It was late in the afternoon. The sun was fast disappearing behind the western hills. I hesitated for a moment whether to take a long route by way of the narrow prairie to our camp, or to go down the brush-covered mountain sides and thus cut off at least a mile of the distance. The side of the mountain down which I determined to go, was said to be infested with grizzly. I examined my rifle and pistol, to see if they were in order and then with rapid strides commenced the descent. When about half way down I heard a rustling in the brush to my left; I turned and looked in that direction, and saw two large grizzlies on their haunches attentively surveying me. My first thought was to shoot; but as my rifle was a muzzle loader, I concluded that discretion was the better part of valor, inasmuch as there were two of them—hence I stood quiet till they dropped out of sight in the brush. I did not allow the grass to grow much under my feet, as I dodged through the chapparal brush to reach the prairie beyond. I am convinced that I could have killed one of them, but what to do with his enraged mate, was the question. I remember the answer of a young man, who, while hunting, came across a grizzly probably in her own jungle, in about the same way. He was asked why he did not shoot; his answer was, that it would be some honor for a man to kill a full grown grizzly, but a far greater honor for a grizzly to kill a man.
This great basin—circular in form and some eight miles in diameter—has been visited by me in connection with hunting parties many times since. It is, or was in former years the hunter's paradise; but I am informed that the cattle men—the pre-emptor, and the homesteaders, and timber monopolizers—have extended their dominion over the luxuriant grass-producing prairies and the magnificent forests of pine, fir, hemlock and larch, and have driven the game far back into the fastnesses of the mountains. The Indian kills only to satisfy his wants and with only imperfect instruments of destruction; he did not menace the entire extinction of the beasts of the field and forest, hence game of every kind existed and multiplied all around him; but to the white man, armed with a repeating rifle, and fired with a devouring avarice their doom is fixed. Nothing but the intervention of the strong arm of the law can avert the decree of annihilation. Having alluded to this matter once before in these sketches I will not pursue it further here.
Black-tail deer were abundant on this mountain plateau, and it did not take long for a party of good shots to obtain all the venison desired. We did not kill for the mere love of slaughter, but for food and for the attendant excitement and recreation of hunting.
There roamed through these forests numerous small bands of elk; I say small bands, for I have never seen them here in such large herds as I have seen in the Coast and Olympic ranges of mountains. They seemed to exist here in family groups, ranging in number from three to seven or eight. I counted one group, however, numbering fifteen, in an exploring expedition in the dark woods near the base of snow-crowned Mount McLaughlin. I had a fine opportunity to shoot a good sized buck whose head was crowned with large and fine antlers; but was so distant from camp and the ground was so rough and difficult of access, that I forebore, and seated myself on a rock to study their habits and to watch their movements. These small bands were quite difficult to find, for the elk is a great roamer, but with pluck and perseverance, and the discomforts of sleeping on their trail perhaps for one night, we were usually successful, unless the trail led into the impassable breaks in the mountains.
The bear family was well represented in this mountain plateau. The black, the brown, the cinnamon, the grizzly and what is known among hunters as the mealy-nosed brown bear, were plentiful. This last species of bear, if it be proper to call them a species, I have always thought was a cross between the grizzly and the brown bear. His nose or muzzle up to his eyes is nearly white. Like many crosses, he inherits all the bad qualities of his progenitors, and seemingly, none of their good qualities. In size he is between the grizzly and the brown bear. While most of the species of the bear family will run on the approach of man, unless one comes upon them suddenly in their patrimonial jungle, or a female with her cubs, the mealy-nosed bear is inclined to stand his ground, and to resent any crowding upon him. Doctor Livingston says, in his Book of Travels in Africa, that if you come upon the lion in the day time, he will face you and quietly look at you; and if you stand still he will in a short time turn and look at you over his shoulder, and then commence easily to move away, and when he thinks he is out of sight he will bound off with accelerated speed. The mealy-nosed brown bear acts very much in the same manner. Hunting parties sometimes have with them a leash of trained bear-dogs, and they always close the hunt in a chase for bruin. There is in this kind of sport a dash of danger, that makes it all the more exciting.
Hunters, like poets, are born. Keenness of vision, presence of mind in case of conflict or danger, together with steadiness of nerve, are the essential characteristics of a true hunter. No practice or exercise can fully supply these qualities. I could narrate many exciting and dangerous conditions, or situations, arising from the want of some of these qualities; but as the actors may be living, I omit them.
I am at liberty to narrate only my own acts and mistakes. I cannot omit from these sketches the first grizzly killed by me. Myself and companion were camping on Dead Indian Prairie, when we were informed that there were some fresh elk-tracks near a large wet prairie some three miles from our camp. We started out to hunt for these elks. We went up a narrow prairie through which flowed a small brook to a larger prairie through which this brook also flowed. The brook was fringed on each side with a thick growth of willows from three to five rods in width. We hitched our horses near the larger prairie, and my companion was to go carefully through the timber on the right hand, while I was to cross the brook and carefully scout the timber on the left hand. Shortly after I had crossed the brook and got a good view of the prairie beyond, I saw a large grizzly feeding near the outer line of the willows. He was some sixty or seventy rods away. I considered for a moment, my plan of action. I had left my pistol at the camp and had only my rifle and hunting-knife. I kept in the timber out of sight until I got opposite to him and probably about forty rods away. Grass on the prairie was tall, and I concluded that as I only had one shot, I would get closer to him; so I crawled through the grass towards him until I was possibly twenty rods away. He commenced to act as though all was not right, and he stood listening, reared upon his haunches, and snuffing the air. I began to get a little nervous. I desired to get a shot at or near the butt of his ear. While he was listening, however, he kept turning his head from me and towards the willows. I concluded that I could strike his heart, and quickly brought my rifle in position, and fired. He fell to the ground; I arose to my feet and commenced to reload. My rifle was muzzle-tight, and I had to carry in my pouch a bullet-starter. Having got the powder in the gun and started the ball, just as I pulled the ramrod he arose to his feet. As I was in plain view, he started directly for me. Casting my eye around, I saw a hemlock tree, with pendent limbs, some thirty or more rods away. I started for it with all the speed I possessed. As he was running on a kind of circle hypothenuse, I could see that he was rapidly closing the space between us. He was probably fifteen or twenty feet from me when I dropped my rifle and leaped for the branches of the tree. My aspirations were lofty just then. Had he come on, he might possibly have gotten me, but I was soon out of his reach. He stopped to grasp my rifle and shook it violently. It was a half-stocked rifle, and he bit off a portion of the stock. He stayed around the tree some three or four minutes licking his wound, which I subsequently found was less than half an inch too high. It was a mortal shot, but did not produce immediate death. He suddenly leaped to his feet and dashed off to a thicket of chapparal some twelve or thirteen rods away. I descended from the tree, found my rifle to be in an effective condition, rammed down the ball, put on a cap and ran for a tree standing outside of the chapparal brush—listened and looked; and I quickly saw him. He had run into the forks of a felled tree and had all the appearance of life. I fired at the butt of his ear, but he did not move. I reloaded and carefully approached him and found him to be dead. He was poor, but was estimated to weigh some two hundred and fifty or three hundred pounds. We took his pelt, and after a good deal of persuasion and blindfolding my riding-horse took it into camp.
Moral: no man has the right to hunt grizzly bear with a muzzle-loading rifle and muzzle-tight at that.
I have several times since then, either alone or with a hunting companion, met them, and with a Remington repeater found no difficulty in commanding the situation.
The winter of 1852-'53 was distinguished for—so far as the memory of the oldest inhabitants recalled—its unprecedented deep fall of snow.