The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1896-06-27
HARD TO KILL A GRIZZLY.
He Can Do Plenty of Damage When He
Is "Nominally Dead"

Personally l hnvc more respect for
His Majesty, the Grizzly Bear, than for
any other animal l ever trailed, the
tiger not excepted, writes w. L. Horn
aday in al article on the bears of North
America in ST. Nicholas. 1t is quite
true that many an ~ab.e-bodied Grizzly
is caught mapping and killed dead
easy" as the baseball language w
but so are big tigers also, for that mat
ter. In fact, ] Know of one large tiger
weighing within five pounds of five
hundred. who was promptly laid low
by two bullets from q mere pop-gun of
q rifle, and there was no fuss about it.
either.
1t is easy enough to kill a Grizzly Mt
u good safe distance of a hundred yards
or so, which allows the hunter to fire
from hree to six shots by the t:ne the
teet' and claws get dangerously near.
b, 20 attack a fully grown and vide
awake Ursus horri5ailtss in brushy ground
at twenty or thirty yards distance is no
chiid's play. AS an old hunter once
quantity expressed it 10 me, "a Grizzly
Bar III git up an come at We with blood
in his eye after he's nominally dead!"
The point of it is. this bear is SO big,
and SO enveloped in long, shaggy hair,
his head is SO wedge-like, his strength
and tenncity of life so great. and his
rage when wounded SO furious that at
that short range he is hard to kill
quickly, and kill so dead that he cannot
get q blow ut the hunter.
The strength in a Grizzly's arm is
tremendous, and when the blow comes
accompanied with claws five or six
inches long, like SO many hooks of steel
on a sledge-hammer, it tears to shreds
what it fails to crush. There are many
authentic instances on record of hunters
and trnppers who have been killed by
Grizzly Bears. and l believe it could DO
proved that this animal has killed moro
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 tho muzzle-load-
ing. hair-trigger squirrel-ritles of small
caliber, and they were no match for the
burly Grizzly, either in speed or
strength. AS a result, Bruin had the
best of it, and in time brought about n
perfect reign of terror among the
Iohllclsuicu WIZ lfcSpasSeu upon MS
domain. For my part, l certainly
would not want to attack a big Grizzly
at short range with my fathers old
Kentucky rifle, of 80 caliber, unless 1
had my will made, and all my earthly
affairs in shape to be left for u long pc
Rod. But with the rise of the breech-
loader the tables turned; and, like oil
other dangerous animals, tho Grizzly
soon found that the odds were against
him. To be sure, he still kills his
hunter now aud then. sometimes by one
awful stroke of his paw, and sometimes
by biting his victim to death. But he
has almost ceased to attack men will
fully and without cause, as he once did.
Unless he is wounded or cornered, or
thinks he is cornered and about to be
attacked. he will generally run when
ever he discovers a man. But when he
is attacked, and especially if wounded,
he gets mad clean through. Then he
will fight anything, even q circular
saw, so it is said, and give it five turns
the start.