The Osceola times., 1886-10-09
HUNTING BRUIN.
How 1t Used to Be Done In Vir-
ginia.
The veneration shown for a Bear Dog In
Olden Times-A Case Where the
Rile Was Tolerated-Bruini In
Court.

There be bears and bears" We ar,
familiar with the power and habits o
the polar bear through Arctic voyagers
and we have some notion of old Caleb
the grizzly of the West, who can over
come any animal in fight except the
true king of beasts, wild stallion. The
black bear of this country is not consid.
cred so terrible, though fiercer than the
brown bear of Europe, but he is an ugly
customer in a fight. He mainly feeds
on mast, Of which chestnuts and beech
nuts make his favorite diet, but he does
not disdain pork as change, and, like
his European cousin, he is passionately
fond of honey. He roams wild, what
there is left OF him, through the noun
tain ridges and spurs of West Virginia.
Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, and
may be found sometimes in the adion-
Ing States Bear-hunting is common
sport among the mountaineers. 1t diff
fers from the hunting elsewhere in its
methods, and is less direct than among
the Arkansas cane-brakes or north OF
the federal line. The mountaineer
takes an ungenerous advantage of the
brute, though his mode. should he not
have firm step, keen eye and
strong arm, involves some personal
risk. Reduced to its proper shape, the
sport is bear-baiting, with fatal result
TO the bear. They say that the Norwe-
gian peasant meets the white bear face
to face, and when he rises to his hind
legs stabs him to the heart. doubt
the story, but the man who attempted
20 treat the American bruin in that way
would speedily find himself without
clothing, and would lose more flesh than
he could well spare. In some places
they shoot the bear on sight. In West
Virginia, on regular bear-hunt. the
use of rifle is forbidden, for an evident
reason.
The Allegheny mountain range diff
fers materially from the Appalachian,
or Blue Ridge. 1t is not rocky back
bone, but huge elevated plateau, on
parts of which may be found, beneath
the leaf mold, great beds of pebbles,
very like the shingle of the sea-beach.
II is broken by occasional gaps and
fringed by numerous speers, irregularly
subdivided, whose narrow valleys
('bottoms," in the vernacular) are
threaded by innumerable water courses,
that mainly make their way through
the Mississippi to the gulf, a portion
only feeding streams that enter the At
lantic on the east. Except near the
larger streams, where the plundering
woodman's axe has had play, these
heights are well clad with trees, and
man standing on a summit ridge may
look upon pillows of foliage in an ocean
of yerdure extending until lost in the
distance. A large portion of these trees
are nut-bcaring-chcs on the rocky
tops, oaks and hickories on the slopes,
and walnuts and beeches in the fertile
bottom-lands. In particular sections
the trees produce larger crop of mast
on off years, and to these flock count
less hosts of wild pigeons, and with
them the black bear, who, next to
honey, delights in chestnuts and beech
nuts, and, falling these, feeds raven
ously on the bitterer acorns. On these
he feeds and fattens TO his hearts con-
tent. and then, when the winter sets in,
seeks the seclusion a hollow tree or
small cave affords, and sleeps off the
effects of his gluttony. At times, how
ever, restless old he-bear wanders all
winter He is known as "traveler, -"
and satisfies his hunger mainly on hog
meat He thus becomes a nuisance TO
be hunted down, not for sport, but as a
punishment for decimating the herds of
swine.
The hunting, whether sport or not,
is generally done with the aid of dogs.
These dogs are usually ours or mon
grels, trained to the business. They
must not show too much pluck, or must
temper it with discretion. The ferocious
and persistent bulldog is valueless here.
He seizes the bear and will not let go.
Bruin embraces him with those terrible
arms of his, and squeezes him to death.
The dog of the vicinage, taught by
some wounds, nips his foe and at once
lets 90 and retreats. while one OF his
fellows repeats the process, always on
the Hank or rear. and so the pack keep
bruin busy until the hunter, knife in
hand. has chance to stab him under
the shoulder This is always the off,
and not the near, shoulder, for on the
knife touch the great arm of the bear
on that side swings around as though
hung upon pivot, and the claws sweep
down with terrific force. 1t is lively
piece of work while 1t lasts, and it usu-
ally lasts some time. The yelps of the
dogs. the growing of the bear, and the
comments of the hunters are exciting
enough to fire the most used-up specta-
tor. 1t will be readily seen why tho use
OF the rifle is prohibited. A dog might
be shot in the struggle; and to kill a
trained bear-dog is crime among the
mountaineers next in atrocty to horse
stealing.
Nor is the sport without some danger
TO the huntsman. When the bear is
pursued. II he hears the yelp Of dogs on
his track. be makes, il possible, for the