Of all the varieties of brown bears, the one which has probably
attracted most attention is the large bear of the Kadiak Islands. Before
starting upon my journey I had communicated with Dr. Merriam, Chief of
the Biological Survey, at Washington, and had learned from him all that
he could tell me of this great bear. Mr. Harriman, while on his
expedition to the Alaskan coast in 1899, had by great luck shot a
specimen, and in the second volume of "Big Game Shooting" in "The
Badminton Library," Mr. Clive Phillipps-Wolley writes of the largest
"grizzly" of which he has any trustworthy information as being shot on
Kadiak island by a Mr. J.C. Tolman. These were the only authentic
records I could find of bears of this species which had fallen to the
rifle of an amateur sportsman.

After spending two months in southern Alaska, I determined to visit the
Kadiak Islands in pursuit of this bear. I reached my destination the
latter part of June, and three days later had started on my shooting
expedition with native hunters. Unfortunately I had come too late in the
season. The grass had shot up until it was shoulder high, making it most
difficult to see at any distance the game I was after.

The result of this, my first hunt, was that I actually saw but three
bear, and got but one shot, which, I am ashamed to record, was a miss.
Tracks there were in plenty along the salmon streams, and some of these
were so large I concluded that as a sporting trophy a good example of
the Kadiak bear should equal, if not surpass, in value any other kind of
big game to be found on the North American continent. This opinion
received confirmation later when I saw the size of the skins brought in
by the natives to the two trading companies.