view raw text
THREE COLORADO BEARSu BAGGED BAGGEDA A Profitable Chase in the Hunting Grounds of Mount Wilson In tlio fall of 1910 my brother Henry and I de ¬ termined to see something of life in the far west Accordingly iu the latter part of September of that year we packed a suit case with a few extra clothes and carrying an old single shot 2320 we shook the dust of Kansas from our heels After three driys on the train we finally landed at i little town In southwestern Colorado where a cousin of ours then lived This cousin Ben by name xyas a rancher and we agreed to help him stack his hay if he would accompany us with his team and wagon on a bunting trip to the moun ¬ tains tainsAfter After n few days of preparation in which a new highpower rifle was bought and two days on the rond were consumed we found ourselves en ¬ camped in a little park well up to the top of the ridge which connects Mount Wilson with the Dolores Mountains I shall not soon forget that camping ground Probably three acres were included in this park the whole of it covered over with kneehigh bunch grass and during our stay at this place our horses were literally In clover The land here faced the sunrise At the south side of the park a mountain stream of running ice water indicated the point at which to pitch pur tent We could look down below us on the valley floored with aspens with here and there a stately dark colored spruce High up on the sides of the valley the spruce replaced the aspens entirely Other little parks similar to the one in which we were located dotted the landscape and in some of these cattle were grazing The nights were crisp arid had left a red and golden tint on the aspen leaves and the smell of pine was in the air airLate Late in the afternoon of the fourth day out the sky began to grow hazy Some of the distant peaks were no longer visible and the branches of the pines grew restless Our tent was under cover of h huge Englemari spruce and some fifteen feet farther in the timber we kept our camp fire burn ¬ ing I remember as we lay out by the fire that evening how strangely the melancholy hooting of the great horned owl affected me meA A few of the smaller birds were calling to each other in the darkness and the night prowling coyote was adding his yiprynps to this nightly oratorio but there is nothing sorrowful in the voice of the coyote instead the impression which the average man receives prompts him to go after this sneak thief with cold lead Over on the other side of the valley a range rider had hobbled out his horses to graze and a softly tinkling Swiss bell was tied to the neck 61 one DISCOMFORTS OF THE CHASE CHASEToward Toward midnight rain began to fall and this soon changed to snow which before morning had readi ¬ ed a depth of seven or eight inches Snow fell in small quantities most of the forenoon and the clouds at that altitude were quite heavy In the afternoon Ben arid I struck out to see if we could locate auy game signs for the morrow but aside from shoot ¬ ing enough blue grouse to last us several days our trip availed us nothing worse than nothing for being somewhat q a tenderfoot I had tailed to pro ¬ vide myself with proper footwear The snow being wet and heavy my feet got thoroughly soaked which resulted in a case of bronchitis that kept me out of the hunt on the following day Henry dayHenry and Ben left camp ion foot about nine the net morning with the firm resolution that they were not coming back without some big game About noon that day high upon the side of Mount Wilson they came across the tracks o a good sized bear judging from the dimensions of the imprints left in the snow But the trail was old and partly filled with snow and the l oys were following it halfheartedly when on ioinhig around from behind u ledge of rock they beheld three fresh trails one quite large and the other two lunch below the average size These trails followed the partly obliterated one for some dist ¬ ance and then struck off up toward timber line Soon after reaching this point the bears began to feed as was evidenced by little diggings in the earth here and there the food in quest being the root of a plunt similar in appearance to the Indian turnip of the east and judging from the amount of dirt moved they must have had a pretty hearty meul From appearances these plantigrades used their noses to good advantage rooting as well as digging with their claws Henry saiM it reminded him much of the vnrr of Jines in iv t u tt i iAfter After following the tracks for tliree hours our huntsmen came to a little open space and here the trails began to converge and lead more directly up the slope as if the animals had a better formed idea as to where they were g9ing At the upper side of this open space was an almost walllike cliff up which the tracks led and above this was a small mesa covered sparsely with tall spruce spruceIt It was now just about sundown The boys had reached the top of the cliff and were starting to across the mesa when woofl woof a sound some ¬ what related to that of a startled hog and there not over sixty yards in front of them were three surprised bears an old female and two well grown cribs It is hard to say which were the more sur ¬ prised the pursuers or the pursued Henry was carrying a 31 Special and Ben had another gun of similnr power which when he tried to throw a shell into the barrel became hopelessly jammed The old bear was coming to attention on her hind legs apparently to investigate things and Ben was madly petitioning Henry to hold on a bit when the latter took quick aim at the region under which lie supposed the heart Iny and later in ¬ vestigation proved that the bullet had passed with ¬ in a half inch of that organ At the crack of tin gun the animal dropped on all fours and started in the direction of the boys when Henry took a second shot About midway between the hunters and the position first occupied by the bears was a fallen tree the trunk being perhaps three feet high The game old creature tried to leap this ob ¬ struction but the effort cost her too highly and she sunk to the ground an apparently inanimate mass When Henry reached her she ivas quite dead deadTWO TWO BEAR CUBS ARE BAGGED BAGGEDAt At the first indication of trouble the Jwo cubs shinned up h tall spnice and although the boys were quite busy at the time they could not help but marvel at the agility of these clumsy looking animals when it came to tree cllrnbtngi With u high power gun the cubs were soon brought down from their lofty perch perchIt It goes without saying that the lads were quite jubilant over results in general An old hunter here in the mountains informs me that he has never yet come upon a live bear without the aid of dogs He has surprised them on different occa ¬ sions but the bear always got the first look and vas away before he could more than catch a glimpse of it An animal half the size of a cow and clumsy in appearance yet making its getaway through thick brush before you can get a shot at it itTwo Two of the bears the old one and the young female were brown while the young male was glossy black I have found since that the twi colors here represented were no oddity at nil ami that stranger cases than this occur as when u black cub and cinnamon one are offspring of the sum brown female femaleAVhile AVhile all this was transpiring I was at camp heaping wood onto the fire and trying to keen warm Toward evening I began to look for the return of the boys I believed they must have had some degree of success else they would not have stayed out all day without food Darkness caire and went still they did not return I was beginning to think that some accident had occurred when to my relief I saw Henry dragging himself up the hillside with Ben about 300 yards In bis wake This was 10 oclock the next day dayAs As it happened both boys had left camp tlin previous morning without m ches Darkness ijoni ing on just after killing they decided it would not be safe to try to reach camp that night There ¬ upon they collected their game threw it down over the cliff and under shelter of a big balsam sU it out till daylight daylightNow Now I have been classed as a follower of Ananias by several to whom I have related this little advea ture They say such luck as this doesnt happen to greenhorns If I hadnt been present to see for myself I too might be a little skeptical Ive been in bear country more or less fou th hi six years and have followed a number of trails in that time yet personally I have never run across three bears that wore politu enough toturry until all three of them yere shot us is amply proven by the accompanying snap shot of our camp th day after the hunters return D C Hyatt in Snorts Afield
