Show croci is haap when ho gets intel wallow yew yutsun pennsylvania if any one u looking for bears now is the time for him to go into the woods where thy are eaid phineas anderson of pt ahr county mr anderson ought to know something of the peculiarity of bears for he has bunted them tor fifty years and declares that he has killed and trapped bun deeds of them he has but one leg now his other one having been amputated ten years ogo the adaptation being made necessary by a wound 1 on the leg by a pine creek bear the reason why bears can be easily foaud just now said mr adderson Au derson is because ther are enjoying themselves at this season in their wallow holes bears pass a great deal of their time in the big swamps that abound where they make their homes and in the sum mer time they scoop out holes in the soft mud along the edge of the acampa they wallow in the mud and water and fill their holes and work themselves down into the soft soil until sometimes nothing but the end of the snout is above the surface A novice in bear hunting might pass by a dozen bears lying buried thus in their wallow holes withof t ever once suspecting bruins presence unless soma old bear might be unable to suppress the gruntal all bears indulge in as they mingle with the cool mud and water but the hunter who knows the bear and hh ways can tell by a glance the wal low hole that is empty and the one that is full of bear if a bear in a wallow hole believes himself unobserved he will have great sport with himself there he will splash and kick about in the mud varying his postures in a dozen different ways and presenting a most comical sight to the spectator many a time I 1 have hidden myself near A BEARS WALLOW HOLE with the express intention of picking bruin off with my rafla at my leisure but after watching him for a few minutes and almost bursting with suppressed laughter at his capers I 1 have stolen away him unharmed for it seemed about as much like murder to shoot him as it would be to shoot a clown at a circus bears seem to have fun at everything they set out to do they enjoy immensely the squealing of a pig have stolen or are trying tu steal I 1 once came out in an opening in the woods where two bears were having a high old time with a shoat they bad stolen from the pen or field of some backwoods farmer the pig was hurt so that it was unable to walk but it seemed to be and lively abr it squealed with as much vigor as ever when first one bear and tuen the other would stir it up where it lay on the ground by giving it a dig with his paws As long as the pig continued squealing the bears would stand a part and listen to the noise with apparent delight but as soon as the pig became quiet one of them would start the music again by giving the unfortunate porker another dig with his paw t spoiled the fun after looking on for a few minutes by putting a ball through the head ot one oi the bears killing it instantly the other bear made a dash for the woods at the sound of the gun and got away although I 1 wounded him somewhere with a second shot I 1 shot the pig to put him out of his misery 1 I saw a desperate fight once between a two year old bear and a big boar that belonged to a lumber man on kettle creek the biar was in a small inclosure with two or three other pigs among them a couple of fat young ones it was one of these that the bear had entered the enclosure to steal the boar rushed to the defense of the little fellow and attacked the bear fiercely forcing bruin to drop the pig and look out for himself the bore used his tusks to such advantage that after a savage encounter of several minutes the hem beat a retreat one of his sides being ripped open almost to his vitals and the flesh being torn to the bone in many places the bar was pretty badly hurt too but he got over it I 1 got my gun and followed the bear and found him buried in a wallow hole and a trail of blood led all the way to his hiding place I 1 killed him but ha would soon have died from the injuries the boar gave him another thing bears always have fun at FEEDING IN A OAK PATCH they are extremely fond of the acorns that grow on cheso dwarf trees and when they begin to get ready for a dinner on them they rear upon their haunches among the oaks and thrash and hammer the bushes with their fore paws until leaves and twigs and acorns fly around like chips from a pla ining machine sometimes an acre of scrub oaks will be beaten down in this way by a family of bears and then they go over the field and feed on the acorns they have thrashed out it not frequently happens that a bear will run across a hornets nest hanging to some bush or rock among the scrub oaks or a yellow jackets nest in the ground either one of these beem to afford the bear immense amusement he will quickly uncover a yellow jackets nest anda ait is the nature of these hot and pugnacious little bees the whole swarm will be upon him in acs than no time the bear will dance around on his hind legs and par at the angry insects his mouth open all the while as it he were actually laughing at the fun he is having at tho expense of the yellow jackets sometimes be will let tatia upon him until ho looks as yellow as a dandelion and then be will drop suddenly and roll over and over on the ground the of the bees do not cwm to have any on him whatever A hornets nest has the same attraction for a bear hornets usually liang their big round paper like aest on the branch ot a tree or high on the face of some ledge it a bear discovers a debt on a tree ha will climb out on tho branch as far as he can and will shake it violently until be jars it loose and it tumbles to the ground if the nert is out of his reach on a ledge the bear will po round until he gets on top of the ledge above the nest from that position he will push big stones and sticks over the edge until one strikes the nest and knocks it oaf the nest once on the ground the bear tears it to bits unmindful of the assaults of the hornets the bear eats the larva the nest contain such insects b favor ite morsels of food it is exceedingly amusing to see a bear eating he trill stand in a creek or in the shallow water on the shores of ponds as still and solemn aa a crane until a or frog comes near him like a cash down goes one of his big fore paws and it has to be a lively fish that gets out of his way As soon as the fish ii caught the solemnity of the bear disappear lie opens his mouth in that well known way that makes the bear look as if he were laughing and either sits up in the water and enjoys his catch or wades ashore and eats it with many grunts of satisfaction once I 1 saw a group of five bears on the bank of a creek watching a sixth engaged in IM THE STREAM the five spectators being as solemn and still as the fisher the moment the latter caught a fiah though the five instantly were filled with animation and danced and grunted and whined in their peculiar way as if rejoicing over the success of their companion and congratulate ing him upon it after the first one caught a fah all the rest entered the creek and went to fishing themselves they were evidently waiting to see what luck the first one had before trying their own bands at the sport A big bear was fishing that way one day last spring near the inlet of a small pond in the lower part of potter county I 1 was watching him to see how he got along and suddenly down went his paw in the water but the pleasant expression did not appear on his face the moment the bears paw struck the water he began to bowl and be made bior the shore as fast as he could for the fore paw he was fishing with seemed to be hampered by something it was indeed the fishing bear caugh his fish but it bad caught him it was a very large snapping turtle the turtle had come swimming along bv the bear and the bear had made a spat for him A snapping turtle has a way of grabbing things peculiarly its own and after it has grabbed it cosent let go this one had set his powerful jaws on the bear s paw when the bear got on shore it began a lively and determined asnault oa the turtle with bis free paw and bis teeth hut it waa only after five minutes pouncing aal gnashing at alio turtle that the bear succeeded in freeing himself and then went limping away the turtle was left lying on the ground I 1 went down and found that its shell had been rushed ch hat but the fierce yellow eyes of the animal werd still glaring defiantly between the turtles jaws still tightly clinched in its teeth was nearly half of the bears claw which had been torn away before the bear could free himself from the tenacious turtle A BEAR DOES is to bunt a bee tree and locate the spot where the honey is in it bears like to top kofl a good meil me il they have made on acorns or beech nuts or some ones pig or calf with i few pounds of wild honey and no bee hunter can line a bee to its home in the wilderness with more certainty than a bear can when he reaches a tree he begins to climb it stopping every two or three feet to pound the trunk with one of his paws as he can tell by the sound just where the honey is stored when the right spot is located the bear scratches and paws and bites away the wood and soon has a hole big enough in the hollow stem to stick bis paw in and then he is about as happy as he can be made lie sops the honey out and licks it off his paw and smacks his lips like a boy eating taffy the beba buzz around and dip him with their stings but he just shuts his eyes and laughs and keeps on licking up the honey potter county bears dont con fine themselves with robbing the neata of wild bees they hav ejust as good a tooth for do mcatic honey and it is no trick for them at alf to step into a farmer fl backyard or orchard and walk off with a or two there is no place where a party of bears can have more fun than in a melon patch bears are awful full of mischief but it seems that nothing will fetch them out like a melon patch bears not only find one of their most toothsome morsels in melons but this fruit seems to afford them possibilities for fun that they cant find anywhere alie I 1 keep a melon patch on purpose for bears to picnic in the most rollicking object I 1 ever saw in my life was a big bear sitting with bis back against a shock of corn and with a half of a big melon that he had bateu the meal out of cocked on one fide of his head like a hat 0 bile three or four bears were dancing about him pelting him with bits of broken melon which he tried to parry with his paws another time majolly yearling bear who was among a family that were making merry in a melon patch near me OUT A BIG watermelon and got on it with both hind feet he rolled it with his feet for a short distance like a circus preformed pre former on a barrel and then it gave a sudden lurch the beara feet flew from under him and be sat down with all his weight on the ro ellon smashed it into a dozen pieces this was evidently a new trick fur in less than five minutes after the young bear in the patch was ing it and smashed melons by the acore if a person can have tic heart to look at a bear show in a melon patch and then shoot the performer perform em he cint go to a surer place to bag bruic any time during the melon season 11 II there is one thing that a bear can do slicker than another it is skinning a sheep next to pork mutton is a acara favorite meat tie will take a great many risks to t his claws on a nice fat sheep lie kills it by a blow or two in the back of the neck from h n ponderous forepaws As soon as he gets ii to a place where in is me he removes the skin he rips the pelt down the cheeps belly with bia sharp claws as neatly alm the butcher would doit with his knife and then peels the thick and heavy skin aft the carcass and throws it abide I 1 have found cheep pelt in the woods many timea hanging on bushes and spread out on the ground that were stripped from pur coined shep she p by bears bears seem to be getting pen tier and plen tier every ear in northwestern pennsylvania aay explanation of ahat may appear strange but I 1 believe that it is true there are more bara in potta r and adjoining counties to day than there were forty or fity years ago and the reason is simply because ot the clearing up of the woods on the mountains when the timber was thice the apara bere compelled to skirmish more for food and had to depend to a great degree on roots and bark aud on mhd rather scanty sapp ies which the and pigsties pig sties of the settlers af voided the clearing away tit the woods has been followed by the appearance pe arance in area of all kinds of berried which bears especially on which they thrive immensely while bringing about such a condition the culling of the timber has not the character of the dense swamp in the confines of which bears hod safe places for bringing forth and rearing their young the rocky ledges with their and caverns still remain as of old and there the bears find winter lairs as secure and comfortable as they were when the forest grew above them you may set it down for a fact that bears in north pennsylvania are more numerous and bigger and fatter than they were in cur grand fathers days |