96 NEWFOUNDLAND 



several hundred pounds, were scattered through the woods, 

 and not a dollar's worth of the outfit remained. Two bears 

 were the aggressors, and so cunning were they that the 

 trapper completely failed to shoot or trap them. One man 

 I know of, after losing all his stores, had his canoe bitten to 

 pieces. 



About the middle of November the black bear chooses a dry 

 spot in which to hibernate. If the winter is mild, he comes 

 out again for a short time, but the first heavy snowfall drives 

 him again into his sleeping apartment, the entrance of which 

 he closes carefully with moss and leaves. These retreats are 

 but rarely found even by the Indians, who are always in the 

 woods. A good skin is worth about ^5, and the length 

 seldom exceeds 6 feet. Joe Jeddore killed a large dog bear 

 near Burnt Hill in 1901, which measured 7 feet 6 inches, and 

 doubtless specimens even bigger than this have occurred in 

 the island, but I can obtain no reliable records. In the 

 autumn they are very fat, and the meat and grease are 

 much appreciated, both by the red men and the white. If 

 ordinary precautions are taken, these animals are not in the 

 least dangerous, and the few accidents which have occurred 

 were entirely due to carelessness on the part of the hunters. 

 It is not safe, however, to fire at a bear when the animal is 

 very close on a hillside above the shooter, because when 

 receiving a mortal wound the bear always rushes blindly down 

 hill, and then seizes with its teeth the first object that comes 

 in its way. All bears do this. I once shot at a very big 

 grizzly, and the first thing it did was to demolish a small tree 

 standing near by. Charges by bears, described by youthful 

 hunters with hair-raising sensationalism, are seldom charges 

 at all, for the poor bear receiving the shot rushes madly in 

 any direction, and in doing so, it may run on the top of you. 



