The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1911-11-02
HANK DURIN'S SIN YEARS.
An Incident Shelving Rock Valley
Still Talks About.

mere are plenty of bears yet in
the wild country on the west shore
OF Lake George, especially in that
stretch of it lying between Black
mountain and the high hills that
rise at the southern extremity of
Shelving Rock Valley in Washing
ton county" said Washington
county man. This is particularly
the case in the late fall, when
pears seem to come from all direc-
Ilons to hunt up places in that
region to spend the winter in.
Ihe men working for contrac-
tors getting out wood for pulp mills
rout out bears every little while
from their snug quarters and bear
chases and fights are frequent
enough to make their incidents of
no more than passing comment in
that stretch of country. There are
now and then, however, circum-
stances connected with bear dis
turDances that give occasion for
talk. For instance, take Hank
Durrin and his six bears. The six
bears he gathered in in two days.
Hank Durrin, when bear hunters
are mentioned in the Shelving Rock
valley, is always spoken of as be-
ing at the top of that line, even
before his exploit in the matter of
the SIX bears, two of which were
taken alive. The bears had been
gathering for the winter stay around
Black Mountain, and one day Hank
made out signs of Il big one scout
ing around and and he put out a
trap for it. He went the next
morning to see what the trap had
done for him and it was gone. 1t
mad gone off with the bear, some
nCP
course, if it could have helped itself
1t left a trail through, and Hank
and his dogs followed it.
After following it three miles
Hank came in sight of the clog of
the trap caught beneath a big
root on top of a high ledge and
near the edge of it. The bear and
the trap were nowhere to be seen.
The owner of the trap walked to
the edge of the rock and looked
over. There hung the bear by
one hind foot in the trap, which
was held by the chain to the clog
fastened in the root. There was
twenty feet of space between the
head of the suspended bear and
ground below. The bear was dead.
While Hank was looking down
at the bear hanging there out of
going to get it up or down his
dogs, which had been shifting
around in the bushes, suddenly
bounced on something and instant
ly there was a great yelping and
swapping and snarling and tumbling
III the bushes. Hank ran to see
what the fuss was about and
found his dogs in a lively tussle
with two bear cubs of sufficient
growth to he good deal bigger
than either of the dogs. With
the idea that those two young bears
would be worth far more alive than
dead Hank ,esolved to take them
alive, and he pitched in, choked of
the dogs and grabbed one of the
| bears.
Hank had lively tussle with it
| before he downed it, and it's mate
ran and climbed a hemlock tree
nearby. Tieing the bear he had
| caught so it couldn't get away
Hank took a look at the one in
the tree. The tree was tolerably
good sized one and the nearest
limb was ten feet from the ground.
But Hank had made up his mind
that he must have those two bears
alive and he buckled in and be-
gan to climb the tree. He was
pretty winded when he got to the
bottom limb, and as he drew
himself upon it to rest and get
his wind back the bear climbed to
the very top of the tree.
When he had rested and got some
wind Hank started on up the tree
after the bear which had gone as
far as it could get. AS the hunter
drew near to it the bear began to
bristle up and growl and show it's
teeth. Hank got within reach of
the swapping and snarling little
beast and stopped to rest again
and recover his wind When he
had done both he reached out to
grab the bear Quick as a flash
the savage little critter spatted
Hanks arm with one forepaw and