Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-04-29
The Destruction of the Grizzlies and
the Black Bears


The Destruction Of the Grizzlies and
the Black Bears.
In western America there are two
bears that claim the sportsman at
tention-the grizzly and the black.
The former, hunters have endowed
with many aliases, such ssilver-tip, )"
''brown, cinnamon" 'sbald- face, ;"
and Grange" bear. These names do
not mean anything. for the grizzly,
like the dog,is of many colors. These
two varieties of bears can, among
other things, be distinguished by the
formation of their claws. Those of
the grizzly are longer on the fore
than on the hind feet. The claws of
the black bear are short, and are of
the same length on all four feet. 1t
is difficult to persuade the hunters of
different sections that the 'ssilver-
tip "cinnamon," "brown," "bald-
| face" and Grange" bears are all from
the same ancestry, and that the same
animal is called by different names in
different localities. But while hunt
ers may vary in their nomenclature,
they one and all agree that the full
grown grizzly is the gamest animal
in the world, and one to be most
dreaded.
Never do these bears stand on
their hind legs and pursue the hunter
with terrible bowls and roars, as is
the orthodox way of describing their
conflicts with human beings in the
CHASTITY literature of the country.
When not hit in the brain or spine,
they put their head down, and with
swinging gallop rush upon the hunt
er. They usually receive their death
wound without demonstration, sink
ing down and dying mute. The ma
jority of grizzlies shot by our famous
Eastern sportsmen are those that
have first been trapped. They are
killed when in this crippled condition,
after dragging often for miles large
steel-trap with a huge trailing log at
tached.
The grizzly is found west of the
Missouri River, and very rarely, if
ever, east of it. They inhabit both
the plains and mountains. A dozen
years ago they could be seen almost
anywhere in the mountain ranges, but
since their destruction has been COM
passed by batting and traps they have
become shy, and difficult to approach
near enough for certain killing shot.
Bears are the most wary animals of
all the big game in America. They
go singly, and usually see the hunt
er before he catches a glimpse of
them. They then cunningly slip away
and are difficult to trail. At this
time they are fairly abundant in the
mountains of Montana, sure find
being in Crazy Women's Mountain,
north of the Northern Pacific Rail
road. There is also goodly number
of bears distributed over the noun
tains of Idaho and Wyoming, some
in southern California, scattered in
the Sierra Madres and on the june
ton waters of the Santa Maria River
in San Luis Obispo County. They
are also numerous in the Rocky
Mountains and Sierra Nevadas.
The black bear has a far wider
range than the grizzly, but in the
West it is confined mostly to the
mountains, and rarely comes out on
the prairies. 1t is we'll distributed,
however, and is especially abundant
in the timbered country, moving about
to where the mast and berries are
most plentiful. Black bears are very
numerous in northern Montana. On
the Pacific coast they outnumber the |
grizzlies, where both species feed on
the salmon. The destruction of the
grizzlies has been much greater than
that of the black. Bears, though |
still abundant, are very difficult ami
mails to hunt and kill in sportsman
like way.-Ha,per's Magazine.
In the use of Ayers sarsaparilla, you need have
no fear of arsenica poison, this medicine being
ti"ely free from all dangerous drugs. Its powerful
effects are due to the skilful combination of the