Lin shot his first bear when he was 19, at a time when the government had not yet listed the Formosan black bear as a protected species. While hunting in the mountains, he saw that a bear was caught in a trap and couldn't escape, so he shot it with his hunting rifle.
林淵源在 19 歲時獵到第一隻熊（那時政府還未將黑熊列為禁獵的保育動物），當時他在山上打獵，熊誤踏陷阱後逃脫不掉，他便用獵槍將之射殺，還險些被躲在附近芒草中憂心守候的另一隻熊攻擊。