Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-01-31
n n A Predatory Anmsa and Defended as Harm n
MM hAQf2 1T4CKE n less Owns by Their Respective Friends and MM
w wv Enemies With the Exception of the Grizzly w
j Which All Admit in a Glass w Itself and Should B. Avoided Udr Al Circumstances j

to bears 1T may be hat we will learn
more about them in the future.
In the state of Washington the desire
of hunters of the federal government
| biological survey to proclaim the bear
a predatory beast and embark upon a
campaign for its determination has
brought forth much testimony from
apologists who assert that the bear is
! more sinned against than SHINING, and
that 1t is not in the least deserving Of
the bad reputation which it has borne
from time immemorial
Witnesses for the Bear
State Senator Banker of Washington.
who introduced into the legislature OF
his state a law whereby any n may kill
q predatory bear, declares that In q
ranching experience Of 20 years in that
state he has known of only one instance
in which a bear killed a COW OF his
ranch. While he admits that the bear is
carnivorous by nature, he maintains that
1t lives largely on berries, tender plants
and green grass. Many times, he declares.
he has seen bears grazing with his cat
tie in green mountain meadows. making
no attempt to modest the herd and the
herd in turn not alarmed by the bears
presence.
While he therefore advocates the death
Of killer bears. he is opposed to the ex-
termination of the black and the brown
bear.
While the matter was under discus
sion a Washington forest M came for
ward with the statement that In an ex-
perience Of 20 years he had never known
an instance where the common brown
or black bear had killed either sheep or
cattle. He says they dig out groundhogs
and other burrowing animals and tear
rotten logs apart in search of bugs, but
that they are as timid as deer and are
the clowns Of the forest. Others came
forward to declare the damage done by
this variety of bear was negligible and
that only hunger turns them bold.
Grizzly in Glass by Itself
However, the Montana grizzly stands
in a class by itself and one Of those
who bore witness to this was Bill Weaver,
an old time hunter and trapper of
northern and central Montana. Weaver
left the country many years ago and
when last heard from was trapping along
the lower Mississippi river.
One season in the early seventies.
Weaver was staying with John LaMott,
who had a cabin at the mouth of Eagle
creek on the north side of the Missouri
river near the Bear Paw mountains. One
day when Weaver was hunting he ran
into a party OF seven grizzly bears. Weaver,
who had plenty of nerve, was also eau
tious and seven bears were more than
he cared to tackle alone.
The bears, however, seemed to appre-
ciate their advantage, and gave chase
to Weaver. AS the hunter ran, he dis
carded his wearing apparel piece at a
time, and as the foremost bear would
stop to sniff and claw the garment,
Weaver would halt and shoot. In this way
he dropped six Of the bears.
The seventh bear gained on him rapidly
and he had reached the point where he
rhad no more clothing he could discard
without stopping and wasting precious
seconds. So he kept on running and
when the bear was almost upon him.
turned and thrust the muzzle of his
rifle into the animals mouth and pulled
the trigger, killing it instantly.
Six Got Away
Considerably more thar half naked
he arrived at LaMott's cabin n told
his story. The next day LaMott an
other who was staying there went back
with Weaver to skin the bears. The sew
enth bear was found where 1t had fallen,
but at the places where Weaver had shot
the other six, only pools Of blood were
found and from them trails led into the
brush.
Weaver wanted to follow the animals
into the brush, but LaMott and the other
man wouldn't accompany him, SO they
never learned how many of the bears died
from their wound LaMott, q squaw
man. Is still o resident of Montana, living
on the Blackfeet Indian reservation. He
is nearly 80 years of age.
Forty nine years ago Joe Deschon, a
full blood Chippewa Indian now residing
on the Blackfeet reservation, had a hand
to hand encounter with a grizzly bear
which resulted in the indian losing his
lower left jawbone and in which he came
mighty near losing his life.
Deschon, known also as Joe Bushaw
and Joe Bush, who lives on Two Medi-
cine river a few miles east of Glacier
Park station, was hen a youth of II.
He was at the time of his adventure en-