Jan. 12, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
49 
J 
two minutes she will have her horn hooked over 
the top of one of those pines, and give us light 
to do our work, so cinch your saddles and be 
ready for the word; remember, the unskilful 
and Americans must stay back and keep be¬ 
tween the bears and the edge of the arroyo, so 
as to make them take to the plain for it, if they 
run, which I doubt very much their doing, as 
a grizzly bear with cubs at her side will gen¬ 
erally stand her ground and fight to the death. 
The cubs of course are most likely to cut across 
and break for the arroyo, so you who can’t do 
any work keep between them and the arroyo, 
and if they make toward you, charge them and 
hammer them over the head' with your ropes- 
ends. Navarro, El Lenero and I will attend to 
Mrs. Oso. El Cir, El Guero, Jose Ybarra, 
Chato and Ambagsio ought to be able to take 
care of the three cubs and tie them up.” 
When all were ready we rode along the mesa 
just behind the brow of the hill very quietly 
until we arrived at a point between the bear 
and the arroyo bank; wheeling about, we divided 
ourselves in accordance with .the work allotted 
to us, when our attention was called to the 
fact that it was light enough to see the bear. 
Every man shook his feet in the stirrups to 
see if everything was tight, and Don Jose, press¬ 
ing his gray with the calves of his legs, and 
slightly leaning forward, went off with a bound 
like a shot, yelling, “Santiago! At the bear, 
boys, don’t be cowards or gourd sellers.” 
Every man followed at like speed, over the 
mesa, down the steep slope to the bajeo, hoot¬ 
ing and yelling like demons. In the dim light 
we could see a massive form which looked to 
me, as I got nearer, more like my small boy¬ 
hood’s idea of an ogre than anything I had 
ever seen. It was terrifying, but upon nearer 
-approach my ogre resolved itself into an 
enormous grizzly standing with her fore paws 
hanging purposelessly before her. Two cubs 
were sitting on their haunches at her side look¬ 
ing at us in wonder and curiosity; the other was 
hidden behind her and the carcass. 
We all expected her to stand her ground and 
fight foi* her cubs, as bears generally do, but she 
evidently thought them big enough and old 
enough to take care of themselves, so when we 
got within about sixty feet of her, she lit out 
with a snort -(about the same sound that a 
large hog would make if she did her very best) 
for Precipice Canon. 
According to instructions, Don Jose, El 
Lenero and Navarro only put out after the bear. 
El . Georchy, El Burrero and I deployed as 
scouts between the cubs and the arroyo; El 
Cir, El Guero, Ambagsio, Ybarra and Chato 
charging the cubs, which stood their ground 
and made a game fight from start to finish. 
Don Jose led the trio after the old bear, a little 
to the right and about sixty feet. in her rear. 
Navarro was immediately behind him, El 
Lenero about a hundred feet behind and some¬ 
what to her left. They all gained on her in the 
run across the bajeo, and Don Jose planted 
his lasso around her neck, but it was promptly 
jerked off and thrown to one Side in a very 
contemptuous manner. Don Jose slowed down 
to prepare his rope again, giving Navarro a 
chance which he improved as well as he could, 
but, unfortunately, just as he was about to 
throw, the bear gave a snort that sent Navarro 
and his sabino a hundred yards off their course; 
by this time, “the necktie party” had struck the 
hog wallow on the other side of the bajeo and 
the bear had the advantage, so she increased 
the gap between herself and El Lenero con¬ 
siderably, for by this time he was leading the 
trio of lassadores; but as soon as the hog 
wallow was cleared and the smooth slope dotted 
with elder bushes on the other side gained, El 
Lenero ran on to her rapidly and planted his 
riata over her neck and behind one shoulder— 
“aluso ladron” (thief fashion), as we used to 
call it. 
It was too much for the bear’s ingenuity. 
She could not get it off, so she turned and 
charged with one foreleg lashed to her neck; 
but Don Jose was right there, and as she came 
the old chap met her with a beautiful overhand 
throw, caught both hind feet, and whirling the 
chineno ’round on his hind feet, had her 
stretched out full length on her side quicker 
than I can tell it. 
The other two horses having given courage 
by their actions to the cowardly Sabino, Navarro 
came up, and taking down his horsehair rope 
to hold his horse with, wrapped the reirts very 
tight around the pommel, got down and went 
to Don Jose’s assistance; Don Jose now took 
a reef in his riata, riding up within ten feet 
of the bear, leaving about twenty feet of the 
loose end beyond his horn. Navarro took this, 
slipped it through the neck rope and passed it 
back to Don Jose; catching that between Don 
Jose and the bear in his hands, he pulled hard 
on it to keep it tight; Don Jose, taking up the 
slack of the end, tightened the riata at about 
the same point as before, drawing the hind feet 
chock-a-block to the neck riata and rolling the 
bear into a big ball. Of course this is one way 
of roping a bear, but there are as many ways 
as there are of tying down a steer. 
Navarro now took some bale rope and half- 
hitching it several times ’round the bear’s nose, 
fixed at least one female so that she would have 
to keep her mouth shut. He then added his 
riata to the other two and the trio dragged 
the bear up to a tree about a foot in diameter, 
pulled her hind feet around it on opposite sides 
with riatas, then with many knots and half¬ 
hitches known only to sailors and vaqueros, 
tied them together, hugging the tree, at the same 
time leaving plenty of space between the tree 
and her body, so that she could describe as 
many circles around the tree by springing and 
walking around it with her forelegs as she 
chose, but could not reach the riata on her feet. 
Navarro now took all the other riatas off, 
and cutting the bale rope on the bear’s nose, 
left her as free as air, except as to her two hind 
feet. She availed herself of the opportunity to 
make up for long silence and enforced inaction. 
She screamed, kicked, bit, scolded and threat¬ 
ened, and we poked fun at her in several differ¬ 
ent languages until she lapsed into sullen silence, 
when we left her to solitary meditation and 
went back to the bait. 
Guero succeeded in catching a cub the first 
throw, and Chato and Ybarra helped tie it; 
the chambones or greenhorns were all busy 
with the other two; one of the cubs ran for the 
arroyo. I threw my riata, but having buck 
fever somewhat, the cub ran through the loop 
and kept his course. I whirled my horse and 
whacked him on the nose a couple of times 
with the hondo (rawhide lasso loop) which 
turned him back. By this time the big 
Missourian had gained courage and wanted to 
be in it, so about the time the cub was turned 
El Georchy was pretty close to him and coming 
head on at full speed. The cub probably think¬ 
ing that as Georchy had no riata here was his 
meat, immediately changed his tactics and 
charging the Bayo Coyote, caught about four 
pounds horse steak off the stifle, hanging on 
like a mortgage. 
You should have se.en the bay buck and 
squeal! Instead of standing the usual three 
bucks, as most gringos do (one up, one down, 
and the other to the ground), that gringo simply 
was great; you could not have slipped a piece 
WOLVERINE KILLED BY ROBERT WALCOTT IN LABRADOR. 
From Madison Grant’s “Notes on Adirondack Mammals.” 
Reproduced by permission of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission. 
