The morning call., 1893-04-16
SPOILED HIS HUNTING
By Getting Acquainted With a Supe-
rior Breed of Bears in California.

New York Sun.
"Since i had my bear hunt out in Cali
forDia," said Colonel Parker Of Gardeau,
Pa, sit don't seem much better than going
out after coons to hunt the Penn sy lvania
bears.
"The bears out in California, seems TO
me. are pr city near twice as big as the bears
that live in the Pennsylvania mountains.
don't mean the grizzlies but the ordinary
bing hears. And they roost high.
too. They can't help themsel YES for out
there pine trees are so tan that they call
,em saplings II they have q limb nearer
the ground than q hundred feet. And
when bear don't want TO stay and have
hght with you he just makes for one of those
trees and goes up among the branches, and
then you have TO do some tolerable good
shnoting to call him down again.
L was in Sonoma County and went after
bear one day. ! went after bear on several
days. but this day in particular. l had my
Winchester and five good dogs. 1t was a
long time before the dogs got bear on the
move, but when they did get enc going they
soon sent him hurrying for cover up one of
those big pine trees. / found the dogs
huddled around the foot of an ordinary
sized plne-ordinary for that country. but it
would have made one Of our biggest pine
trees look like currant bush alongside of
lt-and knew, of course, that was the tree
the bear had gone to rOoss it,
The nearest limb, as near as I could
Judge, was 165 feet above the ground |
skinned my eye up along the stem of the
tree, and discovered the bear lying on a
limb SO much higher than the lower one
that he didn't look much bigger than a
rabbit.
fine work for the eyes,
Il drew bead on the bear, though, and
whRnged away. By the way he started and
gave himself sort OF nervous hump.
knew had hit him somewhere. But all the
same l didn't tumble him off his perch, so L
sent another ball up at him.
Ihat bullet set little closer to the bear
than the first one, and he let go his hold on
the limb and came tumbling down in way
thai made the dogs howl for joy. The bear
shot straight down along the tree trunk,
about Two feet from it, AS he came on
down. gradually getting bigger and bigger
to the sight, l couldn't help feeling little
proud, for l thought that was about the
silckest knockout anybody had ever given
bear. But | soon discovered that didn't
know all the points about these California
bears.
The big brute cana pitching down head
nrst, until he had tumbled maybe a hundred
leet or SO. when all OF sudden it seemed
to strike him that he was doing rather
foolish sort OF thing, for quicker than a flash
ne turned a somerSauit in the air and came
around with the claws Of all four of mis-
feet square against the tree. He dug his
lOcnallS luLO the Tree DuUR there as un-
concerned as If lie had been a sleeping bat
That remarkable man euyer of the be ar
took my breath away, and the dogs actually
lay down and hOwled with dsapp0 in tment.
Before l could recover the bear had rested
himself and climbed back to the limb had
tumbled him from, although the blood was
patterlng down on the ground like rain from
the leaks my bullets had made in him.
Well, said i, If anya0dy should ask
me this minute whether had ever seen q
bear before. I'd have to say no.
But l sent another bullet up the tree
after him. OF course it hit him, but he
didn't mind 1t any. and it wasn't until had
sent three more after that one that be saw
that he had to come down. And he didn't
tumble down, either. but just walked along
the limb to the trunk of the tree, grabbed
1t with his claws and slid down that big
stem like a pile-dFIYer.
He came down so like streak that he
was on the ground and had one OF my dogs
under enc arm and another one by the
neck ana squeezed the life cut of both of
,em before | could have said Jack Robinson
Then l emptied few more ounces of lead
into him and he tumbled over dead, SQUASH
ing the life out of Two more dogs as he fell.
l picked five more bears out of the trees
within gunshot of that pine within an hour
after that, but none of 'em was as big as
that old fellow. | didn't weigh him. but
his pet measured II feet and IL inches
from tail to snout. | should feel small to
go out after Pennsylvania bear now, and l
am sorry got acquainted VITA the e-bears Of
California"