Bears in 1870, To-Day--Other Notes.
One not familiar with the conditions of a wild woods life would
naturally think that bears would diminish in proportion to deer and
wild animals. However, this does not seem to be the case. Forty years
ago, trappers of bear were not as numerous as at the present time.
People at that time, hunted more for profit than sport and their
forte was the slaughter of deer. In those days it was nothing
uncommon to see sleigh loads of deer pass every day on the way to
market.
After the first tracking snows of the season, the deer killed in this
county (Potter) were hauled by team thirty and forty miles to the
nearest railroad station and shipped to New York and Philadelphia but
this is not what we wish to write of. We only speak of this to show
that the man of forty years ago was of the trail, rather than the
trap line.
Forty years ago, the writer was acquainted with nearly every hunter
and trapper who made a business of hunting or trapping in this and
adjoining counties. Men who made a business of trapping bear as well
as hunting deer could be counted on the fingers of your hands, and
the grounds on which they operated were the counties of Clinton,
McKean, Cameron and Potter.
The names of these men who perhaps were the most interested in bear
trapping in the section above mentioned were, Leroy Lyman, Horatio
Nelson, Lanson Stephan, Isaac Pollard, Ezery Prichard and one or two
others, including the writer.
The traps mostly used were bear pens and deadfalls. It was considered
a fairly good day's work for two men to build one good bear pen or
two good deadfalls. Most bear trappers, however, had a few steel bear
traps for it may be said that nearly every country blacksmith knew
how to make a bear trap and how to temper a trap spring. This cannot
be said of the average blacksmith of the present day.
Bear forty years ago would migrate then as they do now. We used to
think that bear would travel from the Virginias and from Northern New
York if not from the New England States to Pennsylvania or from
Pennsylvania north or south as the case may be. This was proven from
the fact that if there was a good crop of mast in one locality, while
a scarcity in another, the bear would all seem to be moved north or
south as the case may be as though they had some way of informing one
another where plenty of food was to be found. At such times when bear
are on a migratory tramp it is not an uncommon thing to find a bear
track near your house or barn on going out in the morning when there
was snow on, so that the track is plain to be seen. This was no
uncommon thing forty years ago, neither is it at the present time
(1910) when there is a general scarcity of forage crops such as beech
nuts, chestnuts and acorns. I have seen it stated by some writers
that at certain times bear will move in a drove and at such times it
was not safe for a man to meet a bear for they were very dangerous
and would attack any one who chanced to be in their way.
In my upwards of fifty years experience of woods life, I do not call
to mind of ever seeing more than three bears on one trail at the same
time and these were an old bear and cubs. It has been the writer's
observation that when bears were on these migratory trips in search
of food or from other cause, they travel singly and not in droves or
even in pairs.
During the summer when bears are existing on nettles, wild turnips,
berries and other green food, it is not out of the ordinary to find a
bear in pretty close proximity to the farm house and close around the
fields where he can occasionally get a sheep or lamb.
I have seen and heard much written and said of bear raising from
their hind feet to attract people's attention who chanced to come in
their way when in the woods. I have never seen a bear raise on his
hind feet for battle, in any case, when a hunter or trapper
approaches them. I have often seen them sit upon their haunches to
listen when they heard a noise and were not sure of its origin.
As to the number of bear at the present time and forty or fifty years
ago, through Northern and Central Pennsylvania, there seems to be
about as many now as there were then. This I attribute to the fact
that much of the country in other localities has been cleared up and
thus deprived bruin of his natural haunts.
Forty years ago,--in the early 70's--it was customary then as now, to
keep tab on trappers as to what they were doing along the trap line.
Trappers of years ago would average from three to twelve bears,
according to how plenty they were and to what the condition of the
weather was.
It often happens that when bear are plenty on the trapper's trapping
grounds, he does not have the best of luck in taking the game. If
shack is very plentiful it is sometimes difficult to get the bear to
take ordinary bait. The bear will also den up or go into hibernation
much quicker if they get fat, than they will if shack is a little
scarce so that they do not get quite so fleshy. If the bears get real
fleshy early in the season they will den up at the approach of the
first cold and freezing weather and sleep until spring. On the other
hand, if the bear continues to be a little lean, as he generally is
during the summer, he will continue to search for food during quite
severe weather. They will leave winter quarters and come out in
search of food when there are a few warm days, or a slight thaw,
which they will rarely do if they go into the den in good flesh.
The bear is not like the raccoon. Their rutting season in this
latitude is in August and not in February and March as with the
raccoon and groundhog. Now all of these conditions has much to do
with the number of bears that a trapper may get during a season. The
number of bear taken in Pennsylvania by the average trapper at the
present time and forty years ago may be slightly less now than then
but the difference is not great.
There are more bear trappers today than forty years ago. During the
months of October and November, 1909, there were nearly one hundred
bears caught in traps and killed with dogs in the above counties
mentioned. Bears were more plentiful through this section than usual
this season, although they did not work north into the beech timber
until about the first of November, owing to a heavy crop of chestnuts
and acorns farther south.
Comrades of the trap line, if I was in a section of country where
large game was as plentiful as it was here fifty years ago, I would
not be able to get very far into tall timber, but as it gets
monotonous to write of skunk, muskrat and rabbit hunting of to-day, I
will tell of some of my experiences of fifty years ago, when it was
my custom to hunt deer and bear for profit and pleasure. In those
days I made it a point to be in the woods with my bear traps and
rifle by the middle of October each year, if health permitted.
In those days all that a trapper and hunter had to do was to get a
few miles out into tall timber, build a good log cabin and hit a
permanent job for the season. Deer, bear and fur-bearing animals were
so plentiful that it only required a small territory to find game
sufficiently plenty to keep the trapper on a lively gait all the
time. In those days we made it more a specialty of hunting deer for
the profit there was in it. We had built our cabin on the divide
between the headwaters of the Cross fork of Kettel Creek and the
headwaters of the East Fork of the Sinnamahoning. I had built a few
deadfalls and bear pens for bear and also had three or four steel
bear traps set, but beech-nuts, chestnuts and other nuts were so
plentiful that the bear would not take meat bait and I had no other
bait at hand. The bear would pass within a few feet of a trap and pay
no attention to the bait.
Now at this time, furs were so low that there was but little to be
made from the sale of the pelts of the fox, mink, skunk, etc. But it
was my custom to carry one or two steel traps in my pack sack and
when I killed a deer, I would make a set or two for the fox, marten
or fisher, whichever happened along first. As I have stated I spent
the greater part of my time in deer hunting. On this particular day I
was following a drove of four or five deer, but the wind was so
unsteady and whirling about in puffs so that as near as I could get
to a deer was to see his white flag, beckoning me to come on as they
jumped a log or some other object. Striking the trail of a bear that
had gone back and forth several times, nearly in the same place
within the past three or four days, since a light snow had fallen, I
was satisfied that it was a bear going back and forth from his
lodging quarters to his feeding grounds.
So I left the trail of the deer and took up the trail of the bear,
taking the track that I thought had been made last. I did not follow
the trail far, which led along the brow of the ridge, when I saw that
the several different bear tracks were forming into one trail and
making in the direction of several large hemlock trees that had been
turned out by the roots and lay in a jumbled up mess. I followed the
trail carefully until I was certain that the bear had entered the
jungle of timber. Here I worked carefully around the jam of timber
until sure that the bear was in the jungle and that it would be
impossible for me to get near the bear. The density of brush and
undergrowth was such that I would drive the bear out before I could
get close enough to Bruin to get a shot at him. And this was a time,
when I longed for a pard.
Being convinced that I could do nothing alone, I got out on one side
of the trail the bear had made in going back and forth and watched
until dark, in hopes that Bruin would come out on his way to his
feeding grounds. But in this I was mistaken so was obliged to give up
the hunt for the time being and make tracks for the shanty. My camp
was about five or six miles from Edgcomb Place, this being the
nearest point to where anyone lived, where I might get help to rout
Bruin. The Edgcomb Place was a sort of a half way house, it being
about fourteen miles either way to a settlement. The stage made one
trip a week over this road and stopped at Edgcomb Place for dinner
and often some one would come out from town in the stage and stop
there for a few days' hunt. It was one of these parties that I was in
hopes of getting to help me out in this bear hunt.
I started in the morning before daylight as the stage had gone the
Kettel Creek way the day before, which was in my favor of catching
help at the hotel. As good luck proved to be on my side, I found a
man at the hotel by the name of John Howard, who was stopping there
for a few days' hunt. He was more than anxious to join me in the bear
hunt. We hastened back to camp so as to get onto the job as quickly
as possible. We got to the shanty about noon and got a hasty lunch
and started out to wake Bruin up if he was still sleeping where I had
left him.
When we got to the jam of timber, we found that he had been to his
feeding grounds and had returned to his lodging apartments during the
night, so we now thought that we would soon make sure of our game. We
located the spot the best we could where we thought Bruin was
sleeping and began to cautiously work our way in from opposite sides.
It only took a short time to work our way into the jam sufficiently
to locate a large root, where Bruin's tracks showed plainly that he
was sleeping under this root. We continued to work our way up closer
to the root with gun in hand for ready action. But still Bruin did
not show up, neither could we hear the least bit of a noise from him.
When we were within a few feet of the root, Mr. Howard on one side
and the writer on the other side, suddenly, without any warning
whatever, Bruin came out of his hole like a shot out of a gun and
nearly landed on Mr. Howard, who sprang backwards to escape him. Mr.
Howard's feet became tangled in the thick brush, he fell backwards
and before he could regain his feet, Bruin had gone over the brow of
the ridge, into the laurel out of sight. Mr. Howard was not able to
get in a shot at Bruin, as I was on the other side of the root and on
higher ground, I managed to empty both barrels of my rifle at him
through the thick brush, but Bruin went on down the hill, through the
laurel, apparently unhurt.
After following the trail of Bruin for some distance, we began, now
and then, to find a little blood, where the bear had crawled over a
log or rubbed against the laurel. We followed him until we found one
or two places where he had broken down a few laurel and scratched
about in trying to make a bed, so we thought the better plan was to
let Bruin go for the night and let him make his bed.
But we did not go to camp empty handed for good luck favored Mr.
Howard in killing a good, big deer on our way to the shanty. After
leaving the trail of the bear, we followed up a spur of the main
ridge that led to camp, Mr. Howard going up one side of the spur
while I took the other spur. Just before reaching the top of the
spur, I heard Mr. Howard shoot and in a few minutes I heard him
shouting for help. When I got across the ridge to where he was, I
found him dressing a good sized buck. As it was getting dark we lost
no time in taking the entrails out of the deer, cutting a withe with
a hook, which we hooked into the lower jaw of the deer. We hooked
ourselves to the withe and made lively tracks to the shanty, where we
could talk and laugh of the day's hunt.
* * *
We were up early the next morning and had our lunch packed in our
knapsack, ready for an early start. It had turned warm during the
night and the light snow that was on the ground, was fast
disappearing. So we lost no time in getting back to where we had left
Bruin's track the night before. We could still manage to follow the
trail on the snow and we soon found where Bruin had broken down a few
laurel and tried to make a bed. But he would not stop long,
apparently, when he would move on for a short distance and again
break down a few laurels as before to make a nest. We could see a
little more blood at each place where he stopped than the one before.
We were working the trail as cautious as we could, when we heard a
noise in the thick laurel to our left and got a glimpse of Bruin
going through the laurel. We emptied both barrels of our guns in the
direction where we could see the brush wiggle, but all of our shots
failed to take effect. Bruin now left this laurel patch, crossed a
ravine and began to climb another spur of the main ridge. We did not
follow the trail long, when we discovered that it was becoming hard
work for Bruin to travel far at a time, as he would stop to rest. The
snow was now gone so that it was a little more difficult to follow
the trail of the bear. We thought that it would be better for one of
us to go up the ravine to the top of the ridge and stand about where
he thought that the bear would come out at the top of the ridge. Mr.
Howard went to the ridge, while I was to follow the bear's trail.
After waiting long enough to give Mr. Howard time to get to the top
of the ridge, I took up the trail of the bear. I had not gone far
when I came to a bed, where the bear had stopped for a time. I was
now sure Mr. Howard would get to his watching place before the bear
reached the top of the hill. I was not mistaken, for it was not long
until I heard Mr. Howard fire both barrels of his gun in rapid
succession. I thought when I heard the two shots that the bear hunt
was surely over, but after listening a few moments and hearing
nothing from Mr. Howard I was then unable to give a guess what he had
done. I worked along on the trail until near the top of the hill when
I saw Mr. Howard standing with head down and bearing the expression
of a motherless colt.
When I got up to him he said that the bear had stopped near the brow
of the ridge and when he came in sight, the bear started across the
ridge and he fired both barrels of his rifle at him but the bear was
so far away that he could not reach him. The bear now crossed the
ridge in the direction of Windfall Run, a branch of the Cross Fork
and toward a large windfall. We followed the bear a short distance in
to the windfall. Briers and brush were so thick that it was almost
impossible to work our way along in the brush and one could scarcely
see ten feet ahead. We had followed the trail but a short distance
when we could hear Bruin whining like a little puppy and soon we
could see him sitting up on his haunches and keeping up the whine. We
soon put an end to his troubles. When we removed the bear's entrails,
we found that one of the shots that we fired at him at the beginning
of the hunt, had passed through the lungs but had not struck any
large artery or any vital point. But the wound had weakened him so
that he was no longer able to make his way through the thick briars
and brush. We had two days of sport but now the real work began.
We were about three miles from camp and any hunter who has toted a
three hundred pound bear or a good big deer, lashed to a pole and
where the route was up and down steep hills, knows what sort of a job
he has on his hands. But comrades, we were not as old at that time as
we now are and we could tote a bear or deer as easy then as we could
a rabbit now.
[Illustration: WOODCOCK AND HIS CATCH, FALL 1904.]
Mr. Howard stayed with me for about two weeks and we had other bear
hunts and killed two other bear and we did it almost without knowing
that there was a bear within ten miles of us. We also got five or six
deer during Mr. Howard's stay with me. Deer were as plentiful in
those days as rabbits. Comrades, look over the accompanying picture
and note the difference at the camp of a trapper from what you can
imagine it was about one's hunting camp at the time we write of.