EARLY EXPERIENCES. 27 



the gun in proper range to kill the deer in the lick, should it 

 come after dark. I got one string tied around the barrel and 

 the limb when a slight noise to my left caused me to look in that 

 direction and I saw a dark object standing in the edge of the little 

 thicket, which I took to be a black creature I had seen down near 

 the clearing when I came to the lick. My thoughts were that I 

 would tie the breech of the gun fast to the limb, and then I would 

 climb down and stone the animal away, so I went on tying the 

 gun fast. v On looking up I saw that the supposedly black heifer 

 had turned out to be a black bear, and that it was going to go 

 above the lick and not into it. My knife was out in an instant 

 and the next moment I had the strings that held the gun cut. 

 I raised it carefully to my face and about this time the bear 

 stopped, turned his head around and looked back in the direction 

 he had come. This was my chance, and I fired both barrels at 

 his head and shoulders, and immediately there was a snorting, 

 snarling, rolling and tumbling of the. bear, but the maneuvers of 

 the bear was no comparison to the screams and shouts that came 

 from me. I was still making more noise than a band of Indians 

 when Mr. Duell arrived on the scene and took in the situation. 

 The other men who were watching other licks thought I had surely 

 been attacked by the wolves by the unearthly yell I was making 

 and the whole party were soon on the ground. The bear was 

 soon dressed and the men gave me the cognomen of the "The 

 Great Hunter of Kentucky" and so ended the killing of my first 

 bear. 



I am still in hopes to take the pelts from one or tw.o this fall 

 and winter and later, I will tell of some of the incidents I have 

 seen and experienced while trapping and hunting among them. 

 Perhaps, how a brother of mine got a tenderfoot to ride the car- 

 cass of a deer down a steep and hard frozen mountain when there 

 was about two inches of snow on would be interesting. 



