The Bear Hunt

Text Box:   The Bear Hunt That Started It All On November 4, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt went on a bear hunt in the Mississippi Delta, an area of rich, fertile soil in the northwestern part of the state, in a community called Onward.  It was a belated birthday gift from some of his friends.  Everyone wanted to make him happy because he was the president. Chief huntsman of the 1902 bear hunt was Holt Collier, a former slave who had worked as a Confederate cavalry scout and a professional hunter all around the world.  Click here to learn more about Holt Collier - www.holtcollier.com Collier promised a bear for Teddy Roosevelt even jokingly promising the president one "if I have to tie one up and bring it to you."  But after three days of hiking, running, swimming and hunting, they still had not found a bear. They were about to give up. But on that last day,  Holt Collier was riding a horse through the bayou with his favorite hunting dog named Jocko when suddenly an old bear grabbed the dog.  Knowing he could not shoot the bear without hurting his dog, Collier instead hit the bear on the head using his gun like a club.  The semi-conscious bear was then tied to a tree in the bayou.  Holt Collier then blew three times on his hunting horn for all of the people in the hunting party to come. When the party came and saw the bear tied to the tree, they urged Teddy Roosevelt to shoot it.  He refused, saying it was not good sport to shoot a wounded bear.  Newspaper reporters accompanying the president on the hunt immediately wrote stories about this, and he was called a "hero".  However, few of the papers reported that later it was decided to kill the bear anyway, since it was so wounded that it needed to be put out of its misery.  The bear's pelt (his skin with the fur still on it) is in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington,D.C. After returning from the hunt, Roosevelt, the gentleman that he was, wanted to express his thanks to his hosts for a very memorable visit. To do this, he sent them two ginkgo trees as his appreciation for their hospitality. There were newspaper reporters along on the bear hunt.  When they reported about the president's refusing to kill the bear, Roosevelt became a hero.  The story was changed in some reports so that the bear was let go.  Cartoons were drawn about the hunt.  In the most famous cartoon drawing by Clifford Berryman, the old bear was changed to a little cub.  Then toy makers started designing stuffed bears and naming them "teddy bears."                                                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph of Holt Collier at age 63 in 1907.

Taken on a bear hunt with Theodore Roosevelt in Louisiana.

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