The National tribune., 1889-04-25
AMERICAN BEARS.
Hunting the Black and Grizzly lords of the Fol-

Hunting the Black and Grizzly lords of the Forest
Hdrper'S NagdzineI
In Western America there are two bears that
claim the sportsman's attention-the grizzly
and the black. The former, hunters have en-
dowed 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 per-
suade the hunters of different sections that the
"silver-tip," cinnamon" "brown," bald
face" and range" 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 griz-
Fly 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 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 a swinging gall0p rush upon the hunter.
They usually receive their death wound with
out demonstration, sinking down and dying
famous Eastern sportsmen are those that have
first been trapped. They are killed when in
this crippled condition, after dragging often
for miles a large steel trap with a 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 any
where in the mountain ranges but since their
destruction has been compassed by batting and
traps they have become shy, and difficult to
approach near enough for a 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 q
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, a 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 mountains of Idaho and
Wyoming some in Southern California, scat
| tered 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 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, how
ever, and is especially abundant in the tim
bered 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 griz-
lilies, 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 animals to
hunt and kill in sportsmanlike way.