The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-19
IN FLORIDA.
They Are Found Where the Palmetto
Berries Grow.

About the Latter Part of March.
They Are Hungry and Thin After
Their Long Nap-Something About
the Bears of California and the
Rocky Mountains.
Titusvllle, Fla, March 17.-For many
years the east coast region in Florida has
been famous for bear hunting. but the
sTortsmeu Of this country who follow
this particular game have never come
here in large numbers, because until
quite recently transportation along the
east cost has been slow and uncertain,
and by primitive methods at best. But
now that rapid, comfortable, and even
luxurious rail transportation has been
provided over a stretch of 300 miles and
more, the outside world is beginning to
learn of the bear haunts of the east coast
country, and during the past two years
many old hunters have come here for no
other purpose than to run down Bruin.
Almost directly east of this city and
only a very short distance from the At
lantic Ocean the Canaveral club of Bos-
ton has constructed a fine clubhouse, and
some of its members (all Boston menl
have built cottages for themselves and
| their families not far of The club takes
its name from Cape Canaveral north of
which the club has purchased and par
TALLY inclosed a tract of about %, 900 acres
of land, made up of pine barrens, ham
mock, prairie, swamp and palmetto scrub
| and cut up into all sorts of shapes by the
Indian river, the Banana river,
Banana creek, the lower Hills
borough river and almost inuumer-
| able creeks, branches and little lakes.
This land lies largely upon Merritt's
island, but it includes also some of the
long, narrow peninsula east of it. 1t is
beyond doubt one of the finest game and
! fish preserves on this continent, but per-
| haps not superior in this respect to many
tracts north and south of it, lying along
the east coast Deer. wild turkey, quail,
black duck, widgeon, teal and mallard are
abundant throughout this whole region,
while fish IN every variety which is found
in southern waters are plentiful and
afford exceptionally fine sport. Bears are
| not uncommon. but most of the Canaveral
club men prefer the game which is the
more easily taken.
Charles B. Cory, of Boston, a wealthy
and cultured gentleman of leisurely
habits and great fondness for hunting
is member Of the Canaveral club, and
| at the request of your correspondent has
prepared the following sketch upon bears
| and bear-hunting, and descriptive also of
the habits of the bears on the Florida
east coast and Of days sport in that
region during the present hunting season:
Bears have always been objects of in
| terest to me ever since l first learned how
! to use a rife and commenced to hunt
| large game; and have probably killed as
many of them during the past seventeen
| years as most professional hunters.
| As a rule, bears are nowhere very
numerous, although the black species is
| at times plentiful enough where some par
| ticular kind of food which they like hap
| pens to be very abundant. In Florida,
| where the palmetto scrub has been
! burned, the following year or sometimes
| the second year afterward, the crop of
| berries will be large. Bears find such
! places, being very fond of the palmetto
| berry, and when not disturbed large num-
| bers of them stay in the neigh borhood
| and do not den up' until very late in the
| season.
In Florida bears usually hibernate for
! from six weeks to three months. They
| find some place suitable for a den or
| scratch a hole in the ground in thick
| cover and there, concealed by the brush
| and leaves, they quietly sleep until nature
| tells them that it is time to wake up
and in the language of Lord George
| Morton, "humptuate" for something to
eat They usually come out during the
latter part of March, hungry and some
what thinner than when they retired for
their long nap.
biologists are at variance as to the
number Of species of bears indigenous to
North America. Structural differences,
particularly in the skull, are the princi-
pal characteristics by which we separate
the various species But too little value
is given the size and the color of the AMI
mails and the shape of their claws.
ours IN most parts of North America, but
| varies somewhat in coloration and size in
different localities. 1t is probably repre-
sented by two, if not three, races or sub
species, the polar bear (Ursus Arctos),
the grizzly bear of the Rocky mountains,
and the grizzly bear of California. The
last two, although not specifically seper-
able, probably represent good geograph-
zeal races. The Rocky mountain grizzly
or silver tip is not as large as its Cal
ifOrnia cOngener, and varies somewhat in
color. Alaska boasts OF huge bear. the
barren ground grizzly, which is consid-
cred by some authorities as separable
from his California brother. The emma
mon bear Of the Rocky mountains has
strong claim to be considered a distinct
type.
Bears are fond of grubs and large
WORMS, which they discover in rotten logs
and under stones. One often finds places
where the old dead trees have been dug
into and large stones turned over by these
animals in their search for food In the
berry season they eat the wild frnit In
places where the land has been loosened
by the winter frosts, berries grow well,
and boars are usually quick to discover
such spots These patches of lOosened
earth are usually called "slides" by
hunters.
Bears are fond of fresh fish, and during
the spawning season of trout and salmon
they frequent the shallow waters of the
brooks and streams, where, watching
their opportunity, they toss numbers of
the fish out of the water.
Large bears usually keep high up in
the mountains, rarely coming down ex-
cept when driven to do so by hunger.
Old hunters ana trappers tell us that be-
fore railroads and winchester rifles be-
came so common in the west, large bears
were often seen on the prairies near the
foothills. but at the present day they are
rarely TO be met with, except the black
species, anywhere but in the mountains,
and even there they are becoming com
parauyely scarce.
Sometimes a family of bears of the large
variety occupies a locality by itself driv-
ing Off all others of this kind. This is
especially the case with the great grizzly
bear, which was at one time numerous in
the Sierra Nevada mountains. The In
dians had a most wholesome respect for
them, and before the days of the high