The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1889-02-28
BIRD SHOT ENDS A BEAR.
Two Hunters Have Very Exciting Matinee With
Rrnin.

BTuIns
A bear-hunt up in the woods OF
Lewis county on the LIST day OF JAN
uary is a rare thing, because the
good old-fashioned winters of the
Black river country usually set in in
November. Numbers of the shaggy
brutes have seen there of late, and at
least two have been shot within a
week. Coupled with the killing OF
one of them is an exciting story,
which was told New York Times
reporter by Leonard Bullock of JET
terson county, who had hand in
the fight.
"On new years day." said Mr.. Bull
lock, "Joe Spaulding and myself
thought we would go out for Il hunt
over toward the Salmon river. Joe,
who is my nearest neighbor, had
been out rabbit-hunting the day be-
fore and did not have very good luck.
SO he wanted me to take my dog and
go with him to try it again. Wehad
to go about five miles to reach a
place where rabbits were plenty, but
when we got there we had great
sport for short time. The dogs
put the rabbits up in fine shape and
before we had been in the brush an
hour we had bagged eight of them.
We then started for q new place, as
we had about exhausted the supply
in that locality. In going
from one piece of woods to
another we struck BEARS track that
looked pretty fresh. We had not
thought of bear hunt for that day,
and neither of US had anything more
effective than No. & shot-siZe that's
large enough for rabbits, but rather
dangerous to use on a hungry and
ugly black bear. We could not let
the lack of proper ammunition pre-
vent us from following the bear, how
ever, so we quit rabbit-hupting right
there and, starting the dog after the
animal, proceeded to run him down.
Under ordinary circumstances this
would have been tiresome job, for
the bear would have done his best to
get away, and would have given us
long chase. The bear we were after,
however, was not a runner, but a
fighter. He made no effort to get
away apparently, for after a two
hours tramp we came up with him
out in an open piece of timber, where
he and. the dog were having first
class time all by themselves. The
bear was up on his launches and the
dog, whohad evidently been indis-
Greet on the start, wass prancing wild
ly around him, taking good care in
the meantime to keep about two rods
away The dogs head was covered
with blood. evidently from a cut in
f1icted by the bear in the first round.
AS that bear stood up and kept turn
ing around to watch the dog | think
he was the ugliest-looking brute [
ever laid eyes on. He did not look a
bit like an animal that you would
want to tackle with a double barreled
shotgun loaded with No. 6 shot.
Though we approached to within
| O dozen rods of him he did not pay
the slightest attention to US, and we
| concluded that he would he a pretty
tough customer to tackle. But we
did not propose to let him get away
from us even if we took the chances
of a rough-and-tumble fight. There
were four good loads of shot in our
guns, but unless, fired at short range
they would be likely to increase rath-
er than lessen the bears fighting
capacity. Seeing that he did not in
tend to run or take to tree, there
was but one thing to do and that
was to make an advance on him.
Right here it occurred to me that q
little ruse. such as have used before
now in shooting woodchucks,~ would
work we'll. 1t was for Spaulding to
get in range of big hemlock that
stood near the bear, and, keeping
the tree between himself and the ami
NAL, to stealthily approach, while |
kept in plain sight and diverted the
brute's attention. Fhe trick worked
to perfection. Spaulding got within
two rods of the savage beast without
being observed Then the exciting
part of the bear-hunt began. / saw
Spauldiug raise his gun and glance
around the tree and then knew there
would be some fun or o dea d bear in
no time.
"Joe pulled the trigger, but before
the gun went off it seemed as though
the bear dropped on all fours and
lodged the shot, for he started like n
black streak for the tree behind which
Joe stood. | expected to see my
neighbor clawed into mince-meat in
less than ten seconds, but l hadn't
counted on his being quick as light
ming and as cool as a cucumber.
, When the bear went for him he Just
took notice of which side of the tree
he meant to come and then lodged
to another tree ten ieet away before
the brute could turn himself around.
At this point, | can tell you, things
were interesting. The dog gained
courage and tackled the bear
in the rear: This turned his at
tention from Joe, who got in shot
with the other barrel of his gun, but
it did not bring the animal down.
The bear started for him again, and
then took hand in. ran up and
fred at a distance ofabout ten PAGES,
and, though was pretty shaky, it
was good shot. 1t dropped Bruin
and LETT him writhing and snarling
on the ground. l finished him with
the other barrel and saved Spaulding
from a glorious or a horrible death,
call it which you please.
eff had not been around just then
there would have been q hand-to-
hand fight, and it 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