Rocky Ford enterprise., 1909-11-05


sky of the Polar regions.
White fox is rare game. while the
white bear Is n formidable adversary.
who must be shot from distance. and
who frequently attacks tho hunters
should he be only slightly wounded.
The most productive and the least
dangerous animal to hunt, although
great hardships have to be under
gone. is the hair-seal. or phoque. This
animal. when the thnw comes, con-
gregates on the dislodged icebergs In
shoals of 10000 to 10000 at a time.
The young animals (the most valu-
able) can oppose no resistance to their
slayers. In most cases the only weap-
on used Is club: n vigorous blow on
the nose Of n hair-seal is sufficient
to kill II at once The older animals.
however. who occasionally attack tho
hunters. and weigh from II to l6 cwt..
have to be killed by a rife bullet.
The slaughtered animals are cut up
then and there. and the skins and the
blubber only are dragged to the
camps. and thence sold to the out
posts. who forward them to the Strut.
ton islands.
Black bear are very numerous in
all parts OF the. country: they grow to
| a large size and carry finer pclts than
In any other part Of the American
continent. saw a skin which had
been killed In the previous spring that
was well over eight feet. n very large
size for this species. Some OF these
bears have a large white patch on the
chest. others have only n small white
spot. while In most cases the general
pelage is n rich glossy black all over.
On the Upper Stikine there is n local
variety which has at all times smoke
grey hair over the whole of the back.
1t is only local variety and not n sub
species. since cubs may be seen with
the mother, who is often Jet black all
over The general habits OF the black
bear are so we'll known that I need
only say a few words as they apply
to the animal in Cassiar. In this dis
trict they leave their hibernating holes
early in May. and II the weather is
bad return to them until the young
grass springs up on the hillsides. Here
they feed greedily for a month. and
are generally In poor condition. but
In fine fur. At this season the In
dians hunt them little and kill n few.
for whose hides they get about SIS.
The hunters have no fear OF them.
even when accompanied by cubs. for
they all say that although the black
bear female will often charge up to
q man who gets between her and her
offspring. they never charge home.
but only rush up showing their teeth
at the intruder. II a man stands still
these bears invariably depart. There
have been instances in the district
when men have been mauled by black
bears, but these misfortunes are
chifiy due to excessive carelessness or
the fact that the bear has been fired
at by the hunter when the animal
was on the hillside above the the hunt
er and came rolling down to his feet
In such a case some years ago. a
Thlinget on the Iskoot could not re.
treat, or lost his head at the last mo-
ment. and was attacked and bitten to
death. Such instances are, however,
extremely rare. In former days black
bears we're SO abundant at the juno
ton of the Iskoot and Stikine that one
Thaltan Indian armed only with an old
muzzle-loader killed nine in one day
Nowadays any hunter should kill two
or three grizzlies and four or five
black bears in a fortnight's spring
hunting on the Stikine.
As the summer goes on black bears
become much shyer and are seldom
seen. since they keep TO the dense
forest: but In early September they
repair to the large rivers and small
streams and live largely on dead and
dying salmon varied with n berry diet.
They remain by the rivers until late
in October and then return to the
woods and precipitous hills before
searching out some secluded lair In |
which to sleep for the winter.
JAMES II. WEAVER