Bears as Predators ~

[brotherbear]

The Grizzly Book by Jack Samson - A gallery of Outlaw grizzlies by W.P.Hubbard - Bloody Paws 1889 to 1892.

Among the outlaw grizzlies, Bloody Paws seems to hold the record for the number of domestic animals killed. During three years his accounted escapades totaled 570 head of domestic animals destroyed, not to mention several head of wild game. The value of the stock, mostly sheep, charged to his destruction was estimated at $7,850. His boldness, and the fact that he caused the death of two hundred and sixty-three "woolies" in a single raid, were the chief factors accounting for his notoriety. Sheepmen placed rewards totaling $375 on his head.

Bloody Paws was a typical grizzly of that part of the country. He was classed as a "bald-face." He had a pale, creamy-buff coat with a slightly brownish tinge in the rolls of fur over his massive shoulders. Several times his pelage was described as of silvery whiteness.

Downey described Bloody Paws as a "big devil" that must have been all of eight feet tall when standing up. He was certain of hitting him once, maybe twice, but the shots unquestionably were just flesh wounds. His loss was 37 ewes.

Shortly afterward, near the junction of Beaver and Shell Creeks, a cowhand came upon a range bull that had been slain by the outlaw. The bull's throat had been torn open and one of it's sides caved in. Blood spots over a trampled area gave mute evidence of the battle waged there. A limping track connected Bloody Paws with the dead.

Bloody Paws was estimated to have been twenty years old and to have weighed close to 1,000 pounds. All through life the grizzly was referred to, and thought to be, a male. Upon the bear's death, it was discovered to be female. She was never seen or known to have been with cubs, and was undoubtedly barren. Reply