A funny plea sometimes advanced in its favor is that it is
"dangerous." No doubt in exceptional instances this is true; exactly as
it is true that in exceptional instances it is "dangerous" for a butcher
to knock over a steer in the slaughter-house. A bear caught only by the
toes may wrench itself free as the hunter comes near, and attack him
with pain-maddened fury; or if followed at once, and if the trap and bar
are light, it may be found in some thicket, still free, and in a frenzy
of rage. But even in such cases the beast has been crippled, and though
crazy with pain and anger is easily dealt with by a good shot; while
ordinarily the poor brute is found in the last stages of exhaustion,
tied tight to a tree where the log or bar has caught, its teeth broken
to splinted stumps by rabid snaps at the cruel trap and chain. Some
trappers kill the trapped grislies with a revolver; so that it may
easily be seen that the sport is not normally dangerous. Two of my own
cowboys, Seawell and Dow, were originally from Maine, where they had
trapped a number of black bears; and they always killed them either with
a hatchet or a small 32-calibre revolver.
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