he shot at, but being as deaf as a post he could hear 

 nothing. Shortly after that he came down, and told us 

 his rifle had gone off by accident. 



There was Tots of fun in this hunt, but I do not think 

 either of us were sorry when it came to an end, for it is 

 tediou? work climbing these rocks as fast as you can, on 

 a warm day in the month of August, at an altitude of 

 over 9,000ft. On the Slst the traps were taken up. A 

 bear had been to one of them, so we took dogs and turned 

 loose on trail in the Mesa Nacimiento again. They found 

 at once, and fighting bayed for about five minutes, but 

 not time enough for us to get down to them, and Mr. 

 Bear being a silvertip was not going up a tree, but made 

 a sudden burst down the cafion two or three miles like a 

 streak of lightning. We followed as fast as we could, 

 but lost him in crossing from one side to the other. They 

 must have run him a very long way, for it was six days 

 before I got all my pups back. Until the 6th of Septem- 

 ber was spent chiefly in hunting dogs. On the 8oh we 

 moved again, camped one night at Piedras Negras, and 

 the next at the "Valleys,'" where I caught about 150 fair 

 trout and a coyote. 



On the 13th we camped above the Polvedero, our old 

 winter quarters, and on the 14th we went down into the 

 Chama Valley, crossed the river and camped in Copper 

 Canon. Next day a move was made up the opposite 

 range and late at night we found ourselves at "Julie's 

 grave" (one of my hounds who was killed by a bear in 

 1890). Here the trout are somewhat small, but found in 

 countless numbers, having a peculiarly good flavor and 

 being indefinitely superior to their relations on the oppo- 

 site range. On the l7th we settraps for mink and beaver, 

 sent the men out to hunt bear tracks, and shot a coyote as 

 he was crawling off with a lamb. 



Finding very little here we moved on the 19th to a 

 camp about eight miles away called the "Lagoonas." On 

 the 13th we ran the dogs, but the trail was old and the 

 ground very dry. One dog, however, while separated 

 from the rest, found a bear and ran it all day, taking the 

 men through a country full of fresh tracks, so on the fol- 

 lowing day I set out traps, but never a bear came near 

 there again, and on the 38th I was compelled to lift them. 

 We have no grass in this camp and much valuable time 

 has been spent in hunting stock. 



To-day is the first of October, bears have been located 

 again, but a long way from grass and water. The 

 drought has lasted so many days that scent will scarcely 

 lie at all, however, I will let you hear what luck attends 

 us. E. and S., formerly in my camp, now on the Brazos, 

 have killed five bears, but report trout fishing poor. The 

 Brazos fishing was seriously damaged by spring floods in 

 1890, when the river altered its course, making it difficult 

 for the large fish to get up. My friends have only cap- 

 tured two "busters" this month, one of Sflbs. and the 

 other S^lbs. A few years ago I stood at one small pool 

 and took out 11, averaging 2|lb8. I also hooked and lost 

 many others, my friend had abstracted seven similar fish 

 from the same pool on the previous day. That was pisca- 

 torial sport, I think. A. P. F. Coape. 



THE CUVIER BANQUET. 



Game in season. And appetites up to the requirements 

 of the season. Such were the conditions that combined 

 to make the Cuvier Club dinner last evening moat enjoy- 

 able. 



The large room of the famous club was given up to the 

 tables and their occupants, and the latter were men of 

 whom the patrons of the Commercial Oazette are accus- 

 tomed to read. Of the hundreds who came to partake of 

 the rich and palatable feast of game, with just enough of 

 the other things to relieve monotony and make up one of 

 the most appetizing menus ever presented, there were 

 very few of whom the ci izens of Cincinnati have not 

 heard in one capacity or other. Men who have repre- 

 sented the people in judicial and legislative and executive 

 capacities were present; there were judges from the 

 bench, city officials in present enjoyment of office, and 

 several of whom the result of the late election entitle to 

 official distinction. 



There were men prominent in business and commercial 

 life; men who have no part or interest in political life, 

 but who bear their full share in the good fellowship that 

 gives the charm to every-day existence. It was a "stag" 

 gathering, and in that particular it stands forth conspicu- 

 ous among the excellent annual dinners of the famous 

 organization, for generally the ladies of the members 

 have had their share of the good things set out for the 

 annual celebration. 



There were lots of these good things. Of course, the 

 feature of the menu was the game , and this was abun- 

 dant, had been gathered just in the ripeness of time, and 

 was cooked in the perfection of kitchen art and to the 

 full satisfaction of the most epicurean taste. There is 

 no use talking — you never tasted such salmon, snipe,- 

 quail, venison and duck— it seemed they had lived with 

 the Cuvier Club dinner in view, and wanted to make as 

 good an impression in death as possible. They did all 

 that could have beenaskedjof them. They could not have 

 done more. They seem to have fully appreciated what 

 the club has done in protecting them against the ravages 



