The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-12-11
EHiAX

"a oul Pi iolhS, 10 IL "bo
no uncommon thing to see bears any
day in that part of the country ten
years ago, SO that it would have been
cause for more comment if a person
did not see a bear while j%ourneying
to or from the nearest town than it
would have been to meet one every
mile or so. MaXon was therefore not
surprised when he saw that morning
the particular bear but he was sur
prised at the animals unusual size. Mr..
Maxon was 68 years old at that time
and had been a bear hunter more thar
fifty years. He had killed bears by the
score and of all sizes and shades.
While -panthers still existed in Ven
tura county he was a famous slayer of
those fierce beasts of prey. He is cred
tied with having killed the last panther
ever seen in the country, although
there is one at present lurking in the
woods near the oil wells at Santa Pau
Ia. But among all the great wild dem
lzens of the forest that John MaXon
had laid low with his rifle this bear
that cast a longing eye on the inmates
OF the pigsty that autumn morning had
no equal for size or formidable appear
ance. The old b~ackwoodsman went
back in the house and got his rife and
quickly lodged two bullets in the bear,
which sent the animal bowling and
bleeding into the woods. The sur
vival of the bear after receiving two
bullets in his body was the greatest
surprise that MaXon ever had in his
whole career in the woods. He. sum-
moned his son and the two followed
the bear. But it entered a jungle,
from which the hunters could not dis
lodge it, and they gave up the chase,
the old man believing that the bear
would die from his wounds. AS the
big animal was not seen again MaXon's
opinion that the two bullets he had
lodged in the bear had lone for him
was generally accepted as correct.
Time passed and the big bear ceased
to be a subject for discussion in the
Ojai valley. A year ago Uncle John
MaXon, as he was known all over Ven
tura county, died. A few weeks ago
Jack Maxon, the old hunters eldest
son, while on his way to Santa Paula,
saw a bear cross the road in front of
him, not far from his house, and it's
great size at once recalled the big Deal
of 1885. Jack believed it was the bear
that his father had shot ten years be-
fore. 1t was bigger, he declared, than
the one Sam Rawlins killed out in
the Santa Barbara mountains in Octo-
Der, 1892, and that was the largest ever
bagged in the county, being seven feet
long and weighing 500 pounds. That
bear was stuffed and presented to the
state university museum, where it is
now. A hunting party was organized
and long and persistent efforts were
made to capture the monster, but he
kept in retirement and his retreat could
not be found. On a morning after a re-
cent shower Il of Jack MaXon's neigh
bors saw a track in the mud, the size
of which left no doubt thai it had been
made by the fugitive MaXon bear.
The footprints measured seven inches
across the ball" of the track. In a
short time there were many hunters on
the track, but the chase lasted for
days and it was only a few days ago
ILdI II CIluCu' II DCdl was oullOulu-
ed in a swamp by nine lusty hunters
and the dogs were sent in to run him
out. He killed a couple of dogs before
he made a break for the open. He
crushed through the laurels and ap-
peared within a rod of a ranchman
named Henry Rogers, who is one of the
sure shots of southern California.
Rogers sent a ball crashing through the
big animals brain and it fell dead in
its tracks. In dressing the bear two
battered bullets encrusted with flesh
were found in his shoulder. Jack
Maxon says he will make an affidavit
that they were the bullets his father
fired into the bear in 1885, and no one
doubts that such is the fact. The mon
ster Dear was divided and each of the
nine hunters got fifty pounds of meat.
The skin, according to one account,
measured eight feet and five inches
from nose to tail, and another account
says the measurement was seven feet
eleven inches. The bear was particu-
larly fat, but, skin and all, he weighed
over 500 pounds.