Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-10-11

ever tiuttered. In the morning, as SooI
as II was light enough to see, the man
took his gun and went to them, and
shot the bear and killed it. My dogs
however, wouldn't have anything to
say to this stranger; so they left him,
and came early in. the morning back
to me-
We got our breakfast and cut out
again. and we killed four large and
very fat bears that day. We hunted
out the week, and in that time we
killed seventeen, all Of them first-rate.
When we closed our hunt, 1 gave the
man over q thousand weight Of fine,
fat bear-meat, which pleased him
nightly. and made him feel as rich
as a Jew. l saw him the next fall,
and he told me he had plenty Of meat
to do him the whole year from his
weeks hunt. My son and me now
went home. This was the week be-
tween Christmas and New Year, that
we made this hunt.
| The Bear In Winter.
|
bors was out OF meat, and wanted me
to go back, and let him go with me,
to take another hunt. 1 couldn't re-
fuse: but I told him was afraid the
bear had taken to house by that time,
for after they got very fat in the fall
and early part Of the winter, they go
into their holes, in large hollow trees,
or into hollow logs, or their cane
houses, or the harricanes; and lie there
till spring, like frozen snakes. And
one thing about this will seem mighty
strange to many people. From about
the first Of January to about the last
of April, these varmints lie in their
holes altogether. In all that time
they have no food to eat; and yet when
they come out. they are not an ounce
lighter than when they went to house.
| I don't know the cause Of this, and
still I know 1t is a fact, and I leave
|. for others who have more learning
than myself to account for it. They
have not a particle of food with them.
but they just lie and suck the bottom
Of their paw all the time. l nave
killed many Of them in their trees,
which enables me to speak positively
on this subject. However, my neigh
bor whose name was Mcdaniel, and
my little son and me, went on down
to the lake to my second camp, where
had killed my seventeen bears the
week before, and turned out to hunt
ing. But we hunted hard all day
without getting a single start We had
carried but little provision with us, and
the next morning was entirely out Of
meat. / sent my son about three miles
off, to the house Of an old friend, to
get some. The old gentleman was
much pleased to hear 1 was hunting In
those parts, for the year before the
bears had killed a great many of his
hogs. He was that day killing his ba-
con hogs, and so he gave my son some
meat, and sent word to me that must
come in to his house that evening, that
he would have plenty Of feed for my
dogs, and some accommodations for
ourselves; but before my son got back,
we had gone out hunting, and in
large cane-brake my dogs found big
bear in a cane-house, which he had
fixed for his winter quarters, as they
sometimes do.
VaIorous Dogs.
When my lead dog found him, and
raised the yell, all the rest broke to
him, but none of them entered his
house until we got up. / encouraged
my dogs and they knowed me so well,
that I could have made them seize the
old serpent himself, with all his horns
and heads, and cloven foot and ugli-
ness into the bargain, IL he would only
have come to light, so that they could
have seen him. They bulged in, and In
an instant the bear followed them out,
and l told ny friend to shoot him, as
he was mighty wrathy to kill bear.
He did so, and killed him prime. We
carried him to our camp, by which
time my son had returned; and after
we got our dinners, we packed up. and
cut for the house of my old friend,
whose name was Davidson.
We got there, and stayed with MIN
that night: and the next morning.
having salted up our meat, we left 1t
with him, and started to take hunt
between the Obion lake and the Red
Foot lake; as there had been dread
full harricane, which passed between
them. and I was sure there must be
heap of bears in the fallen timber We
had gone about five miles without see
ing any sign at all; but at length we
got on some high cany ridges, and, as
we rode along. 1 saw a hole in a large
black oak. and on examining more
closely, discovered that bear had
clomb the tree I could see his tracks
going up, but none coming down, and
so was sure he was in there. A per-
son who Is acquainted with bear
hunting, can tell easy enough when
the varmint Is in the hollow; for as
they go up they don't slip a bit, but
as they come down they make long
scratches with their nails.
Getting a Bear Out of Tree.
My friend was a little ahead OF me,
but l called him back and told him
there was a bear in that tree, and L
must have him out. So we lit from our
horses, and l found small tree which
thought l could fall so as to lodge
against my bear tree. and we fell to
work chopping it with our tomahawks.
I intended, when we lodged the tree
against the other, to let my little son
go up, and look into the hole, for he
could climb like a squirrel. We had
chopp'd on little time and stopp'd TO
rest when l heard my dogs barking
mighty severe at some distance from
us. and l told my friend 1 knowed they
had a bear: for it is the nature OF a
dog. when he finds you are hunting
bears, to hunt for nothing else; he be-
comes fond Of the meat and considers
other game as mot worth a notice.