The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-16
HUNTING BEARS AS A JOKE.
SOME CALIFORNIANs WHO TRIED
1T FOUND 1T HARD WORK.

They Caught n Cinnamon Beast I'm a
Trap and Essayed 20 Lead IL Alive
TO CamP-The Many Trials They
Had in Securing the Infatuated
Animal With Ropes and the Dan
gers They Happily Survived in
the Task of Bringing Him Out.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.
To catch a real live bear out in the
mountain wilds is something which falls
70 the lot Of but few sportsmen. Usu-
ally even the most ardent hunter, no
matter how fierce may be his desires bear
ward Is content when stalking bruin IL
from some safe standpoint he is able to
take the life Of one OF these fierce ami
mails with a well-directed bullet or a
dozen Of them. He takes no shame to
himself nor. indeed. is It any disgrace,
that prior to firing he FIRST selects some
eoign Of vantage which shall be nearly
or entirely inaccessible to his quarry
should the shots fail Of their mark. Few
care to beard old ursus in his native
lair, and undertake his capture with no
other weapons than logs and ropes. There
are altogether too many chances that
the hunter may become hunted, and that
what was undertaken in sport may de-
velop into a tragedy.
The funny part Of the subjoined bear
story, which is a narrative of actual ex-
perience in Kern county this summer, is
that there really was no intention or ex-
pectation on the party Of any one that
real live h IT hunt was to occur. 1t all
grew out of a sort of "snipe-hunting"
proposition which certain fun-loving cit
liens of the mountains some thirty-fVe
or forty miles eastward of Bakersfield
put up on a job lot of supposed tender
feet" who had decided to invade the pre-
cincts of old Breckenridge, as the lofty
ridge OF the sierra referred to is known.
Hearing Of the proposed advent of these
tenderfeet, 1t was decided by the noun
taineers to get as much fun out of them
IS possible, and various plans were laid,
so that the visitors should not go away
without having had a real nice time.
So an old log bear trap down in the bot
tom of one Of the ruggedest of the many
rugged canons in that locality was baited
with a chunk of meat two or three days
before the expected advent of the party
with unindurated pedal integuments, and
without going near It again they decided
to tell the visitors Immediately upon ar
rival that a live bear had been captured
FOR their especial benefit and pleasure. The
visitors were then to be "tolled' over to
he trap-a wearisome elm bower rocks and
through brush of two or three miles and
down precipitous. rocky gorge of 1000
or 5000 feet or so. Having thus "tolled"
the innocent tenderfeet to what the toll
ers" believed themselves was only an emp
~ trap, it was designed to leave them
there in the dark and let them ind their
own way back to camp-"all the same
snipe hunt"
The scheme did not work very well,
however. There we're several in the par
" who had the good luck not to have
been born yesterday, and the eagerness of
the mountaineers to have the visit made
to the bear trap without a moments de-
lay aroused their suspicious, and all the
eager descriptions of the great sport that
awaited them did not avail to induce them
to take the trip for some time. Finally,
however, visit was paid to the trap by
some of the visitors and half dozen OF
the jobbers," and no one was more as
tonished than those who had set the snare
for the visitors when they approached
the pen to find that the door was sprung.
Deep .groans from within told them that
there was a sure-enough bear inside
AT first some of the party we're for
shooting the bear then and there as had
been done with one of the tribe that dress
ed 600 pounds, and which had been caught
in similar trap a dozen miles away
Few days previously. Others, however,
suggested that an effort be made to take
him alive; and, after discussing ways and
means 1t was at last determined to under
take the apparently ridiculous, not to say
impossible, task of getting him to camp
without shooting him So a detail was
sent back to headquarters for the neces-
sary ropes, chains. and straps, and while
II was absent the time was passed in en-
deavoring to scrape acquaintance with his
bearship. Most of the scraping was on
his part, however He was in very sur
~ humor, and whenever any one ap-
preached the log prison closely he made
vicious dabs at him through the inter-
Stlces between the logs, and in one case
narrowly missed taking the whole foot off
one daring hunter who had climbed on top
% n 70 eraf n u to- v-e- 80
tive This trap it should be explained
was built of pine and oak logs, was about
twelve feet long by five feet wide, and
hVe high and was of the figure four type
with a heavy sliding door fitting between
sils and jambs of oak.
When the detail returned with the vari-
Gus articles needed for the capture the
run began. One man climbed on top of
the log cage and let the noose of a stout
raWhide RATA down through a crevlce
while others from each side took tree
limbs and tried to slip the moose over
DIulh mead. The frst appearance of the
rope set his bearship wild. He began to
growl and snap at it, and plunged about
the narrow cell in a way that would have
been anything but assuring had the log
walls not been of the most solid and sinh
stantial character. Finally, after long
maneuvering, there was a lucky mass
the moose was slipped over the ears, and
IN reply to a quick order, it was tight
ened like flash and drawn taut by two
men, VINO eXerted all their strength in the
maneuver.
His bearship's head was drawn as close
TO the top of the trap as possible while
the moose cut deep into the skin and he
nesn OF his neck How he did roar and
hSht' TO be sure. All four of his great
clam-armed legs were thrashed about in
every direction, the sharp spurs clatter-
| ing on the logs, tearing splinters from
them and giving vivid earnest of what
ne was both able and willing TO do could
ne but get at his tormentors. BY twist
ing his great, ugly tusk-hlled mouth
around he was able to get the RATA be-
tween his teeth, and he chewed on it
| merely, but to no avail. Even his sharo
fangs could make no impression on the
tough material of which ii was composer
he kept up steady stream of the most
curdling growls ana roars, which echoed
lar and wide through the canons and
gorges, and could be heard for miles. All
TINS time another moose was being let
down into the trap, and close watch was
kept TO seize a favorable moment to
eaten one OF his forepaws. At last thu
desired instant came, after many trials
and with def twist, guided in the same
manner as had been the RATA, the moose
was slipped over the left paw, and with
llghtning-like rapidity drawn taut. and
hnT T1nl