A Tough Old Hunter.
The Exploits of Phin Teeple-Slaying Thousands of Deer and Hundreds of Bears-How His Boys Killed a Bear.
Susquehanna Depot, Pa. [Dec,2], Correspondence of the New York San.
Old Phin Teeple, of Preston, Wayne County, has been absent some weeks in the forests of Potter County hunting. Phin is 70 years old, and since he was 11 years old has killed 2,085 deer, 488 bears, and numberless wolves. He intends to kill enough this season to make up 3,000 deer. He thinks bears are not worth bothering with, or he says he would have a record of twice as many of them killed. Nearly all the bears he has killed he was obliged to shoot to save himself. Several of them he killed in hand-to-hand fights with his knife and hunting-axe.
No one would take old Phin to be more than 40, although he has resched the time allotted for man to live.
He left word when he went away that if there was a war with Spain to send for him at once, as he wanted to try his hand at shooting Spaniards before he died.
Old Phin has two promising sons, Chris and Lije. They are respectively 19 and 21 years old. They have hung up fourteen deer this season, which has been a poor one.
On the 23rd of last month they heard that there had been a large bear seen near Duck Harbor. They resolved to go and tackle Bruin. They went. Discovering his tracks along the edge of the pond, they followed him to a den among the rocks. They commenced to smoke him out. He soon appeared at the mouth of his den, growling and showing his teeth. Lije was going to shoot him, but Chris said no; give the bear a chance. They smoked the animal until he became enraged and rushed out at the hunters. Bruin came at them on his hind legs, his paws ready to embrace his foe, and his red jaws distended. Lije drew his hatchet and advanced to meet the bear. When near enough he dealt it a fearful blow on the head, which dropped it to the ground. The two brothers then pitched in togethor, and without firing a shot soon despatched the huge animal, with the loss of some clothing and the receipt of a few scratches. They then dressed it and dragged it home. It weighed 263 pounds, and furnished a Thanksgiving dinner for the whole neighborhood.
Old Phin tells of an adventure, among many others, he had once in the woods of Wayne County, before many men had set foot therein. With a party of two others, one of whom was the late venerable Hon. Paul S. Preston, he went out after deer. It was in the Paupack region. Old Phin stood on a run away about a mile above where Hawley now is. All at once an immense buck sprang into the creek. Phin put a ball behind his foreshoulder, and the deer went down. It was up again in an instant, and turned to come back. Phin met it on the bank, and a hand-to-hand fight at once commenced. The hunter saw that the deer was too much for him, and finally turned and fled. The deer pursued. Phin, took to a tree. The deer walked around the tree a few times, and then lay quietly down. Phin had no gun, and, as it was very cold, and drawing near night, his position was not onviable. He did not care to get out of the tree and fight the deer, as he knew from experience that a wounded buck in the worst thing in the world to “tackle.” Every move he made up jumped the deer and looked at him, as much as to say, “come on.” Phin halloed for his companions, but could not get a reply. About midnight , when he was nearly dead with cold, he heard a shout. He answered, and soon his companions came to his rescue. The deer jumped up, but made no move. The dogs came up, and it braved their attack. Paul Preston put an end to the belicose buck by a ball from his never-erring rifle, and the treed hunter was rescued.
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