The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-19
NOVELTY IRON WORKS.

hands of the Indians, they no longer
avoided the California grizzly. If they
did not seek him, they often attacked him
! if they met with him on their hunting
| trips, and the bear in turn lost something
of his ferocious aggressiveness. He
| seemed to know that he was no longer
! feared as of old, and that his strength
was powerless against this new and
strange weapon.
The bear soon became fewer and more
retiring in their habits They were
! killed by the Indians and the white hunt
ers, and were poisoned by the settlers,
until at the present day they have be
| come very scarce indeed, and in a few
years will almost entirely have disap-
peared
The California grizzly is claimed to
grow to a great size. but definite and re
liable information is very hard to obtain
| in such matters. ] have never seen a
grizzly bear either in California or in the
Rocky mountains which l believe would
weigh over 1000 pounds, although l saw
a skin offered for sale by a hunter in Salt
Lake City which was at least a third
larger than that of any live animal of its
kind that have ever seen.
Old pike the California hunter who
lived near the Yosemite for so many
years, used to tell me of hugh animals
which he had killed; but pike" some
| Glil6S euldTSeu d llbblb perhaps. Inc ola
| fellow had lost his voice the last time |
saw him, and he could speak only in husky
whispers. [ asked him what caused him
to lose his voice, and he said that he
thought he must have strained it Lying
to tourists"
Good sport may be had hunting bears
in Florida (the black species only, but
to hunt them successfully one must have
a really good lot of hounds One or two
at least, must be thoroughly trained
bear dogs" Bear dogs are not easy to
| find, still one may be had now and then
by paying high for him There are
plenty of dogs that will take a bears
trail and follow it for a short distance
| but a good bear dog must chase a bear
all day and bay him alone, if necessary
for hours until his master can come up
with him.
| Good horses are also an important fac
! tor. They should be trained to stand
where they are left without tying, to be
used to rough travelling in thick places,
and not at all gun-shy.
In December, 1898 ] had particularly
good sport in Florida, bagging four bears
| and chasing several others which / did
not bag. Bears were unusually numer-
Gus in the locality where 1 was hunting
| owing to the great abundance of palmetto
! berries and to the presence in the vicinity
of two or three very good water holes.
1 will give short description of one
| days sport, which will give you some
! idea of how we hunt the black bear in
| Florida under very favorable conditions.
| Dec. S, 1893. To-day our shooting
| party consisted of three guns-Count A,
Mr. c. and myself-having with US the
| usual outfit of men. horses and hounds
| We also had in our party two of the best
| hunters IN Florida, who happened TO be
in the vicinity and went along with us,
] 81, L.
| sport. To hunt bears luXuriOusly in
! / lOrida the outfit should consist of good
| saddle horses fused to the woods and not
! at all gun-shy), good dogs and two men,
one to follow the hounds and the other to
| act as general utility man, take mes
! sages and carry the lunch, water. etc,
! while the guns of the party devote
! their entire attention and energies to
! heading of the bear or getting to the
| place where The dogs are baying him,
| the latter probably in some thick schrub,
! where it is impossible TO ride and where
/ the hunter must dismOunt and push his
way on foot
Shortly after turning the hounds loose
J a chorus of exultant yells told us that
4 they had found fresh trail and were off.
/ The wild shouts of Gale" cheering on
! the dog assured US that the bear had
! been started or 'iumped.' He ran for
! about a mile and then bayed in a very
| thick live-oak hammock. But before
| any one could get to him he was of again
and did not stop again until he had run
! at least two miles or more, when be
again stopped in a thick high scrub and
evidently made up his mind that he had
run far enough.
BY this time our party had become very
much scattered. 1t is not easy to hurry
| through palmetto scrub, in many places
Us high as your head. Messrs Quarter
man and Murray were nearest, and got in
ahead of any of US, and their yells guided
me to the scene. They could easily have
killed the bear but they were only out
with us as spectators to see the fun. So,
when / appeared on the scene, very hot
and very short of breath, they took front
seats on dead tree and prepared to en-
JOY the show.
The bear was in a very thick place,
where the palmetto and small oak trees
were higher than my head in places. |
pushed my way up TO where the dogs
were holding their concert a short reel
tative by the leading hound being invari-
ably followed by a full chorus, a dog
called Blue carrying the high tenor part
in fine style. Whenever there was a lull
] in the performance l could hear the bear
painting heavily not more than fifteen or
twenty feet away, uJperfectlY concealed
by The thick scrub. Occasionally his bear
ship made a short rush at the nearest
dog, uttering peculiar sort of rum bling
growl or grunt as he did so. During one
of these charges L saw him for an instant
not more than twenty feet from me and
shot him through the lungs with a
| bullet from my 1910 winchester. He
| Immediately rose on his hind feet and
| turned toward me, receiving another
| ball in the chest as he did so. Over he
went with the whole lot of dogs on him
as he fell [Cheers from the audience on
| the log. l shot him once again, fearing
Lhat he mighL still be able 10 inInra Tho