The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-03-08
BIRD SHOT ENDS A BEAR.


uuff ls u fafe LllnS, because tue
good old-fashioned winters of tho
Black river country usually set in in
November. Numbers OF the shaggy
brntcs have seen there of late, andnt
least two have been shot within u
week. Coupled with the killing OF
one of them is an exciting story,
which was told q New York Times
reporter by Leonard Bullock OF Jet
tcrson county, who had n hand in
the fight.
"On new years day." said Mr.. Bull
lock. ".Ioe Spaulding and myself
thought we would go out for IL hunt
over toward the Salmon river. Joe,
VIII" is my nearest ncighhor, had
been out rabbit-hunting the day be-
fore and did not havevery goodluck,
so lie wanted mcto take my dog and
80 with him to try itagain. Wehad
to so about five miles to reach IL
place where rabbits were plenty, but
when we got there we had great
sport fora Il short time. The dogs
put The rabbits up in fine shape and
before we had been in the brush an
honrwc had baggcd eight of them.
We hen started for Il new place, as
we had about exhausted the supply
in that locality In going
from one pirce of woods to
another We strrckn bears track that
looked pretty fresh. We had not
thought OF IL bear hunt for that day,
and neither of lis had anything more
effective I, han No q slot-sizc tllatis
large enough for rabbits. but rather
dangerous to Use on n hungry and
n@ly black bear. We could not let
tll" lack ofpropcr ammunition pre-
vent lis from following the bear, how
oyer. so we quit rabbit hunting right
there, and, starting the dog after the
animal. proceeded to run him down.
Under or,lnnryrircilmstanccst this
would have been Il tircsome job. for
tl" bear w-ul,l have done his best H.
g't AWAY, and would have given lis
Il long chase. Thrbcar We We're after,
however, was rot runner, but II
tighter, liz made no effort to get
AWAY apparently, for after IL two
hours tramp We came up with him
out in an open piece OF timber, where
he aud the dog We're having first
class time all by themselves. The
bcnr wi,s up OH his lnuncIrs and the
dog. who had evidently been indis-
erect on he start. ssprancing Wild
'y around him. taliin" good care in
the m"antimrto kccpnhout tworods
away. The dne'- head was covered
with blood. evidently from Il cut in
nir;cd 10y the bear i'm the first round.
Ms that bear stood upand kept turn
in% around To watch the dog think
Ii" WIS tn" mgliest looking brute |
ever laid eyes ON. He did not look q
bit like IN animal that YOU would
want to 'nck!cwilIa'o bnrreled
shotgun loaded with No. 6 shot.
"'Thongil W" approached to within
II dozen rods of him he did not pay
The slightest attention to us. and we
concluded tha! he would he n pretty
tough customer to tackle. But we
tli'l not propose TO let him get away
from us even if we took the chances
of IL rough-and-tumblc fight. There
We're four good loads of shot in our
guns, but unless fired at short range
they would be likely tuincrcase rath-
"r than lessen The bears fighting
capacity. Seeing that he did not in
tend to run or take to II tree, there
WAS hut one thing so do and that
WAS To make an advance on him.
Right here it occurred to me that q
little rllsr. such us ! have used before
now in shooting woo'lchucks. would
work well. 1t was ior :ipauIding to
yet in range of II big hemlOck that
stood near The bear. and. keeping
the tree between himself and the ami
NAL. to si'aIthiiy approach, willie /
kept in plain, sight and diverted the
brntc's attention. The trick worked
10 perfection. Spauldin" got within
two rods OF the savage beast without
Lrin" observed. Then the exciting
part OF the b"ar-hunt began. saw
Sraul'li'" raise his gun and glance
around thctreennd then knew there
would be some fun or IL tlca d bear in
no time.
Joe pulled the trigger, but before
ilI" gun went oil i, seemed MS though
the bear dropped on all fours and
dndg'nl the shot. for he started Ikea
black streak for thetrcc behind which
Joe stood. expected to see my
nrigllhor cawcd into mincc-mcat in
less than ten seconds. but ] hadn't
counted on his bring quick us light
ming and "S cool rs Il cncumber.
When the bear went for him he Just
took notice of which side of the tree
lr meant 10 come and tlien lodged
To hnotl her tree ten feet away before
TIN. lrutrrul,l,l turn himself around.
AT this point. can tell you, things
wrr" Interesting. The dor gained
courage and tackled the bear
in The rear This turned his at
trniion from Joe. who got in a shot
with the other barrel ol' his gun, but
it did not bring the animal down.
Tho bear started for him again, and
ti,"n took q hand ill., ran up and
fred nt IL distance ofal,out ten PAGES,
and. though was pretty sllaky. it
was !, good shot. 1t dropped Bruin
ini lrlt him writhing and snarling
on the ground. finished him with
he other barred and saved Spaulding
from q glorious or II horrible death,
call it which son please
"lf had not been around just then
there would have been u hand-to-
hand fight, and il is easy enough to
guess who would have got the best
of it. We calculated that the bear
would weigh about three hundred
and fifty pounds, while Spaulding
only tips the scale at 100 This bear
was the only one | ever saw that
showed fight. The brutes are nearly
always afraid of men and will do
their best to get out of their way
when hunted. have helped kill five
OF them in my lifetime, and this is
the only ON" Of the five that showed
n disposition to fight the hunters.
My advice, however, is to hunt bears
with something besides q shotgun
loaded with birdshot, because if YOU
don't you are likely to have your
hands full. My neiShbor and my
self are congratulating ourselves on
a, ,.,,,,, l..