Judging from the signs, the crafty old grisly, as cunning as he was
ferocious, usually lay in wait for the cattle when they came down
to water, choosing some thicket of dense underbrush and twisted
cottonwoods, through which they had to pass before reaching the sand
banks on the river's brink. Sometimes he pounced on them as they fed
through the thick, low cover of the bottoms, where an assailant could
either lie in ambush by one of the numerous cattle trails, or else creep
unobserved towards some browsing beast. When within a few feet a quick
rush carried him fairly on the terrified quarry; and though but a clumsy
animal compared to the great cats, the grisly is far quicker than one
would imagine from viewing his ordinary lumbering gait. In one or two
instances the bear had apparently grappled with his victim by seizing it
near the loins and striking a disabling blow over the small of the back;
in at least one instance he had jumped on the animal's head, grasping
it with his fore-paws, while with his fangs he tore open the throat
or crunched the neck bone.
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