428 
FOREST AND STREAM 
SEPTEMBER , 1917 
BRINGING HOME A GRIZZLY 
HOW THE VAQUEROS OF THE BORDER BROUGHT 
HOME A FIGHTING FULL GROWN GRIZZLY 
Bv HANCOCK M. JOHNSTON 
(1 his story is a continuation of ‘The Bear Hunt at San Pascual,” published 
in the August issue of Forest and Stream, in which was related the roping 
and tying of a grizzly and her cubs.) 
AMERICAN 
GAME BIRD 
SHOOTING 
By George Bird Grinnell 
This large and profusely illus¬ 
trated volume covers the whole 
field of upland shooting in Amer¬ 
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lowed by the upland shooter 
with dog and gun, and gives prac¬ 
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about the woodcock, the snipe, all 
the North American quail, grouse 
and wild turkeys. This is its , 
scheme: 
Part I—Life histories of upland 
game birds; many portraits. 
Part II—Upland shooting, and 
also guns, loads, dogs, clothing. 
Part III—Shooting of the fu¬ 
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There are life-like colored plates 
of the ruffed grouse and quail, and 
48 other full-page plates, with 
many line cuts in the text. 
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Illustrated, cloth. About 575 pages. 
Price, $3.50 net; postage, 25c. 
For Sale by 
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9 East 40th Street NEW YORK 
S O we went home, and after a delight¬ 
fully hot breakfast, selected fresh 
horses, this time with reference to 
strength and education among mad bulls 
and steers. We took with us also a large 
beef’s hide. 
When we got back we found one cub 
dead; Don Jose said from anger. I thought 
from being tied too tightly; otherwise 
everything was as we left it, so we went 
to visit the old bear, to see if her temper 
had been improved; but we found her still 
in hysterics; she had dug holes all around 
the tree until it was almost uprooted, and 
all we could see was a part of her hind legs 
tied around the tree. 
“Now,” said El Burrero, “what figure 
does that beef’s hide cut? Are you going 
to feed it to her?” 
“You’ll see,” replied Don Jose. Measur¬ 
ing more or less the length between Mrs. 
Oso’s front and hind legs when stretched 
at full length and width between, he made 
like measurements on the beef’s hide and 
cut holes about an inch and a half in di¬ 
ameter at each point; the forelegs of the 
bear were then pulled taut with riatas 
wrapped with sheep skin, wool side in and 
the strongest and thickest riatas in the out¬ 
fit wrapped and half-hitched around each 
leg, the hind legs being treated the same. 
The bear was pulled out from the tree by 
the fore feet; the hide was stretched in 
front of her and the rumps of the hide 
slipped under the fore feet; the ends of 
the riatas were passed through the holes 
made about the forearms of the steer’s 
hide and she was dragged up on the hide 
until the riata drawing through the holes 
pinned her feet close to the hide. The 
riatas on her hind feet were passed 
through the holes made in the gaskins of 
the hide and tightened, fastening the hind 
feet to the hide. She now presented the 
appearance of being pinned to a card like 
a bug for a specimen. 
The gringos looked on open-mouthed 
and gussing from time to time. “Well, I 
thought I knew it all before, but I didn’t.” 
Sure, was the burrero’s comment. 
By this time a fifth riata was attached 
to the head of the beef’s hide. Three 
vanqueros now took the forward riatas, 
and two, the ones attached to the hind 
feet, taking a turn on their pommels and 
pulling all together, Mrs. Oso slid over 
the grass on her rawhide sled as slick as a 
toboggan; the rear vaqueros keeping just 
enough tension to hold the bear flat on her 
stomach. The gringos took off their hats 
and yelled with delight. We left the five 
men hauling Mrs. Oso back to the ranch 
house, and turned our attention to the 
two remaining cubs. 
First, their mouths were tied with bale 
rope and the whole body enveloped in a 
horse blanket (to prevent fright of 
horses), leaving a breathing hole at the 
head. Four men put each on a horse, 
one man lead the horse, and one walked 
on one side holding on to the blanket 
to steady the cub. In this way they were 
taken to the house very comfortably. 
At night, .seated in the corridor in the 
cool breezes coming up from the arroyo 
from the ocean, El Burrero said, “Don 
Jose, they told me you caught and tied 
seven bears alone at Chino, and that such 
a thing was not uncommon among the 
Californians, even Romulo, an eighteen- 
year-old son of Don Andres Pico, doing 
the trick alone; but I put them down as 
Californy lies, and didn’t take the trouble 
to ask you how it was done; but since I 
have seen four bears tied up like shoats 
by you fellows, I am going to ask you 
to tell me how one man surrounds a bear 
all alone. If you tell it straight, I will 
believe it; but I think it will stump you 
before you get him backed up to a tree.” 
“Diablo, viejo! a vaquerito del-pais can 
do the work for me, because I frequently 
send one to kill and butcher a steer alone, 
and Carrai! if he can’t do one, he can’t 
do the other, because it is almost equally 
dangerous and takes about the same nerve. 
Anyhow, a man who is a coward has no 
business being a vaquero, which requires 
plenty of courage whether you are break¬ 
ing a colt or throwing a cape at a bull 
or gathering up a riata at full speed. 
“Well, I will tell you of my last bear 
which I was not hunting, as I had lost 
none that day and was only looking over 
the different bunches of cattle, to jude their 
condition. In going through some thick 
willows that grow in the big swamp at 
Chino, I felt my horse stagger and heard 
such a slap that I knew instantly that a 
bear had intended to slap my face as a 
surprise, but had missed me and struck 
my horse on the rump, so instantly I put 
spurs and went flying out of the willows 
to the open grass beyond, meantime trail¬ 
ing my riata which had hung' loosely 
coiled on the horn—our custom when on 
the range—and prepared my lasso. 
“The bear was full charge behind me, 
and with his mouth wide open. I took in 
the situation and slowed down, letting him 
come within about ten feet, circling until 
I was pretty close to a lone, curly willow, 
slid the horse on his haunches a little to 
one side, and as the bear came up, caught 
him by one hind leg; quick as thought I 
tightened the riata, running around the 
tree and drawing Mr. Oso close up to it. 
He had fallen and rolling over, was biting 
at the rope on his leg. I rode around the 
tree four or five times encircling it tight 
with the riata and tied the end to an out¬ 
side limb. 
Mr. Oso never thought to follow me at 
each turn, so I tied the hind foot to the 
