Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-06-20
GRIZZLY TRAPS.
PONDEROUS IRON CONTRlvANCES
USED BY BEAR HUNTERS.
A Grizzly Caught in Trap is an Ugly
Customer.


to New York Sun reporter. "The
traps are ponderous iron things weigh
ing forty or fifty pounds. The jaws
arc worked with springs so stiff that
1T takes two good strong men to set
them. To the trap long chain is
firmly secured, which is in turn fas-
tened to one end of a heavy piece of
timber by driving an iron ring on the
wood until it is six inches or so from
the end, so it cannot be pulled off.
This piece of timber serves as q him
drance to the bear when the trap is
sprung on his foot and he retreats to.
or tries to retreat to, his tangled
haunts.
"a great deal of cunning has to be
used in setting trap for grizzly,
for he is as suspicious as q fox, and
will frequently pass by tempting
morsel that has been used for bait for
a tap because he has made up his
mind that danger is lurking beneath
it. The grizzly never hcsitates to risk
danger that confronts him openly,
like hunter, dog or other enemy, but
a uspicious-looking object, the nature
of which he does not understand, will
quickly start him off about some other
business.
''lt seems strange to see great
bloodthirsty beast, weighing 1900 or
1900 pounds, hunting and devouring
such insignificant things as ground or
field mice and moles, and even grubs
end crickets, but grizzly will do that
all day long. 1t was his love for field
mice that led Old Clubfoot to his end
at last, and many fierce grizzly be-
fore him has been lured to ruin by the
same means, after defying for years
the efforts of hunters and trappers TO
run them down. Not long ago | was
in mining camp in Montana, and a
big grizzly had been prowling around
for some days, and was too smart for
us TO capture. One day | thought /
would try batting him with ground
mice. After long search / secured a
dozen of the little squeakers. Cover
ing my trap with dead branches,
tied half a dozen of the mice to pegs
driven in the ground, just behind the
trap. In less than an hour that smart
grizzly had succumbed to his passion
for field mice, and had one of his
great paws in my trap. He gave me a
chase of half mile, with the heavy
trap fast to him, but / got lead enough
into him at last to end the race.
1.-The men who make business of
trapping grizzlies set their traps miles
back in the great gloomy forests, where
the animals like to have their lairs
among the tangled fallen timbers,
over which no one can pass except on
foot, and then only with great diff
Guilty. To come upon an ugly grizzly
i'll such region, an animal weighing
as much as an OK and not only ready
but anxious for fight, is something
that means business to the hunter.
A grizzly bear will get out of trap
nine times out of ten if he is not over
taken within three hours after he is
caught. 1t is to lessen the danger of
this that the wooden clog is fastened
to the trap, and always with the chain
at one end of the stick. Thus it fol-
lows the bear endwise as he makes his
way, and clears Instructions that
would catch and hold it if it were
pulled along with the chain fastened
at the middle. A grizzly is nearly
always caught in the trap not far from
the tip end of one of his forepaws.
On being caught he rushes with all
the speed he can summon, and in
tremendous rage, for the nearest
swamp, which is never far away in
region where successful grizzly trap
ping is to be expected. The hold the
trap has on him is not one that will
withstand every resistance, and the
bears excrtions to get away are great
and persistent. He seems to know
that his life depends on ridding him
self of his incumbrance. AS he tears
onward through the forest he mows
great swaths III the underbrush. He
drags the trap against trees, logs and
rocks, and whenever it holds fast to
ihem for u few seconds he jerks and
tugs his imprisoned foot, trying 10
tear it loose. If the clog were tied in
the middle it would soon catch cross
wise between two trees, and then the
bear would tear loose with one or two