Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-04
Bqggmg BIG Bears Near WaoEmghn Uab BONA A2ROWz

his den in hollow gum tree-before the bow.
men could drop him.
1t Is interesting TO the most Of us to learn
that the lemonwood bow used by Mr.. Moffet on
this extraordinary hunting trip had a pull Of
IS pounds while the Usage orange bow en-
ployed by Mr.. Sisler has q T0-polnd pull.
These bows were of practically double the
strength OF the average target bows such Is
the Potomac Archers use in their practice
the Smithsonian grounds. Each bow was
backed with rawhide to prevent breaking. Each
archer was armed with one dozen hunting
arrows, carried in leather quivvers strapped
over their shoulders. The bowmen wore leather
cots on the three large hngertips Of their right
hands, while their left forefngers were pro-
tected with leather shields against the recoiI
of the bOwstrings. The arcEers also used
siIencers made Of plush which were attached to
their bows to mufie the slap which sometimes
occurs Is the arrow leaves the bow. The hunt
ing arrows e inches long. were made Of birch
and weighed 800 grams apiece. They were
broad-headed arrows, tipped with tempered
steel with blades inches long and 1 u inches
wide sharpened to . SHINING edge 50 that they
could be used II desired for skinning the wild
game which fell quarry to the bowmen.
Time was when naturalists and hunters esti-
mated the black bear population Of the Dismal .
Swamp at approximately 10000 animals. No
game census has been taken in that wilderness
by representatives Of u. s. Biological Survey
but now bears are getting scarce due to over-
shooting and are more wary than ever before.
Most Of them migrate to the more remote
sections Of the swamp when food Is abundant.
There bears live on green plants, wild black
berries, poke berries. gum berries and corn
stolen from the nearest fields.
Hunting history recounts astonishing tales
of the fierce fights which formerly occurred
in the Dismal Swamp between stray domestic
Gated cattle which had gone native" and the
rowing, rambling bears. Those who are best
informed on Dismal Swamp resources stin
maintain that there are Wild cattle roaming
that wilderness even today that stage battles
with bear and deer which make the orthodox
Spanish bull fight pale into insigniicance in
comparison. The local archers have never run
across any of these wild cattle nor the panthers
which are also reputed TO be denizens of that
internetted empire Of waste land.
Messrs. Moffet and Sisler, the sportsmen who
bag bears with neither firearms, shot nor sheArrr
although they have tasted the sweets Of field
archery success in the Dismal Swamp, are not
going to lay aside their archery tackle They
are reticent about future plans, but the guess
or this writer Is that next season will see them
again matching wits against bruin In vireinia.a
greatest swamp. The hear hunting season in
the Dismal Swamp covers the period from
November IS to January 81 But more about
that later when the archers again return with
the Legitimate spoils Of their shooting skin:
Some day these archers plan to sail away SSb4
South America to explore the Amazon River
country and to match their archery skill against
the wary, willy tapir. jagUar and other big Rame
o. that land Of doubt and daring.