The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-09-26
BUFFALO AND GRIZZLIES.
NOT YET EXTINCT IN THE wILus OF
IDAHO.
How They Are Killed by the Hunters
And How They Sometimes Kill
i'm Return.

-ONSh bhO oOiipUll OuNNoSb VI 0hO hOiu
never is so aggressive as q Texas steer,
and will always run rather than fight;
but when cornered during the love sea-
son he occasionally rips up horse and
stamps the life out of its rider. But for
all this he is not a cowardly brute at all,
when his enemies are other than human,
and will make stand against grizzly
bear, which would be given wide berth
by a white hunter, unless specially pre-
pared for him.
While hunting in the foothills of the
Salmon mountains, near the source of the
Boise river, short time since, l saw
meeting between a group of buffaloes and
grizzly, which verifies the above state
ment. l had taken a breech-loader,
charged with buckshot, into the bush,
thinking to knock over deer for break
fast. We had an abundance of buffalo
meat in the larder, but at its best even
buffalo-hump is coarse grained and rank,
and owes its reputation to the
sharp appetites of hunters rather than
to its own excellence. l have
yet to see the man who does
not yearn for antelope. steak after week
of "bufler" diet. The woods were, in
fact, nothing more than coppice, dense
and impenetrable as a Kentucky cane
brake, and, after half an hours scram-
bling, l was about to give up the chase,
when saw suspicious movement in
clump of manzanita bushes some rods
ahead. The movement continued, and
presently full grown grizzly bear
shanibled out into the open, and leisurely
made his way over rocks and dwarfed
shrubs toward plain skirting the river.
He had probably gorged himself with
the berries of the manZanita of which
bears are very fond, and was now making
for the Boise to wash them down with a
draught of its clear water | was taken
aback. Grizzlies are not common in this
country their favorite range being fur
Their south, until winter, when they come
north to hibernate, and, armed as | was
with shotgun alone, l would have
fallen an easy prey to ursus horribilus
had he got sight or wind of me. But
the wind was in my face, and he pres
emily had other fish to fry. A buffalo
COW, bull and calf, probably struggled off
from the herd to drink at the stream,
came up out of the fringe of bushes along
its bank, and met the bear face to face.
He charged then, with a hoarse, dis
syllable roar, sounding like ''gruff-gruff "
and the COW threw up her tail and fled,
leaving her calf to his tender mercies.
But the bull met the charge like vet
eran, with his head lowered, and his
short, sharp horns standing out of the
mass of black hair like couple of spear.
heads There was no preliminary spar
ring; they closed at once, the buffalo
conducting himself as a domestic bull
would do under like circumstances, re-
lying upon his head and horns, while the
bear threw himself forward with open
mouth, and buifcted the other on the
neck just forward of the hump, first with
the right paw, then with the left. When
it is remembered that the foot of grizzly
is often eighteen inches long, armed with
six-lnch claws, strong rs steel and sharp
as saber, 1t will not be matter of
wonder that these two blows ended the
fight, probably by breaking the victims
neck and tearing out a length of the
spinal cord. The buffalo went down at
once, and the believing calf scampered
after the cloud of dust which marked its
mothers flight.
In forty minutes was back to the
camp, 'Grizzly" l yelled, breaking in
on the boys, who were lying in various
attitudes about the breakfast spread on
the grass, and rushing to the tent |
snatched up my rifle and cartridge belt,
followed by every man in the camp,
from the doctor to "Half- breed Jim"
the cook.
you blame fool" said the doctor.
when matters were explained, from
the way you rushed in on us l thought
the grizzly was after you"
''Not so bad as that; but there is no
time to lose. Unless we hurry he may
lose himself in one of the CANYONS, and
then we can whistle for his hide and
claws"
The truth of the remark was ac-
knowledged, and leaving Jim to clear
away the remains of the breakfast, and
to look after the horses, we set off afoot
to the scene of the late battle A pool
of blood marked the place, and clear
track over rocks, dust and grass roots
showed that the grizzly had dragged
his prey back into the hills He could
not have dragged it far in the course of
couple of hours, hence we followed the
trail YEARLY, and were fully prepared for
business when we finally came upon the
quarry, ,crouched in a ravine and tearing
at the still warm carcass of the buff
falo.
He arose on his launches at sight of
us with a growl, and then clapped his
bloody paws over his chest. A conical
bullet from the doctors rifle had struck
him in the region of the heart 1t was
followed by three others in quick sue
cession; but, although the shooters were
dead shots, and the chest, which was
fairly presented to us, is vulnerable
palt the beast CHARGED us with furv II
is useless to run from a grizzly unless
trees are near, as his speed is such that
he can often outstrip a horse, and his
weight carries him through an under
growth which would be a barrier to
man. So we held our ground, eecting
shells and pushing home cartridges with
fingers which in the hurry OF the mo
ment, seemed all thumbs. According
to previous agreement, one of the party
had held his fire, and when bruin was
nnlV ~ de