West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-07-10

disadvantage; for the sport is franght
with some danger and but small profit.
The bears thus seemed 10 have very
little fear of harm, and we thought IL
far from unlikely that the bed of the
one who had fed on the elk would not
be far away.
My companion was a skillful trucker.
and we took up the trail at once. For
some distance IL led over the soft. Weld
ing carpet of moss and pine-needles,
and the footprints were quite easily
made out, although we could follow
them but slowly; for we had, of course.
to keep a sharp lookout ahead and
around us as we walked noiselessly on
IN the somber hall. light always prevail.
ing under the great pine trees, through
whose thickly interlaciDg branches stray
but few beams of light, no matter how
bright the sun may be side. We
made no sound ourselves, and every
little sudden noise sent a thrill through
me as i peered about with each sense
on the alert Two or three of the
ravens which we had scared from tho
carcass flew overhead, croaking hoarse-
ly; and the pine tops moaned and
sighed i'm the light breeze-for pine
trees seem to be ever i'm motion. no
matter how light the wind
After going a few hundred wards the
tracks turned off on a well beaten path
made by the elk; the woods were in
many places cut up by these game
trails, which had often become as dis
tinct as ordinary foot-paths. The
beasts footprints were perfectly plain
in the dust, and he had numbered along
up the path until near the middle of the
hillside, where the ground broke away
! and there were hollows and powders.
Here there had been windfall, and the
dead trees lay among the living. piled
across one another in all directions;
while between and around them
| sprouted up thick growth of young
| spruce and other evergrecns. The trail
turned off into the tangled thicket
within which it was almost certain wo
would find our quarry. We could still
follow the tracks, by the slight scrapes
OF the claws on the bark or by the
bent and broken twigs and we advanced
| with noiseless caution, slowly
climbing over the dead tree-trunks and
! upturned stumps, and not letting
branch rustic or catch on our clothes
When in the middle of the thicket we
crossed what was almost a bfeastwork
OF fallen logs, and Mortified, who was
leading, passed by the upright stem of a
great pine. AS soon rs he was by il he
sank suddenly on one knee, turninl
half round, his face fairly ahame with
excitement, and as | strobe past him,
with my rifle at the ready, there, not
ten steps OIL was the great bear, slow
ly rising from his bed among the young
spruces. He had heard us, but appar-
emily hardly knew exactly where or
what we were, for he reared up on his
launches sideways to us. Then he saw
us and dropped down again on all fours,
the shaggy hair on his neck and shout
ders seeming to bristle as he turned
toward us. AS he sank down on his
fore-feet l had raised the rifle; his head
was bent slightly down, and when saw
the top of the white bead fairly between
his small, glittering, evil eyes, pulled
the trigger Half rising up, the huge
beast fell over on his side i'm the death
throes, the ball having gone into its
brain, striking as fairly between the
eyes as if the distance had been meas.
ured by carpenters rule
The whole thing was over in twenty
seconds from the time caught sight of
the game; indeed, it was over so quick
~ that the grizzly did not have time to
show fight at all or come a step toward
us. 1t was the first / had ever seen,
and felt not little proud as | stood
over the great brindled bulk, which Law
stretched ont at length in the cool
shade of the evergreens He was a
monstrous fellow, much larger than
any have seen since, whether alive or
brought in dead by the hunters. AS
near as we could estimate Cfor of
course, we had nothing with which to
weigh more than very small portions).
he must have weighed about twelve
hundred pounds; and though this is not
As large MS some of his kind are said to
grow in California, il is yet a very un-
usual size for bear He was a good
deal heavier than any of our horses;
and it was with the greatest difficulty
that we were able to skin him. He
must have been very old, his teeth and
claws being all worn down and blunted
but nevertheless he had been living i'm
plenty, for he was as fat as prize hog,
the layers on his back being n fingers
length in thickness He was still i'm tho
summer coat his hair being short, and
in color curious brindled brown.
somewhat like that of certain bulldogs;
while all the bears we shot afterwards
hhN INC ivuH bnlCk winter Iuf, emma
mon or yellowish brown. BY the way.
the name OF this bear has reference to
its character, and not to its color, and
should, / suppose, be properly spelled
grisly-in the sense OF horrible. exactly
as we speak of "grisly specter" and
not grizzly; but perhaps the latter way
OF spelling it is too well established to
be now changed.
In killing dangerous game steadiness
is more needed than good shooting No
game is dangerous unless aman is close
up, for nowadays hardly any wild beast
will charge from a distance Of hum
dred yards but will rather try TO run
of, and If a man is close IL is easy
enough for him TO shoot straight II he
does not lose his head. a bear brain
IS about the 81 Of a pint bottle: and
any one can hit pint bottle on-hand AT
thirty or forty feet / have had two
shots at bears 8t close quarters. and
each time ] fired into the brain. the bull
let in one case striking fairly between
the eyes, as told above. and i'm the other
going I'm between the eve and ear A
novice at this kind OF sport will find
1t best and safest 10 keep i'm mind tho
old Morse vikings advice i'm reference
10 % long sword IF you 90 I'm close
enough, your sword VIII be long
enough II poor shot goes in close
enough, he will find that he shoots
straight enough.