Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-14
TREED ny 4 DEAD BEAR.
Sorry Experience of nm Old Hunter
in California.


"The thirty years | have been hunting and
trapping" says Henry Ellison. the veteran
hunter, to the Globe-Democrat, have taught
me that the grizzly bear is. next to an
Arizona Apache Indian. the ugliost, cross
est and most unreliable crltter that a
hunter or prospector has to deal with.
when l came out to California in 1865
there were hundreds Of grizzlies in the red
woods along the Russian and American
rivers. That reminds me of funny expert
ence of mine. l was green and fresh then,
even If had been in the war. One morning
| was out alone for deer in the Lake county
foothills when / saw a whopping big grizzly
way up on the side Of a mountain. | went
right after it without realizing the risk.
crept cautiously up the mountain keeping
out of sight of the bear much as possible.
l got within 100 yards of him, and taking
careful aim, just at the back of the shoulder,
let drive. The bear fell at the crack Of the
gun, but was on his feet again in an instant
and came tearing down the mountain in a
bee line for where | stood My rifle was a
muzzle loader and had no time to reload.
was not half so anxious to kill the bear as
| was TO save my own bacon. A tree stood
below me, and, without stopping to measure
Its size or to consider what sort of a place
of refuge 1t was | sprang to it and went up
like coon chased by pack OF hounds.
udu reached lue DIanCnCS, ABOUT Ten fCet
from the ground, and had not yet thought
of looking down, when | heard the bear
scratching at the foot of the tree and
imagined he was coming after me.
We'll, he didn't come. and when / had
climbed about as high as | could get |
straddled limb to await Developments
The grizzly stood on his hind legs. scratch
ing and growing and snarling, while my
heart was right between my teeth, | must
confess.
After an hour, when the bear calmed
down, l felt easier. ! thought the bear
would soon get tired of keeping watch and
would get up and go away. He did nothing
OF the kind, however, and hour after hour
| sat there in that tree watching the bear
| imagined / saw him move occasionally
But he lay still. and finally | began to
break branches and throw them down at
him, and yelled at him until was hoarse.
There he lay, and he seemed determined
to remain there until he starved me out
My situation began to grow desperate
Night was coming and already | was so
stiff from my position that could scarcely
move Something must be done, and 1t had
to be done mighty quick
MY rifle lay on the upper side and the
bear was below the tree. | climbed down
to the lower branches, and, breaking off a
few smaller limbs | threw them down on
the bear lie did not move He was
asleep, | thought and now was my time,
Carefully and still as death | slid down
the tree until was within six feet of the
ground when | sprang on the upper side,
grabbed my gun and ran like a scared coy
ote to some rocks about fifty yards away.
when safely behind the rocks / pceped
out, The bear had not moved. Then |
loaded my gun, and, drawing a careful
bead, with dead rest over rock, shot
the brute square between the eyes. Still
he did not move. Again | loaded my rife,
cooked It and walked cautiously toward the
bear. When close enough I picked up a
stone and struck him with II. He did not
seem to mind It; then | mustered up cour-
age enough to go near enough to poke him
with my gun. He was as stlff as n poker
and had been dead for hours, | had been |
in the tree all day treed by a dead bear
Oh, / was an awful green tenderfoot then"