The Republican journal., 1896-09-03
The Republican Journal Thursday Morning. September 3 1885,

admonition to hurry, but soon came up !
with John, who instead of going to the
place where we had set the traps pro-
ceeded along the base of the bill some half /
a mile back of the bog. We had not gone
far before we were greeted with fierce
growl and saw large bear rear upon his !
hind legs in desperate efforts to tree him. |
self from the heavy trap. The clog had |
caught under a root and as we approach |
ed the rage of the beast was really terri /
BILE to behold. | thought 1t was cruel to
let him live another moment ana begged
John to dispatch him at once. He said he
felt it his duty to do so upon first coming
up with him. but remembered that they
had promised me that | should shoot him
and so he gave us the signal to come that
l might do the shooting. l said | was
only anxious to have the bear sutferings
ended as soon as possible and was not
anxious for the honor of shooting bear
that was fastened to an eighteen pound
trap. If he was at liberty and manifesting
such tierceness | should consider it quite
an honor to fight him with Winchester;
but as the case then stood the shooting
would be simply an act OF mercy, and
turned away as John raised his rifle and
at the report l heard heavy thud as the
UCdSU 1tll W Iut SlOuuu. WV, OOyS, We
have got at least four hundred pounds of
bear to get to the boat and it means lug
of over a hundred and thirty pounds
apiece. However, l can tighten him
some" And with his hunting knife he
proceeded to bleed and disembowel him
after which we constructed sort of
stretcher by fastening some withes to two
poles, laid two feet apart, lifted the bear
on, and with guns slung across our backs
John took one end of the stretcher while
Dan and took the other. We had half a
mile to 90 to reach the boat and were
obliged to stop and rest many times on
the way. When we first started John
said we ought to get thirty dollars out of
this bear beside the bounty of five. When
we had got half way to the boat he
thought we ought to get at least fifty, and
when at last we reached the boat, with
arms and backs aching under the burden,
he said if we didnt get a hundred dollars
out of that bear it wouldn' pay the cost.
He had borne the heaviest part of the bur-
den, but we We're all ready to drop with
fatigue. That bear had slid off our hastily
lmprovised stretcher at least once in every
five rods. We had fastened him on with
withes as best we could, but found the
slippery creature would get away from us
every few minutes. Perhaps some of my
readers have tried Juggling freshly killed
bear and may know something of how
tiresome and exasperating job it is.
We tioated down the stream with the
current and soon reached camp, where the
other boys had arrived ahead of us with
caribou and two deer. All were very
much elated with the success of the days
hunt and after hearty supper sat down on
the Gp1cODic and discussed thp
of the day before a blazing fire of pitch
pine knots. Rolfe told how he had follow
ed up the fresh trail of a moose, at one
time getting near enough to hear him
crashing through the brush and at last
losing the track as he came up on to the
hard land: then going out on the Mapany
road had shot the caribou, which he
dressed and hung up, then went over to-
wards the GosSabeas when he heard Ben's
rifle and had met both Ben and Steve. each
packing out deer. John said when he
left the boys upon the cranberry plat he
went across to Benson's camp hoping to
drive up a moose OF caribou, but finding
none had returned by way of the traps.
In the last one set he found a hedgehog
and expected to find the same kind of
game in the other one, but before coming
to it he found where the entrapped bear
had just been along and from the fresh
ness of the trail he concluded he must
have been caught within an hour or two.
Following it for a short distance he came
upon him, when he gave the signal for the
boys.
The succeeding days in camp were but
a repetition of the days already passed.
The other camp ten miles up the river
was visited and put in order, hunting was
continued every day by part of the boys
with variable success, and the whole num-
Der of deer secured aggregated seventeen,
one caribou, one bear and one lynx, be-
side some forty partridges and ducks that
| had killed. On the eighth day after
reaching camp, we reluctantly started on
our return trip. We took along with us
several fine deer heads and the bear and
lynx skins, which were preserved as me-
mentoes of this most enjoyable trip and
still enable me to recall with great pleas
ure the exciting events of my first visit to
our lumber camp.