Evening star., 1899-03-02
TRAPPING GRIZZLIES.
The Sport is Much More Dangerous
Than Shooting Them.

From the Philadelphia Times.
There is more danger in trapping the
grizzly bear than in chasing him with the
rifle" said Col. Parker of Gardeau, Pa,
who has spent much time hunting trap
ping and prospecting among the Rocky
mountains. "A great deal of cunning has
to be used in setting a trap for grizzly,
for he is as suspicious as a fox, and will
frequently pass by tempting morsel used
as bait for trap because he has made up
his mind that danger is lurking beneath it.
The grizzly bear never hesitates to en-
counter danger that confronts him openly
In the shape of a hunter, uog or other ens-
my, but a suspicious-looking object, the
nature of which he doesn't understand, will
quickly start him off about some other
business.
THE men who make a business of trap
ping grizzly bears set their traps miles
back in the great gloomy forests, where
animals like to make their lairs among the
tangled fallen timbers, over which no one
can pass except on foot, and then only with
great difficulty. To come in such a spot
upon an ugly grizzly bear, an animal
weighing almost as much as an OK, and not
only ready, but anxious, for fight, is
something that means business to the trap
per. A grizzly bear will free himself from
a trap nine times out of ten if he is not
oVertaken within few hours after he gets
into it. The traps weigh forty fifty
pounds The jaws are worked with springs
so stiff that the strength of two strong
men is required to set them. To the trap a
chain is firmly secured, which is in turn
fastened to a wooden clog four or five feet
long. This serves as hindrance to the
trapped bear he retreats tries to
retreat to his tangled haunts. To lessen
the liability of the bear tearing loose
through the clog catching firmly in OBJ
structions, the chain is fastened to it near
one end
"A grizzly bear is most frequently caught
in the trap toward the tip of one of his
forepaws The instant the steel jaws snap
and close on him he has tens with all the
spe ed he can command, and in a tremen-
dous rage, for the nearest swamp, which is
never far away in region whera success
full grizzly trapping may be expected By
swamp i do not mean a miry, boggy
mGrasS, but jungle of tangled under
growth and thick timber. The hold of the
trap on the bear is not strong enough to
withs tand every kind of resistance the
clog makes to his. retreat, and the bears
exertions to get free are great and per-
Sstent, as l have more than once observed
when following the trail of a grizzly thus
raging onward toward safety. The bear
seems to know that his life depends rid
ding himself of the incum brance AS he
rushes through the forest he mows great
swaths in the underbrush He drags the trap
against trees, logs and rocks, and when
ever it holds fast to them few seconds
he jerks and tugs his imprisoned foot try
ing to tear 1t loose. The grizzly has not
the intelligence of the common black bear
Of the Pennsylvania woods, who, when
trapped and trying to escape will go back
and loosen the clog of the trap from an OBJ
up and carry it In his arms, as you might
say, If the trap happens to be on a hind
foot.
THE further grizzly bear goes on his