Sport should be conducted in a spirit of fairness to the game, and while a couple of dogs is perhaps permissible in bear hunting, still-hunting is the better sport, because it requires the utmost skill and knowledge of woodcraft on account of the quarry's sagacity and cunning, which is superior to that of any other of our wild animals. Even if one is able to read the habits of the bear clearly from its trail, it is necessary to possess an abundant supply of patience, for, barring lucky accidents, no one can reasonably hope to outwit Bruin at the first attempt.
BEAR FEET—RIGHT SIDE (ONE-QUARTER NATURAL SIZE)
The end of their hibernation depends largely on the weather, but about March or April bears frequent snowless slopes and gulches in search of roots, bulbs, and similar food, and it is there one must look for signs at that time. If a cold spell interrupts the spring weather, as is often the case, a trail, sometimes a week old, will often lead the hunter to a nearby thicket where Bruin has made himself a bed on the ground, with the intention of sleeping until another thaw. He usually changes his bed every two or three days, but ordinarily will not leave the thicket unless he is disturbed. If a bear is found to be in such a thicket, the hunter should curb his impatience and suspend following up the trail until the snow gets soft, when he can work carefully against the wind toward his quarry. However, as it is usually impossible to see farther than ten or twenty feet ahead, Bruin has, in this kind of hunting, much the best of the hunter, and the latter finds in most cases an empty bed.
BEAR TRAIL. (STEPS ABOUT TWO FEET APART)
If the thicket is not too large the wind-hunting method before described will, no doubt, often give satisfaction; but as a rule the thickets which the bears make their spring habitat are of too great an extent. The surest and easiest way to get him is to persuade some other fellow to follow the trail while you intercept and shoot the bear when he leaves the thicket. Knowledge of Bruin's cunning then furnishes the means to decide where he will pass, since, as a rule, he will sneak off under the densest cover and try to reach another thicket under shelter of bushes, rocks and the like. Anyone, not altogether a tyro in the woods, can easily decide from the lay of the country where to wait for His Bearship. When the place is selected, one should be sure that there is an absolutely clear opening at least a couple of feet wide. A bear is bulky and clumsy-looking enough, but he is able to pass without offering a chance for a shot at places where another animal could hardly escape an average hunter's lead. I am by no means slow with my trigger finger, but before I learned to appreciate this fact I was chagrined on several occasions by having bears pass me unharmed at a less distance than fifty yards, and that too at places where I thought I could kill a running rabbit if I wished to do so.
TRACKS OF BEAR, RUNNING