THE BLACK BEAR. 257 



derived from still-hunting, as in running Foxes with a line 

 pack of hounds, and in stealing on a Fox to shoot it before 

 it gets to its hole in the ground. 



In this climate, Bear usually hibernate some three months 

 of the winter. When pursued by dogs, it is very difficult 

 to make a poor Bear take a tree, or be brought to bay 

 by the very best team of dogs. If very fat, it dashes, when 

 started, through the densest thickets it can find, with a noise 

 equal to that of a horse-cart when the horse runs away with 

 it, snapping the cane, vines, and briers in its way, like pipe- 

 stems; turns not a line from a straight course, unless meet- 

 ing with some impediment it can not surmount, and does not 

 stop until it reaches the densest j)art of the thicket, where it 

 will stand to bay behind a clay-root, until the pack of dogs 

 is wearied out, or a hunter arrives to kill it. 



When his dogs have either treed or brought a Bear to 

 bay, an old Bear- hunter uses a great deal of caution, and 

 puts in practice the very best mode of stalking the Bear. 

 He knows that if the Bear should either hear or smell him, 

 it will fall out of the tree and run oif, or leave the clay-root 

 and make off to another thicket. Hence, to get in shooting 

 distance of a Bear at bay, he must be certain of the direc- 

 tion of the wind, and take that apj)roach to the Bear with 

 the wind blowing from the Bear to him. He must cut every 

 vine and stalk of cane in his way, make not the slightest 

 noise to give the animal the least intimation of his approach, 

 until he is up sufficiently near to use his knife, if his team 

 of dogs are able to pull the Bear down for a moment, and if 

 not, then to make a sure and fatal shot with his gun or rifle. 



A favorite weapon of mine, the last ten years that I 

 hunted Bear, was a No. 10 double-barrel Greener gun, of 

 ten pounds weight, which I loaded with a i^atched ball to 

 fit the barrels, I found this weapon shot, at short range, as 

 accurately as the best of rifles. This gave me the advan- 

 tage of a double shot. With one barrel, generally, I could 

 knock the Bear down, and before it could rise to kill my 

 dogs, I could put the muzzle against the head, or its side, 

 and a second shot produced instant death. To make assur- 



17 



