The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-01-05
DISCIPLINE IN A BEAR FAMn '
The Way Old Mrs. Bruin Kept Her Chill
dren Quiet.

her cubs just as have seen women act
toward their children" said an old
, Ioyalsock bee-hunter lately to ,Trib.
une reporter. You don't believe that.
do you? Well, I'll tell you how it was
and maybe you will then agree with me
that mother bears know how to control
their young ones as well as human
mothers know how to make their chill
| dren behave themselves. This is the
story and every word of itois a fact:
Late one August | lined lot OF
wild bees to a big beech tree, two miles
back in the woods on Elk mountain. ]
located the bees in a hollow part of the
trunk, far up toward the top, and when
| went to bark the tree so that no one
else could claim it, noticed that bear
had gone up and down the tree several
times only a little while before. There
was lot of loose green beech bark at
the butt and looking up / saw that a
bear had been clawing and biting to
get in the hollow where the honey lay.
| didn't want to cut the tree for two or
three weeks, as the bees were gather
ing honey from the wild flowers of late
summer, and for fear that the bear
might dig into the tree and steal the
honey before got ready to chop the
tree down decided 20 see IL ] couldn't
catch the bear at IL that night and
shoot IL in the act ~
THE moon was about full, and soon
after dusk shouldered double
barrelcd shotgun loaded with bueSshot
and went to the woods About sixty
feet from the bee tree there was a
! hemlocls much taller than the beech,
and strapped the gun to my back,
! pulled off my boots and climbed to the
l'top, where | had good view of the
spot where the bear had been trying to
get at the honey. There wasn't bit
of air stirring in the woods, the sky
was clear, and all the sounds / heard
until after midnight were the hooting
of the owls. Toward o'clock / heard
the brush cracking little distance to
the north and imag med that the bear
was making its way to the bee tree.
The noise of the cracking brush circled
clear around the hemlock and the bee
tree, good distance off, and when it
| got to where / had come through the
woods to the hemlock it began to grow
fainter, and l didn't hear it again,
although l sat in the tree till almost
dayb without getting a sight at
the big honey thief.
THE next night / climbed the hem
lock again, heard the brush crack at a
distance as before, heard something
that sounded like the whining of a cub,
followed by low growl. and soon
everything was as still in the woods as
it had been. The bear didn't make its
appearance at the bee tree that night,
and on my way home, a little after day
light, stopped at the home of an old
ence in the woods. The old man
chuckled over my lack of knowledge
concerning the habits of bears, for he
saw through it all at once, and then he
told me that the cracking had heard
was caused by the bears feet, and that
bear always makes three or four cir
cults around bee tree the night before
it approached it. The bear had heard
tramping on tho dead limbs the old
hunter said. had run across my track
while it was making the first circuit,
and that it had made itself scarce
mighty quick after it had got scent OF
my boots And I'll bet dollar that il
was she-be with one or two cubs,
he added. Then he told me to take a
couple of pieces of board with me when
| went after the bear the next time.
From the time you strike the woods till
you get to the tree he said, keep your
boots on the boards by taking one UP
from behind you and placing it in front
of you all the way. Don't letyour boots
touch the ground, and when you reach
the tree strap the boards and boots tc
your back and take them up.
That night followed the old bear.
hunters directions to the letter. A lit
tie after III .dnight | heard the brush
cracking around in circle, for the
night was calm and clear and no wind
rustled the leaves The sound of the
cracking came nearer and nearer,
and when three circuits had been
made by the heavy steps l was
rewarded for my long watching
in the big hemlock by seeing
a she-bear steal cautiously toward the
bee tree, with two cubs dangling at her
heels. The old bear shifted around the
butt of the tree couple of times gazed
at the top for moment, and then stuck
her claws in the bark and started to
climb. The cubs began to whine and
whimper before their mother had gone
the length of her up the tree. and i'm
mediately she began to stop them by
| giving low growl and looking back at
them. But the cubs didn't stop their
noise, and all at once the old bear
backed down, gave each cub good
shaking, sat it up on its launches cuffed
its ears, shook her fist at it and told it
to stay there till she came down.
''The cubs were as still as mice, and
the old bear quickly climbed to the ton
of the trunk and began to tear at the
wood with her teeth. / had intended
TO shoot the bear in the tree, but when
l saw the one that was trying to steal
my honey was a mother with her two
young ones to look after, my hear,
failed me. | might have killed her east
| ly with charge of buckshot, but was
so deeply interested in her cubs and he,
work that l made up my mind to lei
her live and watch her while she was
l L