152 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April, 1922 
THE BIG GRIZZLY OF BELLA COOLA 
TRAILING THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH A WILD- 
ERNESS OF FOREST AND MUSKEG IN WESTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA 
By F. DUPUY 
With an angry growl he turned and faced us 
I T will be conceded by very 
nearly all hunters that sto- 
ries about the grizzly give 
the greatest thrill when 
bear - hunting is being dis- 
cussed. The brown bears of 
Alaska and the polar may be 
larger, but the grizzly keeps 
the interest from lagging when 
the supply of anecdotes lan- 
guish, and a fresh log is cast 
on the camp fire. 
The average reader who 
looks for entertainment in the 
reading of hunting stories 
wants to come quickly to the 
spectacular features, too keen 
for the kill, like the average 
hunter following a trail, but if 
the quarry is worth the hunt- 
ing, to touch upon its habits 
may be of interest, even if 
.‘inch knowledge is fairly uni- 
versal. As our hunting took 
place in British Columhia, the 
remarks as to the grizzlies’ 
habitat will he confined to that 
Province, where he is found in most of 
the mountainous regions, and on the 
north mainland coast. In the Selkirks 
and Rockies the lighter tip to hair of 
a darker color, gives a silver-tip appear- 
ance. 
He lacks not for varied diet. In early 
spring he feeds on the young vegetation 
found on mountain sides when bare of 
snow, while the long, proportionately 
slender and slightly curved claws on his 
front feet, three inches and more in 
length, are quite an aid in digging out 
ground squirrels and rodents, and in 
rolling over stones and tearing open 
rotten wood in search of grub and in- 
sects. Acorns, nuts and fruits come in 
to aid digestion, and some are outlawed, 
with a bounty on their heads for cattle- 
killing propensities ; hut records go to 
prove this grand game animal has been 
disappearing rapidly, and his protection 
in some parts of the United States is a 
wise precaution. 
1 N a club in the quaint city of Victoria, 
I B. C., our hunt was organized, and 
quite by chance the northern trip ar- 
ranged. Some of the finest heads of 
moose, caribou and mountain sheep that 
have ever been taken in Alaska, where 
the largest specimens from such animals 
are found, adorned the walls of the 
club, trophies remaining from the sale 
to an American of the collection of 
Mr. Reid, an English hunter. 
A friend and myself had been looking 
at these heads and the call of the wild 
came strong. 
A later stroll to the docks, where 
Japan and Australia unload their 
strangely assorted cargoes, followed, and 
there we found stranger craft which 
were of more interest to us, and that 
also navigate these waters and tic up at 
the docks — the long, roomy dugout 
canoes of the Siwash Indians that glide 
swiftly into harbor from the far North 
Countr}'. 
A crowd on the edge of the wharf, 
craning their necks to get a glimpse into 
one of these canoes, attested to the in- 
terest its arrival had awakened. Edging 
into the foremost rank of excited ob- 
servers, I looked upon the largest and 
primest grizzly pelt I had even seen. 
The oily occupants of the canoe were 
smiling and gesticulating to a degree, as 
they pointed at the roundest-headed and 
oiliest-visaged of all who, proclaimed by 
bis self-conscious air, was tbc red-blood- 
ed hunter who had gained the trophy. 
That settled it for us. It simply re- 
mained to decide upon the locality for 
the hunt, and after some consideration 
Bella Coola, a district of British Colum- 
hia that has a western coast line on the 
mainland north of Vancouver Island, 
was the section we chose to hunt for a 
pelt to equal in size the one we had just 
seen. 
For many years this district has been 
known as a good one for bear. My com- 
rade came from New Brunswick, a Prov- 
ince abounding in moose, its streams in 
salmon and trout, and I hoped to offset 
some of his tales of sport by giving him 
a chance at a grizzly. 
All arrangements for the trip were 
quickly made and we were soon on board 
the C. P. R. steamer “Patricia,” and her 
stem headed north toward the Queen 
Charlotte Islands. We noted the varied 
change of coast line on the starboard 
beam and the fitful shades of green and 
blue, topped with the frothing spray, our 
port rail unfolded to view on 
the North Pacific. . 
J UST before pitching camp 
on our first day on the trail, 
my friend killed a wolverine, 
which greatly pleased him, and 
we considered it a good omen. 
It surely gained the friendship 
of our guide, for it was in the 
territory in which he ran a 
line of traps, and this largestij 
member of tbe weasel family, 
is a marauder of savage 
ferocity and no little muscular 
power. His cunning and per-' 
sistence in taking catches f rom 
the traps and despoiling food 
it does not eat, if it gains ac-'i 
cess to a trapper’s cabin, bas, 
impressed native and white f 
hunters alike and he is cor- j 
dially hated. | 
Wc came to a halt on the j, 
trail for a look around in a |, 
park-like space. Spruce andii 
pine yielded a carpet to theij 
feet and one could look along avenues | 
of the upright timber. My friend was|j 
so occupied when he caught sight of a | 
low-set, heavily - bodied animal moving i 
among the tree trunks at a distance of 
about 75 yards. He got a chance for ai 
quick aim as it came in view in a lane, 
between the trees. We found the bulleti 
had struck the broad head and shattered 
the skull, and that was the varmint’s ■ 
finish. Although tenacious of life to a j 
degree the one shot so placed did the 
work. j 
We judged this a good place to camp, [ 
as wc had located a good spring and the j| 
pine-needle carpet would prove a fair.|^ 
resting place and yield more delightful a 
comfort to weary frames and well- 1 
worked muscles than the drowsy and in- : 
dolent ease of deep-seated armchairs in J 
cluh or hotel. 
The exile from New Brunswick was j 
descanting upon a moose hunt in his I 
eastern Province and had just attempted! 
an imitation of the answering call of aJ 
bull moose, w'hen a wild screaming cry, | 
most thrillingly impressive, jarred upon 
the almost complete silence that had for* 
the last hour enveloped our camp. Al-i 
most dropping his lighted pipe with a^ 
pronounced start, he begged to knowfl 
what other strange beast the country af- j 
forded. I told him it was the cry of a 
cougar, or mountain lion, and he ex- 1 
claimed: “Give me the moose call forj 
melody. The moose answers when 
spoken to, especially when a lady moose !* 
calls, while the cougar shows no breed- 1 
ing to interrupt my interesting narra- 1 
tive.” ] 
The morn broke clear and crisp, and| 
if no wild animal call awakened us, the? 
fragrant call of the rasher of bacon and? 
ill 
h 
