The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-19
EDUCATION OF THE BEAR.
BRUIN OF THE ADIRONDACKs FAST
GROWING IN WISDOM.

From the New York Sun.
Topper Lake, n. Y.-When the pioneer
settlers reached this part of the North
Woods they found country Astounding in
game. The wolves, bears and panthers
were fierce and daring, and it was no I'M
common thing for them to attack chit
dren, and even unarmed grown persons
The settlers made it their business to kill
Off the wild animals. The result of their
persistent warfare was marked change
in the habits of the animals. The pan
theirs became cowardly and even cur dogs
freed them. Before many years they
were practically exterminated The
v olyes no longer attacked their prey open
ly in daylight, but hunted by night in
scattered, broken bands The cry of good
hunting was sounded at a safe distance
from the lonely cabins, and when in day
time they looked at the set
tiers children playing round the
door it was scoutwise much
as the fox looked az the grapes that hung
too high. There are sdll few stray
wolves, though none has been killed since
1878, when Reuben Cary of Long Lake
trapped one on the Brandreth preserve.
The bears have held their own with
much greater success than either the
wolves or the Partners. One reason for
TINS Is that bears can eat almost any.
thing and live, and that their liking for
fresh meat does not run away with their
Judgment where man is directly concern.
ed. Inc chief reason undoubtedly is thar
the bear Is shrewdeF, more cunning aud
calculating animal than the others. The
pears learned fast and were progressive
Io-day they are the most highly eduea tea
OF the large wild animals. No one un.
derstands this better than the men who
Trap bears. Long ago il became impossi-
Die to still hunt them with profit. Now
there are few bears in the Adrondacks
that can be taken in the old-style dead
Ialis, and the number that viii approach
pated traps of any kind is constantly
grow less. They sdll follow their old
time paths, though. and hunters, by sink
ing steel traps in the ground at the exact
spot where they step, can capture one oc-
casionally
The hunter, when setting his trap, does
not attempt to make ii fast 10 any sta
tlonary object If he did. the hear when
caught would either break away az once
py sheer strength, or, finding his efforts
III that direction uuavailjng, would philo-
sopnically set at work to amputate his
imprisoned foot. Bears that have been in
a trap for any length Of time frequently
resort to this expedient under any cir
substances. Il is not generally known
that they invariably bile the foot off be-
COW the place ii is caught by the laws of
the trap. II is less painful to execute this
bit of surgeory where the circulation is
numbed, and the bear correctly reasons
that The result will be the same as if he
mad cut OF the FOOT above, for il is an
easy matter to drag the stump from the
trap. The hunter who knows the bears
peealiarities permits him to carry off the
trap when he is first captured. He at
taches 10 the trap however, a clog Of
some kind 10 retard the bears progress
Sometimes this IS small log six feet
or so in length. fastened so that it will at
times drag sideways, and keep the bear
busy going back to free il from obstruc-
tons At other times a four pointed metal
anchor is use, or a spud of wood a couple
of feet long with snags pointing to the
front attached by a clevs. The bear ham
pered in this way makes SLOW progress and
leaves tran that the hunter easily fol-
lows. but The fact thai he is permitted
to go ahead at all keeps him hopeful ana
prevents him for time from resorting to
extreme measures for effecting an escape.
Bears differ greatly in the amount of
sense with which they are endowed but
even the stupidesE bear sooner or later
comes to a realization of the necessity of
getting rid of the troublesome thing that
is pinching his foot. Here the originality
of the animal has a chance to show itself.
IL is natural for a bear to climb a tree
when in almost any kind of trouble, and
trapped bears are no exception to the rule.
If the bear is smart, when he climbs
tree he lodges the trap in a crotch and
then jumps out, His weight tears him
free and he escapes from the trap.
Nose Martin of Axton has lost several
bears in this manner. The first to get free
puzzled him a good deal. He was follow
ing on the trail which was plainly mark
ed by scattered leaves and moss and
broken saplings, when suddenly il ended
at the top of a ledge on a hard wood
ridge. He looked to right and left but
could see no indication that the bear had
continued his journey. The animal was
not hidden among the rocks, for there was
no opening large enough to admit his
body Martin went back on the trail
little distance and walked toward the
ledge a second tonne, examining ground
more carefully than before. He found
that the trail ended at the foot of
large yellow birch which bore the marks
of a bears claw. A short distance away
was a soft maple, and in a cotch of this
tree twenty feet from the ground Nose
saw his empty trap. He climbed the tree
and secured the trap. which had some
black hair and two or three claws in it
as a memento. The bear had apparently
crossed. from the birch to the maple 10 Sc
cure a suitable crotch for the trap, the
first tree having nothing that exactly met
his requirements.
Martin tells of an instance where a small
Ter bear tried the trick. and not being
heavy enough 20 wrench himself free from
the trap, hung there and died. The hun
ter, when he came along found his bear
suspended near the top of a spruce tree
aud was Obliged TO go back for an axe
and cut the tree down before he could
secure his game.
A bear captured by Harvey Mitchell got
loose from the trap by standing the clog
log on end in a erevice of the rock at the
edge of a ledge and jumping Off Falls
never seem to hurt bears, and they seem
willing TO take any chances in this re-
spect.
The cleYerest escape reported recently Is
that of bear caught in trap belonging
to Guy Brittell Of Newcomb. II was n