524 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April 26, 1913 
immediately his .405 began to speak. The goat 
was almost at the top when Chick appeared at 
the extreme top of the precipice waving his 
arms and yelling. The animal's escape being 
cnt off at this point, it turned and worked its 
way down to the shelf from which it started. A 
shot from the Senator's rifle dropped him to 
the valley below'. The estimated weight of this 
goat was from 250 to 275 pounds; it was a beau¬ 
tiful specimen. Just now the Senator seemed 
to me just a little taller, stood a little straighter 
and was a trifle more dignified. We took to 
camp nearly all of the meat, and Chick said 
that left would make fine bear bait, which sub¬ 
sequently proved true as we killed a small 
grizzly bear at this exact point. 
A few days later I left camp early in the 
morning alone and started in a southeasterly di¬ 
rection, working my way up the side of the 
snow-covered range through heavy timber. 
Crust w'as on the snow in exposed places. I had 
not gone very far from camp, when I found 
fresh signs of elk. I spent much time in trying 
to see them before they saw me, but the under¬ 
growth was very thick and the noise made in 
breaking through the crust made this impos¬ 
sible, and I found that I had started eleven or 
tw'elve elk. They passed quarteringly down the 
side of the range to my right. I followed, hop¬ 
ing I might see them through an opening be¬ 
low me. This trail led me over slide rock, 
through gorges, fallen timbers and in places 
w'here it seemed simply impossible for an animal 
of an elk’s weight and foot formation to go. 
Know'ing that the snow was entirely gone on 
the opposite side of the valley toward which 
the elk were headed, I concluded to follow them 
no further and to go to the place where we had 
captured the goat, hoping to see some carnivor¬ 
ous animal. Changing my course, I slowly 
worked up the side of the mountain, and after 
going about half a mile, I was much disap¬ 
pointed to discover that I had started another 
band of six or eight elk before seeing or hear¬ 
ing them. 1 did not attempt to follow, but con¬ 
tinued on, seeing many signs of bear. I reached 
the summit from which I could look down into 
the gorge where the Senator's goat had fallen. 
I was lying upon the rocks, carefully scanning 
the gorge below, when suddenly it seemed as 
though there was a slight movement among 
the pine shrubs,, a little to the left of the goat 
carcass. As I adjusted my field glasses to my 
eyes a huge grizzly bear rose on its haunches. 
I could see him plainly as he lifted his head 
high and sniffed. This unexpected sight of a 
grizzly caused me no little excitement. Having 
seen the Senator and Chick over this identical 
ground, it gave me very accurate comparative 
size of the bear, and when I tell you that I 
believe this animal to have been fully eight feet 
tall, I consider my estimate very conservative. 
After satisfying himself that all was right, 
he settled down again among the pines; but 
every few moments he would go through the 
same method of testing the safety of his posi¬ 
tion. Knowing well the nature of the bear, the 
lay of the land and the direction of the wind, 
it was simply impossible to get closer without 
being discovered. The distance was about six 
or seven hundred feet below me and from 
fifteen to sixteen hundred feet away on a hori¬ 
zontal line. The wind was blowing a gale from 
right to left, but in mountain gorges it is ex¬ 
tremely fluky and uncertain and no one can 
tell over such a range as was before me which 
way the bullet would drift. My rifle was power¬ 
ful and accurate and would easily kill a large 
grizzly at the distance, if the shot could be 
placed in a vital spot. The only thing for me 
to do was to hold as accurately as possible and 
hope that the driftage would equalize itself. 
With this thought in mind, every nerve at its 
highest tension, but steady, and hoping that I 
might be successful in capturing this huge, 
powerful animal, I fired; and for an instant I 
thought I had him, for he fell over backward, 
but immediately sprang to his feet and bounded 
up the side of the mountain with the agility 
and lightness of a cat. After a few bounds he 
stopped with head high in the air, in an atti¬ 
tude of extreme alertness. Hardly had he 
stopped, when I fired the second shot, and again 
he bounded forward, springing upon a log far 
above him, showing his tremendous strength 
and activity. I shot four times before he passed 
out of sight. I then ran along the ridge for 
several hundred yards, hoping to get another 
shot under more favorable circumstances, but 
was disappointed. Coming back to the point 
where I had shot at the bear, wondering why 
I had failed to score, I shot at a small black 
spot in the snow near where the bear was, 
knowing that by this method I could learn the 
driftage of the bullet. At this time I of course 
was uncertain as to whether I had wounded 
the bear or not. so proceeded into the gorge 
with a great deal of caution, but found as I pro¬ 
ceeded that the wind was from left to right, 
just the reverse that it was at the top of the 
ridge. When I reached the place where the 
bear was, I found no signs indicating that I 
had hit him, and upon examining the black spot 
which I had shot at, found that the bullet had 
drifted to the right several inches, indicating 
that the first shot had probably passed to the 
right of the bear’s neck or shoulders and struck 
the ground just in front of him. which evidently 
caused him to dodge backward and fall over. 
The track of this bear, as made in the snow, 
was fully three inches longer than the large 
boot which I wore and two and a half inches 
wider; which partially, at least, corroborates 
my former statement concerning size. Know¬ 
ing well the ' disposition or tendency of a 
wounded grizzly, I at first felt somewhat disin¬ 
clined to follow its tracks, feeling that my busi¬ 
ness needed my attention, and that if the bear 
should charge me from a near thicket or from 
behind a rock, that the chances were very much 
in favor of the bear. I therefore made haste 
slowly and did not attempt to follow, unless I 
could see the tracks for some distance ahead, 
and always kept on the upper side of them. 
Many times the track led into a thicket, but I 
would work around on the other side to see if 
the bear had gone on. After following some 
distance. I came to the conclusion that I had 
not wounded the bear, and that he was only 
trying to get away from me. After that I 
followed the track as I would have a rabbit 
through all kinds of bad places. After fol- 
lowin,g nearly two miles I lost the track on the 
sunny side of a slope. About this time I came 
across the Senator and our cook, who had been 
hunting together, and they agreed that the ani¬ 
mal was a very large one. The cook said that 
he was born in Texas and had lived all of his 
life in the Rocky Mountains, but had never seen 
a larger grizzly bear track, and commented 
on the fact that he did not wish to follow it, or 
have anything to do with the maker of it what¬ 
soever. Surely, there are times when ignorance 
is bliss. I have been told many times since this 
adventure, by men who know what they are 
talking about, that I was very careless to fol¬ 
low a large grizzly bear after shooting at it, 
not knowing whether it was wounded; but all 
is well that ends well. 
Several days later we moved camp to Trail 
Creek, where a number of elk and deer were 
shot by our party. It was while at this camp 
that the Senator had an experience which he 
will not soon forget. We were hunting together 
in rather an open forest with much moss on the 
ground, which permitted us to go very still. 
We were not far apart when I heard an ex¬ 
clamation, and looking quickly, I saw a large 
bull elk with magnificent antlers just disappear¬ 
ing into the valley. I had no time to shoot. 
Looking toward the Senator, I saw him stand¬ 
ing like a statue with his rifle at ready, gazing 
at the point where the elk had disappeared, with 
a look of mingled surprise and disgust stamped 
on his face, which seemed to speak volumes; 
and just at this moment he spoke to me in a 
loud voice saying, “Oh, Doc, come here and 
kick me—kick just as hard as you can!” 
“What is the trouble. Senator, I asked. 
“I saw that animal on the ground fast 
asleep and in such a position that I mistook 
him for the large end of a log and turned to¬ 
ward you to comment on its size, when, hearing 
a slight noise, I turned that way just in time to 
see a mammoth bull elk with an elegant set of 
antlers dash among the evergreen trees and 
disappear. What do you think of that. Doc? 
Isn’t that discouraging, humiliating and dis¬ 
gusting to one who pretends to be a hunter and 
who came way out here purposely to get a 
trophy of this kind, to have an elk fool a 
fellow this way? The idea that I am so dull 
that it is necessary for me to punch an object 
a few times with my rifle barrel before I can 
fully make up my mind whether or not it is an 
animal, and then have such an elk get away 
from me!” 
A few days later we broke camp, and after 
an exceedingly interesting trip, without acci¬ 
dent, reached civilization. 
Prefer the Pistol. 
A RECENT canvass of the cavalry officers at 
Fort Myer. indicates a unanimous desire to re¬ 
tain the pistol as a part of the arms of the 
cavalry soldier, as it has been since the reign of 
Henry VIII, when the English cavalry carried 
clumsy pistols called “dags.” 
