110 THE BLACK BEAR

this species of game, and also because for many years I
hunted them almost exclusively, At favourable times
my method would be to watch for them on moonlight
nights when they came to the streams to feed on salmon,
but more usually my small pack of hounds were used,
and with them ripping sport was obtained.

Hunting bear with hounds has to be done on foot, and
whoever undertakes to do it needs to be young and in
the pink of condition to be able to stand the continual
running in bush and timber, the climbing of mountains
at rapid speed, the wading, perhaps swimming, of ice-cold
streams, that are necessary for you to keep in touch
with the hounds and so be able to reach them in time to
give the cowp de grace when your quarry tires and turns
to fight. If it happens to be a bad scenting day the
hunt may last from daylight until dark, only to end in
the hounds being run completely out of scent. But when
conditions favour the hounds and they are able to go at
a fast pace and press their quarry, there is excitement
from start to finish. As soon as the hounds are in full
ery you listen until you have made certain of the direction
they are taking, so that you can take advantage of any
twist or circle they make for a short cut. Perhaps the
first mile or so will be straight away, and you toil along
laboriously behind; then there is a bit of a circle, and
you know by the hounds’ note that they are close to the
bear; perhaps, shortly afterwards, their cry changes to
the deep bay that tells you the bear has stopped and is
fighting. Away you go then with a fresh spurt, through
swamps and ponds, through bush, often consisting of
masses of rose bush or devil’s club, and your face is
scratched and your clothes are torn and your flesh is a
mass of thorns; every once in a while you pause to
listen and gasp for breath ; nearer and nearer you struggle
until you can hear the angry growls of the hounds mixed
with their baying, and the bush crashing as the fight
surges backwards and forwards. Then, perhaps just
when you are almost in sight of your quarry, or even
catching a glimpse of him, the hounds’ note changes once