April i, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
499 
Jerry Knox’s Bear Fight. 
Byron, Ill., March 15. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: I never read Mr. Fannin’s account of 
his bear fight on Burrard Inlet, in British Colum¬ 
bia, in “Jack, the Young Canoeman,” but what 
I think of the bear fight witnessed by Ed. Eaton 
on the Ino River, in Montana, in the old days. 
We were hunting bear in the Nowater bad 
lands, partner and I, and when the evening meal 
had been disposed of, our bed made down in 
the old tarpaulin, and we had snugly cached 
ourselves within it, safe from the cold March 
winds which were drifting the snow across it, 
the warmth, comfort and security which stole 
over us rendered us talkative, and it was natural 
that we should speak of “old Moccasin Joe,” the 
bear on whose trail we had camped. Ed. Eaton 
said: 
“The most comical bear fight I ever saw was 
pulled off at the mouth of the Big Dry Fork of 
the Ino River. 
“I was riding down the Big Dry, hunting some 
horses that had strayed from our outfit of buf¬ 
falo hunters. About a mile from the river I 
noticed fresh bear tracks in an old buffalo trail, 
but did not pay much attention to them at the 
time, as bear sign was plenty. 
“As I rode to the river I saw something mov¬ 
ing in the willows to my right and pulled up and 
dismounted, thinking I had run across the bear. 
Caching my horse behind the high cut bank of 
the Big Dry Fork I took my old Sharps rifle 
from its scabbard and began to prospect around 
for the bear. Directly I saw a man standing on 
a log in the willows. Men were scarce then in 
that part of the country and I was surprised to 
see this one. Moving up a trifle I recognized 
him as Jerry Knox, who had been in our winter 
camp for a month. Jerry was riding a grub 
line, and of late had been entertaining us with 
some tough bear fights that he claimed to have 
had. I was within seventy-five yards of him 
and close to the bank of the river, which was 
swift and deep, but he had not seen me and did 
not know that I was near him. He was stand¬ 
ing on the middle of an old cottonwood log, the 
butt of which projected three feet over the river 
bank some ten feet above the water. Finally 
Jerry moved backward along the log, watching 
something in front of him. I could see a black 
object through the willows, but could not get 
a clear view of it. Jerry kept backing away 
and presently I saw that a big silver tip bear was 
walking straight at him from the other end of 
the log. 
“It was evident that Jerry was not going to 
stand fire, and as only about eight feet more of 
log remained for him to back up on, I moved 
my hand, attracted the bear’s attention, and when 
he stopped, gave him a shot that broke his neck. 
“The crash of the rifle had not died away be¬ 
fore I heard a splash in the water and a cry 
for help. The bear was lying quiet, so I dropped 
my gun and got hold of a long pole, and run¬ 
ning to the river bank reached it down to the 
spluttering, strangling bear hunter in the water 
below me, and landed him for all the world the 
same as we used to the overgrown catfish of the 
Big Muddy. 
“After Jerry had got some of the water out 
of his system and recovered his nerve I asked 
him if that was the way he killed bear. He 
gave me a kind of sickly grin and said that he 
did not know that- the log stuck out over the 
water. He got a good ducking all right and lost 
a .44-40 rifle in the water. 
“He had made the camp tired with his bear 
yarns, so I told the boys of his bear fight on the 
Ino River. They did not give him much rest 
for a while, and we heard no more of his im¬ 
probable bear fights, and directly he continued 
his ride on the chuck line.” 
A. J. Woodcock. 
Tie Up the Dogs. 
New Britain, Conn., March 16 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The editorials in Forest and 
Stream, telling of the damage done to game 
birds by the ravages of wandering dogs, led me 
during the last year to devote some little time 
to trying to see for myself how much harm 
these dogs did. 
My observations, together with what Forest 
and Stream has said, have thoroughly convinced 
me that you are right, and that the wandering 
dog, whether he be the farmer’s watch dog, the 
animal that brings home the cows, the fox 
hunter’s pet, or the bird shooter’s favorite al¬ 
lowed to run at large, causes far more damage 
than I had imagined, until the injury was 
pointed out. I feel sure that I am not the only 
one that has been convinced of this. From dif¬ 
ferent points in the State I learn that other 
sportsmen and bird lovers have given attention 
to this subject, and that there is some prospect 
that an effort will be made at this session of the 
Legislature to procure the enactment of a law 
forbidding that dogs be allowed to run at large. 
Friends of mine living at a distance—in quite 
another part of the State, in fact—have com¬ 
plained to me at various times during the last 
two or three years that they know of cases where 
hounds spend much time—in the open and close 
season alike—in chasing deer. One man told 
me of an experience that he had which at least 
stopped deer chasing by one group of hounds. 
Almost every day when the weather was right 
he used to hear the hounds chasing a deer down 
from the north almost to the Sound, when it 
turned and ran north again. Whether it was 
always the same deer or not, he of course did 
not know. The deer always followed a certain 
course south and another course north—always 
the same. 
One Sunday, hearing the usual racket of the 
dogs going south, he determined to try to put 
an end to this, and seizing his gun and thrust¬ 
ing three or four shells into his pocket, he ran 
as fast as he could toward the point where the 
deer might be expected to pass on its return. 
Fie had almost reached the place when he heard 
the dogs coming, and saw the deer coming, run¬ 
ning slowly, its tongue hanging out of its mouth, 
and one of the dogs not very far behind it. The 
other dog was perhaps fifty yards further back. 
The man reached a fence corner, saw the deer 
pass within twenty-five or thirty yards of him, 
and when the first dog came by he gave it the 
right barrel, and as the second came up it re¬ 
ceived the left. These two dogs ran deer no 
more. 
To many of us the important damage done by 
the dogs seems the breaking up of the nests of 
game birds, but the farmers must also feel the 
damage done by the destruction of insect-eating 
birds. FTere, in New England, where the gipsy 
and the brown-tailed moths cause such frightful 
damage to vegetation, and where farmers at best 
have a hard enough time to get along, the de¬ 
struction of every insect-eating bird is a public 
calamity, and I should suppose that the farmers 
and the grangers everywhere would be willing 
to tie up their own dogs and to insist that every¬ 
one else should tie up his. 
I used to believe—chiefly perhaps because I 
have been told so by older men—that the domes¬ 
tic cat was one of the worst enemies of our 
game birds, but I believe now that the dog is 
far worse, and this for the very reason that you 
have given; that the cat hunts almost exclusively 
near home, while the dog may make long jour¬ 
neys and cover a great deal of ground. 
I am hopeful that here in Connecticut we shall 
be able to arouse a public sentiment which will 
demand that this pest of the covers shall be 
abolished—by being confined during the breeding 
season of the birds. 
No man loves his dog more than I, or is more 
anxious to have it enjoy life, but it is certainly 
criminal to permit dogs to be at large at a time 
when they destroy the nests of useful birds. 
N. B. 
New York Legislature. 
On March 22 Senator Long’s bill, to permit 
spring shooting of ducks on Long Island was 
defeated by the Assembly by a vote of 66 ayes 
to 73 noes. As in the Senate, most of the up- 
State members of the House opposed the meas¬ 
ure. Later in the session an effort will be made 
to reconsider the adverse vote and to pass the 
bill. 
Bills introduced: 
By Senator Platt, providing that ducks, geese, 
brant and swan may be taken from Sept. 16 to 
March 31, both inclusive, on Keuka and Seneca 
lakes. 
By Senator Rose, making it lawful to keep 
live skunks in captivity for purposes of propaga¬ 
tion and sale. Providing that the open season 
for deer shall be from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15, both 
inclusive. 
By Assemblyman Brooks, prohibiting the tak¬ 
ing of wild birds for which a closed season is 
provided by the use of any automatic or re¬ 
peating shotgun or pump gun holding more than 
two cartridges at one time or that may be fired 
more than twice without reloading. 
Quail Killed by Accident. 
Pinehurst, N. C., March 23. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: I was quite interested in an ac¬ 
count you published of birds in Cambridge killed 
by flying against buildings. 
To-day I started a large flock of quail, but 
they had doubtless been watching a flying 
machine nearby and taken a lesson in naviga¬ 
tion, for with skill and safety they sailed among 
the trunks of pine trees. 
But the Pinehurst quail are not always so 
skillful. 
A flock of quail near the hotel were frightened 
and a man seated at a window by the piazza 
roof was astonished when the birds struck the 
building to find nine dead on the roof and three 
were picked up dead from the shrubs below. 
“Love is blind,” and I suppose in their love for 
freedom they did not stop to see their way of 
escape from pedestrians clear. 
F. W. Webber. 
