The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-18

method, the first thing is to select your
country. The Rocky mountains seem de-
signed by nature as the covert for
the mighty game, They are not,
strictly speaking, mountain ranges, but
mountain peaks, separated from each other
by deep and rugged canyons. The aver
age peak towers about l4000 feet in
altitude, and consists everywhere of the
same elements; first, the bald, bold escarp-
ment OF rock forming the peak proper; then
the snow line, where the snow lies all sum
mer; below this is the black timber; still
farther down is the green "quaking asp,n
which opens out into the park or "the Open"
as 1t IS called. The canyons between the
mountains, or "the gulches," or "coulies, y
as they are variously called, are the
natural bed Of the snow-streams, which
gather on the peaks aud flow out into the
valley. Now this "black timber" and these
rocky canyons are the habitat of the bear.
He Is their natural guardian. This is the
kind OF country selected by the ambitious
spertsmeu, eager for the honor Of "killing
grizzly" In such places he will very
readily come upon "trails"-rocks over
turned. roots dug up. trees barked, and in
the soft ground the footprint of the big,
sharp claws. AS soon as he discovers these,
then he is in bruins territory and il is time,
seriously, to ask himself if he Is prepared for
q very serious encounter-the most serious
probably that he will ever have to undergo
Is his gun all right, so that it will
work easilys Are the cartridges free from
dust so as not TO "catch in
knife for close quartersl Above all, are his
nerves cool and steady2 II he is determined
to go ahead land the excitement carries
many man ahead who Ia cool moments
wonders how he ever got into such a posi-
tionl, then let him not follow the trail but,
to use the phrase, "kind Of hang around it,"
looking out for every Granny or dead tree
or thick timber, keeping well up on some
ledge of rock, sitting down by the hours
sometimes, and simply watching. To follow
the trail direct means that the grizzly will
see the hunter or scent him. and
make off before shot can be obtained,
for he Is the most cunning of
animals. ITO hang round 1t, ;" quietly wait
ing and watching on some good prominent
point of rock, generally means, if the signs
have been thick and numerous, that he will
come under the hunters observation before
the day Is over. And then battle, such as
these encounters are likely to be, had better
take place with the bear below you, 50 that
his charge will have to be uphill rather
than down. All these directions for "trail-
ing bearn have been very carefully form
ulated by Mr.. "Moccasin Bill,n the hero OF
the niBety-fve bear-scrapes mentioned
above. l presume they are all right.
but cannot speak from experience, as most
Of the experience gained by our outfit came
from the bear coming on us, and not our
coming On the bear We did do a little
batting" If the truth must be told. How
we were led into such giddy performance,
l can only explain on the theory that elk
were abundant, and we hated to waste the
rich and juicy tenderloin, and that the out
fit was III need of excitement. SO what
SO easy as to Cinch the elk carcass to the
pummel of the saddle and drag it to spot
where bear tracks were numerous, and then
toward sunset of a moonlight night
to go and watch with our
rhesl Then to go back the
second night and the third night, for bear
will tind an elk if within five miles of him.
And this, then, is what you call "bliting;"
to set the carcass of some dead animal in
some suitable place, and then TO watch it.
Deer meat is good, but elk is preferable.
We had long ride TO take, so we left camp
after dinner with full confidence. The ap-
pearance Of the two hunters resembled q
walking arsenal. English bulldog revolv-
ers were strapped around the waist, big
hunting knives we're stuck in the belts, and
Winchester repeating rifles were carried in
a gun pouch on the pummel of the saddle.
The trail was quickly taken up,
the quaking asp was pissed, then the
solemn and mysterious klack timber, in
dead silence, was entered in a style to re-
semble the burial of Sir Jonn Moore mot
a word was spoken, not drum was beat"
in the gloomy recesses of the forest the
horses were carefully hidden away, with
brides hanging down, ready for instant
mounting. With solemn step and bated
breath tue outfit stole TO the edge of the
timber, looked out on the rocky canyon; yes,
everything was all right, there lay the elk,
as tempting morsel as bruin could find
in all the country. 1t was but the work OF
a few - inutes 10 build hiding tepee; poles
were raised up against standing tree, in the
shape of an Indian wigwam; around them
were thrown bushes, and our point Of OBJ
servation and shelter was finished. 1t was
about 100 yards from the bait, and was de-
signed to shelter US from the observation of
the cunning animal so that couple of safe
shots could be taken before the real encoun-
ter began. Then came the hours OF weary
watching. The guns were examined and
their machinery made easy Dy the applica-
tion of a few drops Of that wonderful oil
contained In the legs of an elk; the
cartridges were taken out and busted
50 as TO slip into their places without
catching; knives and reyolvers were laid
down close at hand; everything was ar
ranged, but still the expec ed gnest came
not. There was a sudden cracking ia the
wolf was prowliHg around, but as soon as
VIC showed ourselves from under cover he
dashed of. Slowly the hours passed; the
sun sank behind the snow-capped noun
tains. then out Of the sky entirely; the
moon came out and flooded the silent and
somber landscape; the feast was
ready, but be for whom it had been
prepared came not at all. Weary OF waiting
we left our retreat and stole to the bait; IL
was turned over. dragged out Of place and
half consumed. Bruin had been there
already He had taken an early supper and
was gonei A day or two afterward, in
taking ''round up" to look after the va
rious bats he jumped up suddenly from be-
hind log, having come, doubtless, to finish
the carcass, and WAS killed. Thus "the
unexpected happened" and the carefully
prepared for" as often in life, went for
nothing. That was our last attempt at bait
ing. After that we let bruin alone unless he
chsnced to run across our path.
WHAT TYPICAL BEAR FIGHT IS.
But in order to snow what typical bear
fight is let us fall back on some one else's
experience, more extensive than our own.
Narratives like the following occur almost
daily in the Colorado papers: mo great
general ever returned victorious from the
field Of battle more proud than Mr.. -,
the real estate moQul who returned Yester-