Loading ...On my ranch in north central BC, every spring a huge silvertip grizzly would spend a few days in the swamps surrounding and on the ranch; then move on to wherever he spent his summers. One year I found his tracks in a wet spot of peat-moss, broke off a stick the width of one front paw, 9 1/2 inches, and took it to a world famous taxidermy friend who lived about 45 miles away. When he saw that stick and got the story he also got VERY excited. Said he’d never seen a track that large, and he had mounted the largest bears in the country. He was out to the ranch a few days later so I took him out and showed him the tracks. 9 1/2 inch wide front paw and 13 inch rear paw length. He came close to BEGGING me to shoot that bear because he wanted to mount it. Guaranteed to be a world record. Shoot, that bear had never done me any harm and he’d been around for many springs so I didn’t have the heart to shoot him. Those big bears are almost never a problem. It’s the young and inexperienced ones that are dangerous and that are responsible for most bear attacks.
I do have what was the world record timber wolf, mounted in my living room, lying under the grand piano, but that was because he and his pack had killed and injured quite a few of my cattle over the years, so he had to go. Once I got him his pack hung around for three days, howling and calling and wondering what had happened to him. After that they took my ranch off of their circuit and that ended the wolf problem. I have not looked recently but as of a few years ago someone had come in with an even larger wolf, so mine was kinda dethroned from number one in the BC Wildlife Records Books, but last time I looked he was still up there in the top 3.
Animals have their rights too, or at least they should have. Mother Nature has perfected the system that man keeps trying to improve on, but, well, you know what kind of mess man has made and continues to make of nature.
edited by ipso … let’s keep this a going concern. TY
Silverngold
