The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1899-03-04
ROCKY FOUNTAIN BEARS.
A Hunter Says It u Enrd work Now
adr.s to Hrins: Bruin
10 B1..

Bears 90 into winter quarters when
the first heavy SHOWS and cold weather
begin. V hich is usually in November III
the Rockies. In The Old day they
would Gen up right in open country. \
bears winter Gen is nearly always on 4
north hillside. where the snow falls
deepest. and ii possible they choose 4
place where a drift VIII form. Some
times a bear viii cen up in a natural
cave or c~revice. but more often will
dig himself Il hole ten or twelve. Zee:
deep. Nowadays this Gen is almost al
ways in the toughest country he can
find, and IS generally pretty well up in
the mountains in heavy spruce timber.
y bear may make his den early in the
season, but until cold weather drives
him in he Toams around a lot. For
nearly z month before denrin@ bears
eat very little, or not ii all. and before
they go in for TOCG me stomach and in
testlneS ar" frequently clean and emp
~. The stomach - drawn up into a
solid lump like 4 chickens gizzard. and
the bear is a solid mass of fat, inside
and out. Along il February or March.
when bruin comes out again, he is still
hog far. and he keeps this fat until the
snow is pretty wei, gone. When he first
comes out he does not travel much. but
as the weather WARNS up he soon runs
off all his fat, though l have seen very
fet bears as late as the middle of May.
after the trees were green. As vegeta-
ton starts. bears live almost altogether
On grass. roots. etc, though of course,
they Will often eat meat. Still, | have
had bats right an Ong the bears, with
bears passin" within 50 feet of the bats
every night, and, il was the middle of
June before one of chem touched 4 bait,
ard then they were at the bats all the
time.
Even now bears feed a good deal in
the open in the spring, when they are
not mclested. and spring is by far the
best time to hunt them. But. as 4 usual
thing, Il bear nowadays keeps pretty |
well under cover. During the day he
finds the thickest brush or timber that
be can. and there he stays. Slipping
away quietly at the slightest sus- /
picious noise. 1t used to be that if Il
bear heard or saw anything that he did
not understand, he would, stand I'D on
his hind legs to lock. And if he was
suddenly startled, he would often. after
running away. stop and stand I'D TO
look back. | have killed several bears
IN thick brush by getting close to them.
knowing about where they were. and
then speaking aloud. nruin would
nearly always stand up 10 investigate,
thus giving re 4 shot AT his head. But
now a bear that hears a human voice
hardly ever stops to look, bat gets away
on the jump.
The blacks and cinnamons also used
TO tree very easily. | have run Il good
many UP trees by giving them a sharp
IL on horseback for 4 mile or so in
open timber, and nave run two up trees
by chasing them on foot. And twice |
have missed bears at rather close range
and had them take TO trees. In one in
stance the bear went up the nearest
tree; in the other the bear. a she with
cubs, bolted Il hundred yards or so be-
fore she freed. And speaking of cubs,
l never saw but one she bear hat
would not bolt and leave her cubs when
attacked. The exception was a small
cinnamon, and l got between her and
her cubs ard got charged. Only the
day L saw three of the dogs maui
4 grizzly cub until you could hear him
squaQ for a mile, and the old bear all
the time was standing in the brush not
a hundred yards away. and never offered
10 attack. But nowadays it is almost
impossible to tree a bear or bring it to
bay, even with good dogs. 1t always
was hard to bring grizzly bears to bay
with dogs, but almost any dog would
put a black or cinnamon up a tree in
short order. Now a bear will run all
day ahead of the dogs before taking toa
tree or coming to bay. About the only
way to hunt bears at present with any
chance of success is in the spring after
hey begin to take bait well. By string
ng out a lot of bats and till-hunting
'arly and late fair luck may be had