Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-12-02
GETS 1.0OO.POUND GRIZZLY
Government Had Been After Cattle
Killer for Years

An immense 1.000-pound bear-Sil
yer Tip Grizzly as he was known to in
spectors of the Biological Survey Of
the United States Department Of Agri-
culture-who for years had been kill
ing stock in the vicinity of Dubois,
Wyo.. and on whose head a 500 boun-
~ had been placed by stockmen. is
dead. His undoing was accomplished
by a 50-pound No. bear trap. which
had been anchored to a 24-foot tree
trunk. His body was found nearly
eight miles from where the trap had
been set. His end was brought about
by Government Hunter Rowley, and
since government hunters are not al
lowed to accept bounties from any
source the stockmen were saved the
money.
The following account of Silver Tip
and his end is given by Charles ].
Bayer. predatory animal inspector Of
the bureau. at Lander, Wyo.:
while reports came in occasionally
of large silver tip that was doing a
lot Of killing In the vicinity Of Dubois.
no authentic report was received until
the spring Of 1918, when several cattle
men asked that we send a man after
the bear. A hunter was sent up there
and reported killing the bear that sum-
NOR. but investigation proved that the
bear most wanted was still at large
He was particularly destructive that
summer. not only killing cattle, but
destroying camps and fire boxes be-
longing to the forest service and
wrecking anything that he happened
to encounter. A second hunter was
sent up there in the spring of 1919.
He. too. worked to get the bear. but
without success.
Hunter Rowley was then recon-
mended to us as a bear hunter, and
we put him on the trail Of the grizzly
in the spring of 1920. For long time
he was unable to find any fresh sign
of the bear, or to f1nd any cattle fresh
ly killed by him. About July Is, this
summer he came upon a COW that had
been killed a short time before by the
bear. and he took up the trail. He kept
after him until he got him the fore
part Of September During the six
weeks that he followed the bear he
found fifteen head Of two and three
year-old cattle that the bear had kill
ed. belonging to the Double Diamond
outfit near Dubois. Each had been
killed with crushing blow between
the eyes. In most cases the cattle were
not eaten upon. except where the bear
nau taken out the liver and eaten that.
The trap that finally got Silver Tip
was No. s. and was set about August
Is. The clog used was log "a feet
long and inches through. The clog
was broken off about so yards from
where the trap was set. and the bear
carried away seven feet of It, and had
this fastened to him when he was
found. He was found eight miles from
where he got into the trap. In trail
ing through the timber many trees six
and seven inches through had been
uprooted. and In several places the
bear got into windfalls and tore out
the fallen logs. almost making a road
behind him in doing so. He was dead
when Mr.. Rowley found him. and had
been dead too long to permit Of taking
his skin. Mr.. Rowley said the bear
would weigh about 1000 pounds. the
front feet would measure about eight
and one-half inches across. and the
hind feet about ~ inches in length