The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-01-03
GREAT DEER sLAlERs.
A EIan.who has Killed One Thousand Deer
The Deptb of rreeIey.

GREAT DEER SLAYERS.
A EIan.who has Killed One Thousand Deer
The Death of Greeley.
The Post of Pittsburg, Pa, SAYS
One of the principal deer slayers in
Pennsylvania is Andrew Stiner, of N.Y.
erstown, Lebanon county. For nearly
forty years Stiner has camped out in the
Allegheny mountains during the season
for killing the deer, and many are the
stories he can relate of his exciting chase
or patient watch in the stiffness of the
woods, miles away from human habita-
ton. In the early times Stiner's uncle
settled in the neighborhood of Benning-
ton Furnace, now on the line of the
Pennsylvania railroad, between Altoona
and the big tunnel, and it was while
visiting the old uncle that Andrew got a
fondness for deer hunting, which in his
after years has been his only amusement.
For the last twenty years Stiner's
stalking ground has been in the head
waters of the Big and Black Moshanon,
in Center and Clearfeld counties. His
companions have been, for many seasons,
three men of that neighborhood, who
are familiar with all the spurs and creeks
OF that mountainous region. Jacob Test,
John Funk and William Ream have
camped out with Stiner every season
since 1856. Ream lives at Osceola,
Clearfield county, and Test and Funk
near Tyone. These men mark the
crossings of the deer through the sum-
mer, his retreats and feeding grounds.
They put up cabin near these places,
and prepare the hunks and cooking ar
rangements. Then Stiuer is sent for.
He comes with the ammunition, blankets,
gum boots, and such other articles as
are essential to a lumberman's life, for
his three friends are loggers by occupa-
tion, and the annual hunt is not the sole
occupation of their lives. They take
out supply of provisions, and, with
well-filled straw hunks in q dry shanty,
plenty of robes and blankets, and good
stove, they fix themselves nicely. For
several years their cabin has been six
teen miles from Phillipsburg toward the
Snow-shoe mountains. Last year Stiner
brought back with him from that locality
to Eyerstown an express car load OF
venison.
Ream has himself killed over one
thousand, and it is said that Jacob Test
and Funk are not far behind him. Last
year an immense seven pronged buck
batfied every attempt to bring him down.
1t became q regular saying that they
were going out to kill Greeley, for such
they have named this unusually large
deer. Stiner and Ream got after him.
There was light sift of snow upon the
ground, just enough to trace the blood
drops of wounded buck or doe, and
they started early to the crossings
These men, from long experience, be-
come very familiar with the habits and
haunts of the deer, and know the par
ticular kinds of weather in which they
seek the hill tops, or when they go down
into gorges OF the mountain. Fully
three days before heavy snow storm
the deer all quit the mountain tops and
seek the big laurel swamps for food and
shelter until the storm is over. After il
has passed, if the weather gets colder,
they leave the swamps and take to the
high ridges of the mountain. Thei,
sense of smell and of hearing is very
acute. They must be approached against
the wind the hunter must face the blast
in his travels after deer, or he never will
as much as get sight at one. The deel
cannot see any distance, and on rainy
days, when the leaves are wet, you may
often approach within few yards OF
them without being observed. Indeed
this Stiner party have, on damp days
when the leaves are so wet that the
sound of every footstep would be dead.
ened, approached within twenty feet OF
tie largest bucks before they took the
alarm, which in those cases were of short
duration. For the aim of the trusty
rifle was true as its fire was deadly.
The day that Stiner and Ream shot
the big seven-pronged buck Greeley
they had started for him early. Late
in the afternoon as Stiner was standing
watch at the door of the deer crossings,
he saw Greeley coming full tilt toward
him. Stiner and Ream were close to-
gether on Black Bear Run, and distant
about ten miles from their cabin. Sti-
ner gave him shot, but the deer in
creased it's speed, and leaped the creek
which at that place was twenty feet
wide, at one bound. Ream hearing the
sound of Stner's rifle, came up, only to
be told that he had missed Greeley, but
upon the examination of the ground
it was discovered that Greeley had been
wounded, and it was determined that
Ream, who could run all day like q
hound, should follow up the trail. He
had not gone twenty steps when he came
across the big buck, which had been
pierced through the heart. 1t was
eight years old, and weighed 260 pounds
when dressed.
These old deer hunters have a great
aversion to the big fox hound in chas-
ing deer. Nearly all the old hunters
use the half hound dog. These dogs
cannot run deer more than two hours,
and serve as signals when the deer have
been found. The deer are said to be OF
the increase in the mountains of Penn.
| sYlyania this wear