The Grizzly Part 7

Another time he lay across it and splashed about like a boy on a pole trying to learn to swim. Getting too far forward, he rolled under the log. Struggling on his back, he grasped it between all four feet. Then he took it beneath one forearm and suddenly ducked it into deep water.

It shot out into the middle of the stream with the bear splashing wildly in pursuit. At last he succeeded in securing a good hold with his teeth and was tugging the log toward the bank when he saw a stick floating down stream. As he turned to seize it, his wave pushed the stick farther away and at the same time gave the log a start down stream. Turning from the stick, he hurried to seize the log. Pushing it end on against the rocky bank, and pressing against it with one fore paw, he looked over his shoulder as though intending to seize the stick. But this was out of reach, hurrying down stream.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CATCHING BLACK BEAR CUBS]

Next he appeared to be trying to walk the log. When he was almost on it, the log rolled and with a splash the grizzly fell into the water on his side. For a second he lost sight of the log, or pretended that he had, and took swift glances this way and that. As it b.u.mped into his up-stream side, he seized it with feigned surprise. Then he took it to the bank in shallow water, mauling it about, biting and gnawing at it.

As the log rolled from side to side, he swam around it, batting it and pushing it under.

A number of Clarke nutcrackers and magpies had collected and in astonishment watched the exhibition. Ordinarily a nutcracker is noisy in autumn, screaming and chuckling loudly and harshly. But these were motionless and silent as they watched. A pa.s.sing magpie whirled aside to see the show, and was just alighting on the bank when the bear splashed water wildly with a sweeping stroke at the log. With confused haste the magpie retreated. Taking a stand on a solitary spruce which leaned over the bank, he watched the scene without a move. The other birds, equally intent, watched from a high-water log-jam among large near-by bowlders.

At last the grizzly secured the log just under water. Standing upon it with hind feet, he reached down with both fore paws and went through an up-and-down motion like a washerwoman. Then he left the log and walked along the bank, keeping watch of it as it floated slowly down stream. It gradually pulled off from the bank. When it was about ten feet away he leaped playfully after it with feet outspread like those of a flying squirrel. Letting it drift again, he watched it intently as it was swept into the current and floated away in midstream. By swimming and wading he kept alongside for some distance, then put one fore paw upon it.

Perhaps he was about to start something new, but just then he scented something over his right shoulder.

Releasing the log, he climbed upon a bowlder that projected above the water. On hind feet, interested and curious, he stood gazing for some seconds. Evidently desiring more information, he started ash.o.r.e and never looked back at the log hurrying away down the rapids.

I found afterwards that the grizzly had rolled the log into the water a short distance up stream from where I came upon him. The log was a sound section of a spruce that had broken off when the tree fell among bowlders and lay on the bank a few feet from the water. The bear had come down stream, and in pa.s.sing ten or twelve feet from the log had turned aside to it. He may have rolled it over to see if there were insects beneath, but, accidentally or intentionally, he had rolled it into the water.

This play of a grizzly with an object is much less common than their other play, such as coasting. Several times I have seen grizzlies lying on their stomachs sliding down a steep, smooth, gra.s.sy slope, or trying to start themselves on a slope that was not steep enough for coasting. A grizzly pauses to play frequently. A mother and cubs often play together in the water, with apparent enjoyment for all. Many a beaver pond is a favorite swimming-hole for the cubs and a wading-place for the older bears.

I watched an old grizzly romping in the mud of a shallow pond. After rolling and wallowing about, until his fur coat was covered with mud thick enough to form a plaster cast, he grew energetic. He ran for the sh.o.r.e with all speed, as though hunters and dogs were upon him. Once out of the mud, he turned and raced back through the pond, galloping all the way across and sending the mud and water flying in exciting fashion.

After a momentary pause he again galloped through the mud and water to the other side. The pond was half filled with sediment, and evidently the mud was more than a foot deep.

One autumn while camping on the Continental Divide near the head of Forest Canon, I discovered that a grizzly will sometimes climb a slope for the purpose of coasting. While I was watching a flock of bighorn sheep, a grizzly came to the summit of a near-by mountain. I saw him as he reached the top and supposed he was crossing to the other side. He shuffled along apparently with definite plans in mind. But he was not going over the top. He headed straight for an out-jutting ridge where the wind-blown snow from the summit had formed a cornice at the top of its steep snowy slope.

The grizzly hurled himself headlong upon the snow cornice with fore paws outstretched. The cornice gave way beneath him. The snow slid and snow-dust whirled about him. I had glimpses of him looking like a fur-robed Eskimo falling down a snowy precipice in a blizzard. As the snow-dust cleared, it revealed the grizzly seated in a moving ma.s.s of snow, coasting swiftly down.

The snow went to pieces on a nearly hidden rock-point and spilled the coaster. He rolled, then slid, first on his stomach head first, then on his back feet first, but collected himself at the bottom. Rising and bearing away from the deep snow, he climbed up again and appeared to look with interest at the gully he had made in the slope as he coasted and also at the scattered marks where he was spilled.

Just beneath the cornice he waded into the snow. He shook himself, kicked the snow, went through swimming motions but still did not start to slide. The slope was not steep enough. Wallowing down a short distance, he rose, then rolled forward over and over--cartwheeled. After three or four turns he began to slide. This stirred up so much snow-dust that I could get only dim glimpses of him and could not tell whether he was sliding head first or tail first. On the thin snow at the bottom the dust-fog cleared, and the grizzly rolled over and over down the slope like a log. Getting on his feet, he walked away and disappeared behind the storm-battered trees at timber-line.

I took pains to track the bear. Down in the woods, more than three miles from his coasting-place, he had made a meal the evening before off the smelly old carca.s.s of a deer. He spent the night by the bones. In the morning he climbed to the top of a ridge that rose above the tree-tops.

His tracks showed that he had walked about here and stopped at three or four places to look down on scenes below.

Then he had followed his tracks back close to where he had spent the night. Here he had tramped about in the snow as though having nothing in particular to do. But a coyote was trying to find something on the bones and the bear may have been threatening him. He finally started off, plainly with coasting in his mind, for without stopping he went directly to the snow cornice. From tracks which I saw in this and other canons I realized that a grizzly sometimes goes out of his way in order to coast down steep snowy places.

A grizzly that I was following one November morning was evidently well fed, for he traveled slowly along with apparently nothing to do.

Descending the ridge on which he had been walking, he came upon the side of a steep southern slope, across the ravine from where I had paused to watch him. Occasionally a bush or weed sprang up as the warm sun released it from its little burden of snow. If it was close to him, he reached out one paw and stroked or boxed it daintily and playfully as a kitten; or, if a few feet away, he stopped, turned his head to one side, and looked at it with lazy, curious interest. He turned for a better glimpse of a tall willow springing up as if inviting him to play and appeared just ready to respond when he caught sight of his moving dark-blue shadow against the white slope. Instantly, reaching out lightly with one fore paw, he commenced to play with the shadow. As it dodged, he tried to reach it with the other paw, then stopped to look at it. He sat down and watched it intently, ready to strike it if it moved; he pushed his nose closer to it. Keeping his eyes on the shadow, with a sudden leap he threw both fore paws forward and brought them down where the shadow had been before his move. For several seconds he leaped and struck right and left in his vain efforts to catch it. Then, seated on his haunches, he watched the shadow out of one eye. He turned his head, possibly wondering what the shadow would do. He seemed surprised to find that it was not behind him, and turned back quickly to see where it was. Did the grizzly know what this shadow-thing was, and was all this just jolly make-believe? In any case, he was playing and playing merrily. When I first watched him he reminded me of a kitten, but the longer he played the more his actions resembled those of a puppy and finally those of dog.

As the grizzly backed slowly down the slope, he watched the shadow following him, and made a feint as though about to grab it, but stopped.

Slowly he started after the shadow up the slope, then pursued it with a rush. Then, backing away along the side of the slope, he watched the shadow out of the corner of his eye. He suddenly stopped and stood as though thinking; then wheeled, faced down the slope, and looked off into the distance. After a second he slowly turned his head and looked over first one shoulder, then the other, for the shadow. Finally, rising, he looked between his legs.

Leisurely he lay down with head toward the sun and put fore paws over his eyes as though starting a game of hide-and-seek and expected the shadow to hide. But this may have been to shut the dazzling sun-glare from his eyes, for presently he moved his head to one side to watch the shadow.

Abruptly he ended, rose to his feet, and started off briskly in the direction he was traveling in when the blue shadow upon the snow coaxed him to stop and play.

Generally the grizzly plays alone. Most animals play with one or many others of their species. Three or four times I have seen a lone grizzly playing much after the manner of a dog--playing with himself as it were.

He ran round and round in a small circle, alternating this with leaping into the air and dodging about, and rolling on his back with feet waving in the air. He ended the play with a lively and enthusiastic chase of his tail.

The two cubs that I raised were always eager for play. They played with each other, they were ready at all times to play with me, and occasionally one of them played with my dog Scotch. Grizzlies in captivity will sometimes play with their keeper. Perhaps they would do so more frequently if they liked the keeper. Sometimes pet bears will play with strangers. They are ready to seize an opportunity for brief play and in this, as with the man who was impersonating bears, they often show a sense of humor; and they sometimes imitate or mock the actions of some other animal.

An outing in northwestern Arizona gave me fresh glimpses into grizzly life, although I had not expected to see grizzlies. I found them apparently at home with heat and sand in the edge of a desert. Perhaps these bears were only visitors. They were not dwarfed by the harsh conditions but appeared similar to grizzlies of other localities.

I was sheltered to the leeward of a rock-outcrop waiting for a roaring desert windstorm to subside. As I looked off into the dusty distance, a brown, dust-covered grizzly came into view. He climbed up and sat down upon a large sand-dune and looked around evidently glad that things were clearing. He watched closely a dust spiral which came spinning across the clear sky. As it pa.s.sed close to him, a withered cactus-lobe dropped from it upon the dune, turned over once or twice, and then rolled down the slope. The grizzly took after it, striking out with right fore paw; but, missing, was upon it with a plunge. Picking the cactus up cautiously in his teeth, he held it for a second, then with a jerk of his head tossed it into the air and pursued it. The sloping sand-dune caved and slid beneath him. Forgetting the cactus, he leaped along the crumbling sand and made a number of lunges, each followed by a dive and an abrupt stop on the sand. He ran in a circle round the crest of the dune several times, occasionally coming to a sudden stop. Then, sliding down the dune, suddenly stopped his play.

He stood still at the foot of the dune for several seconds and looked off into the distance. He was debating what he should do next. Off he started slowly toward the horizon. Into the edge of the mysterious landscape of a mirage he walked and vanished. I thought him lost and rose to move on, when a purple shadowy landscape pushed up into the sky and in this strange, dim scene a giant shadowy grizzly raced and played.

Play is a common habit of animals. Darwin, Wallace, and others have emphasized its importance as a progressive evolutionary factor in the survival of the fittest. Play is rest and relaxation; it gives power and proficiency; it stimulates the brain to the highest pitch of keenness and arouses all the faculties to be eager and at their best; it develops the individual. Play not only is a profound advantage to the player, but is necessary to the requirements of an efficient life.

All alert animals freshen themselves with play. The human race is beginning to do intelligently what it once did instinctively; it is relearning the lost art, the triumphant habit, of play.

Matching Wits with the Grizzly

In April, 1904, "Old Mose," an outlaw grizzly, was killed on Black Mountain, Colorado. For thirty-five years he had kept up his cattle-killing depredations. During this time he was often seen and constantly hunted, and numerous attempts were made to trap him. His home territory was about seventy-five miles in diameter and lay across the Continental Divide. He regularly killed cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs in this territory, and, so far as known, did not leave this region even briefly. Two missing toes on his left hind foot were the means of identifying his track.

Old Mose killed at least five men and eight hundred cattle, together with dozens of colts and other live stock. His damage must have exceeded thirty thousand dollars. Often he smashed the fences that were in his way. He had a fiendish habit of slipping up on campers or prospectors, then rushing into their camp with a roar, and he evidently enjoyed the stampedes thus caused. On these occasions he made no attempt to attack.

Although he slaughtered stock to excess, he never went out and attacked people. The five men whom he killed were men who had cornered him and were attempting to kill him.

Rarely do grizzlies kill cattle or big game. Old Mose was an exception.

None of the other grizzlies in the surrounding mountains killed live stock. During his last years Old Mose was followed at a distance by a "cinnamon" bear of large size. This grizzly had nothing to do with the killing, never a.s.sociated with Old Mose, but simply fed on the abundance which he left behind.

A heavy price on his head led the most skillful hunters and trappers to try for Old Mose. Three of the best hunters were killed by him. All trapping schemes failed; so, too, did attempts to poison. Finally he was cornered by a pack of dogs, and the hunter ended his career with the eighth shot.

Though Old Mose was forty or more years of age when killed, his teeth were sound, his fur was in good condition, and he had every appearance of being in excellent health. He was apparently good for several years more of vigorous life.

Trapping the grizzly has become a non-essential occupation. It is a waste of energy, because rarely successful. Now and then a bear is trapped, but it is usually a young bear of but little experience, a mother who is trying to protect her cubs, or a bear whose momentary curiosity caused him to forget his customary caution.

Formerly it was not difficult to trap a grizzly. But he quickly learned to avoid the menace of traps. The bear sees through all the camouflage of the trapper. Deodorized and concealed traps, traps near the bait and far from it, traps placed singly and in cl.u.s.ters--these, and even the slender concealed string of a spring gun, he usually detects and avoids.

I spent a number of days with a trapper who felt certain that he would secure the thousand-dollar reward for the capture of an outlaw cattle-killing grizzly. Earlier than usual the cattlemen drove the cattle from the summer range. The trapper took an old cow to a selected spot near the end of a gulch, picketed her, and surrounded her with spring guns and traps. The outer line of defense consisted of three spring guns which guarded three avenues of approach to the cow. The strings to these guns were of silk line stretched over bushes and tall gra.s.s so as to be inconspicuous. As the bear would be likely to seize the cow's head or neck, a trap was set between her head and a large bowlder near by. There was a trap on each side of the cow and one behind her.

The first night there was a light fall of snow, but no bear. But the second night he came. Tracks showed that he scented or heard the cow from afar--more than a mile away--and came straight for her. He stopped within two feet of the silk line and walked cautiously round it until he completed the circuit. But there was no opening. He then leaped the line--something I had never before heard of a bear doing. He approached the cow, then walked round her; he went close to the traps and detected just where each one was concealed. Then, between the trap in front and the one on the left, he seized and killed the cow. After feeding on her he dragged the carca.s.s across two traps and left it. Leaping the line again, he went off down stream in the gulch.

The trapper reset the traps the following day and placed an additional one just inside the line, at the point where the grizzly had leaped over it. Then, some distance down stream, he strung a line across the gulch and attached a spring gun to one end of the line.

The grizzly returned that night, coming down the gulch. After walking the lines around the carca.s.s, and apparently having detected the new trap inside, he leaped the line at another point. He avoided the traps and ate about half the remainder of the carca.s.s. Then he piled a few dead logs on what was left, leaped the line again, and went down the gulch. He stopped within ten or twelve feet of the line here and followed it along to where it connected with the rifle on the side of the gulch. Walking round the rifle, he went back into the gulch and followed his trail of the preceding night.

The trapper, amazed, vowed vengeance. He made haste and built a log pen around the remains of the carca.s.s. He then set two traps in the entrance of the pen, one in front of the entrance and one inside the pen.

The second night following, the bear returned, leaped over the line, and cautiously approached the pen. The bowlder formed part of the rear end of this. Climbing on top of the bowlder, the bear tore off the upper part of the pen, which rested on the bowlder, and then, from the bowlder, without getting into the pen, reached down and dragged up the carca.s.s. In doing this one of the poles which had been torn out of place and thrown to one side struck the top of a stump, turned over, and fell across the line attached to a spring gun. This fired its waiting shot.

Then the grizzly did this astounding thing. He appears to have been on top of the bowlder when the shot was fired, but he descended, made his way to the smelly gun, and then examined it, the snow being tracked up in front of it. Returning to the carca.s.s, he dragged it off the bowlder and ate the last mouthful. Leaving the bones where they lay, he walked across the line where the pole rested on it and went off up the gulch.

A grizzly is wary for the preservation of his life. It is generally a triumph of stalking to get within short range of him. His senses detect danger afar. He will sometimes hear the stealthy approach of a hunter at the distance of a quarter of a mile, and under favorable conditions he will scent a man at a distance of a mile or more. Being ever on guard, and generally in a place where he can scout with scent, sight, or hearing, he usually manages to keep out of range or under cover. It is not uncommon for two or three hunters in different parts of bear territory, searching with field-gla.s.ses, watching from high places, taking advantage of the wind, and moving silently, to spend a week without even seeing a bear, although bears were about. Many times, even when trailed with dogs, through his brains, his endurance, and his ability to move rapidly over rough territory, the grizzly escapes being cornered.

I have often been in bear territory for days without seeing one. Then again I have seen two or more in a few hours. Frequently I have been able to watch a grizzly at moderately short range for an hour or longer.

I was chiefly concerned to get near enough to study his actions, and not to take a shot, as I trailed without a gun. But many a day I have failed to see a grizzly, though I searched carefully in a territory which I knew and where the habits of the individual bears were somewhat known to me.