The sun., 1897-07-18
WILD TIMES WITH BEARS.
EXPERIENCES OF THE MIo4rY
HUNTERS OF CALIFORNIA.

bChEh-Ohu H.
son stubs. who Has Taken 500 Rear Pcits.
Los ANGELEs, CAL, July l3.-slnco the death
NJ old Jim Bosworth at Caliente, Cal, several
Years aco, jackson stubbs has been tho ac.
knowiedgcd authority in California concern,np
grizzly bears. He has trapped, shot, and killed
some 500 Of them in tho long years he has boon n
hunter and trapper among the mountains of thu
Coast Range and tho Sierras, and has lived for
months at timo with other hunters of bis
game in regions where grizzly and black
bears are most likely TO be seen. He has fol-
lowed bears even in British Columbia, and In
every mountainous region OF the Southwest.
hut hc has passed most of his hunting career In
california. IIo has been hunting In the
rchachipi Mountains this summer, where two
GRIZZLIES were killed last February, and no
canc down to this place on last Wednesday to
have new steel traps made by local machinist.
Jack Oh Stubbs Is about 65. He Is not only
slayer OF big game. but hc has the observation
md sympathy of n naturalist. He has always
been II reader, and has even done somo writing
Tor the rural newspapers OF California about
his observations Of the habits of wild animals
OF the mountains. He is best known as the man
who took the Marquis of Lorne and his suite on
n fortnights hunt In the Sierras some eighteen
years ago. and he piloted them to tho haunts of
six grizzly BEARS besides other wild game. Ho
was also q guide in a hunting expedition of
Theodore Roosevelt in Montana In 1880.
"Tes, I've been reading about the grizzlies
becoming extinct In California" sold tho old
man, ho sat at tho machine shop where his
trap was being constructed, while knot Of mon
sat about him. but it's far from true. More
over. 1t never will be truc. Why, up where
partner and 1 have been hunting in the Thea
chipi range since May we know there's good
ten grizzlies, and no doubt moro. Lots Of peo-
pc are sure there nogrizzlics In that section,
but Wen show them some grizzly pelts from
there before oranges get ripe There were prob
ably only few grizzlies there a year or two
ago, when a party of hunters were up that way
for big game. Now there arc many more. You
see, that's where people make their errors in
reckoning on the decrease of bears. People
don't stop to consider that twins among bears
nre common, and triplets not uncommon. So
tho bear tribe will double its numbers in short
order. Then, also the bears have been con-
stantly hunted and pursued that they have
become quite different in their habits from
what they were a generation ago.
Both black and grizzly bears have bo-
come sneaking animals. They live up higher
among the timber and chnparral Of the noun
tains than formerly, they maraud by night
more exclusively and they are very wary of
the approach of mon. The expansion Of the farm
Ing and mining interests, and the increase of
the number Of hunters, with their rapid firing
weapons, have all had their effect In creating
a recluse breed OF bears. can see the change
in the ways of bears in tho twenty-five years
since l became a professional hunter. and
when l compare the modern grizzly with the
bears Of the day when the first hardy hunters
and trappers came to the Rockies and Sierras
along about 1872, it doesn't seem like the same
species. The tales Of the hungry grizzlies thai
would then come down out Of the mountains
and attack a camp of men with the ferocity o.
tigers, and would even climb into an immi
grants wagon to fight there, seem almost in
credible but many OF them are true. l myself
remember hungry grizzlies that used TO seen
10 want contest with q man, but contact
with rlhes and all manner of traps and decoys
extending through several generations Of bears
has taught tho race b. bitter experience tina
man is the lord. No grizzly, in the Unitet
States at least, will attack man now. But le
him once see that he is cornered and let hin
feel the pain Of o bullet or q trap, and all tn,
concentrated ferocity of his forefathers in
stantiy manifests itself. A big scientific maj
that had out with me on q black bear hun
once in Oregon told me that the ways Of TIL
polar bear and Of the south African lion. ha'
boon modified in the same way.
II have known personally three instance
whore men have been attacked by grizzlies
Somewhere about 1858 q ranchman name
dr n Gsss Hs haS pP Pe In
was not STEADY shooter He came across
female grizzly Without tho, the beast t seeing hin
rear, and SO he dared make the shot His han
trembled and he missed his aim. ard the bal
ming the beast whirled around and went straigll
for Fredericks., He ran tripPed in manzanit
brush, fell, and before he could throw anothe
ball in his rifle the bear was upon him. Th
Eanchnan was chcwed and clawed to dealt
His neck was torn in shreds, and his trunk wa
u,utilatad terrihly Even his wife did
know the body when It was taken home. The
thore was that horrible affair Of John seagle eagl.e
the borax king over in Death Valley in 1871
'Tn 1915 there was a mining prosspector 1
tho Calico district who was attacked by
pecting in Coyote Canon in San Bernardin
county. They were walking down along III
raj and fallen Timber covering about an acre The
could not see through It, Two OF the part r
ropd sy he na@sd q 5he snd but
powerful six.footer. too. followed faint ira
through the brush and timber. The two me
had not gone ten minutes when they heard a
agonizing scream, md at the same time tina
RRsculiar coughing and grunItinS I OF mad bSa ,So
shoulders a grizzly bear strike their compano
an awtn. blow on the head. The man staggere
gave u the the man %npu half dozen sweeps across
breast and face with its extended claws-shaI
asR5 haas baS swsE nB hs sSn
bear sleeping there and had reused r the bea
to sudden fear and anger. The dead man y,
forepaw. The bear was killed by my partnt
the next day. believe the carcass weighe
about GOO pounds
Some one in the group. of listeners who gat
cred about the veteran hunter suggested th'
there had recently boon discussion rs
whether grizzly bears ever, eat human flesh.
And that reminds me, continued Jackst
stubbs between the pufrs OF his pipe. that the
arc several stories in the book that Mgrat Ha t
nothing but the bones OF hunters have be-
found after they have fallen in with Rrzzlie
Perhaps that might have been 80 In the da
Of the old,time, unreconstructed grizzlies
lslp that I've been telling, You about, but
doubt it. l never knew IL hunter who cOu
prove that he had known case ef M n
record We have--of bears deyouring folks
that one in the Bible of the bears that came al
ate up the boys who jccred the prophets ba
head. | don't believe We ever bad any bea
IKE those in this country, notwithstanding I
The yarns TO the contrary. don't believe hu
gar could get grizzly 10 cat men. The gre
dlferGnco. between black and grizzly bears
that the former viii never cat flesh when tn
ctn get honey Or Vegetables, and grizzlies wa
pigs. calves. colts, and sheep.
There's another thing that bear story write