Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1869-11-12

called them, but preferred 10 XIII uis Feh-
ison little further from hons, which he
could do at any time, by starting before
the break e day and placing himself
near one of the deer trails or runways as
the hunters call them. These ruuways
are paths which The deer have made in
going back and forth between the prai
Ties and the timber. The deer came
from the timber just at night, partly to
feed upon the prairie grass, but chiefly
TO drink and eat moss at the KInnckin-
ME and its tributaries. In the morning.
about daylight or soon after, they return
to the woods again.
/ frequently accompanied Uncle Ned
on his summer morning hunts. We
seldom went more than half mile
from his house. We would select some
spot 10 station ourselves, where the trail
made n short curve Or angle, and at the
right shooting distance from the trail
Deer, unless frightened. will invaribly
halt for a lew seconds ut these places.
We would conceal ourselves together
behind bush or some slight covert, and
Uncle Ned would always give me the
first shot, but cautioned Inc vary partic
ularly 10 shoot none but bucks or young
dee. The doe at this season of the
year. is ia POOR flesh; besides to kill
ono would be alnosl sure 40 be the mems
of starving a fawn, or pair of them.
which the mother doe has left secreted
til she can return To The cover. Some
hunters would not be thus careful Of the.
deer: but Uncle Ned did not hunt Tor
the sport OF numbering his game. bat
Cor venison. His caution was well in
tended, but for time entirely unneees-
sary, rs was at first invariably taken
with the "buck fever" and every time l
attempted to shoot, for several mornings,
instead of looking along the barrel of
my rife and through the first sight, |
only took aim over the inuzzle, aud con
scqueully sent tho bullet flying far oveS
the deer. But Uncle Ned, anticipating
ail this. would be ready, and OLD
Belts" as lie called his gum would speak
her piece, and the buck was sure To fall.
This terrible malud, of the buck fever"
however, was Of short duration. soon
became cured os it, and would kill now
and then ..eer; and would have killed
rs many does as bucks bad | depended
upon my own judgment in discriminat
ing between the two. The bucks having
shed their horns, and rs no new ones
Lad as yet grown oct, could see but
little difference between the sexes. But
whenever | raised my riffs to shoot the
wrong sort. u Gle Ned would say, Hold!
that's a doe!t" That word "Hod!' at
first considerably annoyed me, rs | would
hear j; spoken in a low Dne of voice,
just as | was about to pull trigger. But
[ soon bccnme accustomed To it, and
cheerlully obeyed, hoping the next deer
mi lit prove TO be buck, as was gener-
ally the case.
In this wav / had been for several
weeks receiving double the amount of
spor, had anticipated. And yet there
was quite drawback TO it. The hour
Tor starting on these morning hunts was
II hllle earlier than | liked to tumble
out. Ii seemed to make the long days
of June little too hong, aud the nights
altogether too short, to follow up the
sport siea;Ii!y Besides, the prairie grass
MAS getting tail, and heavy dews were
falling; the mornings were little chill
ly, and as there was no way OF reach
ing the Ieer trails except to 90 through
this tall, wet @ ass, one would necessarily
gel thoroughly soaked from his feet To-
above his knees; then TO stand IN this
plight 5ehi d a cover, waiting for the
deer to come along, was really quite un
comfortable; and to tell the truth. had
made up nv mind that the balance of
my hunting. while stopping with UucIe
Ned. shou d be done at some other time
of DAY, at any rate w:en there was 20
dew To make ones limbs find so much
fault with their treatment
/, therefore, on the morning of the
fourth of July, proposed to Uncle Ned
that, as there were no public festivities
within reasonable distance, we ccle
brate The day in the Big Woods" which
haG been for generations, and still were,
the f:vori.e hunting grounds Of the In
clans. There was an album lance of
game in this belt of TIMBER Deer were
the most numerous. though the favor it"
game IF the Sioux, the Mackwa, (bear)
u:ts occasionally seen Uncle Ned was
einIeI with my proposal, and iInnredi
atr,ly commenced preparing far the hunt;
and first b, cleaning and reviewing odd
Beils." He had 81 finely monrtad rifle,
which louked ms if it might do itself
credit on any occasion. Yet"Old Bets"
was his f;,vorite. and he seldom used any
other gun on any of his hunts. sod
Belts" was an old fashioned flint lock,
smooth bored, English una, cf4ctured
gun, with heavy bands. and a crown
stamped ON Tie barrel, near the bfeech,
under which were also stamped the fig-
ures "l775." This gun Uncle Ned had
inherited from his grandfather, who
served his country in the Revolution,
anil who, in hand to hand fight,
wrench I'd tile same from the gasp of n
British, soldier. alter receiving bayonet
wound in the heshy part of his arm. be
low the elbow. Uucle Ned insisted on
1t that he was more sure of his game
with this gun. than with any other he
had ever used. He said: ITO be sure
1t was not quite so quick to discharge