Bears as Predators ~

[brotherbear]

The Beast That Walks Like Man by Harold McCracken.
Theodore Roosevelt, from his vast store of knowledge of our western game, had the following to say regarding the grizzly: "In the old days ... he wandered at will over the Plains ... roving hither and thither in burly self-confidence ... searching for roots, digging up gophers, or perhaps following the great buffalo herds to prey on some unwary straggler which he was able to catch at a disadvantage in a washout ... Old hunters, survivors of the long-vanished ages when the vast herds thronged the high plains and were followed by the wild Indian tribes, and by bands of whites who were scarcely less savage, have told me that they often met ( grizzly ) bears under such circumstances ... Later in the same account Roosevelt remarks: "The bison was the most easily approached of all game, and the great bear could often get near some outlying straggler, in its quest after stray cows, yearlings, or calves. In default of a favorable chance to make a prey of one of these weaker members of the herd, it did not hesitate to attack the mighty bulls themselves; and perhaps the grandest sight which it was ever the good fortune of the early hunters to witness was one of these rare battles between a hungry grisly and a powerful buffalo bull." Reply