ar and the wolf; and for
the absence of this agility no amount of mere huge muscle can atone. He
is more apt to feast on animals which have met their death by accident,
or which have been killed by other beasts or by man, than to do his own
killing. He is a very foul feeder, with a strong relish for carrion,
and possesses a grewsome and cannibal fondness for the flesh of his own
kind; a bear carcass will toll a brother bear to the ambushed hunter
better than almost any other bait, unless it is the carcass of a horse.
Nor do these big bears always content themselves merely with the
carcasses of their brethren. A black bear would have a poor chance if
in the clutches of a large, hungry grisly; and an old male will kill
and eat a cub, especially if he finds it at a disadvantage. A rather
remarkable instance of this occurred in the Yellowstone National Park,
in the spring of 1891. The incident is related in the following letter
written to Mr. William Hallett Phillips, of Washington, by another
friend, Mr. Elwood Hofer. Hofer is an old mountain-man; I have hunted
with him myself, and know his statements to be trustworthy. He was, at
the time, at work in the Park getting animals for the National Museum
at Washington, and was staying at Yancey's "hotel" near Tower Falls, His
letter which was dated June 21st, 1891, runs in part as follows:
"I had a splendid Grizzly or Roachback cub and was going to send him
into the Springs next morning the team was here. I heard a racket
outside, went out, and found him dead. An old bear that made a 9 1/2
inch track had killed and partly eaten him. Last night another one
came, one that made a 8 1/2 inch track, and broke Yancy up in the milk
business. You know how the cabins stand here. There is a hitching post
between the saloon and old house, the little bear was killed there. In a
creek close by was a milk house, last night another bear came there and
smashed the whole thing up, leaving nothing but a few flattened buckets
and pans and boards. I was sleeping in the old cabin, I heard the tin
ware rattle but thought it was all right, supposed it was cows or horses
about. I don't care about the milk but the damn cuss dug up the remains
of the cub I had buried in the old ditch, he visited the old meat house
but found nothing. Bear are very thick in this part of the Park, and are
getting very fresh. I sent in the game to Capt. Anderson, hear its doing
well."
Grislies are fond of fish; and on
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