Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-12-26
OFFERS TOBOGGANING.

OFFERS TOBOGGANING.
 A Collection of Entertaining Yarns
 Told by Hunters.
 How . Colony of otters While Away the Tedious Hours of WinLcr-A Live Mouse Used as . Bait for n Trout-In-
 l toxicated Crows.
 This is one of tho best game sections
 between the Delaware and Susquehanna
 valleys, writes a New York Tribune
 correspondent from Blakesly, Pa. Near
 ly every local householder hunts moro
 or less, and many of them occasionally
 tell interesting stories of their sporting
 experiences in the region. On the
 north bank of Trout Run, two miles
 from here, steep knoll rises from the
 edge of a deep pool. The spot is a
 great resort for otters in winter, and
 Samuel Price, who has watched them on
 many a bright moonlight night when
 the temperature was several degrees be-
 low zero, tells about how the furry fel-
 lows frolic there. If the pool happens
 to be frozen over, tho otters gnaw and
 dig hole through the ice at the foot of
 the knoll. Then one after another they
 all plunge into the pool, get their fur
 full of water and skip up the hill. The
 water drips off on the way and freezes
 As soon as it strikes tho ground or snow.
 and in little while ths playful otters
 have Q regular tobogsan slide as slip
 pery as ice on a steep hillside can be.
 When the slide is completed, each otter
 takes its turn at sliding down the knoll
 ''kerplunk" into the pool, and they keep
 up tho sport until daylight, catching
 trout now and then and eating it on the
 bank. One night last winter MT. Price
 trapped full-grown otter at the slide.
 He has it yet but he has net been able
 10 tame it very much.
 | In a cooper-shop hero tho other even
 ing Eliza Hubbard, whose home is at
 the baso of Leverst Ridge, related his
 experience with bear this fail. Tho
 night was warm that they had to
 leave the windows up, and the moon was
 shining brightly. MT. Hubbard said he
 was aroused some time in the night by
 noise in his orchard, and when he
 looked out he saw bear shaking apples
 from his best pound-sweet tree. The
 tree stood on steep hillside, and the
 big apples rolled down against the l fence as fast as tho boar shook them | off. As soon as the bear had shaken | off all the fruit he wanted, he slid down
 rne tree, waddled to the fence and be-
 gan to devour the apples greedily. Then
 MT. Hubbard pulled on his trousers and | boots, loaded his rife, climbed out of
 the window and stole along to a spot
 where he could get good shot at the | thief. He said that he let the bear
 take in a pretty big jag of apples before | he fired, and then he blazed away and sent bullet into the bears head just 1 below his left ear. The animal flounced | and tumbled against tho fence for min ute, but he soon kicked his last. He | weighed 3S3 pounds. The next morn 1 ing Mir. Hubbard said he ascertained | that the bear had climbed the fence at l the upper side of the orchard and passed seven tons of winter apples to get at the l pound-sweet tree.
 Otis Goddard, of East Hill, came into
 Blakesly the other day to have his oxen shod. While waiting in the blacksmith shop the brawny young backwoodsman l told this fish story, declaring that Jack Hayner, who was with him when he caught the trout, would swear to every | word of the statement. For months ! Goddard had tried to land willy old trout that lurked in one of tho deep pools in Tobyhanna creek. He had angled, he said, with flies, grasshoppers,
 worms, minnows and other kinds of
 bait, but he couldn't get the big trout to | notice any of them. nHe had seen | the cunning speckled fellow time and F. F.; l. l One day in July he caught little 1eer mouse in the pasture, and he stuck his hook through the loose skin on the | mouse's neck and threw 1t into the pool. It was lively swimmer, but 1t hadn't l swan six feet before the trout gobbled it | with a dash that sent his snout out of l the water. That was an unfortunate l move for the trout, because within five | seconds Goddard had him Hopping on ! dry land, with his hat over the fighting l beauty. The trout weighed two pounds l and fourteen ounces, Goddard declared. Delos Griffin lives on Laurel run, l three miles from here. Crows dug up | his corn last spring until he got very ! angry. He couldn't get tho best of the l black thieves, and finally he soaked l pint of corn in quart of cheap whisky l for forty-eight hours. Then he sprin- l kled the corn in the field, and five crows gobbled it up and hung around for moro until they got so drunk that they couldn't fly away. They tipped up on l their tails, cawed hoarsely and tumbled ! about, and Griffin got some cord, he said, and tied them to the fence by their legs l till they sobered up. Then they f1ut- l tered hard for freedom, and Griffin | wrung their necks.
 Twelve Years Without Speaking. MT. and Mrs. Homer Grieve, an elder ly couple, of Homer, Ga., quarreled l twelve years ago over a remark made l by neighbor that one of their children did not resemble the remainder of the