Sharp County record., 1881-02-03
Bears IN PcnnsyIyania..'An Old Hunt
er's Talk.


er's Talk.
From an old bear hunter OF Pike
County it was learned that there are
more signs of bears this fall than have
been known for years. Along the edges
Of the great swamps there is border
of soft, black mud. These swamps are,
many of them, almost inaccessible to
man, and the bears make them their
places of refuge. If bears are plenty
the mud along the edges, at this time Of
year, will be broken up, as if COWS had
been walking and stamping in it. At
intervals, also, the mud will be hol-
lowed out in spots eight or ten feet long,
two or three wide and two feet deep.
If great patches of scrub oaks are found
crushed to the ground, that is certain
indication that bears have been " work
inc" there. They have been out feed
inc on the acorns. They rise upon their
launches among the scrub, and with
their fore paws beat the bushes viO-
lently. Bears are very fond OF crlck-
cts, slugs and bugs of all kinds, and
thev know that their faVorite insects
make their homes in the fall under
stones on the ground. Consequently,
they select spots where the ground IS
covered With stones, and turn them up
to get at the bugs. Yellow jacket and
hornet nests, or rather their contents,
are favorite mOrsels with the black bear.
If bear sees a yellow jacket or hornet
working in the woods he acts like a
crazy thing until he finds the hole the
one enters, or the tree or rock to which
the nest OF the other is fastened. He
prances and dances around through the
woods, licking his chops and whining
and growing, until his unerring scent
leads him to the object of his search.
Then he gets right down to business,
Yellow jackets build their nests in the
ground. When the bear finds one it
takes but few swoops of his fore paws
to turn it wrong side out. The bees
swarm out in clouds and cover the bear
until he looks as if painted yellow. He
pays no attention to their attacks, al
though an assault of yellow jackets on
almost any other animal would soon re-
suit in death.
The bear merely shuts his eyes and
grins as he scoops the honey out with
his paws and licks them of until the
nest is despoiled of every trace Of its
sweets. The old hunter declares that
he shot a big bear once in Pinchot
Swamp, over in the High Knob region.
He killed it, but when he went in to
drag the carcass out he found that the
bear had been robbing a yellow jackets s
nest, and it was still covered with the
fiery little insects. "If that bar had
been wounded only, and had showed
fight, I'd waltzed right into it without
any delay. But when one o them cussed
little hot-tailod varmints of yaller
Jacket come a diyin' at me, l didn't
want none O him, and | cut and run. |
Want Altered O. no wounded bar, but
that Waller bee scared me out. | didn't
90 arter that b ar till next day"
Hornets build their nests high up in
the branches of trees, or fasten them to
rocks, out of the reach of harm. But,
cunning as these insects are, they are
no match for the bear. A bear dis
covers hornets nest far out on limb
too small to bear his weight, or high up
on the breast of rock If the former,
haclimbs the tree, breaks off the longest
branch he can get, and, holding it in
his fore paws, thrashes the nest until it
drops to the ground. Sometimes he
dances or stamps on the limb until the
nest is shaken off. If the nest is on
rock, the bear goes up to the top of the
ledge above it. Then he gathers large
stones and pieces Of wood and rolls
them down the side of the rock until
one strikes the nest and sends it tum-
bling to the ground below. The hornets
seem to know what has caused their
ruin, and not one of them deserts the
fallen nest, but all seem to wait for the
of the bear, when they at
tack him at once.
"A hornet sting" says the old hunter,
d" is equal to a blow from a sledge-ham-
mer every time, aud one hornet il knock
a bull down. But their bite won't raise
a lump as big as buckshOt on bar.
aud the shaggy critter seems to think
it's heap O fun. He'll stand up on
his hind legs and square off with his
fore paws at the hornets jest as if he
was boxin' with somebody, only he's
durn careful to keep his eyes shet. Then
he lay down and roll all over the rest,
as if he wanted to show the hornets how
he didn't care no more for EN- than as
if they was gnats. Once | see big she
b ar, which had knocked a hornet s nest
as big as peck measure off a tree,
take it under her arm and walk off with
it as cool as if it was one O. her cubs"
Philadelphia Ledger.