The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-12-23

The Cheyenne Leader, in the course
of a long account of Gen. Crooks fa-
nous October hunt among the hills of
Wyoming, mentions this interesting
incident:
Our party had been somewhat de-
pleted by the departure of Webb Hayes
and Mr.. Austin, whom other arrange
ments bad summoned back to Ohio.
| Yet we felt that our mission was not
val we had council of war on the
subject of bear Undoubtedly the ul-
innate success of the bear hunt was
due to the sagacity of Gen. Crook, and
he summoned up the result of one
council and the sentiments Of the
party by saying facetiously: "We'll
have bar if we have to ride mule
to Rock creek" On the morning of
the 7th, therefore, accompanied by
some of the packers, our party pro-
ceeded to the summit of the mountain,
where lay the carcass of an elk killed
short time previous, but which had
not yet been taken to the camp. AL
though quite early in the morning,
we found in the vicinity of this car
cass the trail of no less than ten or
twelve bears which showed that they
had been there within a few hours
Gen. Crook took up trail after few
moments with the remark: "Ths is
about my size" (The bear would
have needed elevens, army size.i Fol-
lowed by a couple of packers, to whom
the general had usually given plenty
of employment, he started on the trail
at a rapid gait. Mr.. Collins and your
correspondent took up another trail,
and Major Lord and a packer named
Ieoulle another. When the party
again assembled together at the camp
at night it was found, to the surprise
of all, that four grizzlies had been
killed by the party, Gen. Crook kill
ing one, the largest, at the imminent
risk of his life, while Major Lord and
Mr.. Yeoulle had killed an old she bear
and two cubs; the latter undertaking
having been 10Y 40 means a holiday
task. Gen. Crook was asked to tell
the story of his capture, but did it with
so little detail that prefer to give the
packers account. After an hours
pursuit of the trail, which rapidly
grew fresher, Gen. Crook, who was i'm
the lead, approached dense thicket,
and closely scrutinizing it and the
ground around it, remarked, "He is
here" The general then stationed
the packers on commanding points in
the vicinity, and waited for the bear
to come out; but at last his patience
being exhausted, he remarked to the
men: "iou keep your eyes peeled and
see that he don't get away, and I'll go
in and bring him out" With this he
started for the thicket. Just as he was
on the point of entering it a giant
grizzly, weighing, it was afterwards
found, between four hundred and five
hundred poupds, raised upon his
launches scarcely twenty feet away,
with his ears forward, his mouth wide
open, and with an eXasperated ''wuh"'
showed that he was ready to dispute
the generals progress. "A man twenty
feet away from a grizzly bear has not
much time to consider what it is best
to do; but the general was quick to
decide that his safety depended en-
tirely on his aim, and with the utmost
deliberatiOn he drew a bead on the
bear, aiming at the neck, determining
if possible to break it. The ball missed
the mark by about an inch, entering
the grizzly's mouth and pa SIS ing
through the neck, killing him in
stantly. The results of the hunt as a
whole are best summed up by the fol-
lowing "bag of game" much of which
was brought through to Omaha and
points beyond: Four bears, eighteen
buck elk. with magnificent antlers,
sixteen mule deer, ten antelope, and
grouse and sage hens without number.
With regard to the marvellous abun-
dance of the game, the veteran sports
man of the party has but one theory.
which was that the elk and deer had
been driven from other localities by
trappers and hunters, ana that our
party had chanced by the merest ac-
cident to strike locality hitherto
unvisited, and to which these animals
had retreated from the plains in vast
numbers.