I thought I saw a bear

A visitor to church caused quite a stir.

“In the Methodist church at Troy Hill, Saratoga County, a few days ago, a bear entered the church and walked up to the altar railing. The audience ran out and so did the bear,” The Granville Sentinel reported on Aug. 5, 1887.

Perhaps the bear was there to pray for safety come hunting season.

More than 600 bears were killed in the Adirondacks during the 1887 hunting season, The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Nov. 8, 1887.

Bass Pro Shops would classify the following bear as “enormous,” — weighing about three times the size of the average bear of 150 to 250 pounds killed in most states.

“Hague has furnished a hunter with a bear weighing 450 pounds dressed,” The Granville Sentinel reported on Jan. 25, 1889.

A large bear does not necessarily yield that much more meat, however, as much of the excess weight is usually fat, the Ontario Out of Doors Magazine reported in an Oct.16, 2019 article about wild game.

Here’s a great story about bringing home dinner in Hamilton County.

“Two plucky Adirondack belles, daughters of James McCormick, of Lewey Lake, went out a short distance from their home the other day, armed with Winchester rifles, and brought down a large bear,” The Morning Star reported on June 23,1888. “They afterward secured assistance and brought the game home.”

These bears appeared to be scouting for an upcoming feast.

“Two black bears were seen crossing the fields at midday lately in the Lens Lake (Stony Creek, Warren Couty) settlement,” The Morning Star reported on Aug.3, 1888, “They were doubtless locating the corn patches, where might regale themselves in the near future when the toothsome corn gets up.”

He thought he saw evidence of a bear.

“Timothy Hall of Warrensburg saw bear tracks in the vicinity of his home the other day, and now half of the inhabitants are said to be up in arms on the trail of the ursa major,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 13, 1888.

This reporter did see a bear — and a neighboring newspaper ribbed him about it.

“James D. McNulty, a Saratogian reporter, who is recreating at Blue Mountain Lake, had a lively tussle with a bear the other day,” The Morning Star reported on Sept.12, 1888. “’Mac’ went out in quest of squirrels. In his saunterings a bear made his acquaintance and tried to hug him. He was not prepared for such a large game, and for a time it looked as if the bruin might render ‘Mac’ entirely useless as a writer of free ‘puffs’ and obituaries.”

The tale ended with a typesetting pun.

“He plucked up courage, however, and succeeded in ‘laying out’ ursa major with two charges of buck shot.”

In this instance, “his bruinship” probably would be wise to discount the old adage about trying again if at first you do not succeed.

“On Monday night of last week, a bear came out in the residence of one Mr. Noble, and, after searching around the house and outbuildings for a cosset (protected in an over indulgent way) lamb, walked along a stone wall and fell off in the snow,” the Dresden Center correspondent reported in The Commercial Advertiser of Sandy Hill on Feb. 18, 1880. “Being unsuccessful in his foraging, his bruinship took himself off in the snow for parts unknown. Several old hunters are ready for him now. So. if he shows himself again, it will go hard with him.”