Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1894-09-08
HARD TO KILL A GRIZZLY
ne Can DO Plenty Of Damage when He
Ia "Nominaliy Dead

ne Can DO Plenty Of Damage when He
Ia "Nominaliy Dead"
Personally l have more respect for
His Majesty, the Grizzly Bear, than
for any other animal ever trailed,
the tiger not excepted, writes w. r.
IlOrnaday In an article on the bears
Of North America in st. Nicholas. 1t
Is quite true that many an able.
bodied Grizzly Is caught mapping and
killed dead easy" US the base. bail
Language says but SO are big tigers
also, for that matter In fact, I
know OF one large tiger Weighing
within five pounds Of 200, who was
promptly laid low by two bullets
from O mere pop.gun of q rifle, and
there was no fuss about 1t, either.
1t Is easy enough to kill q Grizzly
at u good safe distance Of a hundred
yards or so. which allows the hunter
to fire from three to six shots by the
time the teeth and claws get danger.
ously near but to attack a fully
grown and wide.awake Ursus horri.
bills In brushy ground ut twenty or
thirty yards distance Is no child's
play. As an old hunter once quaint
~ expressed 1t to me. "a Grizzly
Bar'll git up an come at ye with
blood In his eye after he's nominally
dead: The point OF IL Is, this bear
Is SO big, and SO cnvelopcd In long,
shaggy hair, his head Is so wedge.
like, his strength and tcnacity Of life
50 great, and his rage when wounded
SO furious that ut that short range
he Is hard To kill quickly, and kill 10
dead that he cannot get blow at
the hunter.
The strength in u Grizzly's arm Is
tremendous, ana when the blow
comes accompanied with claws five or
six inches long, like SO many hooks of
steel on q sledSe. hammer, IL tears to
shreds what IL fails to crush. There
are many authentic Instances on
record OF hunters una trappers who
have been killed by Grizzly bears,
and l believe II could be proved that
this animal has killed more men than
all the other wild animals in North
America combined, excepting the
skunks and their rabies
In the days Of the early pioneers
the only rifles used were the muzzlc.
loading. hair.trivgcr squirrci.rifies Of
small caliber, and they were no match
for the burly Grizzly. either In speed
or strength. As a result BrLin had
the hest or Il, and in time brought
about u perfect re IN OF terror among
the frOntiersmcn who tresspassed
upon his domain. For my part I
certainly would not want to attack Q
bigGrizzly ut short range with my
fathers old Kentucky ri,e, OF 30 cali.
Ter, unless 1 had my will made, and
oil my earthly affairs In shape to DO
left for long rcriod. But with the
rise OF tho brcech. loader the tables
turned: and, like all other dangerous
animals the Grizzly soon found that
the odds were against him. TO 10
sure, he still kills his hunter now
and then, sometimes by one awful
stroke OF his paw, and sometimes bv
biting mis- victim to death. But no
has almost ceased to attack men
willfully and without cause, as he
once did. Unless nc IL wounded or
c0rnered. or thinks he Is cOrnered
and about To DO attacked, no will
generally run whenever no discovers
q man. But when he Is attacked,
and especially II wounded, he gets
mad clean through. Then he will
fight anything. even q circular saw,
SO II Is said, and give II i've turns
the start.