A Bear Story: An Amaranth Tale of Fifty Years Ago

Source: Orangeville Banner, November 20, 1913, p.6 (N 258 Reel #35 Archives of Ontario)

An Early Settler Tells of Shooting Bear and Deer Near His Own Home

The following bear story is from the pen of Mr. Robt. Wansborough, one of the pioneer settlers of Amaranth township and now living retired in this town: -

"when I moved to the township of Amaranth I bought the first farm in the 7th concession , lot 15. At this time there were not any roads opened up in this section. None of the roads west of the Second Line was open for more than a mile or so. We went in on blazed trails through the bush, sometimes on the concession lines and sometimes on cross roads. This was in the year 1860. I found about 15 acres cleared on my farm and a house partly finished . I bought the farm in the winter and went up in the spring of 1861 to see it. I got as far as my nearest neighbor, Mr. G. Bennett, on lot 13, and to my amazement found all the land to the north of his place covered with water. The branch of the Grand River that crosses the 7th line on lot 14 had swollen and overflowed its banks during the spring thaw. Mr. Bennett told me that the water would go away in a short time and all would be well. However, I rented the farm to him for $10 that year.
I came up several tie during the summer and sure enough the lake had disappeared. I had some money left after paying for my farm and buying a good yoke of oxen and a plow and h arrow. I got the municipal council to help me put a bridge over the river and I fixed up my house and I cleared some more land during the summer of 1862. I was working a farm in the township of Erin, but I spent all the time I could spare on m y farm in Amaranth. In the spring of 1863 I moved in with my oxen and a good supply of flour and pork. That year I got married and settled down, happy for life, but oh! how many changes there are in a person's lifetime.
I bought two pigs weighting about 120 lbs. a piece and fixed up a pen for them. In those days all cattle and pigs were pastured outside the farm fences, where there was better pasture than there is inside the fences now. However, one morning when we went out to milk the cows, we found all the cows and oxen in a rebellious state. Old Cherry's eyes looked like a tigers and she would not come near the pig pen. I could not make out what was wrong until I saw that there was only one pig. Fifty men could not have go him to go near the pig pen. I wen to the pen and was surprised to notice some blood on a log. I knew at one that one of my pigs had fallen a victim to a bear. I began to think what was best to do, as I knew that when Mr. Bruin had eaten one pig, he would come back again and take the other. Then when there were no more pigs he might take me in mistake for one. I got to work at once. I had a double barreled shotgun on e of the cheap kind and very large in caliber. I pounded out two round slugs to fit the gun. I put a handful of of powder in each barrel and rammed down the slugs on top and primed the gun. Then I went after the bear. I could track him quite easily by the spots of blood. There was a fallow of about six acres across the road. Bruin carried my porker in his arms or on his back, or in some other remarkable manner, and walked on logs six or seven feet high. When h e reached the middle of the fallow he ate the head off the pig and left the body in the woods on the other side of the fallow. I carried the remains back home and buried them in a field near the house, so that if the bear came back we would have a fair fight for the carcass. There was a log heap on the side of the road near the fallow and close to the pig pen. In the evening I laid down behind the log heap. I could see between the logs splendidly and could also shoot between them. It was a beautiful day in June and about half an hour before sundown, as I waited anxiously, I saw bruin coming up through the fallow, sniffing along the trail over which he had carried the pig the night before. When he came to within seventy yards of where I was he got upon a log and was looking around, when I let him have the contents of both barrels. The discharge made a report that might have been heard for ten miles. Lo and behold, when the smoke cleared away, I saw his bearship trotting away through the fallow, although I h ad knocked big bunches of hair off him. I felt as if a horse had kicked me.
I was somewhat angry over my failure to land the marauder and I determined to procure the best rifle that I could buy. I started for Orangeville and on my way called at Springbrook. John Wallace, who was then the landlord, was an old sport and had a double barreled rifle for sale. It was a weapon of great renown and was owned by William Stubbs, afterwards M.P. for Cardwell. It was the fashion in those time to have a few glasses of Kola wine, when you were making a bargain, so I treated Mr. Wallace a few times and he sold me the gun for $40. I went home vowing vengeance on all bears and other voracious animals. The next day I shot to deer in the fallow through which the bear had carried my pig. That was a dandy gun! All one h ad to do was to hold it straight and pull the trigger and it would do the rest. At that time I could get all the venison I wanted, but it was bears that I was after, for I had not yet got even with them for the loss of my pig.
It was now the 1st of October and I decided to go and value some land for a man. I always carried the rifle with me when I was travelling in the woods. There had been a heavy frost and the leaves had fallen off the trees and were lying on the ground quite deep, so that when walking you would make a great deal of noise. I sat down on a log and while in this position heard a strange noise. I at once started for the part of the bush from which the sound seemed to come. There I discovered a bear and three cubs in a tree. The old bear was sitting in the crotch of the tree and the three cubs were in the branches, disporting themselves and talking to the old bear in their own language. They were so busy that they did not see me until I was within about eighty yards of the tree. My first thought was to get to the tree and keep them from coming down until I could shoot them all, but when the old she-bear saw me, she emitted a most unearthly sound and started to come down the tree.

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