Butte record., 1854-04-08

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snow was in perfect order for our pur-
pose. Our dogs were therefore unlashed.
and went off with simultaneous '.howl,n
while ny friend and | followed as fast as
we could The first note of the deer
hounds was signal for The herd, and
we could see their huge bodies, crashing
through the underwood, as they started
away. They ran across some open
ground, evidently with the intention of
gaining the heavy timber beyond. On
4 this ground there was but little snow
and as we came out through the thicket
we had full view Of the noble game
The old bull was in the lead, followed
/ by the others in a string. | observed
that none OF them galloped-a gait they
rarely pgactice-but ali went in sham
bling tFot, which, however, was very
fast one, equal to the speed of horse.
They carried their heads horizontally.
with their muzzles directed forward,
while the huge artlers Of the bull leaned
back upon his shoulders as he ran. An
other popularity that struck me-the
divisions Of their great split hoofs, as
they lifted them from the ground, met
with a cracking sound, ike the bursting
OF percussion>caps and the four togath-
ratified as they ran, as though a string
Of crackers had been touched of. I
have often heard similar cracking with
the hoofs of farm-cattle; but with so
many hoofs together, keeping up the
fire necessarily, 1t produced very odd
impression upon me. In short time
they were out Of sight. but we could hear
the baying of the dogs as the latter closed
upon them, and We followed, guided by
the trail they had made. We had skatel
along for nearly mile, when the howl
4 Of the hounds began 70 sound through
/ the woods with more abrupt and fiercer
lechoes. Weknew by this that the moose
had been brought to bay, and we hur-
ried forward eager to have a shot. On
arriving at the place, we found that only
I the old bull had made a stand. and he
was successfully engaged in keeping off
| the dogs, both with feet and horns
The others had gone forward, and were
out Of view. The bull, at seeing US ap-
Iproach, once more took the trot, and.
followed by the dogs, was soon out of
sight. On reaching the spot where he
had made his temporary halt, We found
that his trail there parted from that of
the other three, as he had taken almost
an opposite direction Whether he had
done SO considerably, in order to lead
the dogs away from his weaker compan-
ions, | know not; perhaps our sudden
! appearance had terrified him 10 a degree
If confusion, and he had struck out with
out looking before him. We did not
reflect or these points at the time. Ny
friend, who was probably thinking more
about the meat than the sport, without
hating moment, followed the trail of
the COW and calves; while I, guided by
different motives, took after the bull.
was in too great a hurry to heed some
admonitions which were given by my
friend as We parted company As our
trails separated, heard him shouting to
me to mind what | as about but the
courses we followed soon carried Us be-
yond earshot or view of each other.
| fol- owed the chase about half mile
further, guided by the tracks, as well as
by the baying of the hounds Again
this assumed the fierce angry tone that
denoted a battle going on between the
dogs and the moose. As | neared the
spot, the voices Of the former seemed to
grow feebler; then there was contin-
ued howling, as if the hounds were being
roughly handled, and one of them l no
ticed was altogether silent. On arriv-
ing on the spot, which did soon after.
leaned the cause Of this change Of
tune One of the dogs met me running
back on the trail on three legs only, and
wofally mangIed. The moose was stand
I ing in a snow-pit, which had been trod
den out BY the animals while battling.
and near his ieet lay the other dog, mu-
tilated in a most fearful manner, and ev-
identity quite dead The bull, in his
rage, still continued to assail the dead
body Of the hound, rising and pouncing
down upon it with his fore-hoofs until
the ribs cracked under the conclusion.
On seeing me, he again struck into the
snow, and made off | saw, however
that his limbs were much lacerated by
the frozen crust, and that he ran slowly
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