River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-01-31

carcass OF an enormous tAtIh AteA-"
There were a great many bear that
wear. but they kept in the swamps
pretty close. and only a few were
killed Along in August, however,
they began To get troublesome, lnVad-
ing fields Of late corn and carrying on
great loads IF roasting ears. There
was one big fellow who visited nearly
every plantation in the neighborhood-
Giles Overton watched for him one
night. and claimed next day that he
saw him gather an armful OF corn,
then balance a pumpkin on his head
and walk off on his hind feet. Giles
said the. beast acted 50 like "A man he
couldn't shoot him, by which ! take
Giles story TO be somewhat exag-
perated. particularly as Squire Hesen
claims he saw Giles asleep ON his stand
Just before day. the squire having rid
den Dy on his way 10 the lake TO hsh
for speclled perch, winch were biting
freely caught ninety-nine one morn
ing before breakfast and killed u rat
tlcsuake that
..What the nation has that got TO do
with tn. bear stOry2' interrupted a
man yvitl tramulous hand who OBJ
jeets To- SNAKE
The man from the bottoms growled
out something about not seeing the
sense Of interrupting gentleman who
was delivering instructions gratis. and
continued: We measured the tracks of
the big bear several times. and they
We're eleven inches wide The niggers
on my place saw the beast once or
twice, and said he was as big as
house Everybody was too busy pick
ing cotton and settling with the hands
To hunt bear. besides the critters amt
any good until after hard frost. So
the big fellow lived high until about
the middle Of December, by which time
he was rolling in fat, as we could tell
by his tracks. In track made by a
poor bear the claws leave a very deep
impression, whereas when the animal
i fat the ball IF the foot leaves a more
prominent impression. Finally we con-
cIuted 20 have 4 bear hunt and. If pos
sible. get the big fellow. We sent over
on the ridge and got old man Ferguson
and his bear dogs twenty-nine in the
pack and most of them well trained. A
bear dog is composite canine crea-
in him To make him 4 good trailer,
enough bull to make him gritty, and
enough fee or eur to make him eau
tious. His business ain to go in and
pull down a bear. II Is To nip him on
the legs ana bring him To a standstill,
- the hunter can cone up and shoot
him.
That's the kind old Eerguson's dogs
were mostly. although there were a few
full blood deer or fox hounds and big
brindle half mastiff and half grey
hound, who weighed seventy or eighty
pounds and Thought no more of
strangling 4 wildcat than fox terrier
does of Strengthening a rat. His name
was Bull. and he was the apple of old
Eerguson's eye.
We started one morning Just before
dav, six Of rs. besides the dogs, all
mounted. and some carrying shOtguns
and some rifles ! had a needle gun,
such as i used in the army. "a sweet
weapon for big game, hut very wear
ingon a man whose shoulder can't stand
"A hard kick We started a bear abOCt
seven o'clock. and after a chase Of half
an hour got M with him and the dogs.
1t was in piece of open woods. and it
wasn't much trouble To- knock him
over. He wasn't the big fellow. how
ever. and the horses and dogs being
fresh, we hung him 20 a sapling and