Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-02-25
HUNTING BEAR WITH SPEARS.
One Of the Methods Of Killing erain
In Northern Europe.

One of the Methods Of Killing Brnin
In Northern Europe.
During the last few years have had
the satisfaction of killing fair num-
ber Of bears, the biggest and perhaps
the most interesting game OF northern
Europe, and have studied the ways OF
these animals both in Sweden and In
Finnish and Russian Karelia, where
I have come across thirty-sIx bears al
together, and have myself killed or
caught twenty-three, including six
young ones. Ny Russian and Finnish
bear hunting has always taken place
in winter, but 1t has been done In va
rious ways. The one which has anord-
ed me the greatest amount OF enjoy
ment is hunting the bear on Skis and
I will first relate my experiences In
that direction.
I have twice hunted bear with the
spear; on one occasion the lair was In
a boggy country. and we soon found
the entrance, outside Of which l took
up my position, armed with my bear
spear, which Is q strong ASH pole
rather more than six feet long, Win
a steel point Of about twelve lncnss,
in order to protect 1t against the teeth
of the bear the lower part OF the pole
Is covered with copper. The momeht
the bear appeared I tried to NIT MN
I'm the throat, but he parried with mis-
nav and my spear miscarr1ed. Inc
hear came further out and managed
to thrust my spear we'll into his chest.
he got furious and bit vtciously at tne
copper coating, at the same time try,
ing to knock the spear out OF my mana
with his paw. 80.
that thew almost penetrated the cop
per. and higher up the pole he tore
out great splinters Of wood. 1t TOOK
me ali my time to hold my own against
him. but by degrees he tired and lay
down at the entrance to the lair. l
drew out the spear to let the Dlooa
flow more freely, but the bear still mao
strength enough to snap at the point
of the spear with such violence that
he made some big marks in the metal
with his teeth. My friend now came
up and gave him the coup de grace
with his spear. The fight lasted ABOUT
five minutes.
To tackle pear Will q SPSoi IL >S
summer time when the ground Is pare
is a serious business, although 1 nave
heard Of Laps doing 1t; but the pear
is as 1.-the as cat and uses his paws
with surprising rapidity and force.
Even in winter, when snow somewhat
hinders his movements, one needs
cool head and a strong arm.
A well known Norwegian bear nun
ter. commenting upon the use OF the
smear when bear hunting, either when
rousing a bear from his lair or when
in pursuit of q wounded bear, recon-
mends In the latter case that the spear
should be so carried that 1t trails on
the ground with the bottom end and
the point a little behind ones BODY.
When the bear rushes at the hunter
the latter steps back one step and the
bear spits itself on the spear which
with its other end finds supp. on the
ground.
II is more especially in northern
Norway that the spear Is used al bear
hunts, and such spears are often hand
ed down from father to son through
several generations, the same spear
often having been the death Of many
a bear. It's handling requires both
great coolness and adroitness and now
that both magazine rifle and revolver
are used in bear hunting the use OF the
spear Is less frequent than formerly.
A member Of the recent Danish Liter
ary Greenland expedition relates how
the polar Eskimo hunts the ice bear
with a spear, considering 1t below the
dignity Of a bear hunter to use fire.
arms-Field