December, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
539 
The old Boundary House on the Stikine The upper reaches of the Clearwater 
mon turned downstream with the seal 
in close pursuit. The seal dove close 
behind the fish ; the head and about half 
the body of the salmon rose from the 
water and then quickly disappeared as 
though jerked down and I saw neither 
of them again. 
The rains that prevail in Alaska west 
of the Coast Range cause some incon- 
venience to the traveler in an open boat. 
Time, however, accustoms one to such 
discomforts and soon they pass unno- 
ticed. In thinking of Alaska it is the 
bright days, not the rainy days, that 
come to mind. Though copious tears 
may fall from her skies, you will remem- 
ber her best by her sunny smiles. 
A LTHOUGH I had read much about 
wolverines before going to Alaska 
I had never met them until upon this 
hunt, and my experiences taught me 
more than all books. One day as I was 
walking along the shore of the Clear- 
water River I saw a small dark animal 
running towards me. From a distance 
it appeared to be a black bear cub. 
Probably the resemblance was due to the 
fact that bears were uppermost in my 
mind. However, the instant the tawny 
flashes on the animal’s sides caught my 
eye I realized that my hasty conclusion 
was incorrect. The next moment I took 
it to be a porcupine but quickly knew 
that I was again mistaken, for no porcu- 
pine ever ran as that animal ran. This 
process of elimination finally led me to 
the conclusion that here was the wolver- 
ine I had so often wished to meet. 
Knowledge of the habits of these animals 
derived from experience rather than 
from books would have stood me well 
in hand for my ignorance made its es- 
cape easy. I shot at the wolverine when 
it was seventy-five yards distant and 
missed of course. It turned and ran 
quartering away from me, looking much 
like the delineations of a running fox 
in the old English sporting books. More 
shots only accelerated its movements. 
Had I waited it would have run to with- 
in a few feet of me; or had I given a 
sharp whistle it would have stopped and 
have been a comparatively easy mark. 
Owing to its long fur the wolverine 
looks large but it is really a small tar- 
get for the body is only about the size 
of that of a coyote. My disappointment 
was keen for these animals are so pre- 
dacious that none should be allowed to 
escape. 
Another incident, though less sports- 
manlike, proved more satisfactory. I 
killed a bear and thinking the carcass 
might prove a bait I went back to it 
after letting it lie for a day or two. As 
I drew near an animal ran away. This 
time there was no doubt as to its identity ; 
it was a wolverine. My companion de- 
cided to trap him in order to rid him- 
self of the pest quite as much as to get 
his valuable fur. When we returned 
with the traps we discovered that the 
wolverine had skilfully cut off the bear’s 
hind leg at the second joint and dragged 
it away. The glutton also had eaten 
much of the meat around the joint. We 
set two traps where the wolverine had 
been feeding, both of which we at- 
tached to a clog. Then we cut off the 
bear’s head, tied it to a nearby tree on 
a small bank, and built up around the 
bait a low pen of driftwood, leaving an 
opening at the side where another trap 
was set. All traps were lightly covered 
with sand and dry leaves and a green 
twig was laid on the top of each. The 
trapper ventured a guess that the third 
trap would circumvent the wolverine. 
The next morning we found that the 
plan had worked, for the wolverine was 
securely caught in the trap under the 
bear’s head. In his desperation the an- 
imal had gnawed the heavy brush, had 
broken down the smaller growths, and 
had torn up the ground as far as the 
chain would permit. He fought vicious- 
ly when we approached. So tenacious 
of life is this “Indian devil,” as the In- 
dians call him, that he could not be 
killed with a club. We had to beat him 
into insensibility and then cut his 
throat ; but, at the thrust of the knife, 
he partly recovered and continued to 
fight as his life ebbed away. I did not 
shoot him for to do so would have ruined 
his fur. I had not the least sympathy 
for him because wolverines are noted 
for their cruelty, voracity and destruc- 
tion of small animals and grouse. Be- 
cause of their weird cunning in robbing 
traps of both bait and fur they are the 
very bane of the trapper. The muscular 
development of the wolverine’s jaws, 
neck and forelegs is out of all propor- 
tion to the remainder of his body, an 
evidence that the beast is possessed with 
strength to slaughter. 
M Y companion had spent parts of the 
latter portion of the winter trap- 
ping marten and mink on the Clearwater 
River. In February he had seen a 
moose break through the ice and drown 
while attempting to cross the river. On 
April twenty-fifth he made note that the 
body of the moose was still in the drift- 
wood where it had lodged. He advised 
me of the occurrence when we were 
about a mile from the spot and we hur- 
ried on with increasing vigilance. Soon 
we came upon the recent tracks of a big 
grizzly that must have gone directly to- 
wards the place. When we came within 
view of the driftwood I carefully exam- 
ined it and all its surroundings through 
binoculars, but nothing seemed to be 
moving and no object that looked like 
a bear could be seen. A small clump of 
cottonwoods stood near the driftwood 
and we suspected that the bear had 
dragged the moose there for conceal- 
ment. Upon reaching the driftwood we 
discovered that the grizzly had dragged 
the moose out of it through the water to 
the shore. He had fed on part of the 
carcass and later had dragged the re- 
mainder about a hundred yards away 
and eaten it. Not a bone remained; the 
remnants were a few bunches of hair 
only. As we were too late I had to learn 
my lesson from inference. Here was an 
illuminating illustration of the mighty 
strength of a mature grizzly. I have 
been reliably informed of an instance in 
which three men were unable to drag a 
dead moose from a stream, even failing 
to lift it with block and tackle. Owing 
to the fact that a moose shot in a river 
cannot be reclaimed, and furthermore 
for the ethics of sportsmanship, a moose 
should not be killed in a river. 
How often one sees game when it is 
least expected. In reviewing my meager 
experiences it seems that the opportuni- 
ties that have been mine have invariably 
come at unexpected moments. One night 
we were noiselessly paddling down a 
shallow slough so densely overhung with 
timber of considerable size that it was 
darker there than in the open. My mind 
was upon subjects other than bears 
when I was startled by hearing my 
companion whisper: “Bear, bear.” And 
about seventy-five yards in advance of 
the canoe I saw the head and shoulders 
of a bear against the bank. He was 
( Continued on page 562) 
