402 Fietp Museum or Natura. History — Zoé.ocy, Voi. XI. 
To hunt Bears successfully dogs are absolutely essential, and unless 
one is a trained athlete the country must be sufficiently open to permit 
of the use of horses to follow the hounds for at least a considerable 
portion of the time. In a heavily wooded, rough country shooting a 
Bear is largely a matter of chance; their senses of smell and hearing are 
so exceedingly keen that one may hunt for weeks in a good Bear coun- 
try and not see one. Of course, they can be trapped; but unless there 
is some good reason for desiring the death of the animal it is a cruel 
and unsportsman-like method. 
Good Bear dogs are not easy to find. It is a curious fact that 
while almost any hound will eagerly follow the trail of a Panther, a 
very small percentage of them will follow that of a Bear. I have found 
that the best Bear dogs were generally a cross between a hound and a 
bull dog. Occasionally a full blooded hound will follow a Bear, but 
judging from my experience, except when in company with a number 
of other dogs, such cases are rare. The perfect Bear dog is one that 
will follow the trail until he sees the animal and then worry and “bay” 
him until the hunter can come up to them, but he must be wise enough 
not to get within reach of the Bear’s paws. If he has too much courage 
and is reckless, he is killed or badly injured, but on the other hand, if 
he lacks the proper amount of courage, he will not follow the trail at 
all. 
In Wisconsin a full grown Bear will usually weigh from 250 to 350 
pounds. The latter would be considered a large animal for this part 
of the country, but the southern races of the Black Bear grow much 
larger. In Florida and Louisiana a male weighing 500 pounds, while 
larger than the average, is by no means uncommon and, although I 
have never actually weighed a Florida Bear that tipped the scales 
at more than 511 pounds,* I have killed larger animals, one of which I 
estimated to weigh nearly 600 pounds. 
Brown Bears, which may be found within our limits, are merely 
color phases of the Black Bear, black and brown cubs having been 
found in the same litter. 
When taken young and kindly treated, Bear cubs make very amusing 
pets, as they are intelligent and playful; but as they grow up, their 
‘play is inclined to be rather too rough. If teased or irritated, however, 
they soon become treacherous. 
During the seventeenth century Black Bears were very numerous 
throughout New England and their ‘“‘grease’’ was much used by early 
* The two largest males weighed 489 and 511 pounds. 
+See Kennicott, J. ¢., p. 253; also Journals of Alex. Henry and David Thomp- 
son. (Edited by Elliott Coues.) 1897, p. 449. 
