416 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 12, 1910. 
will fight to the death in behalf of her cubs, 
yet many instances are recorded where fe¬ 
male grizzly bears accompanied by cubs have 
run away without any attempt to defend the 
cubs. A case of that kind came under my ob¬ 
servation many years ago, but in that case it 
should be said that the cubs were yearlings. 
Most outdoor men believe the black bear to 
be as timid as it is shy. Its very acute nose 
and ears warn it of danger, and for that rea¬ 
son it is seldom seen. One hears, to be sure, 
that a black bear will fight for her cubs, and 
the recently printed article “Concerning Black 
Bears” clearly implies this. It may very well 
be that occasionally a female black bear will 
be found with sufficient courage actually to 
fight for her cub. Usually, however, they at¬ 
tempt to frighten away the enemy, and as I 
believe confine themselves to putting up a 
great “bluff.” If this bluff is called, that is 
the end of the matter. If I recollect aright 
Nessmuk many years, ago told a story of 
stumbling upon a tiny bear cub and being 
charged by its mother. She threatened and 
looked tremendously fierce until she came 
within fifteen or twenty feet of him, but she 
did not venture nearer than that. 
However, I have a living witness who has 
told me the story of the capture of two black 
bear cubs and the actions of the mother. 
Captain George S. Anderson—now Colonel 
Anderson of the General Staff—at that time 
superintendent of the Yellowstone National 
Park, was driving through the park in a four- 
mule ambulance, and at a point about one 
mile west of the lake hotel on the road to 
the Thumb, his team drove close to an old 
black bear and her two cubs. The mother bear 
was catching trout for her young out of one 
of the very small streams that run into the 
lake. The fish were running up the stream to 
spawn and the water being low, were held in 
pools and the old bear scooped them out, pounced 
on them and gave them to the young ones. The 
old bear had not yet seen the wagon. 
Captain Anderson told the driver to stop, 
and that they would catch these cubs. He asked 
the driver if he had anything in which the cubs 
could be put, and the driver replied that he had 
a grain sack emptied of oats that morning. 
When the ambulance stopped, Captain Ander¬ 
son sprang out and ran after the old bear, 
while the driver tied up his mules. The old 
bear kept fifty yards or more ahead of her 
pursuer, but soon both cubs climbed a pine 
tree with many limbs—and not tall. By this 
time the driver had come up, and gave Cap¬ 
tain Anderson a sack in which to put the cubs. 
Then the driver climbed the tree and threw 
the cubs down, while Captain Anderson gath¬ 
ered them up and put them in the sack. 
Meantime the old bear, her tongue hanging 
out, white teeth glistening, and hair all turned 
the wrong way, charged on Captain Anderson 
as if to make only one mouthful of him, but 
by the time she had come within twenty-five 
or thirty feet, her advance became more de¬ 
liberate, and then she stopped. While Cap¬ 
tain Anderson was putting the cubs in the 
sack, the old bear, champing her jaws, would 
charge up closer, perhaps within twenty feet. 
Captain Anderson had picked up a stick, and 
when the old bear rushed toward him, he 
started toward her, and when he did so she 
always ran away, to return again, as the pur¬ 
suit ceased. After the cubs had been secured 
and the men had got into the wagon, as they 
drove off with the cubs, the mother stood in 
the road and watched them as far as they 
could see her. 
Captain Anderson had the cubs brought up on 
a bottle, and lat£r sent them to the Washington 
Zoological Park. 
I am disposed to think that the black bear, 
which gave so much uneasiness to the author 
of the paper “Concerning Black Bears,” was 
bluffing. On this occasion she succeeded in 
making her bluff good. Of course, when she 
had done it once with these two people, she 
felt that she could do it many times. 
One can never say absolutely what an ani¬ 
mal will do under a given set of circumstances, 
but my personal feeling is that if I were to 
spend the next ten years of my life in the 
woods or in the mountains, with the constant 
possibility of seeing black bears, there would 
be much more danger of my being struck by 
lightning in that time than of being injured 
by a black bear—unless by chance I fell out 
of a tree on to a black bear’s back or stumbled 
over one asleep on the ground. Yet here again 
is a case of generalizing only from what I 
have seen and heard; for some of us will re¬ 
member the story told in Forest and Stream 
a few years ago by Mr. Mclllree, of how a 
black bear came out of the woods and killed 
a man without the slightest known provoca¬ 
tion. G. B. G. 
Roped Big Wolf. 
Cheyenne, Wyo., Feb. 22.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: C. E. Goyen, the foreman of former 
Senator J. M. Carey’s Horse Creek ranch, is in 
the city with the hide of one of the largest gray 
wolves seen in this neighborhood for years. 
This wolf, which has been running with two 
large dogs in the Horse Creek Valley for some 
weeks, is the second known case of dogs going 
wild and killing stock with wolves in this neigh¬ 
borhood. 
For several weeks Horse Creek ranchmen have 
been trying to kill a large she wolf and two dogs 
which have been traveling through that country 
killing stock and causing other depredations 
about the ranches. One of the dogs formerly 
belonged to Mr. Britton, and he captured the 
animal at one time after it went wild, but mem¬ 
bers of his family dissuaded him from shooting 
it. Other ranchmen have since vainly.tried to 
shoot or poison the dogs. The domesticated 
wisdom of the dogs and the ferocity of the big 
wolf made a hard combination for the ranch¬ 
men to overcome. 
Yesterday foreman Goyen located the destruc¬ 
tive trio on the prairie, and being mounted on 
a swift horse, gave chase, and after a hard ride 
of about ten miles he succeeded in running them 
down and roping the wolf. He could have shot 
the wolf, but knowing that the dogs would fol¬ 
low her, he decided to lead her to the ranch 
where all three could be killed. With the rope 
well fastened about the wolf’s body he pulled 
her into the ranch and the dogs followed. All 
three were then shot. 
Wolves have been killing stock in the Horse 
Creek Valley, but the dog trio was the worst 
of any bunch, and ranchmen rejoice over their 
extermination. This same trio have even threat¬ 
ened people when unarmed, and are said to have 
followed Mrs. Nimmo for several miles a few 
weeks ago when she was coming into Cheyenne. 
A similar instance of where a wolf has joined 
wild dogs in attacks on stock occurred in the 
same district a few years ago, the wolf finally 
being caught by a trapper at Adamson’s ranch. 
This is the fourth wolf which has been roped 
in that part of Laramie county this winter, and 
the second which Charles Goyen has captured in 
this manner. Neil Clark recently roped one and 
Nick Mahar roped one after a chase of about 
twenty miles, there being four in the bunch. 
The Britton dog when killed still had a bell 
upon it which the owner is said to have placed 
there to find out if the dog was doing any dam¬ 
age when away from the ranch, and other ranch¬ 
men say they have heard the sound of this bell 
when stock was being killed. 
W. A. Bartlett. 
New York Legislature. 
Albany, N. Y., March 7.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Assembly has advanced to third 
reading the bill of Assemblyman Vosburgh rela¬ 
tive to the protection of fish and game in pri¬ 
vate parks. 
The Assembly has advanced to third reading 
the bill of Assemblyman Howard, providing that 
hunting licenses issued to resident citizens shall 
be good for three years. 
The Assembly forest, fish and game commit¬ 
tee has reported favorably the bill of As¬ 
semblyman S. C. Clark, empowering the State 
commissioner on the request of a majority of 
the town board of a town to prohibit or regu¬ 
late the taking of birds or game on lands set 
aside with the consent of the owner as birds 
and game refuges for a period of not to exceed 
ten years. 
BILLS INTRODUCED. 
By Senator Schlosser — Amending generally 
the forest, fish and game law. 
By Senator Hinman—Relating to certain fish 
in Cayuga, Wayne, Sullivan and Delaware coun¬ 
ties. 
By Assemblyman S. C. Clark—Relating to 
fishing in Otsego Lake. 
By Assemblyman Merritt — Authorizing the 
forest, fish and game commissioner to bring in 
the name of the people of the State any action 
or proceeding which an owner of land would 
be entitled to bring to perfect the State’s title 
or record title to lands in the forest preserve, 
and any other action with respect to such lands 
which an owner would be entitled to bring. 
By Assemblyman Keller, of Niagara—Relat¬ 
ing to hares and rabbits in Niagara county. 
By Assemblyman Shea, of Essex—Relating to 
surveys in the forest preserve. 
By Senator Coates, of Franklin.—Concurrent 
resolution proposing an amendment to the con¬ 
stitution in relation to lands in the forest pre¬ 
serve. The same bill was introduced in the As¬ 
sembly. 
By Senator Hamilton, of Chautauqua.—Relat¬ 
ing to whitefish. 
By Senator Rose.—Permitting the taking of 
suckers by hooking through the ice in Sullivan 
county. 
By Senator Mackenzie, relating to game in 
Niagara county. 
