Excerpt from Francis Harper’s Mammals of the Okefinokee Swamp, published March 1927:
About a dozen years ago there were some exceptionally good bearhounds on Billy’s Island. One day two of them treed a Bear near the Lee’s home. None of the men happening to be at hand, two of the women went to the place and shot the Bear out of the tree. When it fell, they did not venture to go up close and give it a finishing shot, as one of the men would have done, and consequently the animal succeeded in mauling the dogs so that they died. Certainly there can be a few places in the country where such an episode has any likelihood of occurring.
- Harper, Francis. The Mammals of the Okefinokee Swamp Region of Georgia. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 1927.
Okefenokee Photography Project by William Wise 
Do you think it was a black bear in this account?
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Yes, the American Black Bear is pretty common throughout the Okefenokee. They may even be considered the Florida Black Bear subspecies, Ursus americanus floridanus. Thanks for reading! William
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