Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-05-26
ONE WAY TO CATCH BEAR
ABsALoM QUICK, or KETTLE CREEK,
CAPTURES TWO or THEM N
DECIDEDLY ODD WAY.

the PennsA WANNA bear few DAYS ego
which culmIOated in an exciting mani
festatiOn also OF the disposition OF brUil
to tear things Quick was deer hunting
in company WIN three other oihel
hunters ana occupying his CABIN. vi
returning to the cabin one night th'
hunters discovered that bear hid beeI
proving around u. and had actually
been making an effori 10 burglurize it
He had given up the job for some Tea
son ar other. but Quick. Knowing {
thing or twu shout bears. declared thl'
bear would be back 70 ain next day Il
complete his job.
I'm goin,er git that bar, saIc
Quick, IAN I'm gOinter git him pecul
lar.
Next morning Quick proceeded to lay
his plans to intercept Bruln. Among
the trees that we're grJwing about The
cabin was white oak sapliug, five
inches through al tue bun. 10 tapered
gradually 10 the tor, which was twenty
i've above the ground The sapling
was straight from butt 10 tip. Quick
climb, d IL and trimmed 1t OF lis limbs.
Among his traps IN the caoin was sew
Quick deflly lied mpotn-slipplng
moose 10 one end OF the rope. BY the
combined efforts Of the four men the
oak sap iog was bent over until its tip
was within three feet of the ground.
While the tree was held IN this position
Quick tied the rope securely TO the tip.
and by an ingenious arrangement Of
pegs and notched sticks he h4d prepGr-
ed for the occasion. he soon had the
moose end of the ope fastened on the
ground By this the bent saplirg was
held IN place, il being necessary 70 but
slightly touch the de ieateiy arranged
sticks on the ground :" releHse he rope
and permit The sapling to slip back TO
its place. The Trap WIS set close To the
cabin door.
Il never ketched no bar this way,
said Quick; "bu. if il don't work, then
don't know bars
The hunters then went out on the
ridge after deer, leaving the cabin door
open. with tempting piece Of pork
lust inside the sill A mile from the
cabin the men separated 10 90 10 differ
ent runways Soon afterward. willie
Quick WAS making his way down a
steep pitch on the side of the ridge, he
caugt / his foot in root ard fell forW ard
heavily to the ground Quick is gen
une woodsman. and II he had received
any physical injury in the fall it must
have been serious ID cause him any
great concern; but in falling be broke
bottle he had IN his pocket and the con.
tents were lost. There was nothing left
of them but the aggravatiug aroma that
ladened the air. IL was a cold day, and
there were TO be possible long hours of
weary waiting AT runway for the
coming of deer. There was at the
cabin more If what Il bottle had con-
tanned. Quick stoCd his gun against a
tree and hurried back to headquarters
He stepped cautiously over the bear
trap at the cabin door, and was filling "a
new bottle from demj thu when a
noise outside caused bin To turn his
Lead and iOoN on 81 the door. He saw
a medium sized bear makiag a Decline
toward The trap Qmck was only Il
few feet bsck from the door, but the
bear evidently saw nothing hul he piece
Of pork The bear never stopped, but
slouehed right up u the suare that had
been laid for him, and got both forefeet
inside the loop The sapling flew up
with noise like a gust of wind in a
chimney The bear disappeared from
Quick's view at the same time. But the
next second he appeared on the line of
vision again, dancing and teelerDg
around in the open space IN front of the
cabin like ball on MI elastic strlBg
The rope had caught the bear around
the body Just back Of the forelcgs.
With every effort ho made to free him
self the saping raised him a foot or two
from the ground, and kept him dancing
like baby in a baby jumper. The
bear snapped and snarled and snorted.
He struck and SPARED ut the rope
Now and then hy some particularly
vicious lUrch, he bent the Sapliug so
that he could throw himself flat on his
back. but instantly the stiff and springy
oak would get its work in again and
yank the bear back ~ the air until
everything snapped. The involuntary
antics of the bean stiuck Quick as beng
50 extremely comica that he at last had
Ia veil with laughter Il was not until
then that the bear discovered Quick,
and he seemed To look on the hunter as
being responsible for has extraordinary
situation, for he NJ once mace desperate
attempts 70 yet in the cabin and lave i
out with Quick He would manage I,
dance aud swing To the very threshold,
and then his frantic struggles woult
give the sapling a new chance ut him
and it would lite him up aud snatch hin
away. lis legs spreading out to nj
points If the compass, ike q big spide
swinging at the end Of It's depending
web
When this had been repeated three o.
four times Qnick began 10 fear that b,
would burst with laughter and the bea
with fury unless something was done I,
put stop to the circus Quick Gun
was a mile away He was about I,
look around and see what he could flu,
10 kill the bear " tn when he saw
another bear, a good deal bigger thar
the one in the suAre, come ambliug on
of the bushes This one stopped within
a few feet cf where the first bear wa
bobbing and sparring around in iron
OF the cabin, and gazed ut the perform
ance a minute OF two III evident aston
ishment Then the fun of the thin!