The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-06
PLANNING A GREAT HUNT.
Rnnchmen of Colorado Preparing to
Attack Big Game.


| Some of the greatest wild game hunts
in the history of Colorado or of the en-
( tire West are being planned by ranchmen
/ in Rio Bianco and Routt counties, on the
other side of the Great Divide. A novel
feature of these hunts will be the fact
that most of the big game will be taken
alive and sold 20 keepers of menageries
The hunts are planned to get rid of the
bears and mountain lions that are driving
stockmen to distraction. incidentally,
other game will not be overlooked
In Rio Bianco County work is now pro-
crossing on a big corral on the ranch of
Jacob Wilmington. The corral is built
with wide funnel shaped entrance When
| it is all in readiness the huntsmen will
meet at Withington's ranch and then
scatter out. with their hounds, and sur
round one OF the fiat-top peaks. The bears
have been making these peaks their rem
devious. The animals will be driven to
the big corral and the most agile of them
viii not be able to climb over the rough
timbers and powders. Only the bears
that attempt to escape on the march to
the corral will be shot. The gates will
be closed on the captives, and then IL
there are no purchasers, the animals will
be slaughtered.
Circusmen and keepers of geological
gardens, however, claim that there will
be ample demand for all the good speci-
mems of bear that can be captured They
say that all kinds of American wild game
is growing scarce, and ii will only be
question of a few years when it will be
impossible to keep the menageries well
supplied. The ranchmen of Colorado say
that they will be able to supply the me-
nagerie men with all the mountain lions
and bears that the amusement business
demands. The bears in particular have
been numerous and desperate this season
They are mostly big, black fellows though
occasionally a cinnamon comes shifting
his way up from New Mexico or a grizzly
slOuches down from Mornings sulphur
spring baths to try his claws on the
Colorado cottonwoods and gather in a
few specimens of Colorado live stock.
As a general rule the black bear is the
most harmless of animals to everything
but fat sheep or calf He has no desire
TO look for trouble in which men are con-
cerned. though when he is cornered he
puts up a pretty fight This season. how
ever. a lad was killed and partly eaten
by black bear in Utah. near the Colora-
do lire, and settlers have decided that
their children must be protected against
similar occurrences. Accordingly the
war of determination has been planned in
the counties where the bears are thickest.
The ranchmen who live under the shad-
ow OF the Flat Tops have no set rules
about killing bears. AS a general rule
they will not waste a shell on black
bear, preferring to save the charge for a
deer. But when 1t is decided to kill
bear the usual way is for two ranchmen
to chase the animal into a clearing and
then rope 1t with lariats. By this means
the bear is quickly choked to death and
there is a great saving of powder and
bullets. The ropng game is never tried,
however, when the bear happens to be a
mother with several cubs trotting along
in her wake. On such occasions the
ranchman is happy to have pack of
hounds along with him and a good rifle
in his hand. Even the most foOlhardy
ranchers, who occasionally rope a cata-
mount just for excitement" will waste
precious shells on mother bear rather
than run any risk of coming to close
quarters. For the natural instinct makes
the black bear n fighter second only to
the grizzly. The 'yaller streak which
the ranchman always counts on coming to
his aid in the case of an ordinary black
bear is totally absent in the case of the
mother bear, and there is nothing but
fight from the drop of the hat and no
craven yielding to the touch of the moose
or the sting of the bullet
Up in Routt County where no railroad
has yet disturbed a region that is bigger
than mary Eastern States, the stage driv-
ers occasionally hava 10 put on the trakes,
while the horses dance in terror, and shoot
a curious bear that blocks the road and
delays Uncle Sans mails. The drivers
make nothing of such experiences. which
to them are no more thrilling than the
everyday experience OF
plungng at breakneck pace down a steep
canyon, where the least slip or swerye
would convert the heavily loaded stage
coach to matchwoOd on the powders be-
low 1t is only the terrifying vision of an
electric street car that will send the blood
to the hearts of these men.