The Grizzly Bear: The Narrative of a Hunter-Naturalist

by William Henry Wright, J.B. Kerfoot (Illustrator), Frank C. Craighead Jr. (Foreword)

From the Foreword— The Grizzly Bear by William H. Wright, first published in 1909, is one of the best all-around books ever written on the subject. It is both highly informative and entertaining. . . . Wright began as a bear-hunter, and an extraordinarily successful one. He pitted his own strength, endurance, ingenuity, skill, knowledge, and craftiness against that of the grizzlies. . . . His most remarkable achievement as a hunter was killing five grizzlies with five shots, which he called "the greatest bag of grizzlies that I have ever made single-handed." . . . His book shows a hunter becoming a Wright first studied the grizzly in order to hunt him, then he came to hunt him in order to study him. The Grizzly Bear treats the early history of the grizzly as recorded by the white man and the life and escapades of James Capen ["Grizzly"] Adams, and most important it recounts the true-life experiences of Wright himself. Although I have spent some eighteen years studying the grizzly, eight of them intensively, there are few points on which I would take issue with the accuracy of Wright's observations o his interpretations of what he saw—Frank C. Craighead, Jr.

297 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

1856-1934

Reviews

[Bill Leach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wright was a pioneer to the western U.S. who spent much of his life with grizzly bears. He started hunting as a young man around 1888. After almost twenty years of hunting, he started photographing bears and around 1906 made a transition from hunting to photography and observation. By the time he wrote the book in 1909, he had accumulated much knowledge of the grizzly. Moreover, he found that his experiences with the bears were at odds with the prevailing view of the animals.

The book is largely comprised of anecdotes of the author's experiences with the bears. While one tires of the ongoing need to hunt and kill the bears, even these situations tell much about their behavior. It becomes clear that the grizzly is a cautious animal. Even when staking out a carcass, the author finds tracks the next day that show that the grizzly came, looked and left. Similarly when using a thread as a camera tripline, the bears are observed to notice the thread even when walking quickly, stop to inspect it and then change their route to avoid it.

The last quarter of the book reviews the habits of the grizzly, based on Wright's experience. He found them to be essentially herbivores, their diet supplemented by fish and rodents. Large mammals are rarely killed, though "found" carcasses are fed upon. Bears will graze with other animals such as goats. Occasionally a grizzly will go rogue and become a cattle killer.

Wright addresses the question of the fierceness of the grizzly. Looking at many examples, he concludes that they are not aggressive, but will attack in self defense. He considers surprise encounters to be a form of the latter.

A worthwhile book with good insights into the character of the grizzly bear.

[Everett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first hand account of a hunter who replaced a rifle with a camera later is valuable for the insight and perspective of how bears were hunted, observed, and recorded 150 years ago. Wright's attempt to approach this is in a journalistic manner helps to remove some of the narrative and focus on just the bears. He still weaves in many stories and his summary of the Corps of Discoveries interaction with grizzlies helps to frame the bear's behaviors and distribution at a critical point in American History.

[Jeff Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little repetitive, but an interesting look not just at the bear but attitudes towards them in the late 19th and early 20th century. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this work is the portion on photographing bears with old school cameras and trip wires.

[Elva Paulson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of hunting in this book, but Wright was unusual in that he was genuinely interested in the bears at a time when myth often dominated fact. I know enough about grizzlies to appreciate his comments on their character.

[Joey Deptula · Rating 4 out of 5]

written in 1909 but the science holds up and the stories were mostly interesting