The record-union., 1896-11-06
A BEAR With BRAINS.
unVound the Chain When II Caught on
q Tree.
Roxbury's Champion Hunter Relates
the Story of His Long Chase
After Large Bruin.

SlaS N. Locke, the Roxbury (Me)
bear hunter. was telling stories the
other day.
This said he, as he took skull
from the shelf, lis the skull of the larg
est bear l ever caught
Look at his teeth and you will see
now the tusks are entirely worn off,
showing that he was a very old settler.
When lying on his side in natural po-
sItlon he measured eight feet from his
nose to the paws of his hind feet
l do not know how much he weighed,
but all who saw him said he was the
largest bear ever seen in these parts.
All his feet and legs were perfect show
Ing that he had never been caught in
trap before, although it is unusual to
catch full-grown bear in this vicinity
that shows no marks of some previous
encounter with man.
Il had novel and exciting adventure
In connection with the capture Of this
bear. About six years ago L set bear
trap, the one l call Old Reliable on the
mountain you see on the east side of the
house, the place where 1 caught almost
all my bears.
AS l was busy at that season on my
farm I did not visit the trap for about
a month. Then it was gone, and 1 was
puzzled to trace it.
You understand that bear traps are
not fastened, for the great animals are
so strong and cunning they would break
ahe trap or chain or pull off paw in
the trap, or bite off their foot, and thus
escape in the first paroXysm that fol-
lows their capture. Consequently, the
chain of the trap is fastened to the mid
Ole of a clog, which is a piece of wood
about three inches in diameter and five
feet long
When caught, the bear starts off
easily at first, but the clog soon begins
TO catch on projecting stones, bushes,
stumps, trees, etc, and causes the bear
to continually change his course, be-
Silders him, and prevents him from 60
ing long distance from the point where
the trap was set.
This trap had been set on the hard
ground in the open pasture. and as there
had been several rains 1 could not tell
which direction the bear had taken. By
crawling about the spot on my hands
and knees l found, after long inspec-
ton of the ground, what l thought
might be faint trail. 1 followed this
doubtful trail to a cold spring at the
edge Of the bushes
w hen L reached the spring l was
more sure | was on the right trail be-
cause when bear is caught in a trap
or wounded it always seeks the nearest
spring or brook and holds the injured
part in the cold water until the infiam-
mation is subdued. The bank around
the spring was broken down as though
some heavy animal had been about the
n ater for some time
Beyond the spring l found where the
clog had caught on the bushes and bro
ken them. 1 Judged by the appearance
OF these broken bushes that the bear
had been there about week before.
1'ut as they do not usually go far with
the heavy trap chain and clog, 1 ex-
rected to find him before night
Il soon observed some things that
c1erplexed and mystified me. The trail
went between the trunks of great trees
50 near one another that the clog could
clot pass between them. My first
thought was that the chain had slipped
T. one end of the clog, as sometimes
happens.
But the broken bushes on each side
Showed that this had not happened. be-
SIDES, never knew Old Reliable to fall
IN an emergency The only way for
the clog to pass between the trees that
] could think of was for some person
TO take 1t in his hand and raise one end
ill the long stick would go through the
opening.
But l could not understand why any
man should do this for the bear 1 had
caught in my trap, that is, If / had
caught bear and not a wild man.
In another place l saw where the
clog had caught round a tree, and the
bear In struggling to escape had walked
round and round the trunk, winding
the chain as he went, as shown by the
bruised bark. Bears, and in fact, all
KIND of animals, when fastened by