Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-01-09
BIG CAME STORIES.
Offers THAT GO OFF TOBOG-
GAMING.
A Live Mouse as Bait for a Trout
Intoxicated Grows.

game sections between the DelaWar
and Susquehanna valleys. Nearl,
every local householder hunts more o.
less, and many of them OCCASIONAL,
tell interesting stories of their sport
ing experiences in the region. On thu
north bank of Trout Run, two mile
from here, a steep knoll rises from th'
edge of deep pool. The spot is
great resort for offers in winter, anc
Samuel Price, who has watched then
on many a bright moonlight night
when the temperature was several de-
grees below zero, tells about how the
furry fellows frolic there. If the pool
happens TO be frozen over, the offers
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 il strikes the ground
or snow, aud In little while, the play
full offers have regular toboggan
slide as slippery as ice on steep hill
side can be. When the slide is com
pleted, each otter takes its turn at slid
ing down the knoll "kerplunk" into
the pool, and they keep up the sport
until daylight, catching trout now
and then and eating it on the bank.
One night last winter Mr.. Price
trapped a full-grown otter at the slide.
He has il yet, but he has not been able
to tame it very much.
In cooper shop here the other even
ing, Ezra Hubbard, whose home is at
the base of Leverst Ridge, related his
experience with bear this fall. The
night was so warm that they had to
leave the windows up, and the moon
was shining brightly. Mr.. Hubbard
said he was aroused some time in the
night by a 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 fence as fast as the bear
shook them oil. As soon as the bear
had shaken of all the fruit he wanted,
he slid down the tree, waddled to the
fence, and began to devour the apples
grccdily.
Then Mr.. Hubbard pulled on his
trousers and boots, loaded his rifle,
climbed out of the window and stole
along to a spot where he could get a
good shot at the thief. lie 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 below his left ear.
The animal flounced and tumbled |
against the fence for a minute, but he
soon kicked his last. He weighed 383 |
pounds. The next morning, Mr.. Hub
bard said, he ascertained that the bear
had climbed the fence at the upper
side of the orchard and passed seven
tons of winter apples to get at the
pound sweet tree.
Otis Goddard, of East Hill, came in
TO Blakesley the other day to have his
oxen shod. While waiting in the
shop, the brawny young
backwoodsnan told this fish story, de-
claring that Jack Hayner, who was
with him when he caught the trout,
would swear to every word of his
For months Goddard had
tried to land a willy old trout that
Iurked in one of the deep pools in
Greek. lie had angled, he
said, with flies, grasshoppers. worms.
minnows and other kinds of bait, but
be couldn't get the big trout to notice
any Of them. He had seen the cunning
'peeklcd fellow time and again and he
wanted him ever so much.
One day in July he caught little
iecf mouse in the pasture, and he
stuck his hook through the loose skin
IN the houses neck and threw it into
he pool. 1t was lively swimmer,
put It hadn't swan six feet before the
rout gobbIed it with dash that sent
his snout out of the water. That was
In unfortunate move for the trout, be-
,au,e within five seconds Goddard had
lin, Hopping on dry land, with his hat
,vtr the fighting beauty. The trout
We ghcd two pounds and fourteen
ounces, Goddard declared.
Howard Cable was crossing Oak Hill
,nr dav last month. when he came