A Hunter's Bear Hug Nearly Becomes His Last

Adam G. Mechling, the veteran hunter of the Sauk, fell under the jaws of a 300-pound she bear a week ago last Thursday and is now nursing a lame shoulder and hand and a lacerated thigh as the result of his experience.

In company with Joseph Mathias, of Pennsylvania, he was hunting for deer in the dense undergrowth of the forest east of Hamilton, in Skagit county, and was passing through a thicket in which devil's club grew profusely. Progress through the undergrowth was most difficult, and in order to see where they were the two men climbed to the top of a log that had fallen across another log. All at once Mechling raised his hand with a warning gesture of silence. 'Sh-h-h, I see a fawn's head,' he whispered, at the same time pointing over the tops of the bushes to a brown animal some yards away that seemed to be eating the red berries of the devil's club.

'It is a fawn,' he added, bringing his gun to shoulder. Taking a steady aim, he fired, and the animal dropped from sight.

A moment later there was a commotion in the brush about twenty yards to the right. 'I struck it, but it is getting away!' shouted Mechling, and he plunged from the log into the thicket, determined to capture the fawn before it could get further into the forest. In a second or two he was at the spot where the animal was first seen. As he crashed through the brush, suddenly a black object rose up before him, uttered a smothered growl, struck fiercely at his arms, and sent his Winchester spinning twenty feet away.

The bear, for such it was, immediately closed with him, and down he went, the savage beast on top, tearing his clothing to shreds and lacerating the flesh in a dozen places.

Mechling called to Mathias, who at once sprang to his assistance. When Mathias reached his companion's side he found the bear lying across the prostrate hunter, the claws of the left fore foot set in his right shoulder, the right paw clutching the left hand and the jaws closed on the left thigh. Mathias placed his gun at the side of the animal's head and sent a bullet crashing through the skull from just behind the ear. The shot apparently produced no effect. He then touched the bear's side with the muzzle of the rifle and fired a ball through the heart. Then the beast slowly unlocked its jaws and rolled dead from the body of Mechling.

Mechling was helped to a rancher's cabin and his injuries attended to. Five incised wounds were found on the thigh, the shoulder was badly scratched and one claw had pierced the left hand, entering at the back. Strange to say, his injuries were comparatively slight, and he is now able to be about.

The carcass of the bear was removed from the thicket and skinned. The hide is in possession of Mathias, who will have it tanned and preserve it as a trophy of the adventure. The ball fired by Mechling had passed through the jugular vein, inflicting a fatal wound. The commotion in the brush was caused by a cub, which made its escape.