Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-02-20
eaIzzLY egARs N MANIropA.

Monstrous of Size, They sim Range the
Forests Bsul. In the Mountains.
Fifteen yeara ago" said George w,
Rae, n Manitoba pioneer "the grizzly
bear was 50 plentiful among the Manitoba
Rockies that the Hudson Bay company
annually secured many hundreds Of their
skins from The army Of hunters and tran
pers that bad It's range in TINT wild region.
but today this fierce and ponderous beast
nowhere 30 fierce or OF such enormous
proportions as among the Manitoba fast
nesses-is quite q rarity IN its old haunts,
and doubt Il one can now be come upon
without a difficult aud tedious Journey Of
ut least 800 miles into the interior wilder
ness Of tho province. The grizzly has met
with almost as hard n fate Is the buTclo,
although from the nature and isolation Of
its present retreats, and the difficulties at
tendnnt on hunting and trapping It, the
grizzly bear, like the Manitoba moose,
will never become extinct In that country.
| believe that the moose, although the
flesh of z, 900 Of them is required to supply
the military stations in the territory alone
with fresh meat every year, is as plentiful
today in It's wild retreats rs 1t has been at
any time since the great inroads Of fur and
pelt hunters were begun in the territory
81 know no reason why the grizzly bear
of the Manitoba Rockies should grow so
much larger than the grizzly of the same
mountains In the States, but long and
varied experience In hunting these AMI
mails in their respective localities has prov
ed to me TINT such is the fact. No grizzly
bear that l ever captured, or that ever
knew to be captured south Of Manitoba,
measured more than n feet from muzzle
10 tail, or weighed more than 200 pounds.
But 1t was no uncommon thing In the
palmy days of grizzly bears in Manitoba
for the hunter or trapper TO DO confronted
by one OF these monsters o feet in length
and with bulk Of 800 pounds or more,
l have seon Manitoba grizzlies that, when
they threw themselves on their haunches
and rose erect, lowered five and six feet
above me, and | want to tell you that it
takes man with largequantity and the
best quality of nerve to stand in that ire
mendous presence and prepare TO DO bat
tic coolly and with level head. Grizzly
bears like all tho rest Of the bear family,
have the curious habit Of rising against a
tree, and reaching up as far as they can
with their forepaHs, making marks in the
bark by digging it with their claws.
have more than once come ncross these
marks on the bark are called, IL feet above
the ground. Imagine coming suddenly
upon a beast like that in some deep ra-
vino or isolated spot almost impossible,
owing to the down timber heaped and tan
gled 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 ut you from the enor'
nous head that towers so far above you,
Is something only to be appreciated when
once seen.
HWhen there were buiraloes on the
plains, Manitoba grizzly bears were keen
and persistent hunters OF them. When n
| grizzly and buffalo met, there was sure
| TO be n fearful contest. although 1t seldom
| lasted long, and the buffalo was usually
| the victim The buffalo bull, when con
| fronted by bear, would invariably charge
| ferociously upon It's big and ugly foe.
| This was lust whit the bear desired, and
he waited. erect on his hnuncheh the on
set of the buffalo. As the latter rushed
forward. with lowered head, and was al
most upon the bear, the immense grizzly
threw himself quickly to one side, and
with a blow as quick as lightning with
one OF his great forepaws seldom lailed 70
break his antagonists neck. A Manitoba
grizzly has been known to engage, in rap
id succession, four and even five infuriat,
ed buffalo bulls and kill every one oil
them. Il sometimes happened, though
that n bull, younger and more agile than
his companions, succeeded in eyading the
fatal blow OF the grizzlys terrible paw
long enough to give In turn dea1Iy
thrust of his horn into the bear siae'
puncturing the vitalsand making the con
test n mutual slaughter,
an central characteristics Of course the
Manitoba grizzly is not in any way differ.
emit from Others OF tho family, While
believe that grizzly bear will sometimes
wait and precipitate fight with man,
and tnke pains TO put himself in the way
of one. in the great majority OF cases nc
win take a second thought about the mat
Ter and hack out. n-Kansas City inns