Humans and bears - Wild encounters

[brotherbear]

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

*Romualdo Pacheco, a skilled vaquero of bear hunting days, once discoursed on the grizzly bear roping subject with which he was thoroughly familiar.

"A Grizzly Bear Hunter in Congress," Defiance Democrat, Defiance, Ohio, February 21, 1878:

To understand the dangers and apparent impossibilities of this class of hunting one needs to take a careful and soul-searching look at the grizzly bear as he roams in his native wilds. No animal surpasses him in savageness and strength. His weight is upon the average from one thousand to twelve hundred pounds. One stroke of his paw, one bite of his jaws is a swift introduction to death to the unfortunate who comes within his reach. He nearly always invites attack. He runs from men at any extreme distance, but invariably offers the initiative in the shape of a savage charge whenever he comes within hailing distance. So then, one can imagine at once the dangers of hunting the grizzly bear with a lasso.

*Pacheco emphasized that such sport could be as unpredictable as it could be exciting when he recalled a combat with a grizzly that refused to be captured:

The only time I was ever whipped, out and out, by a bear was in 1840 ( 1850 ). A dead whale had drifted ashore, near our place, and the odor of it extended inland many miles. It brought out many bears, as they are very fond of eating this kind of carrion. There was a tremendous bear that was spotted coming down one evening. Bears, you know, do not move until dusk, and after. A party of us, fifteen in all, went out to the bluff overhanging the sea, and there resolved to wait for the bear's return. The path, leading down was all grassy and slippery with whale blubber. It was a beautiful moonlight night, clear and soft. We grouped about the head of the path and waited. It was not long. He was below, and scenting us, came up at once for attack. I saw his head above the bluff when we least expected him, and sang out; "Here he is, boys!" as I sent my lasso whistling for him. Then began one of the most remarkable fights I ever encountered. The bear was powerful, and so greasy that our lassos slipped off when he did not snap them off with his powerful jaws. He charged us and fought out of every entanglement for one hour and a half, until we, dripping with perspiration, our horse blown and lassos destroyed, were glad to retire and escape without loss of life. But such a defeat is unusual. It is a rare phenomenon to find a bear that has the strength to go through such a fight and not become cowed. In general, after the first struggle, a bear loses his courage. Reply