The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-09-14

the Manitoba Rockies that the Hudson
Bay company annually secured many
hundreds of their skins from the army
of hunters and trappers that had its
range in that wild region. But to-day
this fierce and ponderous beast-no-
where Sc fierce or of such enormous
proportions as among the Manitoba
fastnesses-is quite o rarity in its old
haunts, and doubt if one can now be
come upon without a difficult and
tedious journey of at least three hun
dred miles into the interior wilderness
of the province. The grizzly has met
with almost as hard a fate as the buffa-
10, although, from the nature and isola-
ton of its present retreats and the
difficulties attendant on hunting and
trapping for it, the grizzly bear, like
the Manitoba moose, will never be-
come extinct in that country.
know no reason why the grizzly
bear of the Manitoba Rockies should
grow 50 much larger than the grizzly of
the G ne mountains in the states, but n
long and varied experience in hunting
these animals in their respective To-
calities has proved to me that such is
the fact. No grizzly bear that 1 ever
captured, or that 1 ever knew to be
captured south of Manitoba measured
more than seven feet and n half from
muzzle to tail or weighed more than
twelve hundreds pounds. But it was
no uncommon thing in the palmy days
of grizzly bears IN Manitoba for the
hunter or trapper to be confronted by
one of these monsters nine feet in
length and with bulk of fifteen hun
dred pounds or more. l have seen
Manitoba grizzlies that, when they
threw themselves on their launches
and rose erect, lowered five and six
feet above me, and want to tell you
that it takes man with large guam
tity and the best quality of nerve to
stand in that tremendous presence and
prepare to do battle coolly and with a
level head. Grizzly BEARS like all the
rest of the bear family, have the curious
habit of rising against tree, and,
reaching up as far as they can with
their forepaws, making marks in the
bark by digging in with their claws. 1
have more than once come across these
measuring marks of grizzly, as the
marks on the bark are called, twelve
feet above the ground. Imagine COM
ing suddenly upon a beast like that in
some deep ravine or isolated spot al
most impossible owing to the down
timber heaped and tangled on the
ground and surrounded by rocks and
thick underbrush. The sight of his
great jaws, open and red, and his eyes
flashing in fury at you from the enor-
nous head that towers so far above
you, is something only to be appre-
ciated when once seen.
When there were buffaloes on the
plains Manitoba grizzly bears were
keen and persistent hunters of them.
When a grizzly and buffalo met there
was sure to be fearful contest, al
though it seldom lasted long, and the
buffalo was usually the victim. The
buffalo bull when confronted by bear
would invariably charge ferociously
upon its big and ugly foe. This was
just what the bear desired and he
waited erect on his launches the onset
of the buffalo. As the latter rushed
forward with lowered head and was
almost upon the bear, the immense
grizzly threw himself quickly to one
side and with a blow as quick as light
ming with one of his great forepaws
seldom failed to break his antagonists
neck. A Manitoba grizzly has been
known to engage in rapid succession,
four and even five infuriated buffalo
bulls, and kill every one of them. 1t
sometimes happened though that a bull
younger and more agile than his com
panion succeeded in evading the fatal
blow of the grizzly's terrible paw long
enough to give in turn a deadly thrust
of his horn into the bears side, pune
turing the vitals, and making the con-
test mutual slaughter.
In general characteristics, of course,
the Manitoba grizzly is not in any way
different from others of the family.
While believe that grizzly bear will
sometimes wait and precipitate fight
with a man, and take pains to put him
self in the way of one, in the great ma
jority of cases he will take second
thought about the matter and back
out. queer instance of this disp PSI
tion came to my knowledge once where
famous Manitoba guide courageously
advanced upon three grizzlies, an old
she one and two half-grown cubs, and,
by series of ridiculous monkey shines
and acrobatic maneuvers within a rod
or two of the threatening bears, filed
them with such astonishment and ap-
parent fear that they retreated to the
woods as fast as they could go.
The hunters gun had snapped in
both barrels, he having drawn on the
old bear before the young ones came
upon the scene. 1t was in a fit of
desperation that he tried the turning
of a handspring and jumping up and
down, clapping his hands and resorting
to other unhunterlil1e measures. He
had been told once that a hunter had
frightened a mountain lion away by
similar absurd movements, and he
found that it worked to perfection in
the case of the three grizzly bears, but
he never, even in the face of that, fact,
advised or encouraged anyone to go
hunting Manitoba or any other kind of
grizzlies armed with nothing more