Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1903-06-25

diately began to firest them at very
long range. At tie first shot the old
bear flew into terrible rage and tore
up the ground where +he ball struck.
Then when the bullet. began to whis-
tie all around her she ave the cubs a
good spanking to maize them strike
out for the chimisel, but they only
went of a few steps and sat down to
see the fun. She would tear up bush
es and toss them high into the air,
pick up dead limbs that lay under the
tree and Ihurl them down the steep
side Of the mountain with tremen-
dous force and then run to the cubs
and box them heels over head Fin
ally, when she bad almost whipped the
life out of them the cubs decided it
was best for them to light out for the
brush and she followed them. The
following morning we all vent up to
see the place and found that the
ground was torn up all around the
tree like a lot OF bomb shells had ex-
ploded there. The men showed me
where the bear had placed her big
paws on the lower limb of the tree
and stuck her head over it to look
around to see where the bullets were
coming from. AS / could not reach
this limb from the ground could
form very good idea Of the size and
length of the bear. She was certainly
a monster. AS no sign of blood could
be found about the tree / think it
very doubtful If any of the bullets
struck her. A few years ago MI. Hop
per pulled his gun from his wagon,
muzzle foremost, to shoot jack rab-
bit and the consequence was that he
was fatally shot himself, instead of the
rabbit.
My old-time friend, the late Doctor
George McCracken, of San Jose, dur
ing the fifties, was great bear hunter
and scores Of the rantankerous beasts
fell before the muzzle OF his unerring
and deadly rifle. He, too, had many
close calls, and only escaped death by
the skin of his teeth. There are sew
eral essential requisites necessary for
a man to be successful grizzly hun
ter, and among these are cnolnsss,
nerve and what old Californians call
plenty Of 'sand in your craw." II
you do not possess all OF these you had
better not monkey with a grizzly bear.
One day when the doctor was in a
reminiscent mood he gave some of his
experiences during the time he was
bear hunter in the coast range. He
said: "As you doubtless know, the
grizzly bear is nocturnal animal and
does nearly all of his prowling during
the might. Soon after sunrise In the
morning he will retire to the brush
where he will sleep until late In the
afternoon. When the sun is shining
brightly his eyesight is very poor and
it is owing to this fact that have
many times escaped falling into his
clutches. 1t is rare thing to meet
one during the middle Of the day and
il you do you will find him to be more
savage and ferocious then than at any
other time of the day, 1t was about
noon one day when l was climbing the
steep side of the mountain on the
west side near the lower end of the
Halls valley. When | got to the open
ground, above the timber, as was
going around a dense thicket of poison
oak l suddenly met face to face a big
grizzly, and with a savage growl and
with his mouth wide open he charged
right at me. AS quick as a flash l
whirled around and ran with the
speed of a race horse down the steep
side OF the mountain and the first
thing / knew l was standing In the
fork of an oak tree with my rifle to
my shoulder ready to shoot. But the
bear had turned aside and was run
ming down the mountain as fast as his
legs could take him, and as | stood
there watching him until he was out
OF sight my heart was humping
against my ribs like a sledge hammer.
When l got down on the ground and
looked up at the tree l wondered how
in the world | ever managed to get
into that fork without the aid of
ladder. l laid down my rifle and tried
to climb the tree, but / soon found
that 1t was utterly impossible. j
then measured the distance from the
ground to the fork and found that 1t
was exactly eight feet, and it did not
take me long TO arrive at the c0nclu-
sion that the way l got there was by
making a flying leap whilst running
at tremendous speed down the steep
side Of the mountain. Yes, that was
a pretty close call and only escaped
by the skin Of my teeth. Not long
afterwards l was hunting up on the
headwaters Of the Coyote and late one
afternoon l was going down long
ridge that led down TO my camp in
the deep canyon below, when / came
to place where the ridge turned into
a very narrow, rocky backbone where
there was only room for a man or ami
NAL to follow the trail. At this place
the trail turned abruptly TO the left
and pitched down very steep in
cline, and right there suddenly met
a big grizzly coming up the trail, and
before l could even bat my eye he
struck me a terrible blow that caught
me on my ribs and sent me whirling
through the air down the steep side
Of the mountain. Fortunately for me
that side Of the ridge was thickly COW
cred with wild oats that grew rank
and tall, and it was owing to this that
aside from the blow OF his big paw
/ escaped unhurt. AS soon as l could
catch my breath | looked over the
tops Of the oats and saw the bear on
the top OF the ridge. He was stand
ing straight up, like a man, and look
ing for me in every direction. So
inst laid low until the hear had laff