The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-13
BEAR CROP A FAIL UR
BOB SKILES, HUNTER, LAMENTs
 BRUINS INGRATITUDE-
Met a She-Bear and Three Cubs-Put His Faith in Bears and Spared Them-Disappointment at
 Harvest Time.
Kettle Creek tPa.). correspondence

Kettle Creek (Pa.), correspondence or
 The New York Sun.
 'I guess or Bob Skiles won't never nay no confidence ip bars ag'in, said Sapln Budd, who snafes rattlesnakes with leather string and hunts deer and bears with a single -barelled muEzie- loaohs shotgun. And it sarves him righI so ie does"
 Bob Skiles is locally famous as pear hunter and one who pretends to use phii- osophical forethought as an ald 10 HIS hunting Thus. one day last spring ne discovered a family of bears in the woods along Polly's Run. It consisted ot pls and savage mother bear and tnrec Guos. The cubs were but few weeks o,o ,a,
 Skile's first impulse was to put naii through the old bear as she rusneo Io- ward him from her retreat beneath the roots of a fallen tree, and to carry the he resolved to spare the family He knew that the cubs would pine Tor tneir mother and perhaps would not i've uhoer alien care and treatment
 I'll jist let the hull caboodle or enl alone" said Bob. "SiX months rom now them cubs Il be in me shape to give me some fun in the woods, and the or Wo, man 'b' ar Il have nice ne" S e9a. reso o | the harvest O my bein Kind 10 eIn along when snow begins to fly next iall. T, | So he did what no other hunter ln all | that spread of waters would nave ooHe: He nassed on and lett the bear family
 
 About two weeks before Thanksgiving l he had the satisfaction of knowing that the cubs had grown to be more than half as big as their mother, Tat as plgs ready for the killing. and with coats or fur of the blackest and glossiest The mother was also in superb coat ana hn- est condition. They were snugly housed in Tamarack swamp.
 Guess I'll let lem pick up for week or so more" said s.hs he ,,,n Then Mifb tneSh De A couple of days later he saw the pear family again. The old bear and two or tho cubs went into the swamp and the other cub started away on ms d own snd a15 count over toward an old wood road. ana down the road toward Bly's clearing ."rhat air't reg lar, said BOD. mat bar ain't actin square!
 So he followed the cub, which went along at a lively rate. and turned into | the woods at the further edge Of which | Ely had a few sheep Tn lot witn | long fence around 1t. BOD SKlies Hur | ried on, and came out of the woods Into | the lot just as the young bear had cor nered the sheep and had killed one. ..,,,,
 That bein the case." said Bob. I'll have to have my 1un "ith 'his Sou"s l cub right now"
 And he killed the cub and gave it to By because it killad Bly's sheep. | A day or two afterward Bop had an and he went out to get. the mother ,,1 or | the family. He got on her trail. me 1 two young bears were with her. Bo followed her an hour before he got | shot and the old bear turned on him so fiercely that if it had not been for his dog she might have got him instead Of his getting her, but he got her. The TWO .Iii leave ,em." said Bob. "I'll have A Thanksgivin hunt with 'em. and have lot more fun. I'll get one or em on | that day and then I'll keep tother one for Christmas hunt. They'll wait for
 In less than a week after that. though. | some one from the county seat sent word to Bob that if he could send over cou. pie of bears, young, fat and juicy. right away, he could get his own price TOT them so Bob concluded that he wouldnt keep the two remaining members or the he started out bright and early, to get them for the man at the county seat. Sabin Budd tells the rest.
 '"Taint fer me to be the jedge O tolks. ,1ar has nosed around in the woods as much as Bob Skiles has. an then goes an puts his confidence fin bars, it sarves him right if he gifts fooled. I was settin' on a log over this side O the big cran- berry mash, waitin' fer a deer. that l thought mebbe mowt come along to chew some O the wild grass on the edge with his gun on his shoulder. bound for
 '' Hello, Bobp sung out. Where do I
 "'Goin' to git them two bars O mine that's over on the edge O old Tamarack.
 'so?' I says. Hope youn git 'em.'
 Course I'll git 'emw says Bob.
 'T didn't say nothin' more, an on he went. looked arter him till he got out O sight. Then says saiysr to myself ,aet,s too sure O things. Specially if it's b'ar.' :"
 "so I got on the log and sort O pond- min nice buck to chaw wild grass at the edge O the cranberry mash, an ] knocked him over, skinned him out an took him home. An as l was goin'
 Sometimes feller Is leetle too sure O things. Specially ifAts bar says.
 somethin' like this. The day afore I was settin on that log waitln' for the deer an had that talk with Bob Skiles I was over to Bly's clearin'. It was along in | the afternoon when l stopped there. an
 " Why ain't you out helpin' 'em ketch the barr says he. ,.w
 .ES BarT ttsst says, %ha5 Nlncxsst Sar yonnp bar you ever see,' says By. One O the Nelson boys saw it first, wabbhn' along not more'n a mile from here, up the
 SO? I says. If there was two bars now, 'stid O one. I'd think sure they must belong to Bob Sldles's bar family the two that's waitin' for him to have fun with I says.
 "'Mebbe, says Bly, and that's all that was said. ji5t then, about bar
 "'I.ong to'ards night, as I was on the pint O leavin' Bly's. in come the Nelson boys an two or three more. They was hootin' an howlln' as if they'd jest come l In from election. An they had good req l rHhSV hadn't fptph- ed in the bar that Bly, was tallSln' about, but they had fetched in another un with | It, jest the same size an heft. They was the fattest an blackest youngsters O bars I ever see.
 ' They're the two orphans O Bob Skiles's bar family. sure as sap" says 1 I. They be. certain. An they're gone back on to Bob! They're abused his confidence! says. But what could l -----------------