The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-02
ARE NOT SCARCE
MANY OF THE BLACK AMI CHINA
non VARIETIES IN CALIFORNIA.
Peculia rites Of These Big Beasts-A
Veteran Hunter Tells His Ex-
~pcriences with Them.


canyons ana nigher mountains OF the
Sierra range in California is very much in
error. The consensus Of opinion among
the oldest and most experienced hunters
after big game in the mountains of this
region is that. while there are by no means
so many strapping, ferocious grizzly bears
in the Sierras or Rocky mountains as
twenty-five or thirty years ago. still there
are just as many black and cinnamon
bears. In fact, several Of the best known
bear hunters and trappers in the San
Jacinto and San Diego spurs of the coast
range stick 10 it that this is the best sea-
son for getting black bears they have had
in ten or twelve years.
Jackson Stubs, who has lived a typical
hunters and trapper's life among the pines
and chaparral m the canyons and along
the mountain Sides since. a young man.
he was mustered out Of service in the
Union army, in 1865. came down TO town
the other day to lay in a seasons supply
of provisions. previous to going thirty
seven miles over the mountain range.
where he has hunted bears, lynx, noun
tain lions and wildcats for several sum-
mers. The grizzled old fellow had sold a
black bear skin and several other skins
at asgood bargain, and. with the money
in his pocket, was most jovial.
Yes: there's no doubt at ALL" said
Stubs as he tipped his chair back over
at the grocery store. and. reached into his
buckskLn hunting bag TO find his briar-
wood pipe. that, taken as a whole, there's
as many and probably more black bears I'm
California mountains to-day than when I
came out here to hunt as a steady job.
Here and there. where gold or silver mines
have been found in the mountains, the
miners and general population have cleared
the bears out. but there's many more
bears coming into the world every year in
some other localities. further away from
peoples homes. / don't believe there are
over 10 bears killed in this whole State
in twelve months. and. gosh know Sec
tons where there's twenty cubs born ev-
cry year. So We hunters have lots of
times been sitting around a camp fire, and
figured out how there must be from $50 to
three hundred bears every year for us old
chaps TO chase over these mountains.
There's my old partner, George Cason;
he's a wonderful hand for finding reasons
for things as he putters about our cabin
or works on the traps.
III reasons that the best cause for
bears being so common in the past year
or two is because the ranchmen and lum-
Der companies have cleared away so much
timber from the lower mountain sides.
When the timber was thick the bears were
forced to forage on roots and banks and
on the rather scanty supplies which the
pig pens and sheep corrals of the scattered
settlers afforded them. The clearing
away of the woods has been followed by
the appearance in a very big area of all
KINDS or berry bushes, the fruit of which
forms the favorite food of the bears. and
on which they thrive and wax fat. At the
same time the cutting away of the timber
has not disturbed the character of the
dense chaparrals. in the confines of which
the bears find safe places for bringing
forth and nursing their young. and the
ems. still remain as of old, and there the
bears find winter lairs as secure and COM
Portable as they were when the forest
PLENTY OF BEARS.
The signs of bears in these canyons and
foothills this year are most encouraging
to the hunter and trapper. but by no means
welcome to ranchmen whose sheep pas
lures are open to the nocturnal visits OF
Mr.. and Mrs. Bruin. One ranchman over
in Strawberry valley, in the San Jacinto
mountains. has lost twenty-five sheep al
ready to some epicurean Old bear, and the
people of that settlement have sent word
to me to go and trap him. If you had Wis
tied the mldwinter fair up in Frisco last
year yeu might have seen among the ex-
hibits there an immense black bear. finely
mounted. That bear 1 killed In the canyon
up back OF Victor two years ago. 1t was
the biggest black bear seen killed in Cal
ifornia in twenty-five years. 1t weighed
300 pounds, and measured eight feet from
mouth 10 the tip of the tail. / shot sew
eral big slugs into the critter before it
tumbled over dead. If L had met q e%ritter
like that twenty-five years ago. before /
got some nerve. l know ! never could have
got away alive. Just think / put five
balls into the bear and still IL was coming
for me like mad. 1t was less than tw elve
feet from me. when L took more careful
aim and gave him a slug in the head.
That staggered the beast for a few sec
onds. and | retreated twenty feet, when
the bear came more slowly toward me.
Another shot and all was over. although
you can bet l did not go nosing around
the old fellow for a little time after /
thought he was dead.
No one can tell the sensation tina a
man has when he has to deal with such a
monster brute as that. and under such
circumstances. Old as 1 am at going after
big game, L have dreamed heaps of times
since that | was down in thai narrow
canyon all alone. and that big black bear,
with mouth wide open, great white teeth
all sticking up. head swaying from side TO
side. and the animal half growing and
roaring in terrible rage at my shots. was
making for me over powders and through
sage brush. four feet at a jump. while L
was penned in there and had 10 make a
dead shot or be chawed and clawed 10
death, the same as Doc EversOn was up
in the Santa Barbara foothills two years
ago. / tell you. there's no bear story T
ever read that tells half about that creepy
feeling one has when he knows that he's
got TO shoot quick and plumb, or die a
horrible death right there. without benefit
of clergy or n parting word from ones
hunting partner.
Want me to tell you how we hunters
know we're going to see more bear than
usual this summer, do you? Well. there's
a heap of vays we have to find out that.
In the early weeks of summer black bears
live in the sloppy. muddy places at the
head of the canyon streams. and about the
springs that dry up along in the middle OF
the summer. The bears live in the damp
spots. and early in the Summer. If bru1n is
plentiful. the soft. black mud along the
edge of these places will be broken up, as
If a herd of COWS had been walking
through IT. Sometimes the mud will be
followed out in spots eight or ten feet
long. two or three wide and as many deep.
These are wallow holes. made by the
bears. whose tracks il is that have broken
up the mud Of the upper canyons. In
those holes the bears will lie and wallow
in the muck. Some hunters watch these
holes and shoot the bears as they come
out of the swamp. but as at that time OF
the year their flesh is poor and their fur
isn't worth much. such killing of bears.
except the hunter is a tenderfoot or a
ranchman who is abating a nuisance. is
senseless and improbable. AT that time
of year. in looking for bear signs. We al
ways study the trees along the swamps to
find if any bear has been measuring him.
self. Bears have a habit of getting up on
their fore paws. tearing the bark off rs
high as they can reach leav1ng sure and
pain signs of their presence. Some old
hunters believe that in doing this the bears