THE EUROPEAN BEARS AND THE WILD BOAR 
is abundant and generally lies up in the dense windfalls of the forest all day, 
close to the site of his feeding -ground. 
Bears feed slowly if food is abundant, but wander about and more 
quickly if the berry patches are much separated. It is well to observe the 
direction in which the beast is moving and to come in on a slant from 
above so that his line of movement may be cut. 
In the Carpathians and in Hungary bears are usually killed by driving 
the woods after the stag season has ended, the guns being posted ahead, 
down wind. Four or five are usually killed in this manner. 
Another favourite method in North-Eastern Europe is to kill an old 
horse, and after allowing it to lie for two days to wait for bruin in a tree 
platform. I have done this once or twice and have found that the bear, if 
an old one, generally “ circles ” round the carcass and gets the wind of 
the hunter first and so does not come to be killed, or it advances when it 
is pitch dark and impossible to shoot. Once, in Newfoundland, I had an 
opportunity of witnessing the manoeuvres of an old bear that had been 
feeding on the carcass of a caribou stag I had shot a week previously. 
The bear approached the carcass at a gallop to within 150 yards and then 
made wide circles round it for at least ten minutes, stopping frequently 
to stand up and get the wind from every available quarter. If the hunter 
had been concealed anywhere near the bait he would most certainly have 
been detected. 
In Russia, Finland, and occasionally in Sweden and Norway a regular 
trade is made in the sale of bears, whose winter “ hie ” or “ berloga ” 
has been marked. Sportsmen who desire to shoot bears roused from 
sleep have to pay from forty to seventy roubles (£4 to £7) for the privilege 
if it may so be called; whilst if the bear, when killed, proves to be of ex- 
ceptional size as much as £25 has to be paid. 
Bear shooting by this method can scarcely be called 44 sport,” as with 
modern rifles it is no more dangerous than shooting tom-cats in a back 
garden. The so-called huntsman stations himself, with loaders at his side, 
so as to command the bear’s retreat, and the bear itself is prodded out by 
a crowd of peasants armed with long poles or assisted by barking dogs. 
The bear possibly may be angry at being aroused and emit a series of 
growls, but the poor beast has no earthly chance to retaliate on his foes, 
so powerful is the effect of a bullet fired by a high velocity rifle at short 
range. If by any chance the bear is missed it usually escapes. In old days 
brave men would stand at the mouth of the den and receive the bear’s first 
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