Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-02-26
BEARS COME IN DROVES.
PERIODICALLY APPEAR IN NEW
YORK STATE.
How q Twelve Year Ola 10y Became n
Famous Huntsr--He Reduced
Drove OF Ten Bssrs to Six
by Good Shooting.

Bears do not usually run in drovcs
out they seem TO develop that peculi-
arity now and then ia Sullivan county.
The first time in recent years that a
drove attracted the attention OF hunters
was in November, 1855, when Post
master Shattuck. OF HARDWOOD while
hunting deer near Gray swamp. in
company with Lew Boyd. rounded up
a drove OF eight bears in the swamp
and succeeded in corralling three OF
them. one acknowledgements.
The same month drove Of seven
hears was started in a swamp near
Eldred. but all got away.
/ In November. 1886, writes corre-
spondent OF the New York sun. Reeves
Hankins and his brother went GU.
after bear that had been seen in the
neigh borhood of Little Pond. in the
/ town of Forestturg and instead OF
starting out one bear routed out
drove OF eleven. The Hankins boys
followed the bears all day and never
/ lessencd the aggregation by one. The
| hunters took the news home with
! them. and Captain Jack Boyd. OF
HARDWOOD. went out and. after the
most memorable bear hunt of the
county reduced the drove to ten.
! 1t was the appearance of that drove
| that made twelve-year- Clarence
/ Shattuck famous in the county. Two
days after Captain Boyd had shot his
/ big bear party OF hunters among
/ them the boy Clarence, went out to
reduce the drove. The dogs located
the bears in Little Pond swamp. The
/ hunters were veteran bear hunters,
except the boy He took a positive
stand of his own, after looking the
ground over and refused TO follow tho
/ advice OF tho old hunters as TO where
she should post himself in the hunt
/ II is on record that he said TO Stod
/ Gordon, the hero of a hundred bear
/ fights. "One O. them bears is goin' to
come plungin' out o. that swamp not
ten PAGES from that old hemlock yon-
der"
Then. as the record is. Stod Cor
don replied, with supercilious ira
You're way off, Garry, but you can
60 hide yourself behind that hemlock
If you want to- and if you peep out
you can see me kill that bear rs il
comes down yonder by tho alder
hole"
Clarence did go to the hem ock. bot
not 20 hide lie stood by ia plain
sight. In less than ten minutes
great nullabaloo was heard in the
swamp off to his left He cooked his
gun. a moment later out sprang a
tremendous big bear just at the spot
the boy hunter had said it would. The
yeteran Stol Gordon was "a quarter
OF mile away down at the alder
hoe The bear didn't get across the
open space Clarence drew bead on
him and the bullet crushed through
bruins brain VIXEN the dogs came
out OF the swamp on the bear trail
CARRY stood on the bears carcass
loading his gun. The old hunters
gathered around from their runways
and found the boy as cool Us il he had
only wrdng the neck of a chicken.
After awhile the dogs went in the
swamp and started another of the
drove That time Clareuce's father
posted him, but he wouldn't stay
posted. bur selected runway for
himself. The bear led the dogs long
chase through the swamp. but finally
the game came out not twenty yards
from where the boy hunter stood. He
gave il both his rifle and his buclSshot
barrels, and the bear dropped. After
that tie veteran hunters quit giving
Clarry advice, and during the next
! l. l. . ., 81
bears TO six.
Since that time Until 1891 no droves
OF bears have been seen by any hunter
in Sullivan county. Then there came
news from the upper waters OF the
Beaverkill that there were grounds
for believing that more bears than one
were stamping around in the woods OF
that wild region. Jim Smith. Bea-
verkill bear hunter with four other
hunters with less experience, went out
to investigate the rumors, and four
miles from Livingstone Manor
they started bear and in less than
ten minutes had a drove OF eleven on
the go. Jim Smith picked out a big
fellow tumbled him at the first shot
and finished him with the second.
One bear of the drove was the biggest
one the hunter had ever seen. and the
efforts OF the entire party were bent
on bagging him.
jim Smith said that he will be will
ing to make affidavit that not less
than twenty bullets were lodged in
that big bear and he kept right on.
Sometimes all ten OF the bears would
be in sight as they slouched in their
clumsy but speedy manner through
some open space in the woods and
then they could only be followed by
tie sound OF their crashing through
the thick brush. The drove was
trailed five miles across the Ulster
county line into the dense wilderness
NJ tho town of Harden borph where