Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1888 — A WEST VIRGINIA BEAR-PEN. [ARTICLE]

A WEST VIRGINIA BEAR-PEN.

How a Shrewd Old Farmer Makes Meat of the Animals That Try to Rob Him. [From the Cincinnati Enquirer.] After an excellent breakfast Uncle Jimmy led the way to his bear-pen, which I found to be a large room built of logs, notched and fitted strongly together, with a roof and floor of the same material. Before we reached the pen its occupants had scented us and began to give vent to yells and that shrill, whistling sound peculiar to the black bear. The nearer we approached the more excited the animals became, until the noise of their yells, snorts, whistlings, and scratchings drowned our voices. The pen contained nine animals, six full-grown fellows and three which were about half grown, “two-year-olds,” Uncle Jimmy sg.id. A basket of corn, scraps from the table, and a bucket of milk thrown and pouned into troughs put a quietus to the fearful racket, and in a short time only a satisfied grunt or a low growl and cuff administered to some venturesome fellow who trying to purloin a toothsome dainty from his neighbor were the only sounds which broke the silence. After I had gazed at the nine great, fat, apparently contented fellows for a time I said:

“How in the name of goodness did yon get them ? You don’t raise them, do you?” “No, of course not. Bears are too thick about here to bother with raising them. We caught them all in traps.” “Bow do you tlo it? The trap cripples them, doesn’t it ? And none of these fellows appear to be injured in the least.”

“We use the regular bear-trap, with the teeth filed down. The jaws close on their legs with Btich force that the bear can’t release itself, but the bones are never broken. The skin is broken and badly bruised often, of course, but that soon heals up, and as to how we get them here you’ll probably see for yourself before a great while. ” “What are you going to do wfth them?”

“Fatten them, and then kill them and sell the meat—that is, all we don’t use or give away. There’s one thing you don’t know about bears, perhaps. They are easily fattened when kept in close, clean quarters. And then, again, we think that when we raise corn and other stuff for bears we might as well have the bears, and most of these fellows were trapped near the cornfields or the pig-pens. ” “When do you do your hunting and trapping, principally?” “Generally during the winter season, of course, hunting is carried on, but as for trapping we catch them any time during the year that they annoy ns. That big black fellow, ” pointing to the largest bear of the lot, “was caught in the middle of summer. He had made several raids on the sheep and hog pens and carried off several fine animals, and I determined to trap him. To kill him would be only a waste of good material, as they are invariably poor in hot weather, so we looked around and learned the route he took in going and coming—they almost always travel over the same route going and coming—then we set a trap on both paths, selecting narrow places which the bear could not get around very handily. The next morning we had this fellow fast enough by one fore paw. He was poor as a Methodist preacher, but he was full of fight. Then Sam (the oldest boy) and I got our pole and chain—but come down to the house and I will show you how we manage them.”

Then Uncle Jimmy led the "way to the house and took down a long, smooth hickory pole, about eighteen feet long, with a chain attached to the middle. The chain had a noose at the end, kept open by a small Btick, somewhat less than two feet long. “We took the pole and chain, and, holding each an end of the pole, managed to drop the chain over the bear’s head. The rest is generally easy enough. The bear fights, of course, but it don’t take long to choke him into submission. Then the trap’s jaws are slackened and his foot released. Then comes the trip to the pen. With Sam at one end of the pole, myself at the other, and Frank behind with a pitch-

fork or a long fire-brand, Mr. sear is soon np to the door of the small room yon see shut off from tbe rest of the pen. The door is opened and the bear pulled np in front; a sharp prod of the pitchfork or a taste of the firebrend in bis rear and in he goes. The door is then slammed down and the chain released from the pole. Of course, the bear soon gets tbe loop off his neck and it is easily dragged out. In a day or two the small door between the pens is opened and the bear driven into the larger one. There is almost always a fight, of course, but it is not long before good feeling is established.”