Morning journal and courier., 1881-02-11
Price Four Cents.

Van Valkenburgh, of Peck Hollow, while in the mountains with his dog, far from home, Il with only shotgun and fine shot, killed ! fine bear by the use of beech plugs which he | whittled out to fit the bore of his gun In December last Charles Holley and Florence I Hill, of Chichesterville, came upon 8 bear and ! cub while hunting rabbits. They shot both. I returning home in triumph. And thus every I few days bear belts are brought to prom | inent fur dealer of this, city for sale Old | Enos Brown, of Watson Hollow, was famous ! bear hunter in his day, and his sons are so | regarded now. The Wilbur brothers of Mink Hollow, are regular trappers aiso ! Louis Blodgett of Shandaken and Isaac Burger, near Woodstock, has already cap tured three or four fine bears.
 1 In illustration of the supreme contempt with which Bruin regards dogs an amusing story is told in which old Col Zadock Platt, the famous tanner, of Prattsville figured prominently few years ago. Happening at Shandaken Centre on business, the Colonel
 saw bear chained to pole in front of the hotel there, it having been recently captured in the woods near by. The crowd was amus- ing itself with the animal, and telling how he
 would whip any number of dogs in a twink
 ling. The Colonel being the owner of two
 trusty and valuable dogs himself, which he
 thought could whip anything, finally made @
 bet of the dinners for the entire crowd that
 might gather to see the sport, that his two
 dogs would chew the bear into shreds in
 short time. On the arrival of the day agreed
 upon the Colonel was promptly on hand with
 his dogs, and an immenes crowd was there to
 witness the fun and partake of the dinner,
 The dogs were large powerful bloodhounds.
 On being set on the bear, which wzs n large.
 ferocious animal, each dog in turn stood looking at him motionless for a few moments,
 wheu, to the utter dismay of the venerable old man, and amid the deafening cheers of the crowd, they both started up the road to
 Prattsville like the wind, tails between their legs and the Colonel yelling, Bounce! Bounce come back!" It is said the joke cost the Colonel over $20O.
 Panthers are also occasionally seen in this mountain region, and a few caught most every winter. Expectations are now being and hunting party is being organized to capture the dangerous brutes. Wild cats are reported quite numerous of late, and several have already been killed. The mink is scarce ly caught by trappers at all now for the Jason that this fur is almost entirly replaced by sealskin, and mink skins that formerly sold for $9 each are now worth only 75 cents Muskrat and skunk skins are still in good demand. The latter go to Europe, where they are called black marten. The red fox, crossbar fox, and silver gray fox are also found in this region to some extent. A leading dealer here has already purchased over a thousand black skunk skins All skins are shipped to London, where they are sold to the great Lampson Fur company. who in turn sell them to buyers from various foreign countries, many going to Leipsic, Germany. Owing to the severe winter all furs taken are now of 8 superior quality. But after this month they are said to deteriorate.