Colorado's "Old Mose" - The Story of a Tough Old Bear

For over 20 years until he was killed in 1904, a giant grizzly bear terrorized the residents of eleven counties in southern and central Colorado. He was called Old Mose for his habit of approaching in a casual amble that westerners called a "mosey," although it was said that he could run down a horse or cow with no trouble at all. This big bear was credited with killing at least three men and more than 800 head of cattle during his career. Amateur and professional hunters who went after the old bear either came back empty-handed, or did not come back at all. And Old Mose seemed to know when men were unarmed because he loved to casually amble toward them just to watch them scatter in terror, but was always able to avoid men carrying weapons. It is likely that he had learned to identify the smell of gun oil.

In the late 19th century, it was customary to kill off any predators threatening a rancher's livestock. Either the rancher did it himself, or he hired a professional hunter to do the job for him. Wharton Pigg, owner of the Stirrup Ranch near Canon City, once set out a bear trap, but Old Mose escaped, losing two toes in the process. From that time on, it was easy for hunters to identify the bear's tracks by identifying the missing toes. But the old bear continued to elude even the best-known hunters in the area, killing at least three hunters over the years.

Wharton Pigg, though, made a career out of hunting the big bear. Obsessed with killing Old Mose, he sold his gold mine and bought a ranch right in the middle of Mose's territory so he could spend more time on the hunt. But eventually, Pigg, stymied in his search for Old Mose, invited an Idaho hunter, J. W. Anthony, to help him in his quest for the big bear.

Anthony had a pack of thirty dogs trained to hunt bear. He and Pigg searched for two months, finally locating Old Mose's trail in late April of 904. The big bear had just come out of hibernation. Part of the pack took a different trail, and Pigg followed them while Anthony continued on with the rest of the dogs. The dogs caught up with the bear in the Black Mountain area of South Park. Perhaps Mose was too old and tired by then to put up a fight, or perhaps he was still weak from his winter's sleep. At any rate, Anthony reported that Mose seemed confused by the dogs and barely seemed to notice as Anthony fired the shots that finally brought him down.

When Anthony and Wharton Pigg drove into Canon City with Old Mose's body in a wagon, the whole town turned out to see the bear's remains and congratulate the hunters. The bear measured eight and a half feet long from snout to tail, and weighed an estimated 1,000 pounds. Since he had only recently come out of hibernation, it has been estimated that he probably weighed 1200 pounds or more at his full weight. He had six-inch long claws and his tusks were three inches long. It was estimated that he was about 45 years old. There were numerous scars from bullets, and some accounts put the number of bullets in his body as high as one hundred. It has also been said that his skull was more than an inch thick, supporting claims that even a hunter's head shot had failed to bring him down.

The Denver Post newspaper was so taken with the story of Old Mose's death that they published a full-page spread on the story in May of 1904 which featured stories, maps and photographs. According to the newspaper, Old Mose was an evil old devil of a bear, and they celebrated his death accordingly.

Was Old Mose really the vicious mankiller he was thought to be, or a crippled old bear earning his living the best way he could? Over the years, attitudes toward him have softened somewhat, and the 12-foot high statue of him at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado, is now more likely to evoke a sense of nostalgia than a feeling of terror. Old Mose remains an enduring reminder of Colorado's rich wildlife legacy, and his story is one of the state's best folktales.

Sources:

http://www.cozine.com/archive/cc2002/01050261.html
http://www.iment.com/maida/family/father/jackbell/grizzly.htm