Fuck a bunch of Will Gere. Howsomeever: Hunting Grizz for pelts is done in winter. The trapper crawls into the den, and kills the animal right there, face to face. The Character (not Ol Will), probably collected claws from early or late season bears, that he stumbled on raiding his traps. A trapper I knew in Oregon had quite a collection of all sorts of claws. He trapped everywhere, including Alaska. One evening he told a yarn to my kids, about how he'd survive a winter storm by crawling into the den of a hibernating bear, and snuggle up next to it. Crawled into a momma bears den, and pushed a 200 lb cub aside and shared the milk, for almost a week, until the storm passed. Couldn't make himself take a bear after that.
