St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-01-21
A.HUNTER IN LUCK.
Shooting a Wildcat and a Bear i'm
Pennsylvania.

The New York Sun, in letter from
POncono, Pa, tells the story of re-
cent adventure in the woods, as fol-
lows:
A month or more ago Aaron Dewitt,
a lumberman of the Oakland woods,
promised his wife that he would take
her and the baby to her old home over
in Jersey to spend Christmas. 1t was
a desire to put little more money in
his purse to use on this eventful trip,
more than IA longing for the sport, that
prompted him to borrow a neighbours
gun few days ago and go out in the
woods in the hope that he might run
across wildcat or two, or maybe a
bear or deer. Only a few days be-
fore Aaron had seen plenty of bears in
the woods, but be had never hunted
any. While at work in the woods he
never had thought of either bears or
wildcats, and never felt afraid when he
saw them, for they were not looking
for him, and got out of his way as soon
as they could.
Aaron stole along through the woods
and finally stopped for a moment with
in few feet of a big chestnut tree,
wondering if he hadn't better go home.
He stood with his left side toward the
tree and with the gun on his shoulder.
Suddenly something struck him heavi
ly on the left shoulder and he was
thrown to the ground. He arose quick
ly to his feet, and there, just out of
reach of him, and with a steel trap
hanging to one hind leg and chain
extending from the trap back into a
hollow in the tree, which Aaron had
not noticed, stood a wildcat as big as
small sheep. AarOn's first impulse was
to run and he did, leaving his gun ly-
ing on the ground. He ran few yards
and then it came to him that the wild
cat must be held by the chain, which
had caught some way in the tree. He
stopped and looked back. The cata-
mount still crOuched on the ground
and the chain was drawn taut. Aaron
then felt pain in his left shoulder and
looking at it saw that his coat and shirt
were torn away on the shoulder and
that the wildcat had also buried its
claws into the flesh.
Aaron walked back, cautiously pick
ed up his gun and, although his hand
trembled so that he could scarcely hold
the gun at sight of the animal, close as
it was, he put bullet through it's brain
and killed it where it crOuched. The
wildcat had been trapped somewhere
in the woods, had broken the trap from
it's fastenings and sought the first place
of refuge with the trap hanging to it.
The chain had, fortunately for Aaron,
large ring on the end, and this had
slipped over a splinter in the hollow of
the tree and gave the wildcat only the
length of the chain.
After killing the wildcat, Aaron was
unable to load his gun for some time
He finally did so, and feeling that he
had made enough to we'll pay him for
his days work he concluded not to
take any more risks, and, shouldering
the wildcat and his gun, he started for
home. But, while Aaron was willing
to quit, fate had ordered otherwise.
Aaron had gone but a hundred yards
or so, when he thought he heard dog
growing. He looked off to his left and
there he saw two bear cubs rolling and
tumbling over one another like two
dogs at play. Aaron did something
that an experienced and fearless hunter
would never have thought of doing.
He laid down his wildcat and went up
to the cubs to capture them alive.
They offered to play with him, but
Cuo moment he LOOK nOlu OF Cnom anu
began to drag them along with him,
they set up a loud whining and began
to bite and scratch him. Aaron per-
sisted, and got the bears to the spot
where he had left the wildcat and gun
Removing the chain from the trap, he
was about to place it on the yelping
cubs, when he heard a great commO-
ton in the brush. Instantly it flashed
on Aaron what was coming. He knew
that the mother of the cubs had heard
their cries and had lost no time in re-
spending to the call. Aaron was scared
but he had presence of mind enough to
grab his gun. He had barely time to
do SO when the old bear made her APP
pearance, and came tearing toward
Aaron and the cubs. Aaron remem-
bers that he raised his gun and that
the bear was almost upon him when he |
fired. When he came to himself he |
was running like a wild man in a circle |
not three rods from where he had shot
at the bear. The excitement had ac-
tually crazed him for the time. When
he was fully restored and the whole
thing came back to him, he saw the old
bear lying alongside of the wildcat,
with the whole top of her head blown
off. The two cubs were whining about
her body.
After awhile Aaron chained the bears
together to tree aud, leaving the