22 THE BLACK BEAR OF PENNSYLVANIA 



watching them in early morning or the afternoon, 

 until night makes the sight of them invisible in the 

 shaded forest or jungle of briars, bushes and ferns. 



SECTION IV. 



Recently, men hunt bears in squads and platoons, 

 armed with repeating rifles of long range, with 'high- 

 powered ammunition, and automatic pistols of large 

 calibre. The Oleona Forest was an illustration of 

 battle in Argonne Woods during -the World War. 

 This noisy and dangerous method frightened careful 

 hunters away from the woods and destroyed the sport 

 and the exultation that a hunter feels when, alone, 

 he has bagged a bear. 



High-powered ammunition and rifles of long range 

 are deadly in 'the forest, where the range of vision is 

 limited, for the bears and for hunters. Men are 

 wounded or killed and fw bears are killed by the 

 noisy crews. Old-time guns of moderate range should 

 be carried by hunters in our hills, in preference to 

 guns of long range that frequently kill a man beyond 

 vision of the man who shoots. 



The chase of the black bear was exceedingly 

 dangerous to the lone hunter, with his inferior gun 

 of fifty years ago. Although naturally a quiet and 

 retiring creature, keeping aloof from mankind, it is 

 truly a ferocious beast when hemmed in by antag- 

 onists. Seated erect, eyeballs darting fury, ears laid 

 back, tongue lolling from its mouth, and every ges- 



