Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-02-26
BEARS COME IN DROVES.
PERIODICALLY APPEAR IN NEW
YORK STATE.
New = Twelve Yesr-oIi Boy Dsoasn mo q
Famous Hantsr-Hs Reduced =
Drove OF Ten Is cars to Six
By Good Shooting.

out they seem TO develop that peculi-
hrity now and then ia Sullivan county.
Tho first time in recent years that q
drove attracted the attention OF hunters
was in November 1850, when Post
master Shattuck. OF Harwood, while
hunting deer near Gray swamp. in
company with Lew Boyd. rounded up
drove OF eight bears in the swamp
and succeeded in corralling three OF
them. one fve-hundred- bodnder
Tho same month drove of seven
hears was started in swamp near
Eldred. but all got away.
In November 1886, writes n corre-
spondent OF the New York sun, Reeves
Hankins and his brother went out
after bear that had been seen In the
neighborhood of Little Pond. in the
town OF Forestburg and instead OF
starting out one bear routed out
drove of eleven. The Hawkins boys
'9llowed the bears all day and never
lessened 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-o,d 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 the
advice OF the old hunters as to where
she should post himself in the hunt
1t 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 u supercilious ira
You're way of. Garry, but you can
go hide yourself behind that hemlock
II you want to- and il you peep out
you can see mo kill that bear as il
comes down yonder by the alder
hole"
Clarence did go to the hemlock. but
not to hide He stood by in plain
sight In less than ten minutes a
great hullabaloo 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
veteran Stod 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. When the dogs came
out OF the swamp on the bear trail
Garry stood on the bears carcass
loading his gun. The old hunters
gathered around from their runwaya
and found the boy as cool as il he had
only wrung the neck OF chicken.
After awhile the dogs went in the
swamp and started another of the
drove That time Clarence's father
posted him, but he wouldn't stay
posted. but 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 it both his rifle and his buckshot
barrels, and the bear dropped After
that the veteran hunters quit giving
Garry advice, and during the next
week he reduced the Hankin drove of
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, a 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 drove OF eleven on
the go. Jim Smith picked out a big
fellow. tumbled him at the first shot
aud 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 70 make affidavit that not less
than twenty bullets were lodged in
that big bear and he kept right on.
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 DO followed by
tie sound of their crashing through
The thick brush. The drove was
.railed five miles. across the Ulster
county line into the dense wilderness
d the town OF Hardenbergh. whore
he bears found safe refuge among the