The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-27

one to seventeen, in 1901 1t was as one
TO fifteen, the figures being, for the
eight years. q, 658 deer and 1886 moose.
and for the year 1901 alone 1852 deer
and 259 moose.
AS the law allows only one moose to
hunter, when the veteran sportsman
has secured his moose and longs for
more excitement he turns his tttention
to bears, Of which there is no lack in
most parts of Maine. The Maine bear
is of the black species, and under IA
vOrable conditions attains, when full
grown, weight of four to five hundred
pounds. Without doubt the bear en-
Joys more fun and comfort then any
other animal in the Maine woods, es-
pecially since the repeal Of the state
bounty of FIVE dollars on his furry head.
He has a fine appetite, and seldom
lacks for fattening food to satisfy it
veal in the spring, berries in summer
time and sheep in the golden autumn.
He likes a rough country best-a plac
where rocks and caves abOund-but he
travels everywhere, seeing the country
and bothering the natives. In the eX-
treme southwestern part of the state
which is thickly settled, there is little
game of any kind, and a bear in those
parts would be a stranger and cause
of terror and excitement; but every
where else in the state, and especially
in the regions lying to the east and
north Of Bangor, bears are many ana
perfectly at home. Should a Bangor
man be anxious to shoot bear, and
have little time to spare for hunting,
! he need go only a dozen miles out OF
the city, to the neighborhood of Peaked
Mountain or Black Cap, in the town OF
Clifton, and there he would be in the
midst of the best of bear society.
| AS to the nature and general DISPOSE
| ton of the Maine bear, hunters and
natural historians disagree. 1t may be
true, as a general proposition, that the
Maine bear never goes looking for
| trouble" and that while he is great
fighter when connered he keeps on
about his business If let alone, but fire.
quently Maine bears rise up on their
| launches and give warlike contraric-
ton to this theory, as many hunter
knows to his sorrow Over in the
neighborhood of Bingham, at the forks
of the Kennebec river, the bears are
| remarkably fat and saucy this season,
and thus far four men have been at
tackled by them. Three of these men
managed to kill their bears without
much trouble, but Ernest Gilbert of
| New Vineland, narrowly escaped with
his life.
| Gilbert had been hunting between
Cold and Chase streams for two weeks.
He had seen plenty of deer, but wanted
moose, and while passing away the
time waiting for bull to appear he
sent a few shots after bears, killing
two. On Wednesday afternoon, last
week. Gilbert had concluded that deer
was about the only other game he was
to get, although he rad seen numerous
moose tracks, and he started out after
a fine buck that had trait down to
the shore of Flatiron Pond He found
the buck, and dropped it near the edge
of a clearing, within sight of some
farm buildings.
Leaning his rifle against tree he be-
gan to dress the deer, SO that he would
have less weight to carry to camp. He
was getting along well with this work
when something happened that will
keep him on a couch of hay in the big
barn near the spot for the next week
or more. Knife in hand, he was bend
ing over the buck, when suddenly he
received a blow on the left shoulder
that knocked the knife out of his hand
and sent him spraying on the ground.
Quickly he got upon his feet, and as
quickly he found himself in the clutch
of a bear that, when laid out on the
barn floor that night weighted four
hundred and sixty pounds.
Gilbert is twenty-three years old,
strong and active. and afraid of moth
ing that walks, and when he saw what
he had to fight with he made up his
mind that it would be a good fight, no
matter which won. BY means Of a
trick known to wrestlers, he threw the
bear sprawling, hoping thereby to gain
time enough to reach his rifle; but bru-
in was quick as cat, and, although,
contrary to bear tactics, he did not i'm
mediately close in again and try to
crush Gilbert's ribs with giant hug,
he attacked him savagely with tooth
and claw, biting and slashing at his
arms, legs and body, until the man S
clothes were in tatters and the blood
running in streams from a dozen
wounds. 1t was only his agility that
saved Gilbert, for had any one of seve-
raj right swings" aimed at him by the
boxes bear landed fairly, he would have
been, as the guides said, 'just knocked
into kingdom come" AS it turned out
by means of rolling, tumbling and
Kicking at the bear, Gilbert managed to
reach his rifle. The blood was stream
ing from score of cuts and scratches,
two of them across his abdomen, and
he was so weak that it was with diff
Guilty that he could raise the rifle. Fin
nally by exerting all his remaining
strength, he got the weapon up and
rested the muzzle directly against the
bears breast, just as the brute rose OF
its hind legs, for a finishing onslaught
With the trigger close to his left hip,
Gilbert fired, and the expanding bullet
tore a great jagged hole in the bear &
chest, killing it instantly. Just as the
| shot was. fired the bear made a fearful
lunge with his right paw for Gilbert's
face, the claws dragging across his
shoulder, and ripping his buckskin
jacket anr wooden shirt to shreds. The
danger over, Gilbert sank down on the
bears warm carcass faint from loss of