Grizzly's High-Power Nose

A UTAH grizzly rushed from behind a cluster of pines, stampeded a herd of cattle, and killed one in the presence of an astonished cowboy. With a leap, the bear threw his right arm over the neck of a stampeding cow, and caught her nose with his left-hand claws. The cow, going at highest speed, was thrown, landing violently on her back.

Away wildly went the cattle. The rough country split the herd into several parts, but they ran with record speed and came to a stop nearly two miles away. Few of the herd had seen the grizzly, but many, possibly all, had scented him.

Wit hin the next two weeks a number of cattle on this range were killed, and evidently by this same big bear. The measurements of the tracks corresponded, and the end of the second toe of the right fore-foot was missing. Then, too, the tracks revealed the same method of killing that the cowboy had seen.

The bear usually approached the herd and his intended victim by stealth. He slipped up, with the wind in his face, so that the cattle could not scent him. By using ravines, advancing from cover to cover, he picked his victim and, when close enough, made a dash for her.

Sometimes Big Bear varied his clever and successful method of stalking. He introduced clowning, mingled humor with murder. With a somersault he burst into view of a herd, and advanced closer with cart-wheeling, varied with the chasing of his tail.

This novel exhibition appealed to the curiosity of the cattle, and commonly they advanced to meet him, or waited for him, filled with wonder and astonishment. Of course, this clever performance was pulled off with the breeze blowing from the cattle to him — to leeward of his audience. The herds were large, and many of the cattle never saw a grizzly; but all knew and feared him, from his scent. Hence he worked from leeward, as the faintest scent from him wafted to the spellbound cattle would have stampeded the audience—and the picked victim.

This picked victim was almost invariably a two-year-old heifer. As soon as she was thrown, the bear broke back her left foreshoulder and tore out her heart. The heart and the blood were eaten, but rarely anything else.

Big Bear never returned to his kill. This probably was wisdom on his part. He may, of course, have preferred a warm drink or a particular cut for each meal, and then he probably enjoyed the fun of the killing. In any case, he easily made a kill every other day for several years.

A large reward was offered for his head, but his killings went regularly on. His kills were poisoned and surrounded with concealed traps, and approaching trails covered with batteries of set rifles, in the hope that he would return to them. Hunters lurked about in ambush. But Big Bear did not return to his kill. The next kill commonly was made ten or twenty miles away.

The only thing certain about his movements was that there was nothing certain about them. One time, from a kill, he crossed over a mountain; the next time he went up stream. Sometimes he followed a given route between two places; then again he did not. Occasionally he went out of his way for a close look at those who were hunting for him.

Attempts were made to entrap the bear by using live heifers for bait. These were placed near trails which he frequently used in going from one part of his territory to another. They were picketed, corralled in the end of a cañon, or hobbled, surrounded with concealed traps, and all approaches guarded. Apparently Big Bear never came close to these, and he did not enter an ambush.

The reward was increased to three thousand dollars. Hunters were hired by the month, and trappers by the season. Frequently an independent hunter and trapper came in, hoping for glory and three thousand dollars. But Big Bear continued the evil, even, and efficient tenor of his way; and continued it in the same old territory.

His nose, his amazingly developed sense of smell, appears to have been the foremost factor in his success. Of course, he also had brains. He showed strategy, planned two or more moves ahead, had patience, strength, eyes, ears, endurance, daring, caution, and sustained alertness. But his nose, its extraordinary keenness, and its long range, enabled him to locate nervous cattle and make frequent kills, and — far more important — to outwit triumphantly innumerable skillful hunters through fifteen consecutive years.

Just what started Big Bear on this remarkable career of killing, no one knows. Not one grizzly in a hundred ever kills a big animal. Big Bear may, while hungry, have come upon a carcass, or a crippled cow bogged or dying alone from some injury. But once having tasted, he speedily became addicted to the habit of blood-drunkenness.

His first kill was during the summer of 1898. He was then perhaps five years of age, possibly twice that. Through several years, during five months of each year, he made a kill every other day. But during the fourteenth and fifteenth seasons of his big-animal slaughter, he made a kill every day, or oftener. His total killings of cattle were more than twelve hundred head — possibly a few hundred more.

He does not appear to have killed sheep or horses, or to have paid any attention to deer or other wild life. Nor was Big Bear ferocious. He never bothered people. Not a single report or letter which I received concerning him mentions an attack on a human being. He at tended strictly to business: he was a cattle-killer. He made his kill, went his way — and from day to day killed again.

Rarely was he seen. It is doubtful if, during his entire life, he was seen a dozen times. During the fifteen years of his active, deadly hunting, numerous hunters were constantly seeking him but saw him not. When he was seen, it was by people who were not looking for him.

A homesteader, taking a load of lumber up a mountain road, saw him coming down. His fur was dark brown, with a trimming of cream-yellow; his weight about twelve hundred pounds — a third larger than the average grizzly. The bear, with unchanged speed, came on down the road. As he showed no inclination to give the right of way, the homesteader’s excited team did so. The bear went by without a stop, and with just a look at the busy, agitated driver and the demonstrative horses.

One night he called upon two hunters who were trying to ambush him on one of his much-used trails. They were two of many who were in his territory, trying to get a shot at him. They had concealed their tent in a thicket. He circled the tent at midnight, pushed in the door, entered, and calmly ate a number of trout that were to have been served for breakfast. Then he paused, to look quietly at the two hunters in bed. The one at the back was trying to get under the one in front, and the one in front gave up trying to get back, in order to avoid being pushed over the rail. After observing the deep, emotional nature of the peaceful hunters, the bear drank from a basin and backed out. He heard no comments; there was no pursuit.

True to his grizzly nature, he was eternally vigilant. His trail showed that he always assumed that he was followed. He was never surprised in the rear. His cautious or bold advances showed that he knew that the enemy was trying to meet him at every step. But there never was a meeting, though there were numerous times when one was thrillingly close.

Once, just once, when young, Big Bear appears to have got into a trap, — and out again, — leaving in it the end of the second right-hand finger. He seems to have been right-handed.

There have been other outlaw grizzlies. After skillfully remaining in home territory for a few years, they were either driven off or killed. But Big Bear stayed on.

In the struggle for existence, evolution selected home-territory-loving animals to be the ancestors of the ages. Big Bear’s intimate knowledge of his territory was valuable beyond thought. He knew every gulch, forest, retreat, cave, ridge, and pass, every vantagepoint where he could stand to look, listen, and use his unfailing nose. Then, too, he knew every line of possible advance, and all lines of retreat. He must have become acquainted with the eddying and upcast wind-currents of the heights, otherwise he could hardly have caught the scent of surrounding, advancing foes, and have escaped through their closing ranks without their scenting or seeing him.

It is assumed, but is not certain, that Big Bear was born in this locality. In home territory he lived a solitary life. Other grizzlies appear to have kept out of Big Bear’s domain. Otherwise, it is likely that they, as has happened elsewhere, would have feasted along the killer’s trail.

Nor did anyone ever discover where he hibernated, where for four or five months each year he fasted and slept, to come forth again with renewed strength and untiring energy and alertness. He is thought to have hibernated in home territory; this is common, and perhaps he did. But grizzlies have been known to hibernate miles from summer territory. Big Bear may have had a winter den one hundred miles away from the scenes where in summer he lived tensely, almost intoxicated with blood.

There has never been a closed season on the grizzly bear. Since Lewis and Clark opened fire on him more than one hundred years ago, he has been pursued day and night through all the seasons. Dogs, poison, guns, midwinter raids on mother grizzly and her cubs — all these have been survived by the species. He, the greatest animal on the continent, has been misunderstood; volumes of misinformation have been published concerning him.

The grizzly is not ferocious. He enjoys life, and avoids fighting man except in self-defense. He makes a terrific fight, and shows brains, skill, endurance, and courage.

The pursuit for Big Bear never ceased. For a time one hunter would try his skill, then another. Then a combination of trappers, cowboys, and hunters tried, some of them following the trail day and night. At one time there were seven outfits trying to intercept Big Bear.

When trappers succeed, it is largely by appealing to an animal’s sense of smell with a savory or alluring scent. Trapper after trapper tried a variety of creations. One trapper tried his celebrated wolf-scent, a scent that had lured an outlaw wolf into a trap. Marrow-bones were burned, honey heated, and combined stuffs that smelled to heaven; many of these reached the faroff nose of Big Bear. But they did not appeal — he did not investigate.

New hunters were brought in, who had been successful against other outlaw grizzlies. One of these collected all the cattle of the territory into herds, and had these held out of the rougher part of the region. The natural lines of approach to them were guarded. But Big Bear made a kill every day.

One hunter picketed with scarecrow men three of the leading passes by which the bear crossed from one side of the mountain to the other. The bear appears to have accepted scarecrow guards, and for two days or longer to have hidden close to a pair of these dummy men with real rifles.

Was Big Bear a reasoning animal? Frequently he upset the carefully made plans of men, and often outwitted elaborate strategy. Again and again he was called upon to outwit overwhelming numbers of men and dogs, day after day. Could he reason? Often it seemed as if a number of the hunters must be in league with Big Bear, to prevent his destruction. But all these hunters and trappers were sensitive over their repeated defeats.

To me the most astounding thing of all is that no one during the fifteen hunted years — during his entire life — ever had a shot at him.

The fourteenth year of slaughter he made one or more kills each day. In one ten-day period he killed thirty-four cattle. These kills were in thirty-four separated places in his territory. All this time, too, hunters were in pursuit of him.

Could any human outlaw, alone and unaided, have continued such depredations in the very midst of active, skillful pursuit? Could any human outlaw have endured one tenth as long as Big Bear? Human outlaws prolong their careers by remaining inactive for long periods, by lying low, and also by changing to a new territory.

But Big Bear did not go to a new territory. His numerous pursuers knew where he was. Nor did he discourage pursuit by ceasing operations for a time. Instead of slowing down, or occasionally ceasing to kill, he speeded up and occasionally multiplied killings. He did these things in the presence of numbers of hunters, who were trying with the most effective known means to stop him. But man has a poor nose. Big Bear won by his nose.

Big Bear’s highly evolved nose tells the story of his prolonged and amazing triumphs. He detected the odor, the scents, of enemies—men and dogs — while they were still far away, and promptly hurried to another scene before either dogs or men detected him. Of course, this constant activity in the midst of dangers called for a capable and ever-vigilant brain, a stomach that furnished extraordinary energy and physical endurance. His high-power nose was perhaps more useful to him than a dozen human scouts and as many wireless operators would have been to a human outlaw.

Driven almost to desperation by Big Bear’s prolonged and increasing slaughter, the cattlemen organized and launched a stupendous drive. Bear-dogs and trailing dogs were brought in by the dozen; numbers of hunters and trappers assembled; camp bases were established and pack outfits put in motion.

When all was ready, the large force of men, dogs, and horses was divided into three detachments, and each of these moved through a different part of Big Bear’s territory. All worked under orders and in concert.

Scouts — real scouts — were sent in advance; cowboys dashed here and there, with rush orders. Trails were guarded day and night; dogs trailed day and nighl; every bit of the territory was combed and stormed.

The first, day of the drive the bear made a kill within rifle-shot of the rear of one of the divisions. The following morning he made another kill, and this immediately in front of, but concealed from, another division. These daring raids stimulated the aggressive interest of everyone to the highest point.

Again and again the bear broke through the lines of men, horses, and dogs and flanked them; then, while a scouting party was trying to locate and corner him, he suddenly appeared miles away, in front of one of the other divisions. Repeatedly he passed within a stone’s throw of the sentinels and pickets.

The grizzly is a born adventurer. Perhaps this extraordinary campaign was enjoyed by him. In the midst, of this terrific drive for his death, his business— making a living, killing — went on as usual; every day, as usual, he surprised a herd and made a kill. For seven days and nights the campaign was waged with incessant activity, with Big Bear everywhere present; but not a single individual in the drive as much as saw him.

N. T. Galloway, the famous beavertrapper, hunter, and Grand Cañon explorer, came on the scene. During 1912 he studied Big Bear’s habits and became familiar with the territory. He was out for weeks alone; and whether, during this time, he attempted to hunt or to trap the bear is not known. But the season came to an end; the cattle were taken from the mountains, and the bear went, somewhere to hibernate for the winter.

Early the following summer, 1913, Galloway took the field. He carried with him a bottle of scent of a secret character. This probably was of seasonal odor, and he had concocted it himself. During preceding years he had successfully trapped beaver where others had said there were no beaver, and he had succeeded simply by means of concocted scents, which reached the noses and appealed to the curiosity or the interest of the beaver.

In the end of a small box-cañon he placed a quantity of this scent. Fifty or sixty feet down the trail, in the cañon, he concealed a number of bear-traps.

The odor of this strange scent float ed afar. It reached the nose of Big Bear. It was promising — bewitching. He advanced cautiously toward it. As he approached, he became intoxicated by it, and forgot all caution. It told him that She had just passed that way, in maiden meditation, fancy free. He rushed after — and into a masked trap.