Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-05-30

museum over two weeks at a time.
Managers find that if kept longer
than this they hardly prove sources OF
oft.-Philadelphia Record.
GAME WORTH HUNTING.
The Destruction of tho Grizzlies and the
Black Bears.
In Western America there are two
bears that claim the sportsman's at
tention-the grizzly and the black.
The former hunters have endowed
with many aliases, such as ''silver-
tip" ''brown," cinnamon" '.bald-
face" and range" bear. These names
do not mean any thing, 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 ''silver-tip," ''cinna-
mon," ''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 hunters may
vary in their nomenclature, they one
and all agree that the full-grown
grizzly is the gamest animal in the
world, and the 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 or
thodox way of describing their con-
ficts 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 hunter. They
usually receive their death wound
without demonstration, sinking down
and dying mute. The majority OF
grizzlies shot by our famous Eastern
sportsmen are those that have, first
been trapped. They are killed when
in this crippled condition, after drag
ging often for miles large steel trap
with huge trailing log attached.
: 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 hunter
before he catches 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
Pacific railroad. There is
also a goodly number of bears distrib-
uted over the mountains of Idaho and
some in Southern Cali
fornia, scattered in the Sierra Madres
and on the junction waters of the
Santa Maria river in San Luis Obispo
County. They are also numerous in
the Rocky mountains and Sierra Ne
vadas.
The black bear has 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 well distributed. however, and is es-
pecially abundant in the timbered
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 etill |
are very difficult animals to
hunt and kill in q sportsmanlike way. |
Franklin Satterthwaite, in Harper's
Magazine.