Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-03-24


nassc of English hunters, trained chiefly
to shooting rabbits and semi-domestc bird.
and bucks in their own narrow preserves
ut home, while Vermont. after close set
tlcment of 4 century furnishes such fine
examples of heroic sport us | am about
to relate
Il have sailed east and sailed west and
sailed near some private >hore,n and have
never met more natural sportsman or !,
more genial man than our friend Mr. Sol
Durham, of Hancock, better known as the
- bear hunter" He is the hero of nv
story; and if were writing privately to
you, Mr.. Editor. he would need no further
introduction, is it has been Your good for
tune and mine to have met him ut his hos
pitable home and in the camp by the
mountain pond and stream. He is gen
tleman of the old school, somewhat after
the leather stocking type, full ofthe quietest
0onhon'nlc, and very intelligent in the cur
rent matters of the dav He is thrifty
farmer, and of shrewd judgment in all
matters of business. Although = sexagen-
;tllan. his dark brown hair has all the lus-
ter youth, and his skin is us fur us that of
the blondest lady, and his modesty is some
thing admirable. Yet this is no parlor
knight that | have described. but Il h1nts-
man bold. HON not to know anywhere from
White River to Lake Dunmore is to argue
ones self unknown in the fields of the
gentle or more heroic sport - Mr.. Dun
! ham has Just honOred me with visit,
and his presence was the first ray Of spring
that has entered my winter seclu,ion. We
talked of our excursion into the Ripton
sOlitudes we called to mind that terrific
shrek that startled Us one dark nj ght in
camp, and that You. Mr.. Editor. the other
day protanely attributed to Il "fretful y
hedgehog. l have his word that it WAS
nothing Use than Il lynx. And finally he
rtcounled the story of his last encounter
with Il family Of bears and how he made
up the number of fifty Hi led by his own
hands, upon which he had resolved to re-
tire.
A party Of four gentlemen from Spring
field, Mass. came to Vermont last fall to
pass their vacation and breathe the invig-
Grating air OF the mountains. While
stopping at Bethel they heard of Mr.. Dun
ham a> living ut the foot of the greenesl
of our mp'lntlin-, in The midst of pictur-
e>quc scenery. and us i man that could ii
any man could, put them on the track of !,
| bcar. 50 they crossed over the Lvmpls
! Hills to llancoy k, and conii.i led themselves
trustingly TO his hands. a man that had
nillcd forty nine bears would be apt 10
know where to look for them.
On tie other side of Il range Of hills
! that lies between Hancock and Blainirce
was Il neighborhood lhtt had been com
| planning Of drprcuation>. AMI one particu-
| lar Lear had exhibited wonderful boldness.
as if She knew the dweller> nelr her walks
were chiefly Canada French, who have 4
mortal dread of that animal.
y Frcnchm;.n, returning one evening
! from his laborS III the woods. WAS fright
encd ont of his manhood. if he had anv
/ by finding Brain confrontin. him near the
path. He took TO his heels, and WAS not
at all rca>sulcd when he perceived tie
bear Keeping pace with him. the two des-
cribing parallel lines ut no very great dis
tance apart. Finding thai that Kind oi
Il race would never do for Il Frenchman.
with wonderful presence of mind, he took
The first tree that would admit of climbing
and was utterly confounded when he saw
the bear a> if mocAiny linn sea ing tree
close by. The mystery of the bears move
in the same tree she had climbed. How
that Frcnchman crossed himself and
promised L pilgrimage to the shrine Of
had prOvidentlv avoided that tree, will
never he known by any but that lady her
self; but how the French nasals of despair
echoed and re-cchoed among the hills till
,hrv reached the ears OF hS Wit. is Il mat
ter of history. II was not ill after dark
that his neiyhbors rallied To his relief.
To tbs >po. early one O .jobrr morning
last fall ID nhlm led his am ltcur friends,
and WIS not long in finding abundant
- signs The presence of some apple
trees on grounds that had once been open
brlt were now abandoned and partially
GOV, red with Il second growth of timber.
seemed to have attracted the predaccou>
animals he Wa, in pursuit Of, and evil
denct Of rio,ou> living were all around
1t was the par:ld Sc of bears; fat sheep
from the hill pastures diversified with lus-
cious apples growing in the woods do not
occur on every bear, walk, and were Il
great Improvement on blackberrles and
wild turnlpS.
After studying the ground Dunham dis
posct of his forces and gave the orders of
the hunt. No gun to be fired at any
thing les, than Il bear, and the firing of Il
rifle wa, to be the signal to rally. The
four amat, ur> We're to proceed well extend
eel rs left wing and center not to get out
of sight OF call Of Dunhrm. who WAS to
make the right wing. alone. The broken
nature of the ground soon separated Dun
ham from his friends, and the impetuous
excitement of the una 'cu>tomel sport car
ried the amateurs far ahead Of their more
careful and wary guide. Dunham soon
found himself near Il rocky prominence
covered with trees and evidently suggcs-
tive of bears. TO Use his own expression,
{" As | approached the hill | JcN the bears
all around me-" Carefully making his
way towards the top for an outlook, what
was his establishment at seeing four bears
come up from the other side and com
imcnce whirlinr about and waltZing in :,
very excited manner. 1t was the whole
familv-a powerful female and three cubs
She had evidently JeN Dunham, and had
ANTICIPATED him on the cminence as Il place
of observation
Dunham WAS armed with a short breecl
loading rifle Ct 73ractere0 nihU. He knew
we'll that Il bear would fight for her young
but without counting the cost, he made l.
dash at them which resulted in putting
the II rec cubs up a hemlock tree and cats
ING the old bear to beat il htsty retreat anC
disappear from view One of the cubs
ascended Tie tree about forty feet, while
The other two stopped at about half that
distance. and were partially concealed by
, branches and foliage. The other bear Of
. fcring Il f:,lr mark. he let him have tho
small slug in his rifle, and i'll = momen
, the little fellow dropped two or three fee
and there hung suspended in mid air by
one paw clasping u projecting limb, an'
making most pteOu, means. Seeing tha
the other two cubs in alarm We're comm.
down the tree, without stopping to rcloa'
he fastened to the foot to prevent it. g
could have shot them said the old hunter
but was working for my friends, and
wanted them for them to shoot
/ He had hardly reached the foot of tn
\ tree wien the wounded cub let 90 his hol'
e and in ftlling struck one of the other cub
+ and both fell almost into Dunlam's s arms