Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-03-05
Trapping q Grizzly.
From the Forest and Stream. !


(. Trapping grizzly has it's perils and
excitements also. The trap employed is
one of the double. spring pattern, with
steel jaws, and weighs complete thirty.
eight pounds. The springs are very
powerful, and have to be bent with le-
vers. It is quite an art to set and place
a trap cunnlngly, and trappers vary in
their methods and are chary of explain
ing them. I will then pass this branch
Of the subject. Let us suppose, there
fore, that the hunter has made his camp
in neighborhood redolent of grizzlies,
and that he has his traps set in q likely
place for bear. At the end of the trap
chain is a ring about five inches in
diameter, and this is driven about half q
foot over the head of heavy stick or log
five inches through and six or eight feet
long. The object of this "clog," as it is
called, is to make trail which can be
readily followed and to hamper the bear
sufficiently to prevent his going to q
great distance away before the hunter
can arrive. Great care must be taken
that the chain be fastened to the extreme
end of the clog in such~a way that it
cannot get across two trees, and so give
the brute chance to use his enormous
strength to tear himself loose. Neither
must the clog be too large and heavy, or
the same result will follow. 1t may be
accepted as maxim that grizzly
caught in such trap will eventually get
loose, and ordinarily in a few hours. He
is generally caught by the extremity Of
the fore-paws, just above the claws; the
hold on him is not very great; his exer-
tions to get away are tremendous, and
result in so cutting and lacerating the
foot that sooner or later he will tear out
of the trap altogether. Two grizzlies
that caught got away; one, who was
probably taken by the claws alone, leav-
ing some bairs only to tell the tale, the
other leaving small piece of his foot
behind as souvenir. Many had all but
torn themselves loose; in one case the foot
was almost cut through, and only a
small piece of skin the thickness of a
mans little finger remained to hold the
terribly infuriated monster to the much
detested clog.
The traps are set far back in dense
and gloomy forests near the tangled
swampe, where grizzlies like to make
their lair. The ground is covered with
fallen timber, and travel must be afoot,
and is slow and difficult. The bear, on
being caught, starts off on tremendous
rush for the swamp, which is close by.
Here he catches on rotten log for a
second, and plows path through wide
enough for cart; there he hangs on
two fallen trees fifty feet long, but he
hangs for an instant only, moves the
great trees to one side and rushes on.
Next he strikes against q tree, and in his
rage turns and eats the whole side out
of it, leaving the fresh white pine red
with bloodstaips from his gums. Now
he reaches the swamp, and plunges deep
balsams and poplals, absolutely chew
iog down saplinge, and even gnawing
them into lengths like stove. wood. All
this time he is slowly but surely tearing
his foot loose from the trap, and surely,
but not slowly, he is working himself
up into the most tremendous degree of
rage and fe1ocity. When you have thus
trapped l 1000 pound grizzly you have
not caught bear; you have simply
, caug int the devil incarnatel Indeed,
the question sometimes is whether you
have not given him first class opportu-
nifty to catch you! Now, let us see how
this is. The grizzly thus caught, and
thus worked up into the most formidable
ferocity, has to be followed up afoot,
first through dense forest, and then
carefully and laboriously into the heart
of tangled swamp, where one can not
see ten steps ahead, and where, if the
monster should suddenly rise directly in
front and charge, trap, clog and all, re.
treat would be absolutely impossible.
Add to this that at the time of the
hunters arrival the bear may have just
managed to break his chain, or may
have just finished eating up the clog
bodily, all of which things have happened
in my experience. He would then be
in beautiful state of frenzy, and would
be perfectly delighted to wipe out 9
hunter or two if only to quiet down bis
! norvoa