They lie
asleep in this condition for about six months, generally snowed in; but
you can tell the place, as the heat of the bear, what there is left,
keeps an air hole up through the snow. The bear seems to live on its
fat, the tappen preventing its too rapid consumption; and if you run
across them during this time--even along in March just before they wake
up--they are about as fat as when they went in. I have taken a slice of
fat from a black bear six inches thick--regular blubber. I remember,"
continued the man, "one winter I was 'log hauling' in the western part
of this State. We had our eyes on a big tree, and one morning when it
was about ten degrees below zero I tackled it to warm up. I hammered
away for about five hours at it and finally started her, and over she
came--slowly at first, and then as if she was going right through. The
snow was nearly three feet deep, and as the tree struck it flew up for
about twenty feet and half blinded me, and when I came to there was the
biggest black bear I ever saw standing along side of me, looking about
as mixed as I did. I had lost my ax, and the first move I made she
started, and on taking a look I found that she had a nest in the trunk
and had probably turned in for the winter.
Pages:
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188