The Bears

There are four major species of North American bears: the black, grizzly, polar, and brown bear. Cinnamon and glacier bears are color variations of the black bear, but there are some indications that the grizzly and the Alaska brown bear interbreed. The North American bears are among the most highly prized big-game animals, and a large measure of this appeal is based on their record of being dangerous.

The real danger of the black bear lies in the way it attacks when cornered or wounded. Unlike the grizzly, which rears up to swing and swat with its forearms and claws, the attacking black bear comes at its opponent on all fours, like a dog. It will close its jaws around its victim's arm, leg, or torso and will hang on like a bulldog, biting deeper, until the opponent is dead. Again, unlike the grizzly, the black bear will not leave its enemy for dead, but like the domestic hog, is very apt to eat the remains. Outdoors-men in the Southwest tell with awe of four fliers who were downed in mountainous country and were eaten by black bears, possibly before some of them were dead.

A grizzly bear is unpredictable. A half-dozen individual grizzlies may, under comparable circumstances, react in as many ways. It takes very little provocation to touch off a grizzly's rage. Suddenly surprising a grizzly on a trail may uncork its fury. Shouting or whistling at one at close range is apt to set it off. Coming between a sow and her cubs or surprising one near its cache will surely do it. And once enraged, a grizzly's ferocity is hard to overrate. No other animal within grizzly habitat can lick this huge bear. It knows no fear. Consequently its amazing physical strength and its tendency, once into a scrap, to fight to the death, have established its reputation as the "horrible bear."

The polar bear is as fearless as the grizzly and has an even greater fighting potential because of its enormous size. Hunting this great white species is a hazardous undertaking. The hunter must face the dangers of the Arctic along the ever shifting line where moving pressure-ice meets the open water and where the white bruin feeds: treacherous snow holes through which a hunter can fall into the ocean; blizzards and storms which can maroon a hunter on off-shore ice floes; sudden shifts in wind and currents which can open great gaps of water between the hunter and shore.

The innate danger of the Alaska brown bear lies in its great size and physical strength. It is an odd fact that the brown bear, though so closely related to the grizzly, does not have the same ferocious, hair-trigger tem­perament as the silvertip.

For the hunter of big game, such hazards have an intriguing appeal. In an encounter with any species of bear, the element of danger lends excite­ment to the hunt.

THE BLACK BEAR—RANGE

The black bear (Eurarctos americanus) is the most numerous of the group and the most widely distributed. Its range includes all the wooded portions of Canada and Alaska, as well as large areas in Continental United States. These are a large strip of habitat coincident with the Rocky Moun­tains and reaching southward into central Mexico; the Pacific Slope from midway of California northward to Canada; large areas of the North­eastern States and about the Great Lakes; an extended belt of country along the Appalachians; and spot areas in the Florida Everglades, Missis­sippi, Louisiana, Alabama, the Carolinas, Virginia, and New York.

Of the states, Alaska has most black bear with an estimated population of 75,000 animals. The states of California, Maine, and Washington all have black bear populations in excess of 20,000, and Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wyoming all have sizeable black bear numbers.

HABITS

The black bear hibernates in late fall, usually around November, de­pending upon altitude and severity of season. Cubs are born while the sow is in hibernation, and may include one black cub and one brown cub. Twins are common, and triplets not unusual.

Hibernating blacks are not impossible to arouse. Any jarring or pounding around the den will cause them to move, and often on a sunny day in mid­winter a black will leave the den, mosey around outside for a few rods, then go back in.

Blacks leave the den in early spring. They live on a diet of dogtooth violets, grass shoots, and similar vegetation until their alimentary canals are again enlarged and conditioned for meat.

During the summer months, black bears move widely in search of food, which consists of rodents, carrion, any domestic stock they can steal, and wild fruits and berries. Two to four weeks after emerging from hibernation the black bear's pelage is rubbed and shaggy-looking. From then until late fall, before the animal has again fattened up for hibernation, its coat is no good for a trophy. Early spring and late fall are the best times to hunt black bear for trophies.

HUNTING THE BLACK BEAR

In spring, bears are hunted by a combination of two techniques. One is to locate them as they appear in the first open "slides" where small moun­tain avalanches have cleared the snow and the first blades of grass have appeared. Bears love these first green shoots, to condition their alimentary canals after the dormancy of hibernation, and they are often found on these slides.

Once the bruins are conditioned with this vegetable diet, they will hunt for meat and can be baited with a dead horse. This entails killing :i worth­less animal in good bear country and letting it ripen and bloat until the odor attracts the nostrils of a wandering bruin.

Baiting is illegal in some areas, and a far more productive way is to hunt black bear while on big-game hunts after other species of big game. Bears are great travelers. The sexes do not mingle except during mating season. The boars are not gregarious, but gruff individualists, and any adult bear seen is apt to be alone. Since black-bear habitat includes that of most other big game, the chance of bagging one while on a hunt for other species is always good.

Fine areas to hunt black bear are high huckleberry, elderberry, wild

Black bears sometimes seek safety in trees. This agile bruin was discovered resting in an unusual position.

raspberry, and similar fruit patches. So are old abandoned orchards, campsites, and the trails paralleling rivers and creek bottoms. The offal left from game-kills often produces a bear, if visited by the hunter before the coyotes have cleaned it from the landscape. Often, too, black bears will raid outlying ranches or forest camps for refuse, poultry, or even penned hogs. Individual bears become known as "pest bears" through such raids and usually won't leave the scene permanently but must be killed. In the West, also, black bears ordinarily follow the fringes of sheep herds in mountainous grazing lands, usually to pick up carrion.

Black bears vary greatly in weight, with adults ranging from 250 pounds to over 450. An average adult stands more than 2 feet at the shoulders, in normal stance, and is approximately 2½ times as long as it is high.

RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES

The best rifles for black bear are those most suitable for mule deer and caribou, and should not include those listed as minimum for all-round deer rifles. Since the black bear is a woods-loving animal, it is often killed in timber and at relatively short range. For this reason, larger caliber, medium-powered cartridges may well be included. Suitable black-bear cartridges include:
.358 Winchester, using 200-grain bullets
.348 Winchester, using 150- or 200-grain bullets
.35 Remington, using 200-grain bullets
.308 Winchester, using 150- or 180-grain bullets
.300 Savage, using 150- or 180-grain bullets
.30/06 Springfield, using 150- or 180-grain bullets
.280 Remington, using 150- or 165-grain bullets
7 mm Mauser, using 139- or 160-grain bullets (handloads)
.270 Winchester, using 130- or 150-grain bullets
.264 Winchester Magnum, using 140-grain bullets

Cartridges of the .250 Savage, .257 Roberts, .243 Winchester, .244 Remington, and .30/30 class are on the light side for black bear under hunting conditions, but will do the job if the range and the circumstances are not stretched.

Often, however, the black-bear rifle just happens to be the rifle the hunter has along for another species. In all such instances, the right rifle is the one adequate for the largest species being hunted.

USE OF DOGS

In many areas of the country, black bear are still hunted with dogs. The major reason for coursing with dogs is that the nature of the terrain or foliage is such that the hunter without the aid of dogs would not have a chance at bear. Bear are often hunted in conjunction with another species also necessitating the use of dogs, such as bear-boar hunting in the Tellico Plains region of Tennessee, or lion-bear hunting in the Southwest.

When bear are coursed with dogs, the quarry is either run past the hunters, brought to bay, or put up a tree. This is one type of hunting where a suitable handgun may be preferable to a rifle—for the anticlimactic shooting of a treed animal after the thrill of the race is over. The .44 Magnum or the .357 Magnum handgun, each shooting its heaviest bullet at maximum velocity, should be the only ordnance considered for the job.

BOW AND HANDGUN

Both bow-and-arrow and handgun hunting for black bear are gaining in popularity, possibly because this species, due to its woods habitat, can be stalked closer than some of the open-country species of game. The heaviest weapon, in either instance, which the hunter can shoot well should be his choice. An ethical standard by which the hunter using either weapon might well limit himself is that outside range at which he can regularly and surely place all his bullets or arrows into a 12-inch circle, under the conditions and obstacles encountered while actually hunting.

Another condition under which the handgun hunter can reasonably hunt black bear is while horseback hunting for another species. Black bears like trails, and the hunter will often surprise them at close range in horse country. The shoulder-holstered magnum handgun is then handy and ef­fective. Again, when the offal of game-kills is checked for bears, such a pistol is far lighter to lug over the hills than a rifle, for the possibility of finding a bear under conditions ideal for a close stalk.

THE GRIZZLY BEAR

In size, the grizzly will average larger than the black. Its identifying features are a broad head, high hump at the withers, a dish face, and the presence of silver-tipped guard hairs along the spine. Grizzly coloration varies from a creamy yellow to nearly jet black; but the average grizzly has a badgery hue. As with blacks, the grizzly's weight varies greatly. An adult bear of 500 pounds is average, though an occasional bear will weigh nearly double that.

RANGE AND HABITS

Grizzly bear country is normally the most remote, inaccessible country left. Today's remaining grizzlies are all located in the western half of the continent, in a belt extending from the northern portion of Mexico to the

The grizzly is midway in size between the black and brown bears, and is distinguished by silver-tipped hairs on the spine and a prominent hump on the withers.

Arctic Circle. Most of this distribution is thinly spread, however, with the bulk of the overall grizzly population being in Alaska and British Columbia.

The silvertip (Ursus horribilus) leads a solitary life in remote areas, usually at high elevations. It ranges wide for such food as blueberries, low-bush cranberries, wild-pea vines, rodents, carrion, grubs, and even ants from fallen logs. It covers a circuitous route up to twenty miles across. Old boars leave their claw marks on trees, indicating possession of a "private" domain. As with other ursines, the grizzly goes into hibernation with the deep snow and heavy frosts of late fall and emerges in early spring. Grizzly dens are in rocky, craggy areas at the upper periphery of timber.

Two basic grizzly foods are of especial importance to the hunter, since in the normal fall hunting season these staples of its diet disclose its presence. These are the blueberries found in large patches in Canada and Alaska, and the whistling marmot—a rodent comparable to the western rockchuck.

HUNTING THE GRIZZLY

In September, grizzlies range far and wide, stripping ripe blueberries from their short stems. Consequently, a productive way of locating a grizzly is to glass constantly, from some high vantage point, all the high blueberry patches. It takes a lot of fruit to fill a silvertip, and it is constantly on the move while the fruit season is on. The bear shows up well at extreme dis­tances in the short fruit bushes.

The final fattening food for the grizzly's impending hibernation, the lowly marmots, are dug from the rocks at an elevation just under the snow line left by glaciers—the elevation at which marmots themselves hibernate. A grizzly will spend many hours during the day digging out such fat meals and is easily spotted with glasses in the relatively open country. Often the agitated noise of the rodents at being disturbed will draw the hunter's attention to a bear working their dens.

High trails, game crossings from one basin to another, creek beds, moose trails in the bush, and lake shores where the bear might find carrion are all likely places to look for grizzlies. So is the offal from recent game-kills. Perhaps the best area to look for a grizzly during the September-October period is the apexes of high basins, and valley heads. Silvertips love such alpine "pockets."

The fall months are best for grizzly hunting. The pelage is at its prime longer, and the bears may be hunted with other big game. Spring hunting of grizzlies is still done in Wyoming by baiting the animals with a dead horse.

In general, grizzly hunting entails using an outfitter and guides. The best method of finding a bear is likely the way such a professional has found to work best in his particular area.

RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES

The "best" grizzly rifle is the most powerful rifle the hunter can shoot well. The grizzly hunter owes it to his own and his guide's safety, to say nothing of the beast itself, to use an outfit which will insure a clean, quick kill. One thing every grizzly hunter should paste in his red hat is the reminder that a grizzly must be stopped, not just killed. And the tenacity with which a grizzly clings to life is incredible. Any wounded beast may be expected to fight to the death.

Generally speaking, the right grizzly rifle is about on a par with the best trophy-elk rifles. Some adequate grizzly cartridges are:
.300 H&H Magnum, using 180- or 220-grain bullets
.300 Weatherby Magnum, using 180-grain bullets
.30-338 Magnum,
.30 Short Magnum, or .308 Norma Magnum (all com­parable), using 180-grain bullets
.338 Winchester Magnum, using 200- or 250-grain bullets .358 Norma Magnum, using 250-grain bullets
.375 H&H Magnum, using 270- or 300-grain bullets

BOW AND HANDGUN

As such powerful cartridges are necessary to kill a grizzly, it should be apparent that the silvertip isn't bow-and-arrow or handgun game. An occasional grizzly has been dispatched with a heavy handgun, and a few will be killed in the future by archers—certainly it represents the greatest hunting challenge. But in such instances, a cool rifle shot with a heavy rifle habitually backs up the bowman, in case he starts something he can't finish. It is likely that one could count on the fingers of his hands the num­ber of handgun hunters and bowmen who have the ability, basic hunting know-how, and sheer guts to take on a grizzly bear in its own bailiwick with these light weapons—and do a clean job of it.

THE POLAR BEAR

Polar bear are hunted in the Arctic, and the sport is mushrooming among those who have the money, time, and stamina.

These great white bruins live most of their life cycle on the moving ice pack. Cubs are born during hibernation in rocky dens along the shoreline, but the boars seldom if ever go inland. Polar bears are great swimmers and will often swim ten to twenty miles between ice floes. They spend most of their time hunting, and their principal diet is the fat from hair seals. The lowly hair seal spends its time hunting for its main food, fish; and this determines the habitat and incidence of the polar bears.

RANGE AND HABITS

Generally speaking, polar bears are found offshore, upon the ice pack of the Arctic Ocean from Kotzebue, Alaska, northward around Point Barrow, and east and northward to Greenland.

One of the best jumping-off spots for hunting polar bear is the Point

Subzero cold and arctic terrain make hunting for polar bear a dangerous sport. This one was taken off Point Hope, Alaska, with a Weatherby .300 Magnum.

Hope-Kotzebue region of Alaska, where a combination of circumstances helps to congregate the big bears. Around such capes as Point Hope, Lisbourne, and Point Barrow, the ocean currents bring the fish in close to shore. The seals follow the fish, and with the anchor ice of midwinter, the favorable westerly winds, and the ice pack coming in, the big bears travel in relatively close to shore from the Siberian and Arctic sides.

There the big bruins hunt the seals along the open leads of water caused by currents and winds shifting the ice pack and anchor ice. Between February and March, polar bear are usually within striking distance, and light aircraft, or dog teams managed by Eskimo guides are used to transport the hunters.

HUNTING THE POLAR BEAR

Either form of hunting is a dangerous, thrilling business. Temperatures at this season are well below zero day and night. The hunting areas are usually many miles offshore, and the elements are merciless. Blizzard, fog, "white-outs" (frozen ice crystals), and frigid temperatures are the basic obstacles to airplane hunting. The dog-sled hunter has these to contend with, plus the always-present possibility of being stranded on a moving ice floe by an open lead suddenly occurring between him and shore.

In dog-team hunting, the hunter and Eskimo guide generally travel ten or fifteen miles offshore into the maze of pressure-ice until they reach open water. They hunt the edge of this moving, dangerous hunting ground during midday, then drive back to the native village at night. Arrangements for such hunting must be made through a commercial outfitter catering to polar bear hunts, who has himself made suitable arrangements with the Eskimos for dog teams, guides, and other services.
Airplane hunting is less miserable, and greater distances can be covered during the day's hunt. Two light aircraft, for safety reasons, are used, one flying above the other. One pilot scouts for game, the other surveys ice conditions and weather. When a bear is seen hunting on the ice pack, the planes are set down at a distance, and the hunter makes his stalk on foot.

The current headquarters for airplane hunting of polar bear is Kotzebue, Alaska. The sport was pioneered from there, several commercial outfitters operate out of the little Eskimo village, and bears are reached within a day's flight—usually from a hundred to two hundred miles out, west and north­ward. Hunters stay overnight at the modern but small hotel at Kotzebue, and the planes take off from the ice on the sound immediately out front.

Outfitters for this type of polar bear hunting advertise in the big outdoor magazines, and the current rate for a trip, with bear guaranteed, is $2,000.

The most important piece of equipment for the hunter traveling either by dog team or aircraft is the down clothing he must wear to prevent freezing to death. This includes down underwear, down pants, parka, cap, and mitts, and Eskimo mukluks (double, hair-insulated boots).

The same rifles and cartridges suited to grizzly-bear hunting are ideal for polar bear. Any rifle is de-greased before going into such subzero tempera­tures, to prevent its action from sticking.

THE ALASKA BROWN BEAR

The Alaska brown bear (Ursus) has for decades been considered North America's largest carnivore and a separate species from the grizzly bear. Recent exceptional specimens of polar bear, however, have challenged its position. With continued observation and study, the line of demarcation

The Alaska brown bear, largest carnivore in North America, may attain a maximum weight of 1,500 pounds. Like the grizzly, it has a hump on the withers.

between the brown and the grizzly has diminished. Both bears have the same dish face, shoulder hump, general coloration, and their ranges overlap. Finally, in 1961, the Boone & Crockett Club flatly classified both bears as one, calling them Alaska bears, genus Ursus.

RANGE AND HABITS

Brown bears are found along the coastal areas of southern Alaska, on many of the major islands, and extensively along the Alaska Peninsula. Kodiak, Admiralty, Chicagof, Afognak, Umiak, and Kruzof Islands are some of the major islands having brown bear populations. On the Peninsula, the areas around Port Heiden, Port Moller, and Cold Bay have good bear populations, and have produced some of the ranking heads.

The life cycle of these great bruins is interesting. They den high up in the coastal mountains in rocky caves or dug dens, usually on northern slopes to prevent sudden chinook winds from flooding them. They breed in late May, alternate years; twins are common, triplets not too unusual, and quadruplets have been observed. Coloration runs from a badgery slivertip of the true grizzly, through cinnamon, to a dark chocolate brown.

Brown-bear males may weigh well over a half ton, with exceptional specimens reaching 1,500 pounds or more. A bear with a 10-foot-square hide (determined by laying the skin flat on the ground and totaling the measurements from nose-to-tail and from paw-to-paw, then dividing by two) is considered outstanding. The skull is the criterion by which bears are rated, and is scored by adding the width and length of the skull in inches. The total is expressed in points. The Boone & Crockett Club currently ranks as minimum skulls having a total score of 27 points.

Brown bears emerge from hibernation in April. Sows range with their cubs and the boars remain solitary. The first food is the green grass shoots growing among the alders, supplemented later by northern ground squirrels dug from the rocky hillsides. With early June the salmon begin moving up the glacial creeks, and the bruins move downward into the valleys to gorge on fish. With a late-fall fattening on salmon and berries, the bruins again are ready for the Big Sleep.

High on northern slopes, a hunter stands on a huge mound of dirt which was piled up by a brown bear when it made its den.

HUNTING THE BROWN BEAR

The only successful way to hunt brown bears is with a good outfitter. Relatively few outfitters cater to such hunts. Those that do, advertise in the outdoor magazines. The jumping-off spot for stateside hunters is Anchor­age, Alaska.

Reaching brown bear country is dependent upon transportation available, and this means that most hunting is done from temporary camps reached by light aircraft or boats. Outfitters having their own boats, or chartered craft, often cruise about the islands and into bays and inlets, scouting for bears from the craft itself and sometimes using the boat as a floating camp. Once game is sighted, the stalk is made on foot.

The use of aircraft has recently cut down on the time element, and opened up new areas which were unavailable by boat. Hunters and outfitter utilize the main airlines to reach the major jumping-off areas. From there, private light planes shuttle the outfit into the high valleys, bay heads, and creeks. There, in bear country at the base of the quick-rising mountains, the craft lands, not on an airstrip, but upon the beaches and creek beds. You have never really flown until you ride with a native pilot and watch him set down on an uneven, gravelly creek bed while winding his bouncing way between driftwood piles, rocks, and washouts!
The hunting technique for brown bears is singular. From camp, the nearest knoll, hillside, or elevation that will command a view of the entire valley is chosen. The first step in hunting is to climb such an elevation and spend an hour or so glassing with spotting scope or high-power binoculars.

Above snow line and the remaining glaciers are the first places to look. The trophy boars range high. They love the deep snowbanks and will "toboggan" down them like playful kids. Often a 10-foot boar will come down backwards, digging in its claws to brake its descent. Such trails in the snow are easily read to determine freshness, incidence of game, and prob­able sex.

Next, all lower country is scrutinized carefully. Brown-bear country is alder country, and with powerful glasses moving game can be seen even in this thick foliage. Lastly, valleys are scanned.

May is the best month for such hunting for three important reasons. First, an abundance of remaining snow makes the big spoor easy to spot, telling the hunter if he is in game country. Secondly, the alder leaves don't come out until the last of May, and these, once out in full, effectively ob­scure the sight of moving game. Lastly, late May is the mating season, and the trophy boars are hunting out the sows. This seasonal increase in move­ment helps the hunter locate his quarry. It is axiomatic in a bear camp that any sow spotted is left completely unmolested, since a boar is very apt to find her and be located within the hunt's duration.

Once game is spotted—this may take several days, and the game even then may be located at a distance of several miles—a campaign must be outlined. It is foolhardy to strike out after a brown bear until his inten­tions become manifest. The bruin may be wandering for food and won't stop for five miles. It may be hunting a female and go twice that far. It may lie down, fitfully sleep for ten minutes, then get up and be off. Or ii may lie down and stay in the same bed, with an occasional change in position, for a whole day.

The best time for spotting game is early morning and late evening. Like other game, during midday a brown bear will shade up and sleep. Brownies move most in mild, clear weather.

Once a located bruin has lain down for the day or has given indication that it will remain in the same general area for some time, it is time to plan a stalk. Generally speaking, it is useless to try to intercept a moving bear or outwalk him.

Stalking a brownie is much like stalking other big game, with the excep­tion that the quarry may be come upon unexpectedly. Then the hunter is dealing with dangerous game, in heavy alders, at close range.

Located brown bear should always be approached from above if the wind permits. Their sense of smell is their keenest special sense, and with favorable wind bear may be stalked closely. Here the guide's skill should be observed and followed.

RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES

This brings up the vital matter of suitable rifles and cartridges. Basically, the right rifle-cartridge combination is the most powerful the hunter can handle within reason. The necessity for this becomes obvious when one is in bear country. The animal is ponderously large and possessed of un­believable vitality. The first shot into a brown bear may well kill it, but it

Hunters take preliminary field measurements of an enormous brown bear which will rank high in the records.

seldom stops it. In the majority of encounters, a heart-lungs shot won't stop a brownie, maybe not even knock it off its feet.

Once hit, the beast will do one of two things with incredible speed. Either it will make for the hunter, or it will race away. If it heads for the hunter, then hunter and guide must have sufficient firepower to stop it, usually within a matter of yards. If the wounded beast tries to escape, it will head immediately for the nearest and thickest alder thicket. This means any succeeding shots must be at short range through brush averaging 3 to 4 inches in diameter and thicker than hairs on Rover's spine. Bullets must plow through such brush and stop an enraged animal.
For these reasons, heavy, large-calibered bullets at good velocity are needed. Two of the best factory cartridges for brown bear are the .375 H&H Magnum, using 270- or 300-grain bullets, and the newer .338 Winchester Magnum using 200- or 250-grain bullets. The recent .358 Norma Magnum cartridge, using 250-grain bullets of suitable construction, should be a fine brown-bear cartridge. The .30-caliber cartridges are less desirable, and  e otherwise fine .300 H&H and .300 Weatherby Magnums, using 220-grain bullets, should be considered minimum. Cartridges under .30 caliber, even in "magnum" power, are not adequate for brown bear under average con­ditions.

SHOT PLACEMENT

The best possible area to aim on brown bear is through one or both shoulders. On angling shots, the hunter should either hold to break the near shoulder and have the bullet penetrate and enter the chest cavity, or go through the heart-lungs area and break the opposite shoulder. Such a hit will put the beast down at least temporarily, offering the chance for quick finishing shots. A spine shot is too difficult for the average hunter to make with dead certainty, except under the most favorable conditions.

To track down a wounded brown bear in high grass and thick alders is a difficult and delicate task. In any case, all sound should be listened for intently before any follow-up—which should invariably be from the uphill side. Often the rumpus made by a bounding bear will indicate its direction, its degree of injury, and the possible spot where it goes down.

One man should lead the way, chamber loaded and safety off, watching every single inch of terrain and foliage ahead. The other unravels the blood or track spoor step by slow step until the beast is again located. Any ex­perienced guide will insist that the hunter keep shooting until the animal quits moving.

BOW AND HANDGUN

There is hot-stove-league talk about whether brownies can be killed with bow-and-arrow or magnum pistols—with suitable rifle backing-up, of course. A few brown bear have actually been killed with these weapons. But the average hunter, or even the cool experienced game-shot, is far better off just contemplating the matter.

The big brownie is generally a one-specimen species. Most hunters wait half a lifetime to bag their first, and one representative trophy is usually sufficient.

There is no more thrilling moment for the big-game hunter than to come up to his downed brown bear, contemplate that it has taken nature twenty to thirty years to produce the great animal, and regard his prize with a mixture of ecstasy and true humility. As my hunting partner said on our recent brown-bear hunt, "That 10-foot beast was the first game I've ever shot that kept getting even bigger the longer I looked at him!"

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