The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-28
BRUlN HAD BOTH TREEO.
4 NOVEL EXPERIENCE WHILE
HUNTING BEAR N WISCONSIN.

and Two Bullets in Her Neck Fail
ed to stop Her-The other Hunter,
Hearing the shots. Climbed "a Tree
and Fired "A Half Dozen Bullets
Into Her.
From the Philadelphia Times.
In ISIS I was engaged in a small mining
enterprise. OF rather. explorati ton. on the
new Gogebic iron range. in the Lake Su-
I perior region A general mining collapse
occurred on all the Wisconsin and Mich
/ igan iron ranges that season and my Op-
/ eratons, like those Of many others. came
| TO a complete standstin Staying with
me at that time was a younger brother,
Lutte Perry. Now. Lutte had two ruling
/ passions-hunting and fishing. He was up
in all sorts of woodcraft. and perfectly at
home on the water. or in it, for that mat
ter. With the habits Of all wild game.
beast or bird, he was thoroughly familiar.
besides being a crack shot with either
/ Winchester or breech-loader.
Lutte proposed that we pack up his camp
/ ing kit and go deer hunting. Being some
thing of a sportsman myself, with moth
ing TO do, 1 consented, and thus 1t came
about that in the middle of October, lsSS,
we two brothers found ourselves on the
! head waters of the Peshtigo river in
what is now Forest county, Wisconsin. The
/ country hereabout was unsettled, the only
T sign of civilization a steam saw mill in
/ the heavy pine forest at a point where the
! newly built 500" line crossed the PeSh-
/ tigo. The railway siding was called Ca
! your, but there was no station house.
| And here we built two boats of pine
/ boards, one quite large, of the scow ge-
/ nus the other made of three wide half
/ men board, eighteen feet long, canoe
! IKE sort of craft which was so light
/ mat one could easily carry it, Into the
! bigger one We loaded our camp dunnage,
/ supplies, etc, and floated down the Pesh-
/ JgO IN search Of a satisfactory camping
/ place. The spot selected was at the head
/ or long reach of rapids, some eight miles
/ below the railroad. over which we could
| not navigate the large boat
| bears are numerous IN all the sparsely
/ settled northern parts of Wisconsin. The
/ pear IS an omniverOus feeder. everything
| is grist that comes to his mill-pigs honey
/ roots, berries, spring calves. worms, acOrns
| nuts and even FISH are down on his list
| ms season they were greatly drawn to
| Ine Feshtlgo by plentiful crop of thorn
/ apples, a fruit the size of cherry produc-
e9 py scruDby thorn tree growing along
/ the streams and low places. The bear
| haunts the localities where it grows until
| the crop is exhausted.
| Above the rapids the valley Widened out
/ with here and there small savannas COW
/ cred with tall dead marsh grass, hedged i'm
| with alder thickets, with occasional dry
1 sandbars along the shallow river 1t was
/ on these sandbars that we usually found
/ the bear tracks. Soon we made the inter-
/ esung discovery that at least two bears
| habitually used" along a small area of
/ the river about half a mile above camp.
| Here on the one side was a sandbar. and
| beyond open dry marsh; on the other the
| bank was higher and fringed with quite
! growth or thorn apples, banked in by
| thlcket of alders and further back the
hedNy Forest On nearly every passage up
| or down the river we saw hereabout fresh
| bear tracks; those of very large one,
| while the others were much smaller. evil
/ IDENTIFY an old bear and her yearling cub.
The larger tracks were indeed monstrous
/ ones, fully foot long / should say, with
| out eXaggerauon, garnished with enor-
/ nous claw marks.
One day Lutte killed deer about two
| mHes above camp which we hung up
| near the river bank. That night ii was
| agreed we should hunt up river with the
| boat next day and take in the deer on
! our return homewards a plan we car
/ ried into execution. I skirted the ridges
while Lutte hunted the river in the boat
| We came together about four miles up,
| and Lutte, not Feeling well, determined
| TO return to camp. This was about
/ o'clock in the afternoon. on the way
! as usual and examined for sign" Lutte
frightened up at once Big Foot, sure
enoughW he exclaimed, pointing TO the
great track, fresh made in the sand.
/ There was also the never-failing spoor
of the smaller bear. Lutte said the tracks
were not there in the morning when he
passed up. The water in the tracks
where they had emerged from the river
! was still rolly, indicating that they had
evidently been in no alarm. Passing
! among the thorn apple bushes on the
east side we found that the two bears
had first approached the river there and
then crossed over to our side, COINS
through the tall grass into the alder
thicket and perhaps beyond. Clearly the
big game was still in the immediate vi
entity, and we talked and moved with
caution
l never saw my usually cool-headed
brother so intensely excited. He at once
determined to follow the bears, hoping
TO get shot or drive them on to me
at the river. We presumed they had gone
back to the uplands / was 10 wait until
Lutte had made a short circle and got
fairly into the woods above the bears.
and then cast loose and quietly float
down with the current After a proper
lapse of time after his departure, I push
ed noiselessly out into the stream and
as the boat slowly foated along. gun in
hand, with ears strained / kept a sharp
lookout, awaiting developments, ana eX-
pecting to see the bears at every bend
Of the little river. At one faVorab:,
point I landed and watched for a short
while, but, nothing unusual occurred; I
heard nothing, and finally padded OF.
down to camp whi2l was not quite
near.
up to the camp, few rods away, and set
about making a fire and general prepa-
rations for supper, expecting my brother
to arrive at any moment While attend
ing to these camp duties l was suddenly
startled by a shot up the river, and after
a few seconds interval two more followed
listening professional that game was
afoot. OF course, l was all on fire in an
instant Lutte has colared Big Foot at
last" 1 repeated over and over again to
myself, chagrined that l had not been
in a the death. Quickly slipping on my
shooting coat, containing loose cartridges !
which had been discarded on my arrival /
in camp, Winchester in hand, I rushed off
up the river, bearing well back toward |
the high ground, hopeful that the bear, |
If bear it was, would run my way. Reach !
ing the ridge, away from the noise of
the rapids, and stopping to take breath, /
I heard Lutte not in the usual loud signal |
halloo we pracuced but what appeared |
to be series of excited, continuous yells |
My first thought was that he had killed |
both bears, and had gone mad with pride |
and joy. But the noise continued, and then /
1 feared he had accidentally shot him |
self though the manner Of the firing /
hardly warranted this theory; besides, the /
racket was proof positive he could not be !
fatally if at all injured. While all these /
thoughts rushed through my dazed brain
l continued to run as rapidly as posi-
BILE toward the scene of action, a prey
to both wonder and excitement. In the
race through the brush and over fallen
H. 11.AH "a