Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-11-14

called one of my men and babe him
fell young tree, and use it as stake
to stir up the sluggard. A formidable
roar was the immediate result of
these tactics; out rushed the land
lord of the besieged premises with an
expression of countenance that spoke
of hospitable intentions of the warm
est description. l judged fit not to
await this welcome, and he straight
ened out on his own doorstep with a
bullet through his brain.
Twice in my chase of Bruin l have
made use of a bear-spear as my weap-
on of attack; and some newspaper
writer's in their search after copy have
rioted furiously over my methods,
may take this opportunity to main
tain that the use of the spear entails
no greater cruelty than any other
mode of attack, and that every hunt
er should be armed with one in re-
serve, since these powerful beasts
have a vitality that triumphs over a
stray bullet or more, unless lodged
in a vital region; and when wounded,
their retaliation is redoubtable and
easily fatal.
In Karelen the bear is yet regarded
as noxious horror. The great black
haired "Slagbjorn," or killing bear,
is still rampant there, and a couple
of winters back l was able to wreak
justifable vengeance on some beasts
that had killed over a score of cows
and nine horses. News had been
brought me that some of these rascals
were alternating on small marsh
bound island We found no difficulty
in locating their lair, and l took up
my post at the entrance to it, armed
only with my spear. / may explain
that a bear-spear consists of an ash
staff some two yards long and about
couple of inches in diameter; there
is a blade of steel about II inches in
length, and the shaft is copper cased
as a prevention against the teeth OF
Bruin. AS soon as my gentleman ap-
peared I tried to stick him in the
throat, but he parted adroitly and
missed; 1 made another lunge and
succeeded in driving my spear point
ing furiously and snapped at my cop
per cased staff, then made an attempt
to strike at my arm with his huge
forepaw, so that 1 might drop my
weapon. There was thrilling uncer-
tainty as to the outcome; the power
full brute hung on to my spear at the
one end, while 1 as grimly held on at
~ IorI1
the copper plate and he started shred
ding the wood beneath. Strenuously l
checked his further advances, and
gradually, for his wounds began 60
tell, his resistance weakened, and he
dropped at last over the aperture of
his den. pulled out the spear, but so
much strength still remained in him
that he seized the blade and bit it
with force that left deep indenta-
tions in the steel. Herr Broberg then
finished him off with his own weapon.
This struggle from start to finish
covered five minutes.
1 certainly have had, as have all
other big game hunters, one or two
narrow escapes, but so far my luck
has carried me through and Bruin has
never got the best of it. 1 once found
myself in tight quarters with an over
grown specimen of the Slagbjorn va
riety. He had chosen for his sleeping
place the center of an open tract
where, while the giant forest trees
had long since been burned down,
dense bushes had grown in their place
and these SnOWladen and frOSt-Stiff-
ened, obdurately impeded my way. 1t