The Alaska daily empire., 1916-01-01

the capture of the bear. Into a l board. of four or five feet in length. {, they drove iron spikes, studding it thickly with them. then sharpcncd and barbcd the iron till it became a vcritablc hedge Of barbcd spear heads. This they covered with leaves, moss, or mud. in the run ways through the thiCkcts. When the bear stepped upon this keen. pointed weapon his great weight drove it deep into the sincw3 ard bones of his foot. Writhing with pain hc put another foot on the board to hold it while he withdrew the first and so fastcnci another foot. and thus. ia his "trugGlcs. he would tranSfiv al four feet. anl lie ia helpless misery Ua:!l tAc coming of tho hunter ;o end his suf:cring,
 The numbC. of black and brown bear i'll southeastern Alaska is matter of wonder n those Whn cntc- At times. near the WranEC'l Mar rows, il is not unusual to see dozen bear fishing for salmon in the creeks and streams, in q days tray el. They follow along the margin. sco0pinE the fish from the water by a dcXtcrous sweep Of the paw. and then eating it at leisure on the bank.
 When the railway builders were working along the Copper River they often saw great brown bears standing breast high in the swirl ing water, feeling in the roily cur rent for the salmon swimming up. and when one was touched he was dcftly scooped out 10 make meal.
 The game of. Alaska comprises nearly all the animals that were
 found in the western United States. with the exception of the antelope, the elk, the buffalo, and the cougar. or mountain lion. None Of these are
 found in this region, but the moose is in his greatest perfection Of de
 vciopmcnt in the Kenai Peninsula, the largest and finest heads in the
 world coming from that district. The caribou. the small deer, the noun
 tain goat. the mountain sheep, the
 wolf and the bear are plentiful. each in the section specially adapted to it's habits.
 The deer is found on the islands along the southeast coast and on a narrow strip of the mainland skirt iNs the shore. It is a small spec iCS, called the chevrcuil by the
 IIud. rn's Bay Company. when they occuplcd the country, and it yields
 the very finest of vcnison. Admir- alty island is one of it's favoritc hauntS, and there are some fine hunting grounds to be found there. The islands about Wrangell Mar
 rows are filled with them, Baranof. Chichagof, Prince of Wales, Revilla- gedo, Duke and other islands are
 favoritc homes for the species. but
 great timber wolves are hunting them to death and have almost de- vaStated the herds in some lOCali- ties. The hunter must know the
 range his game occupies at the time Of the year he hunts, for they
 are sometimes in the lowlands, and again are only found in the valleys
 above the timber line where they Tor .. On the mountain ranges along the coast mainland are found the white
 mountain goat, the monsters of the up!ands. which have been know to weigh when dressed as much as from 225 to 250 pounds. They are a pee
 ies of antelope and are found from the mountains of western Washing ton to the Chugach Range above Prince William Sound. The Alas kan species is a far larger animal than the one found in Washington. His habitat lies between that of the
 deer on one side and that of the
 mountain sheep, the caribou, and the
 moose, on the other. He prefers the toughest. CraggiCst ranges, and
 wants il to be rough broken land on all sides and he is specially at home
 among the glaciers of the coast
 range. With pair of good binocu.
 lars they may be seen from the deck of boat in some of the inlets,
 standing high above the water on ! ju:ting crag. looking like white speck on the landscape.
 The Mountain sheep Is found It, tie further toward the interior of
 lhe country, and also prefers a mountainous range although 1t likes to come down in the valleys, at night, to graze on the bottom grass. es. It also has a fondness for the plateau country, which has broken canyons at the sides. where q safe retreat in case of danger may be found. They are of three varieties