The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-03-11
VOLUME [. NUMBER 7


the morning. if it be STILL that is to saw if there is
breeze, and if other circumstances are favorable
This scratching by the bucks is equivalent to the
biting of the bark of trees by the bear, the below
ing and scrapng of the earth by the bull, the COB
bling OF the turkey, and the growing of the cock
challenge to combat and al indication of the ex-
citement prevalent alike through the whole animal
| creation during the love season.
| During the ruttng or running season, the bucks
| and does are almost continually in notion and at
| this period they are not governed by their usual
habits, particularly in regard to the time of grazing
and browsing. With the exception of this season.
they Craze at night if the nights not very dark,
and continue grazing until little after rise,
| when they lie down for the rest of the day, till
about set, in hot weather. However, they
drink about the middle of the day. When the
nights very dark, they lie down during part of
| it, and feed much later in the morning. During
such times, We have approached within sixty feet,
and shot them before they rose, in our fire hunting
| excursions.
| Their food consists of grasses, moses, weeds;
and they browse the tender buds of various kinds
of shrubs and trees Indeed, pet deer are very des
structive to all kinds Of shrubbery. They fond
| OF most kinds OF mast, and very particularly
fond of the striped acorn, Ia small oval acorn hav
ing stripes lengthwse) and this is their favorite
| food of the whole acorn family. They may gene
rally be found, late in the fall and early part of
winter, wherever this kind of mast abounds. They
| are also fond of young pumpkins, and are quite
msclllevous when they take fancy to pumpkin
field. They are also fond of the top bud of the cot
ton plant. Deer usually prefer thckets, where they
can conceal themselves in the day. There are two
exceptions to this general rule when flies and MUS
qultoes are very troublesome they may be frequently
found lying down or standing in open places where
the sun shlnefOr they aware that these insects
cannot well bear the hot rays of the sun. They
also lie down i'll such places ON the south side of
hills at the season when their horns are becoming
hard-the hunters say, to dry their horns.
During their grazing time. which is peneralIV
but not always, at night, they out into the open
woods Wherever mast abounds, or wherever there
is an abundance OF food that they fancy not infre-
quenty in cultivated fields, near to their range,
| they usually lie down i'll thekets of cane, bushes,
prairie grass, palmetto, or green briarf, and when
aroused, by man or dogs they generally Keep the
thickets, unless they are hard pressa;, wfcu they
occasionally run Oh open grojfd 'f:t l.ssiiy TO the
nearest thlcke--and Very generally different deer
running over the same ground make the same run
hence, when hunters have driven the same neighs
borhood a few times, they know where the deer
will make their run, and station themselves accord'
ingly These places are termed IS sTArDs.n Deer,
when pursued in the daytime, do not pass by the
same paths they do at night when they are tnmo.
Tested, because, we have already remarked, they
range more III open ground them
Ii deer is running, and not pressed, and hears
noise, unless man is discovered or scented close,
he will generally stop in thicket Or on its margin,
if one is hard by if not he will stop by the side of
large tree if one be near; and we have often
thought that they had peculiar mack of getting the
tree between U.s. They appear to be conscious that
large tree will protect side of them. 1t is a.
common thing for still hunters, when deer has
been suddenly bounced up or when one happens
to be near, to beat to it, initiating the noise of
fawn or doe As general remark, a deer will stop
where his run happens to cross road or pathway,
that is much travelled, except when he is hard
pressed by the dogs, and even under these circum-
stances he will frequently stop. Sometimes in the
middle of the road but generally little before he
arrives at the road particularly if there happens
he any bush, brush, or thicket of any kind there,
or indeed, a tree two If it had been run hard,
and the dogs are far behind and out of hearing it
will approach the road very cautiously, and the
hunter must be very circumspect, particularly if
the current of the air happens to pass from the :
stander into the drive, otherwise the deer will turn
back and pass of the drive at another stand, or
at an unusual place. Their sense of smelling is
remarkably acute, and person unacquainted with
deer, would scarcely believe that deer could
'wnd man SO far.
During the spring season, after the flies and MUS
qufoes have become troublesome, the deer frequent
the shallow lakes and ponds during the day time,
as retreat from the annoyance of these insects
Sometimes they lie on little elevations, caused by
the roots of trees, and not unfrequently in the
water without any part of them visible except the
head and neck and these they occasionally plunge
under They select place in the pond where
the rays Of the sun can penetrate, which drive
away the mosquitoes, these insects not being able
to bear the hot sun. At other times during this
season they may be found in the more open parts of
the Forest to which they resort for the same reason
1t is a generally received opinion with deer
hunters of the western and southern states, that
deer get up to feed at the rising of the moon,
whether during the day or night, and they pay par
ticular attention to this fact in still hunting in the
day time and in watching for them at deer ticks
during the night. We think that this opinion, SO
far as the night is concerned, is correct, for the
fact is well known to deer hunters that they do not
feed much dnring dark nights Hence it is proba
BILE that they rise with the moon enabling them to
see more distinctly.
Deer invariably get up to feed after shower of
ran more particularly if there has not been a
shower for time. This is mquestionaby
fact which all still hunters regard, and this is ia
vorite time to kill deer. They may be induced
to stir about at this time for two obvious reasons,
first because it is dsagreeabe to them to lie down
in the water secondly, their favore food is re-
treshed by shower
In passing irons place to place in the day. they
invariably keep in CT near the margin of thickets,
if there are any in their route, and If there are
none, then they pass where the trees are thlckest,
and if there are neither trees nor thickets inter-
vening and there should be patches of high grass,
weeds, they will pass through them.
In passing through hills, mountains, deer
never attempts to run directly to its summit by the
nearest and steepest course, but Winds about AZ a
gentle angle somewhat after the meandenngs OF a
turnpike road, in descending or ascending from, or
to- the hills uplands, they observe the same
rule and in passing over hills mountains, they
invariably pass through the low grass between the
high points and they never, when pursued, pass
over the high knobs, or peaks of hills hence when
in deer driving hunter takes stand i'll the hills,
he selects the lowest gaps
BEST THE FOR KILLING ANIMALs.-1t has lately
been discovered that the flesh of animals which
are killed in the middle of the night, will keep
much longer than it will when they are killed in the
day time and it is for this reason, preferred by
those who prepare ported meats. This circumstance
is very singular for proves that the flesh is ttest
for keeping when taken from the animal at the time