. Big game shooting in Alaska . forest, I saw, as we werecrossing an open glade, three objects moving in the grassabout 200 yards away. Pitka was as usual looking on theground, and when I pointed out the objects he said, Methink that cow moose lie down. I said, You fool, they arethree black bears feeding on berries. Pitka said, Yes, oldwoman bear, two little ones. Go quick, you catch him where he was, I started crawling on my handsand knees up to the bears, which were so busy grubbing upthe blue-berries that I got within 50 yards of them withoutbeing seen. Then, thinking I could not
. Big game shooting in Alaska . forest, I saw, as we werecrossing an open glade, three objects moving in the grassabout 200 yards away. Pitka was as usual looking on theground, and when I pointed out the objects he said, Methink that cow moose lie down. I said, You fool, they arethree black bears feeding on berries. Pitka said, Yes, oldwoman bear, two little ones. Go quick, you catch him where he was, I started crawling on my handsand knees up to the bears, which were so busy grubbing upthe blue-berries that I got within 50 yards of them withoutbeing seen. Then, thinking I could not possibly miss theold one, I stood up, and taking steady aim at her shoulder,fired. She fell like a log, but a second afterwards, as I wasvery leisurely reloading, jumped up and dashed towards thethick brush a few yards away. I was so astonished that Ifired hurriedly at her again, and think that I hit her in thehind-quarters. At any rate the shot did not stop her, butthe two cubs, starting off after their mother, suffered from. 2 26 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. my wrath, and of course, as I did not particularly want them,I managed to make a good right and left, hitting both ofthem through the heart. We fully expected to find the old bear at no greatdistance in the brush, but although we spent three hourstrying to track her, or find any traces of blood, we never sawa sign of anything. That is the great disadvantage of thesmall-bores like the Mannlicher—hardly any blood comesfrom the wound, whereas, if it had been a larger bullet, wemust have found a considerable blood-trail, as the beast musthave been very badly hit. I was much annoyed at losingthis bear, and swore that every black bear in the countrywas bewitched, and that I would not shoot at , we had got the two cubs, and a very pretty pairthey were, but I almost regretted afterwards that I hadkilled them. They were far too big to attempt to capturealive, or we should have done so. The last day we remain
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