Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-11-08
GOOD BEAR STORIES.
Interestingly Told by an Old and
Experienced Hunter.
His Varied Encounters with Bruin Dur
ing the Past Twenty Years - Lucky
Shot of Philadelphia - West
erner's Use of the Lasso.

erner'S Use OF the LaSSO.
Nicholas Burdick is the boss bear
hunter of Bear Creek. Every winter
for twenty years he has spent several
weeks in the pursuit of bruin with dog
and gun, and during that time he says
he has run down and killed forty-seven
full-grown bears. Mr.. Burdick was
born in the upper Lehigh region in
1874, and since he became of age he
has lived in the neighborhood OF Bear
Creek. He is a broad-shouldered six
footer, with bushy brown whiskers
and thick, curly dark hair, and he
looks as though he possessed muscular
energy enough to take an ordinary
sized bear by the paws and fling it over
his head. Like nearly all sturdy back
. woodsmen, he has nature that is kind
and gentle, he is great talker when
you get him on the subjects of hunting
or life in the wild woods. and he has
had some experiences that are very in
teresting. In talk with the writer a
few days ago Mr.. Burdick said:
"A few times / have run down bears
that were as cunning as foxes when
they found that the dogs were close
upon them. Five years ago last win
ter Charley Bently and had set day
to start a bear in Buffers Swamp. The
snow was not moro than seven inches
deep, and following bear all day was
not as tiresome as it generally is in
midwinter. A very pleasant gentle
man from Philadelphia had been shoot
ing pheasarts in the neighborhood for
a couple of days, and he heard about
our proposed bear hunt and wanted to
go along. He said he had never seen
a bear in the woods. expressed desire
to get a glimpse of one, and declared
that he didn't believe he could shoot
one if he saw it We thought so, too,
and We told him We would be glad to
have him go with us. He had a tip
top rife. and he was on hand when we
got ready TO start at daylight.
"Old Dash, the dog that we always
took with us when we wanted to have
a right lively hunt, was in fine trim
that morning. No bear ever got the
best of him, but he died natural
death two years ago, and / haven't
had as good a bear chaser since. The
Philadelphia was as clipper as a
lark over theprospect of seeing a bear
before he got back, and Charley and
] felt about as good as two men could
feel. We reached the swamp along
toward nine o'clock, and it wasn't
half an hour before We had found
bear track and put old Dash on it.
Then We suggested to the Philadelphia
man that, for awhile, he had better
stand on a big pine stump that over
looked that part Of the swamp where
old Dash was then working. and Char
ley and went to different sides of the
swamp and waited for old Dash to
hustle the bear out
''All the forenoon the dog raced up
and down the swamp and failed to start
the old fellow. Not one of US had got
sight OF the bear during all that time,
but we knew that he had not left the
swamp, and so we felt encouraged to
wait little longer. A little while
after noon the Philadelphia gentleman
came down to where / was standing.
and said that he didn't propose to stand
on that stump all day, and that he
couldn't see much sport in hunting bear
in that fashion. He was a brave man,
an6 he said he was going down to the
other end Of the swamp and see if he
couldn't get shot at the bear. The
dog was then barking down that way,
but / supposed he would soon drive the
bear back toward where was. and /
told the man SO. But he had got un-
easy and a little out of patience, and
of he went
lin the course of twenty minutes l
heard his gun 60 off. and ran down
there as fast as could. l didn't sup
pose that he had fired at any thing.
but was afraid that he might have
stumbled into trouble and shot his
rife as signal Of distress. yelled
and asked if any thing was the matter.
and he shouted back: I've killed
him. That was all he said, and then
tramped into the swamp and found
the Philadelphia man leaning against
sapling as cool as you please But
be was the pr0udest man 1 ever saw,
for he had really found the bear and
killed it with single shot. The bear
had trampsd past the top of a big tree