My friend decided to shoot the mother, while I was to reserve my fire until after his shot.  I expected that at the report of his rifle the bear I had chosen would pause a moment in surprise, and thus offer a good standing shot.  As my friend’s rifle cracked, the bear I had selected made a sudden dash for the woods, and I had to take him on the run.  At my first shot he turned a complete somersault, and then, quickly springing up, again made a dash for cover.  I fired a second time, and rolled him over for good and all.  Stereke was instantly slipped, and made at once for my bear.  By the time we had run up he was shaking and biting his hindquarters in a most approved style.  We at once put him after the larger bear, which Blake had wounded, and his bark in the thick alders told us he had located her.  We all followed in and found that the bear, although down, was still alive.  Blake gave her a final shot through the lungs.

The third bear got away, but I believe it was wounded by Nikolai.  The one that Blake had killed was the largest female we got on the Peninsula, measuring 6 feet 6 feet 6-1/2 inches along the vertebrae.

It is interesting to note that the two yearlings differed greatly in color.  One was a grizzled brown, like the mother, while the other was very much lighter, of a light dirty yellowish color.

We had watched these bears for some hours in the morning, and I feel positive that the mother had no cubs of this spring with her; yet on examination milk was found in her breasts.  My natives told me that frequently yearling cubs continue to suckle, and surely we had positive proof of this with the large female bear.

On our way back to camp that night we saw two more bears on the other side of the marsh, but they did not stay in the open sufficiently long to allow us to come up.

The mosquitoes had by this time become almost unbearable, and it was late before they permitted us to get to sleep.  About 3 A.M. it began to rain, but I was so tired that I slept on, although my pillow and blankets were soon well soaked.  As the rain continued, we finally put up our small tent; but everything had become thoroughly wet, and we passed a most uncomfortable day.

In the afternoon a black bear appeared not far from our camping place.  My friend went after this with his hunter, who made a most wonderful stalk.  The bear was in an almost unapproachable position, and the two men appeared to be going directly down wind; but Ivan insisted that there was a slight eddy in the breeze, and in this he must have been correct, for he brought Blake up to within sixty yards, when my friend killed the bear with a bullet through the brain.

I think it is interesting to note that our shooting grounds were the extreme western range of the black bear.  A few years ago they were not found in this locality, but it is quite evident that they are each year working further and further to the westward.