CHAPTER II 



THE SLACK BEAR 



NEXT to the whitetail deer the black bear 

 is the commonest and most widely dis 

 tributed of American big game. It is still 

 found quite plentifully in northern New Eng 

 land, in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and along 

 the entire length of the Aileghanies, as well 

 as in the swamps and canebrakes of the South 

 ern States. It is also common in the great 

 forests of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and 

 Minnesota, and throughout the Rocky Moun 

 tains and the timbered ranges of the Pacific 

 Coast. In the East it has always ranked 

 second only to the deer among the beasts of 

 chase. The bear and the buck were the staple 

 objects of pursuit of all the old hunters. They 

 were more plentiful than the bison and elk 

 even in the long vanished days when these two 

 great rnonarchs of the forest still ranged east 

 ward to Virginia and Pennsylvania. The wolf 

 and the cougar were always too scarce and too 

 shy to yield much profit to the hunter. The 



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