Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-23
A GEORGIA BEAR HUNT.
The Adventures of Party of Hunters
in Randolph County.

The Adventures of Party of Hunters
in Randolph County.
The Cuthbert Enterprise of March 20
has the following: Last Saturday was
a day of considerable excitement with
some of the boys of Spring Vale. Early
in the morning Jim Duffy, who lives on
the Pataula creek about a milevand a
half from here, came in town and in
formed the citizens that large bear had
visited his place the night before and had
killed q hog of his; and that he saw him
about daybreak that morning making to-
ward the swamp. Jim is known TO be a
truthful man, and soon the excitement
among the boys for a bear hunt grew to
fever heat. Before O'Clock a crowd of
six white men, jim Duffy, Walter Cobb.
Sam Edwards, Bob Davis, Josh Den
ningtOn, Professor Rice, and three
negroes, started with a pack of dogs in
search of the depredatOr. In the coun-
tenance of every man could be seen de-
picted a blOodthirsty look and determi-
nation to eXterminate bFuin without
mercy whenever and wherever found
The time in going from here to the swamp
was taken up in planning the attack and
discussing other points of minor impor-
lance, such as the proper part Of the body
of bear to shoot at IA order to produce
death sure and quick, what we would do
Win Llt Cdl Cd6bs GACs ANOLG VI US HttN ever
been in bear hunt before, and we were
evidently reckoning without our Aost, as
the sequel will prove. Soon we were at
the point where jim thought the bear en-
tered the swamp, and sure enough, on eX-
animation we fOand a track which was
Enthusiastically the track of a very large
bear. Here let us remark that, though
we had the utmost confidence in the cnur-
age Of the boys, we fancied we could dis
81 Mn m ,f
sumo Of them, and perhaps a slight tTemor
in their limbs. Whether this was ac-
tually the case, or that we were Judging
by our own feelings, we cannot say pre-
cisely. We put the dogs on the trail of
the bear, and to our surprise, they went
off as if they had been trained
to the business; and in less
than an hour they had aroused the animal
from his lair, and were in hot pursuit
The swamp here is wide, fiat and muddy,
with occasional thickets of cane. bam-
boos, laurel and ivy, and in these thickets
and through the mud and water for more
than an hour, the dogs went pell-mell
after the bear, and the boys all the while
making strenuous efforts to see him and
get shot. Bob and Josh had gone fur
Their into the swamp than the rest of us.
and happened to get directly in the bears
path as be was making tack. Sudden
", about 200 yards of, we heard some one
shout, "here he comes! - and IMMEDIATELY
afterWard heard the report Of a gun in the
same course. Looking in the direction Ofthe
NOISE, we saw Josh swinging from a limb
ten or twelve feet abRe the ground, in a
skin-the-cat position, and not more than
eight feet of was Bob, sticking to the side
OF large gum tree some twelve feet up,
and evidently in quite a strain, as the tree
was too large for him to meet around. To
n1aEp nQffnrG for fho hove tho
bear, finding the dogs in close proximity,
turned on his pursuers, backed against
the very tree Bob was up, with his head to-
ward Josh, and concluded to fight it out.
No one could tell exactly how Bob and
Josh felt. Bob could go no higher up the
tree, knew that he could not hold great
while where he was. nor did
he know at what minute the bear
might decide to share the tree with him
above. Josh was in a better condition
he could look down at what was going on
below and change positions occasionally.
The rest Of US got together and ventured
up to take III the situation, and if possible
to relieve Bob and Josh, who were in such
a sad predicament. We formed a circle
around the bear to make sure of our
game. Jim was elected to do the first
shooting, having, as we supposed, the
best gun. 1t was a difficult matter to
oAOOJ NlbnOul JIlblill9 Il OO4s DIS buCN were
all around him and between us and the
bear-that is all that had not left. Two or
three had gone up near enough for the bear
to get lick at them, and he never failed
to improve the opportunity by slapping
them about 10 feet winding over bushes
and briaTs, which invariably gave them a
sudden disposition to leave without
further ceremony. Finally jim saw, or
thought he saw, pretty good opportunity
oh Il Ill
dog dead and wOundlng the bear. Here
scene occurred which was exciting in the
OAttor1ao. TIT bUor, naaddonoQ 10 dosporo
ton by the wound, made wild lunge at
the crowd, scattering men and dogs in
every direction. Nobody thought to shoot.
Sam Edwards happened to be in the route
of the bear, and the bear, Oyertaking him,
caught him in his arms and gave
him a squeeze that he is not
likely to forget soon. Sam squalled
manfully for help, and negro being the
nearest person to him, with a pole
gave the bear punch or two which had
the effect to relieve Sam but proved dis
astrOus to the negro. The bear lOOsing
Sam made for the negro, and rearing up
on MS hind feet gave him slap with his
fore paw that sent him helter-skelteT over
all obstacles into a pond of water about
fifteen feet distant. The negro went out
on the opposite side and left hurriedly for
parts unknown. By this time, following
the example of Bob and Josh, we had ap-
proprlated nearly all the trees in
the immediate vicinity, and the
bear finding the coast clear made
Off down the swamp. We came down
from our retreat determined to try it
again, but all the encouragement we
could bring to bear would not induce the
dogs to run his track again. They would
start off, raise the hair on their backs and
come back to us. Failing to get the dogs
to again take the track, we left for home
with the unanimous opinion that there is
less sport than danger in bear hunting.
1t was O'Clock at night before we could
laugh much over the ludicrOus scenes of
the day. Sam says if a bears affections
can be measured by their capacity for
hugging tightly, they are the most afIec-
tiOnate creatures under the sum-"