BIG BEARS IN ALASKA.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 109, 3 February 1903, Page 7

BIG BEARS IN ALASKA.

BexMts The* A»e as m*ree m tsf Ovesedr •■« — Swtts as tie* Horse. Dr. \filMam Lord Smith, of Wore*** ter and Boston, lately returned from ' Kadiak island, on the^Alaekan coast, ■ where he passed several months huat- ' ing the big bears of the island. He brought borne with him *L« skin of a ! 000-pounder, reports a. Worcester (Mass.) correspondent Of toe Obieago Inter Ocean. The Kadiak bear i» the largest m«m- --: _.ber of the bear family. According to : Dr. Smith, it i* not a grizzly, although ' it closely resembles the silver tip of the Bocky mountain*. It has the grizzly •, head. It haa\be«n reputed to grow to | enormou* else, even to a weight of j 2,000 pound*, but Dr. &mHh wa* unI able io get evidence filxat it exceeded 1,900 pounds, even in autumn, when very fat, ready for ite long winter ! sleep. The fur> when in its prime, is a rich brown and very thick, but in the spring* and early summer it fc» rather a gray than brown. The Worcester hunter wae accompanied by a Boston friend during his first few weeks on Kadiak. Their first day's hunting brought them a 625---pound bear, wbioh fell to *h* rifle of th« Boston man, the two having tossed a coin tor the •hot. The only other bear they got was sbot by Dr. Smith on, almost the last day of bis hunting in the /middle ofc July; more then, two months after his arrival on the island. It wu about 10:30 p. m., Which was dusk in that latitude. Th* jSoe&or and a native had followed *he ;bea*X end got? wtthiri 30 feet of her. ;She wa« a mother with e> cub along, a*d we* fishing in the *hattow wMsnfol s> little ri*er. ' . . The Kadiak bear la « fi*h eater, and thie particular bear wa* in/clover, for ♦he dog salmon were running up stream in water only a few" inches d?ep. She reached with her great paw, armed with claws more than three inches .long, and, with a quick sweep, tossed the oalmon to the shore, where ah* killed and ate titan. Dr. Smith believes that th* Kadiak bearaknoet equals the grizzly in fierceness, but he holds that neither bear is nearly *o dangerous to hunt as their reputation would indicate. \ Their eyesight i« poor, and they eeldomreee the hunter, and, unlee* wounded and cornered, they prefer to run rather than flgftt. The Kaddak bear hafi the speed of a fast horse. Dr. Smith has- hunted big game in Africa and has killed lion, elephant, and rhinoceros, hunting on foot, but he has never seen any wild beast travel with »uoh ape«d as the Kadiak bear. Ac for the danger, he | WOUIO murti pr»l«r *w ala-o^x. tK&aio-lc bear than any of the big cats, a© far a* the risk of lif* i# ooaoerned.