Nevada County picayune., 1889-04-03
A BEAR HUNT.

county, Mss, aDOuu elShe hiiio' II N'
 Cold Water bottom, which was con-
 nacted with the main Mississippi
 river bottom, and abounded i'll all
 kinds of game. including turkey
 wild eat. bear and panther. had
 at that time a brother, Coles Arihls-
 tead. q small. delicate man. bat the
 coolest man in a tight place | ever
 met with in the whole course ot my
 Iifn an invetcrate fisher and hunter,
 and inc ouiekest and best shot ever
 saw. We lived about five miles
 apart. and one evening he sent me
 word to come over very early the
 next morning and take bear hunt.
 I was on hand in good time next
 morning. and found Henry, killebreW
 and MT. Johnson, neighbors, and my
 brother. about ready to start.
 Before going further, in order that the incident 1 am about to describe
 may be better understood, l will
 describe our guns, Johnson and
 myself had good double-barrel shot
 guns: Killebrew, who was an old
 bear hunter, though a very eXcltable
 man. had an old fashioned close shooting rifle; and my brother had very fine gun, which had been put on the Memphis market but short time previously, and was the best shooting gun have ever seen before or since; 1t had rifle barrel on top, and directly under that q shotgun barrel, both of which shot very close, long distance.
 We mounted our hcrses and started. with a fine pack of bear dogs, for Cold Water bottom, about three miles distant, and after crossing a cypress brake near the foot of the hills, struck out across the bottom through dense cane, tangled vines and bamboo briars. After going on some four or five miles, the dogs opened upon very hot trail, and away we all went, "every man for ! himself. devil take the hindmOSt. 1 struck right out for the dogs, ln' tending to keep right up with them l the others little behind. Aft6l | running about two miles the bea, made a sudden turn to the left, anC
 after running some four or five hun r dred yards further went up tree Q and just as l rode up, one of the | party who had cut across and bea e me in at last, fired, putting bal 1 through bruins brain. We pulled n him out to an opening on the side O l. the cypress brake and commences s skinning him, which is no small mat t ter, as it takes four men at least tw O hours to accomplish the job. W ,, had only been skinning the bear q short time when the dogs, who ha Il been hunting around us short dis d tance off, either jumped another bea q or else struck his hot trail and ava
 they went, in full cry, crossing tn Ie cypress brake just above us but ot 2 of sight. We immediately dre' a straws for which two should folio |. the dogs, the other two to continu 'e skinning the bear, and it fell to tn Il lot of Johnson and Killebrew to fo le low the dogs, and away they went q e half speed through the thick cane - In about fifteen minutes Johnso
 came back pulling, blowing, an
 swearing that he had about as liev
 follow the devil as killebrew throug
 that cane, and in q few minutes tn ., dogs had run entirely out of hearing
 In about an hour killebrew cam back, reporting that the dogs ha'
 brought the bear to bey, aboLt liy' l. miles from us that he had gone int, h the cane, which was very dense, an'
 fired at the bear, intlicting yer T slight wound, that he had steppe, '. back to reload and found he had los
 his powder horn, and that the bea if then broke away and started again n In q short time we finished butcher - ing our bear, and were about ready
 to start, when we heard the dogs, il I full cry, running almost right toward, - us, and in short while they hac n brought him to bay the second time |, about half a mile above us in the
 cypress brake, We mounted anC rode leisurely up the brake, to within s thirty or forty yards of the bear |, dismounted, and my brother, who 3 was good many years older than
 myself, told me to hold the horses as he was afraid l would shoot some
 of the dogs, in my cXcitemcnt.-