The Second Amendment and the Last Bear Shot in Washington County

An article by John Hayes in yesterday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Meet your new neighbors: the bears”, reported that, “The state's black bear population has quadrupled since the early 1980s,” and that there are bears in more than 55 counties in Pennsylvania. I don’t know if this includes Washington County.

I’ve lived in Pittsburgh since 1964, but I’m originally from nearby Washington County. For the first eight years of my life, I lived on a farm that had been owned by my family since the late 1700s. Several years ago, when I was researching our family tree, I found out that one of my ancestors is said to have killed the last bear in Washington County.

James McDowell was born in 1804, and according to family records, “followed farming, stock raising and hunting as an occupation, and was considered in his day a great marksman. ...When about fifteen years of age he, with a flint-lock rifle, went hunting, taking along with him a young fox-hound. Before he was off their own farm, he came up to a black bear. The young hound would not leave him, but with his tail down and bristle's up, kept a sniffing. He finally discovered the bear standing up on its haunches and on firing, the powder flashed in the pan, causing the gun to back fire. In the meantime the bear had got down on all fours and ran about a rod before the gun discharged the ball. This bear was the last one seen in these parts and when dressed the bear weighed 300 pounds. [sic]”

I never liked hunting, but my father John McDowell Jr., was a hunter, so I have some understanding about its appeal. Dad owned two shotguns (12 and 20 gauges) and two rifles (a classic 30 30 Winchester and a 264 magnum with a scope). Dad, however, was a different type of hunter and gunowner – he had a conscience.

Winchester 30 30

Dad never owned a handgun because he thought they were “worthless for hunting and dangerous.” He thought that semi and automatic weapons should only be in the hands of the police or soldiers. He had one cardinal rule when it came to guns: never, never, never point a gun at anyone even if you are 100% absolutely sure that the gun is unloaded.

He never graduated from high school, couldn’t quote the Second Amendment like all the NRA members and gunowners of today, but understood it in a way that these fanatics and indifferent politicians never can.