Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-12-20
BIG BEARS IN TRANsYLYANIA.
How They are Hunted and How They Behave
Under Fire.

How They are Hunted and How They Behave
Under Fire.
The district in Pennsylvania where the
Prince of Wales is to have his bear
shooting expedition, has been for cen
turtles thickiy stocked with wild beasts of
every sort, and especially with bears;
but My since the Crown Prince Rudolph
bought the estate and had the old castle
on it renovated with view to make it
the center for autumnal shooting parties,
has GOrgeny SZent-Imre been known to
sportmen out of Hungary. The estate is
situated in the county MarOs Torda, says
the London Standard, and to reach it one
must travel by rail to Maros Vasahrely,
some sixteen hours journey southeast of
Vienna. From that station there is
carriage drive of Fl We or six hours before
the castle is reached. The sport is car
ried on in this way: An area, not too
small, is encircled by a hundred or a
hundred and fifty heaters, and the bears
are frightened toward the center of that
arena. The ground is chosen where 1T
slopes down to ditch or a patch in the
wood, where the chain of heaters can
post themselves nearly parallel with the
shooters, only very much lower. The
bears are scared into the ring formed
by these heaters, and, once there, they are
driven uphill to the plateau, where
twelve or fifteen sportsmen are waiting,
gun in hand, a distance OF about eighty
PAGES apart. The least experienced
among them are placed on the outer sides
of the upper chain. the more experienced
in the second or third place, and those
whom the host wants to make sure of a
shot as near SIS possible in the center.
Each shooter stands by himself, with
nothing but his gun to protect him, as
exper1. nee has proved that two men
standing together, even if the one is an
archduke and the other is his huntsmau,
Will either chat or make too much noise
by moving, or exhale SO much breath that
the bear-who, though he does not hear
so well as he is rep1ted to do, has 2 re-
marAable scent-will avoid the place, al
though he can see nothing, even from a
distance Of twenty or thirty feet, the
shooter being concealed behind beech
trees or thick foliage. Not even whisper
ing al distance of two hundred feet
from the Enclosure formed by the heaters
Is permitted.
When a sufficient number of bears have
been inclosed between the narrow area,
and the marksmen on the plateau are
supposed to be in readiness, the heaters
raise such tremendous noise that even
more courageous beast than the bear
usually is would take to his heels. Horns
and trumpets are blown. and q deafening
din is heard; the heaters run to and fro,
and the bears, having first stood quiet
for awhile and looked their enemies in
the face, begin to run, first in the direc-
tion of the living chain, and then, if they
= l. L. -
the opposite direction, uphill to the
plateau. The bear is famous for its sa-
gacity, and not without good reason. The
enemy he sees and whose strength ne can
measure with his own, he fears less than
the unknown danger lurking in another
direction. e happened once, and only
once, in Gorgeny- Szent-Imre, thai gil
gantic bear, which had been shot at from
the plateau, ran down the slope and at
tackled one of the baatere, and took his
gun from him, holding If between his
teeth and tearing with his claws the poor
nan SO terribly that but for q well aimed
stroke by another heater with the muzzle
end OF his rife the man would have been
killed. As a rule the heaters are In less
danger than the shooters, because when
ever, there is a means of escape the bear
thinks prudence the better part of valor
He calculates exceedingly we'll whether he
will be able TO escape, and, unless shot,
he usually trusts to mis- legs. But if struck
so as to cause loss of blood, ana ne feels
that his strength will soon be insufficient,
he prefers closing with the enemy before
him. There is only one case CT record
in Gorgeny- Szent-Imre in which bear
attacked his assailant without being first
wounded. It was she bear, some six
feet il length, whose two young ones had
been killed, and the situation for the
sportsman whom the bear attacked was
DeriiOQs one indeed.