The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-09
A WEST VIRGINIA BEAR-PsN.
How Shrewd Farm er Makes Neat OF
the Animals that Try TO Rob Him.


From, the Cincinnati Enquire
| After an excellent breakfast Uncle Jimmy
/ led the way 10 his bear pen, which | found
I TO BE- a large room built of logs, notched and
fitted strongly together, with roof and
| floor Of the same material Before we
reached the pen its occupants had scented
| US and began to give vent 20 yells and that
shrill, whistling sound peculiar 10 the black
/ bear The nearer we approached the more
excited the animals became, until the noise
| Of their yells snOrts, whistllngs and scratch
| lngs drowned our voices The pen con
tanned nine animals. six full-Erown fellows.
and three which were about hall grown,
''2-year olds. D" Uncle Jimmy said. 4 ha-k't
/ OF corn, scraps from the table, and "A bucket
| Of milk thrown and poured into trouSn~ put
a quietus to the fearful racket, and III a
/ short time only a satisfied grunt or a low
| grOwl and ,uT adm ulstere1 10 some vent
| uresome fellow who was irving 70 purloin
a tOothsome dainty from his neighbor were
/ the only sounds which broke the silence
! After mad gazed at the nine great. fat,
/ apparently contented fellows for a time |
said:
How in the name of goodness did
YOU get them: You don't raise them do
| YOU"
mo Of course not. Bears are too thick
about here to bother with raising them. We
caught them all in trap
How do YOU do iti The trap cripples
them doesn't 1t; And none Of these fellows
appear 10 be injured in the least
I'VE use the regular bear trap, with the
teeth filed down. The jaws close on their
legs with such force that the bear can't re-
lease itself. but the bones are never broken.
! The skin is broken and badly bruised often,
of course, but that soon heals up and as to
how we got them here you'll probably see
for yourself before great while
''What are you going to do with themT
"Fatten them, and then kill them and sell
the meat-that IS all we don't use or give
away There's one thing you don't know
about bears, perhaps. They are easily fat
tened when kept in close, clean quarters.
And then, again, we think that when We
raise corn and other stuff for bears we might
as well have the bears, and most Of these
fellows were trapped near the cornfields or
the ..y RIg pens .,, 40 ,,orr huntin and tran
ping, principallyH
Generally during the winter season, of
course, hunting is carried on, but as for
trapping we catch them any time during
the year that they annoy us. That big
black fellow" pointing to the largest bear
Of the lot, was caught in the middle of
summer. He had made several raids on the
sheep and hog pens and carried off several
fine animals, and determined to trap him
To kill him would only be a waste Of good
material, as they are invariably poor in the
hot weather, 50 we looked around and
learned the route he took in going and
coming-thev almost always travel over
the same route going and cOming-thel
we set trap on both paths selecting nars
row places which tbs bear could not get
around very handlly. The next morn
ing we had this fellow fast enough by one
fore paw He was poor as a Methodist
preacher, but he was full OF fight. Then
Sam the oldest boy and l got our
pole and chain-but come down 10 the
house and l will show you how we manage
them
Then Uncle Jimmy led the wav to the house
and took down long. smooth hickory pole,
about Is feet long, with a chain attached to
the middle The chain had moose at the
end, kept open by small stick, some what
less than feet long.
1--WE took the pole and chain, and, holding
each an end of the pole. managed to drop
the chain over the bears head The rest is
generally easy enough. The bear fights, of
course, but it doesn't take long to choke him
| into submission Then the traps Jaws are
| slackened and his foot released. Then comes
the trip 20 the pen With Sam at one end
of the pole, myself at the other, and Frank
behind with pitchfork ralong firebrand
| Mr.. Bear is soon up 10 the door of the small
room you see shut off from the rest of the
pen. The door Is opened and the bear pulled
up in front; sharp prod of the pitchfork
or a taste of the firebrand in his rear and in
| he goes, The door Is then slammed down
and the chain released from the pole. OF
course, the bear soon gets the loop off his
neck and it is easily dragged out In day
or two the small door between the pens is
opened and the bear driven into the larger
one There is almost always a fight, of
course, but it is not long before good feeling
| is established