The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-03-10
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEARS.
A Hunter SAYS Ia In Hard Work Now
Rdays TO Bring Rruln
TO Bay.

to bay.
Bears go into winter quarters when
he first heavy SHOWS and cold weather
begin. which is usually in November in
the Rockies. In the old days they
would den up right in open country. A
bears winter den is nearly always on a
north hillside. where the snow falls
deepest, and IL possible they choose a
place where a drift viii form. Some
times a bear will den up in a natural
cave or creyice. but more often will
| dig himself a hole ten or twelve feet
deep. Nowadays this den is almost al
ways in the toughest country he can
find, and is generally pretty well up in
the mountains in heavy spruce timber
bear may make his den early in the
season, but until cold weather drives
him in he roams around a lot. For
yearly a month before denning bears
eat very little. or not at all, and before
they go in for good the stomach and in
ltestines are frequently clean and emp
Ity. The stomach is drawn up into
- lump like a chickens gizzard, and
soh~ i solid mass of fat, inside
he beaI ~ in February or March.
ana out Mo- nut again, he is still
when bruin comes : fat until the
hog fat, and he keeps th- y he first
snow is pretty well gone. Nhs- ~
comes out he does not travel much, H.
as the weather warns up he soon runs |
off all his fat. though 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 viii often eat meat. Still, have |
had bats right among the bears, with |
bears passing within so feet of the bats |
every night. and il was the middle OF |
June before one of them touched bait, |
and then they were at the bats all the |
time.
Even now bears feed good deal in |
the open in the spring, when they are |
not molested. and spring is by far the |
best time to hunt them. But, as a usual |
thing, a bear nowadays keeps pretty |
well under cover. During the day he |
finds the thicllest brush or timber that |
ne can, and there he stays. slipping |
away quietly at the slightest sus-
picious noise. Ii used to be that if a |
bear heard or saw anything that he did |
not understand. he would stand up on |
his hind legs 10 look. And if he was |
suddenly startled. he would often, after |
running away. stop and stand up to |
look back. have killed several bears |
IN thick brush by getting close TO them. |
knowing about where they were, and |
then speaking aloud. Bruin would |
nearly always stand up to investigate, |
thus giving me shot at his head. Bat |
now a bear that hears a human voice |
hardly ever stops TO look, but gets away |
on the jump.
The blacks and cinnamons also used |
to tree very easily. I have run a good |
many up trees by giving them a sharp |
run on horseback for a mile or so i'm |
open timber, and have run two up trees |
by chasing them on foot. And twice I |
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 a hundred yards or so be |
fore she freed. And speaking of cubs. |
| never saw but one she bear that |
would not bolt and leave her cubs when |
attacked. The exception was a small |
and | got between her and |
her cubs and got charged. Only the |
other day i saw three of the dogs maui |
a grizzly cub until you could hear him |
sduall for mile, and the old bear all |
the time was standing in the brush not |
a hundred yards away, and never offered |
to attack. But nowadays il is almost |
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 TO a
tree or coming to bay. About the only
way TO hunt bears at present with any
chance of success is in the spring after
they begin TO take bait well. BY string
ng Out lot of bats and still-hunting
sarly and late fair luck may be had
Forest and Stream