14 BEAR HUNTING. 



strongest attractions to those who have been bred in the wil- 

 derness, and who delight to exercise their strength and skill. 

 Many wild and thrilling stories are told of the achievements 

 of the hunters, and their toils and sufferings, while following 

 their exciting vocation, which furnish many instances of he- 

 roic daring, and presence of mind, and illustrate the habits 

 of the bear. In the " Incidents in the Life of Ichabod 

 Merritt," a noted hunter, communicated to the " American 

 Pioneer," by his friend, Major Churchill, we find two adven- 

 tures narrated, worthy of quotation. 



Mr. Ichabod Merritt was born in Massachusetts, in June, 

 1786. In 1804, his parents removed to the district of Three 

 Rivers, in Canada. At that time there was an abundance of 

 game in that part of Canada, and also in the adjoining 

 parts of Vermont. For many months during the fall and 

 winter, hunting and trapping was a regular and profitable 

 business. It was here, and in his youthful days, that Mr. 

 Merritt inured himself to hardship, and self-possession in case 

 of difficulty. He usually spent his winter in the woods, either 

 trapping the martin and sable for their fur, or in hunting the 

 bear, moose, or deer, with which those woods abounded. In 

 the fall of 1815, he, with a brother, killed ten bears, the 

 skins of which they sold for one hundred dollars. We give his 

 account of his killing one of them, as something of a specimen 

 of the rest. "Two dogs," (for a hunter in those days could 

 not hunt without two, and sometimes more dogs,) he remarked, 

 " had started a bear, and it appeared to be coming partly 

 towards me. I moved in a direction to head it. Soon it 

 came in sight, and when about twelve rods from me, it jumped 

 upon a log, and turned to look and listen for the dogs. At 

 this time I fired at it. The ball struck the jaw-bone, and 

 glancing, lodged in the skin of its neck. The bear was but 

 little hurt, and continued her course, coming near where I 

 was loading. The dogs overtook and seized it. In my haste 

 to load I had not watched them ; but the moment I had fini 



