The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-04-06

master animal that roams the forest
except the Bear. 1t is said he is the
master of the forest. 1t is not worth
while to give you history of the pan
ther, because YOU have seen them in
the shows. They are the same ami
NAL in the forest. They are of the
cat kind, very sly and secret They
often catrh deer by getting up on
some leaning tree, or one that hangs
over path where the deer travel and
jump down on them, and if they once
get hold of them, they are sure prey.
My brothcr-in-law killed one of them
in Boston, town ), in the 1ith range
of townships, and he and | used to go
together to lick where they used to
come to suck and 10 kill the deerin
the summer. There we fixed a blind
to sit behind SO as to shoot them when
they came there TO suck i'll the eve
ming. One evening my -brother-in-
law went there alone until dark when
he heard something coming up a hol-
low towards him, stepping very care
fully, and when it got within eight or
ten rods of him it stopped for some
time eand then changed his course up
around him. Stepping very carefully.
he could hear him walk in the dry
leaves. He eicouid not imagine what
it could be. He had a big dog with
him, and the dog would partly get up
and growl, which he was not aecus-
toned to do when there was deer
about He would pat him on his
head and make him lie down and be
still. But the dog was not easily qui-
eted, and still he could hear the step
ping and working up around him, and
the dog got so uneasy, and he thought
it did not step like a deer, SO he let
the dog go and when the dog got near
it, he heard something running up a
tree, and make a wonderful scratch
ing and tearing. He went up to the
tree and built big fire and thought
he would keep it up until morning.
He thought it must be bear. He
kept up a good fire and about one
hour before daylight, he heard him
coming down the tree on the opposite
side from the fire and when he got
within fifteen or sixteen feet from the
ground he jumped off and run, but
the dog soon run him up another tree
and kept barking SO he dare not come
down. They kept him up until morn
ing, when he saw what it was. He
drew up his rifle and thought he
would shoot him through the he ad
and make sure work of him. When
the gun cracked, down he came, and
the dog jumped on him, but the pen
ther soon tore him so he was glad to
let 60 of him and up the tree he went
again about twenty feet and got on a
limb and got very sick. He went to
load his rifle again but had no bullet
with him. He did not know what to
do, but he put in his powder and tow
and Whitfield out plugs of wood and
fired at him. One nf them happened
to hit him right, and down he came.
and he and the dog dispatched him.
He was big old male one. His skin
was about eight feet from the tip OF
his nose to the end of his tail and had
monstrous claws. 1t was in the sum-
mer of 1905 or 1906 that it took place.
Now FOR A BEAR SToRY.-I think it
was in 1907, my brother and myself
| went out bee hunting about the first
of March. There came a warm day
and the bees in the woods used TO fl
| out and fall on the snow so we used
to find bee trees III that way We
came to a big tree that was scratched
up very much by bears. We con-
Guided that there must be some bears
in it. There was big hole about fif-
ty feet up the tree.J We went home
and got my father and brother-in-law,
Daily, and some dogs, guns, and axes
! to cut down the tree with. But be-
fore the tree fell, Daily and my old
est brother placed themselves on each
/ side OF the tree where the hole would
be when the tree fell. When the tree
fell it split all to pieces and out tum-
| bled big bear. He had lain SO long
in the tree he could not run much.
The dogs jumped on him and he soon
got one of them down, and was about
killing him when Daily shot him
through, which made him more saw
age, and my brother shot him through
the head and that stopped his career.
We went back to his nest where we
found three cubs about the size of
black squirrels. They have very lit
tie young ones for so large animals.
They hole up in December and have
some way of cleaning themselves out,
sothat there is not particle of dirt
i'll their entrails, which are as clean as
If they were washed, only tamarack
wad about four or five inches long
that lay near the back door. They
hole up and have their cubs in Febru-
ary and lay there until warm weather
comes before they bring them out,
when the herbage begins to grow.
Then they fetch down and begin to
feed. Then they begin to give milk
| for their young, previous to that time
they nuzzIe the fat loose and suck it
and live on that until they give milk.
The one that we killed there had
holes at each nipple so that you could
place your fist in down to the ribs.
| They never have more than three cubs
at time or / never saw any more to-
gether, They run with their cubs
| about fifteen months, then seperate
and you never find two together af-
ter that, unless it is in August in run
ming time. The bear is the most sim
gular animal that roams the forest. l
think they breed only every other
year, for l have killed quite a number
and have never found one that had
any appearance of young ones about
| them while running with their cubs,
and they never leave them until they
are a year DID, and the cubs will
weigh from eighty to one hundred
pounds; and then they scatter and
each one takes his own course.
The Otter is a water animal and is
| larger than Coon, lives on fish,
CLAIMS, crabs, and other things that he
gathers out of the water. He is of a
dark brown color, and is very strong
animal for its size. They have tre-
menduous teeth. There is no one dog
that can kill one of them. i.
The Beaver is a larger animal thanthe
otter and is a lighter color, and very
strong animal for its size. They have
| large teeth about one inch broad and
very sharp and strong in their jaws
and will cut down tree in little
while. They will cut heavier. chips
than a two inch augur can. They
will gnaw right round the tree until
it falls. They cut their logs from
four to five feet long, and then rop
them. into the water to build their
dams. They dig bitches across the
bottom of the stream, when they
place their timbers in position about