Teddy Roosevelt & The Teddy Bear

The story of Teddy Roosevelt, and the teddy bear is true, but the details vary a little depending on who is telling it.

Some say it was a young bear, and others say it was old. Some say it was wounded, and some that it was exhausted and sick.

This account will be a summary of others.

The story began when TR had some business in Mississippi.

Knowing he was an avid hunter, and wanting to please the president, some local people took him on a bear hunt in the swamps.

It must have turned into an exhausting hunt where eventually a small bear was "treed", or caught. It was then tied, or chained; so the President could shoot it.

When he saw the "poor thing", and the circumstances; he refused to shoot it. Later he did order the bear "put out of its misery", but he would not shoot it.

This incident was reported and became a popular story at the time.
It was used in political cartoons, where it was eventually
turned into a cute cuddly looking little bear.

A smart storekeeper got an idea;
he started selling a similar stuffed animal.

Why would Teddy not shoot the bear? There could have been many reasons. We can't know why.

We do know that he was a serious hunter; he could have been looking for a trophy bear.

We would like to believe that he did not take the bear because it was just killing a bear; the hunt, or the bear, did not come up to his idea of good authentic hunting.

"Score-Your-Hunting" would like to raise the standards of hunting. We want to change the way some hunters think about hunting. Teddy Roosevelt scores highly with us.

We think he would have approved of what we are trying to do.

Go to Authentic Hunting
Teddy Roosevelt to Score-Your-Hunting.com