Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-11-23

] VI WHICH ne rests MS ncuNN rlte. HIS misses
are rare, but | think his general great success
in hunting is due less TO his accurate mark
manship than to his perfect knowledge of the
ways of the game. He is student of the sci
eace of hunting. He has learned. for instance,
how to impose upon the confidence of the
timid proghor by exciting its curiosity:
knows that the white-tailcd deer must be
sought in their run-ways low down along the
water-courscs (whence they are sometimes
called willow deer J, and the back-tal high
er up among the aspen-grOves: watches the
BLACK brush TO see whether deer have been
browsing upon it lately; tells you that wapiti
have been there that morning. because he sees
that the plantain-leaves have been nibbled
judges by the half-emptied pine-cones that
grouse have been picking at them and there
fore may be looked for These evidences of
the presence of animals are classed as signs"
and "doin's, and it is hunters business to
know how to interpret them properly.
In the early autumn Yount will shoot wag-
On-load of game at time. camping for a few
days not far from market and bringing his
meat into Laramie, Cheyenne, or Sydney, for
sale but, when winter seriously threatens.
Harry puts into his wagon small tent some
butlalo-robos and blankets. a bake-oven fry.
ing-pay, coffee mill and kettle, some copper
pals. plates, etc., his score or so of steel
traps, aud some boards TO do his skinnng on,
half box of candles, plenty of fixed mumu-
milton for his breech-loading rifles, and with
Texas led behind. starts off to the noun
tans alone for six months Of winter resi-
dence.
His provisions consist of sufficient flour and
coffee drowned and ground by himself, II lit
tie bacon. some beans and homny, sugar,
salt. pepper. and few pounds of dried fruit,
or perhaps some cans of preserved sauce. This
ls not bad fare. and Is luxury beside his larder
a dozen years ago, when for weeks and weeks
he would have nothing but meat and dried
berries to cat. with sage-tta calnas-root, and
spruce-gum, for variety He takes also II lit
Tie whlskey for emergencies Harry Is not in
temperate and vast quantity of tobacco to
be the solnce oi his solitary hours
lhus. all alone generally. though sometimes
Il chliin Joins him. Harry drives of to the
chosen spot in the foothills. where he counts
upon the game c,ntring during the winter, or
where there seems to BE- an opportunity for
favorably setting his traps and fixing his
camp III some sheltered spot. with wood plen-
~ and water accessible. he lives hermit's
life through the long and dreary winter"
The weather permits him to tramp about
most of the time. and what hc shoots too far
away. or too late to get to camp. he can bury
III the snow. sure Of its preservation.
Thrilling tales could be recited of the ad-
ventures Of these mountaiu-men. who are
abroad at this season almost as regularly as in
the summer. Some. like Harry are hunting
in the mountain valleys. where the game hides
until the spring pras, sprouts: some are driv
ing freight-wagons between frontier towns
and military posts. others working i'm army
pack trains: many herliug on elevated plains
where the snow does not lie long enough on
the grass to stnrvc cattle Mos, of them are
ignorant Of the proper care of themselves.
and secure in the pride of their toughness
are reckless Of exposure. II happens too fire.
Quentv Therefore. that they are crushed in
snow slides starved by being weather bound
far from help or are frozen to death Not a
year ago company of freightcrs were stop
ped on their way from Fort Laramie to Chey-
enne bv "A hurricane of snow. They wrtpped
themselves as well as they could. and built
fires in the wagons unnvailingly, since the bot
toms of the boxes would burn through before the
men could get warm When the storm was
over. they were all found dead. with the horses
frozen stiff in the traces II a prospecter
conceves an idea that at "A certain locality in
the mountains gold will be found often he
will become 50 eager to realize his dream that
he will not wait for spring to clear the trails
but in the dead of winter will start alone into
the heart of the range. carving the whole
furniture Of his camp his tools and his pro-
visions on a single pack-mue. Very likely
he is never heard of again: and when. a year
or two afterwmd. some hunter finds skele-
ton with "A skillet pick, and shovel beside it.
he discovers all any one will ever know of the
prospecters strike" Perhaps he became
snow-blind, aud starved to death or was
snowed-n in some canon until his sCant SUP
ply of -four and bacon was exhausted 1t may
be Indians murdered him possibly he slip
ped over a cliff, or broke through some treach-
eruus snow bridge into a crevasse-at any rate
the wolves pick his bones. aud the last claim
wide
Our hero-a very cautions manifold us at
the campfire one night how he narrowly cs-
capped being smothercd in snow-storln in
April a few years ago He was trapping b,a-
vtrs along one of the tributaries of the Platte.
flowing through bluffs about sixty miles east
of Cheyenne. April is always an extremely
disagrceable and dangerous month on the
Plains, but it is not often that heavy falls of
snow occur Yount established his camp up
on the edge of a small stream freuuentcd bv
these animals. and placed his tent "A little way
up the bank in "A steep gully which was al
most the only SPOT free from snow. and at the
same time out of the reach of freshets. He
had provisions for some davs n shovel. etc.
and plenty Of bedding One evening it be-
gan to snow pretty hard but he went to sleep
without any special apprehension In the
morning he found fl gale blowing. and the
snow falling in binding fury. All that day it
continued. through that night. and until al
most noon the second day-fortv hours. He
had no chance to cook any food. and so ate
nothing: but he and his dog lay in the blank
cts. and kept as warm as they could. The
prospect of being entirely drifted under and
smothered to death was so imminent during
the second night that Harry once wrapped his
legs in blankets. and started to fight his way
out with board as his weapon. but concluded
to wait little longer, and managed to live
until the gale ceased Then he cut his way
Il. ,r a.,