HUNTING

From "History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan" - 1880

At the time of our first arrival wild game was not as abundant as it proved to be some seasons after. From the first there was a panther, however, which gave the settlement a good deal of annoyance. He could give out any noise that might be imagined. His agility was most surprising. No squirrel could leap from one tree to another like this native puss. But whether he became tired of his Canadian associates, or whether he had a ' more eligible call,' no one could guess; at any rate he made a very sudden and unexpected exit, to the inexpressible joy of us all.

Wolves were prevalent from the very beginning. These implacable gentry were altogether more unceremonious than our recent catship attendant. Their audacity would have put even some of our modern cheeky fellows to the blush. Approaching the very thresholds of our frail shanties, they would almost nightly give us a full specimen of their peculiar thunder. To this gratuitous compliment they would often add that of taking a few sheep from the very thresholds of our homes. I have often been in the woods alone, surrounded by numbers of these greedy monsters, when the whole forest was made to ring with their hideous howling voices. Boldness is their characteristic when at large, but when captured, like all thieving rogues, they are both mute and indisposed to self defense.

In the years 1842, '43, and '44 deer were about as plenty as sheep are now. I have killed many of these peculiar denizens, by nature wild as the wildest though they are in their native haunts. Yet, unlike the sneaking wolf, when caught alive will fight to the bitter end. Of this trait I had some experimental proofs, particularly with an old veteran buck. Having shot him twice without killing him, he proposed to return the compliment. As soon as I found him making for me in right earnest, I managed to keep at the opposite side of a small tree. Taking my partner, not over politely, by the horns, with my arms astride the tree, I held on for dear life, nowing well my fate if I should lose my position. In this attitude the strife commenced. The aim of my heroic companion was to stab me with his huge pointed horns, my object for the most part being to prevent him. When an opportunity occurred for putting my knife into him, forgetting his head armor, he would then give me the benefit of his heels. At times he would bring me to consider myself only second best. Through loss of blood, rather than courage, he at length yielded the palm of victory, when I had the honor, I cannot say satisfaction, of taking off his head. When dressed the carcass reached the weight of two hundred and ten pounds, being the largest deer I ever killed.

We had two kinds of bears in the woods of Oneida, the large, long-legged, brown-nosed species, and the short-legged black one. The bear, like some bipeds, is a great lover of pork; this seemed to be all of the flesh kind he cared about, and of this he was quite tenacious, to the frequent disadvantage of his new acquaintances. My mode was to take them in traps,-that is, when I could, though I did take quite a number in that way. There was one of these fellows, however, that knew too much for me. Having killed a hog for my neighbor Lewis, in his absence, I was sent for with orders from Mrs. Lewis to go and capture him. So taking my young friend, Master George W. Nichols, with me as an assistant, I set the trap as usual. On the next morning we went for our bear. A light snow having fallen in the night, we encountered the well-known track on our way, and before reaching our trapping-grounds. Confident and elated with our expectations, our disappointment and chagrin were now the greater when we found the fellow had taken the trap off some twenty feet, and, as if to convince us of his superiority, turned it bottom side up, and left it there unsprung. Eating what he wanted of the bait, he had very graciously retired. We tried him again for three successive nights, but to no purpose. On the fifth night, having set two traps instead of one, we caught him good by the ball of one foot. Carrying the ponderous trap to a log some distance away, he then pounded it off, leaving within its jaws the sinews of his leg, some eight inches long, and then made his escape.

Unlike the wolf, when caught, the bear will fight to the very last breath. I have shot and trapped a large number of these animals, and have always found this to be an infallible trait. One morning, as I was proceeding in considerable haste to one of my bear-traps, I was accosted by two of my clergy neighbors as to the cause of my hurry. Answering that a bear was in my trap, they expressed a desire to go along and see the sport, so taking them with me, and walking a little ahead, I overheard their conversation. It pertained, of course, to the subject of bears,-about their reputed strength and courage. They appeared to be quite skeptical as to these qualities,-thought they would like to take a hug with Mr. Bruin if they knew he wouldn't bite. After going about three miles we struck the trail. Letting my anxious dogs loose, I ran ahead of my reverend companions for the purpose of getting a shot, knowing there would be sharp work when  the dogs reached the trap. Giving the bear a shot in the best place for crippling him,-the region of the kidneys,-the fight began. The two elders coming up and seeing the power, endurance, and grit of the bear, even in his crippled condition, their desire for a back-hold seemed to evaporate, the dogs and myself having the honor of conducting the whole fight throughout.

George Jones, Philander Parmenter, William Henry, Amadon Aldrich, and others of the early settlers occasionally indulged in the luxury of a bear-hunt, and this was especially the case on one occasion, when the four men mentioned followed a bear-which had unluckily got into a wolf-trap and carried it off-nearly to the site of the present city of Lansing, and after an exciting fight with the two dogs which they had along, his bearship was finally killed by a lucky shot from Mr. Jones' rifle. The carcass-a large one-was cut up, and each carried a portion of it home, where they arrived about sunset.