the morning train on the M. & M. Rail¬ 
road, ten miles away, sounded its 
whistle for a station. The sound of 
the whistle on the clear, thin air was 
faint and far off, but I thought it was 
the same sound I had first heard, so I 
started on. I finally came out into a 
small lumber clearing, where some of 
the old buildings were still standing. 
This had always been a good place for 
porcupines as they lived under the 
floor of the old barn, and I had pre¬ 
viously killed three there. I went 
quietly over to the old barn and stood 
looking in the door. I could hear a 
“porcy” grating his teeth under the 
floor, but could not see him, so I stood 
waiting. Quite suddenly a big fat 
porcy climbed up out of his hole be¬ 
tween two logs, and started to waddle 
toward the door. Just then I heard 
the bawling sound which I had thought 
was the train. This time I was much 
nearer to it, and the sound increased 
in volume and ended in a roar, fol¬ 
lowed by a throaty growl. I knew what 
it was now, for many times I had 
heard old trappers telling how a bear 
will bawl and roar when caught in a 
trap. 
The porcy was still waddling toward 
me, and as I wanted him for bait for 
the other trap I shot him and ran to 
the top of the hill on the edge of the 
clearing, from where I could look down 
to my bear trap. I stopped to listen, 
standing on the limbs of a fallen beech, 
about six feet from the ground. Down 
through the woods about two hundred 
yards, I saw my bear. He was stand¬ 
ing facing me, both front feet up on 
a big log, his head swaying from side 
to side. Not knowing how badly he 
was caught, I fired for his head. As I 
did so, the branch I was standing on 
broke, and I fell into the beech top 
from which I had a considerable job 
extricating myself. The bear was not 
in sight when I climbed out from the 
tree top, but before I had gone many 
paces, I saw him behind a big log, 
fighting furiously with the trap. He 
would stand up full height on his hind 
legs, take the trap in his teeth, and 
with his free front paw, would pull 
and shake the trap until I wondered 
at the strength of it and the chain. I 
had a beech drag fastened to this trap 
which weighed over forty pounds, but 
the bear had dragged it almost three 
hundred yards until he got hung up on 
the big log. This drag was really too 
heavy, and I have since found that a 
hardwood drag, eight feet long, just 
big enough for the ring on the chain 
to slide over, and not weighing over 
twenty-five pounds, is plenty big 
enough. The trap must be fastened 
about three feet from the end of the 
drag to prevent the bear picking it up 
and carrying the whole thing away. 
In writing to 
I saw the bear was well caught, high 
up on his right front paw, so I got out 
my camera and made a number of 
close-up exposures. When the bear 
tired of fighting the trap, he would 
stand or sit down, always facing away 
from me, and never looking at me. I 
went up very close to him, but contrary 
to most stories told of bears’ actions 
when cornered, this bear was not es¬ 
pecially ugly, nor did he show any de¬ 
sire to fight. When I poked him with 
my gun barrel, he would growl and 
snap his jaws at me, but he never even 
offered to come at me or to even turn 
toward me. I have often killed coons 
in traps, that showed much more fight. 
After I had dressed him out and 
opened the trap with the clamps, I 
measured him up and found he was a 
fine specimen, though very gaunt and 
thin from his long winter fasting. The 
bear measured 60 inches from tip to 
tip, and weighed in the neighborhood of 
two hundred pounds, even at that time 
of the year when he was so poor. The 
pelage was good, long and quite black, 
though of a coarse quality. After 
much lifting and hauling, I finally got 
him up on a big stump, and slid him 
off onto the top of the pack basket. 
This way I got the weight distributed 
between my shoulders and neck, and 
taking one hind paw and one front 
paw in each hand, was able to balance 
him and carry him down the hill, 
through the swamp to the stream. 
Here I left him to get in the boat later 
in the afternoon after I had visited my 
other traps. 
The trip to the “set” on the hogback 
and then to the “set” in the ledge was 
uneventful. Both traps were undis¬ 
turbed. I put the porcupine up in a 
tree not far from the set in the ledge, 
intending to leave him there until my 
next trip in, when I would put him in 
whichever pen seemed most favorable. 
Late that afternoon I got the boat in 
front of my cabin on the stream and 
paddled up to where I had left the 
bear. After bringing him back to the 
camp, I had to shoulder him over a 
mile carry to the lake where I put him 
in my guide boat; crossing the lake 
and arriving at the little railroad sta¬ 
tion at 10:30. Here I left the bear to 
be shipped for me to a taxidermist, for 
I intended to have him mounted whole 
for a collection, and I wanted the taxi¬ 
dermist to have first hand measure¬ 
ments. 
Ten days later I arranged to get away 
for a few days, with the idea of get¬ 
ting a little early fishing, and also of 
taking up the two remaining bear 
traps. When I got to the pond on the 
edge of the burning, I went up to the 
ledge to look at my “set” there. I 
found the trap uncovered and the honey 
gone and a big bear track in the soft 
Advertisers mention Forest and Stream. It will 
THE LOUISIANA GULF 
COAST CLUB 
N these days of a disappearing 
game supply, the duty of a shoot¬ 
ing club consists of much more 
than a yearly visit with guns to kill 
all the birds that may appear. Men who 
love shooting may themselves conserve 
the supply of available game, and go 
on beyond that to increase the supply 
in every possible way. No territory in 
the United States knows more wild 
life than the 160 square miles of the 
Louisiana Gulf Coast Club. Its mem¬ 
bers will enjoy shooting privileges in 
the richest American game field, but 
they will restrict themselves to limits 
in accord with club regulations, so as 
to play their part in the true conserva¬ 
tion movement. 
This property, now owned by the 
Louisiana Gulf Coast Club, located, as 
it is, between great game refuges, has 
been a direct menace to wild life and 
its conservation, so long as it remains 
open to promiscuous shooting and the 
danger of sooner or later being devel¬ 
oped as farm lands. 
Women members, and the wives and 
daughters of members, will have equal 
privileges with men. Guides and in¬ 
structors will be ready to assist and 
instruct them as desired. 
One of the most attractive features 
of the shooting is the great variety of 
the game. Good shooting can be had 
every day during the open season on 
ducks, geese, snipe, shore birds of 
about twenty varieties, woodcock, 
quail, doves, rabbits and squirrels. 
Throughout the shooting season, a club 
member can be assured of splendid 
sport, entirely relieving the monotony 
which attends shooting at the usual 
duck clubs, where, after a limit of 
ducks is killed, there is nothing to do 
but wait for the next day. On the 
Louisiana Gulf Coast Club property a 
member can shoot ducks in the morn¬ 
ing, and snipe, quail, geese, or shore 
birds in the afternoon, or he can have 
a rabbit hunt with rabbit hounds or go 
fishing, or bathing, play golf, tennis, 
go riding or enjoy many other invigor¬ 
ating pastimes. 
Sportsmen and sportswomen who are 
interested in joining the Louisiana 
Gulf Coast Club are invited to write 
the Club, 623 So. Wabash Avenue, 
Chicago. 
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identify you. 
Page 727 
