Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-11-21

duce them to set foot on the ground
until she comes"
Mr.. Knight goes on to say that the
biggest black bear he ever weighed
tipped the scales at 460 pounds and
that estimates by experienced hunters
puts this specimen at 700 pounds be-
fore it was weighed.
1t has been said that the record
black bear for South Carolina was
one killed by Gen. Hampton that
weighed 41O pounds. OF course the
classic weight is 500 pounds. Nobody
ever reports a black bear under that
figure; it seems to be fixed in the
popular mind-even 500 pounds. Prob
ably the average black bear killed In
South Carolina, or Georgia would go
from $50 to $50 pounds, very few go
ing over that.
There is one obvious difficulty that
occurs only to the bear hunters when
the question of ascertaining a bears
weight is up for consideration. That is
the fact that bears are generally killed
where it is practically impossible to
weigh them, for one cannot carry
around scales in swamps and cane
brakes. They are almost always OPEN
ed and ge-erally cut up before 1t Is
practical to weigh them. Hence the
gross weight Is nearly always esti-
mated-a most reliable thing to tie to.
Black bear still exist In South Caro-
lima, although in remote localities, hard
to get to and harder still to penetrate.
There may be few left In Horny.
There are certainly some on Santee,
most of which are confined to Berkeley
county. There are a few along lower
Edisto. One was killed near Summer
vile in 1909 and there are some on
Savannah.
But they were plentiful up to within
recent years. Up to the war Col. Gill
lespie and the Hon. jeremiah Smith
have told me it was not possible to
raise hogs in the Horny woods on
Waccamaw Neck on account of the
bears.
Just a few hundred years ago
Morse's Universal Geography reports
the export of 100000 bear hides from
the United States during the year 1911.
These were black bear, as the grizzly
was then unknown.
The length Of the black bear is five
feet and the form is marked by
hump, rising near the hind quarters.
The animal holds the head down and
the muzzle is sharply pointed. In eX-
treme cases the weight may go as high
as 500 pounds, although this Is rare.
In food habits the black bear Is om-
nivorous, but is especially fond or
sweets. He Is a noted robber of bee
trees and of yellow jackets, hornets and
ants nests. In destroying ants the
black bear holds the record. He goes
to an ants nest, where it Is marked on
the surface of the ground by the dirt
thrown up, squats down over 1t, stirs
up things with his paws and licks up
the enraged insects by the cupful as
they dash out When they begin to
come slowly he stirs them up again.
There are not many ants left when the
black bear leaves the burrow.
Our ancestors brought blood curdling
tales with them from Europe founded
on the exploits Of the Europen brown
bear, and hence the sight of black
bear stampeded things. They never
took time to investigate, but went to
shooting or running at once.
The black bear Ia indeed so shy that
he will run at sight Of man, or even
from the trail when 1t is fresh. If the
animal is pursued he may run right
by a man In the woods without notic-
ing him, but If he catches the scent
he is gone. Moreover a bear leaves q
settlement. A chase may lead twenty
or thirty miles. Once In big swamp
the dogs run him out Of hearing In
short time and the dense canebreaks
render pursuit on the part OF the num-
ter useless.
Trapping bears by fixing an anchor
to the trap used to be the mode en-
ployed in Horny. The trap was balted
with a beef head and when the bear
was caught he made off with the trap
only to find the anchor catching on
every root and sapling until he was
wearied out. He was then bayed with
dogs and shot.
The presence Of the black bear IN
South Carolina swamps Is redolent OF
the prime Of good times gone by when
a land rich in resource fed people
fired with ambition and hope. He ls
our largest wild animal and one cannot
but wish that a few may survive Tor
some decades yet, even as a stray relic
of the wreck of fruitful heritage