Humans and bears - Wild encounters

[brotherbear]

California's Day of the Grizzly by William B. Secrest.

F.J. Teggart, The Portola Expedition of 1769-1770, Diary of Miguel Costanso, Academy of Pacific Coast History, Publications, 1911:

It was an enormous animal: it measured fourteen palms from the sole of its feet to the top of its head; its feet were more than a foot long; and it must have weighed over 375 pounds. We ate the flesh and found it savory and good.

... Some of the soldiers, attracted by the chase because they had been successful on two other occasions, mounted their horses, and this time succeeded in shooting one. They, however, experienced the fierceness and danger of these animals - when they feel themselves to be wounded, headlong they charge the hunter, who can only escape by the swiftness of his horse, for the first burst of speed is more rapid than one might expect from the bulk and awkwardness of such brutes. ...The one they succeeded in killing received nine bullet wounds before it fell, and this did not happen until they hit him in the head. Other soldiers mounted on mules had the boldness to fight one of these animals. They fired at him seven or eight times and, doubtless, he died from the wounds, but he maimed two of the mules, and, by good fortune, the men who were mounted upon them extricated themselves.

Last Edited By: Old Ephraim May 20 15 4:57 AM. Edited 1 time. Reply