Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-10-01
Deer Hunting In the Adirondacks.

At seven the hunters are off. Three
or four dogs are started on as many
trails by the hunters. who often take
long tramps through the thick woods
Tor that purpose. Generally, however
Il taxes only few minutes to find a
track, and the dog starts, baying as he
koes at irregular intervals on the trail
made, perhaps, the night before. He
wanders about uncertainty for time,
rs the deer has fed, and then goes off
straight and quickly out of hearing be-
hind some wooded hill. The hunter
knows then that the deer has left off
feeding; that the dog has not reused
him as yet, bat that he is probably ly-
ing ut rest after his nights travel So
the hunter uses his ears instead of hi.
eyes; he listens for the lost sounds.
Tie air is full ef murmurs; now he
thinks lie hears the dog: but it is only
some great fly buzzing rods away. An
hour is gone; the ear is tired of its
araining. and he scans the bay. Ii
may be the deer has come to water, it
often does before the dog is heard. He
looks along the border of .he lakes
where the leaning cellars make dark
zone; many an unpracticed eve has
missed the game in that deep shadow.
He sees some floating object far down
the lake, at which he strains his eyes;
1t Is loon that laughs at him and dives
and floats away. The lily pads rise
fpD61 the water with the breeze and
cheat him into another long debate be-
tween the sense and reason. Another
hour Is gone and eye rs well as ear is
tired. Blueberries or raspberries are
thick about him, and he picks them and
giyes an occasional glance about the
lake. a crash comes across the lake
from the hill TO startle the strained
senses; it is some great tree falling in
the woods that jars the earth, shocks
the. air, and makes the water lap the
pebbles on the beach. In the hush
that follows the faintest baying of the
hound is heard, far of but quite dis
tinet. Echo makes a plaything of the
sound, throwing it from hill TO hill,
giving it to you first at one point, then
from another, cheating you all the
time. You spend two whole hours in
listening to that sound, and then it dies
down again, and your guide concludes
the deer has gone to water in some dis
tant lake. And then you push of your
boat for n start homeward, when all at
once on the hillside, close TO the place
where the dog first took the trail he
breaks out again, loud and urgent,
barking, yelping, bowling in one loud
continuous stream of noise. He ha
the deer ahead of him this time sure
Ienorgh.-.Eow every thing is excite
ksc ticing YaNis no fatigue in eyes or
esrsS->ssolo> the hiii they go, deer
and dog, up the lake shore toward the
head. "Will he 20 in there" we ask.
NO." replied the guide, ''we never
watch that place" Back they come,
right toward our watching place. "wnl
he come in 20 we ask. '.Not yet," is
the reply. The chase turns and goes
rapidly up 4 brook bed toward High
Pond; another turn aud back they
come, this time through a swamp. We
can feel the perplexity of the dog as
the marshy soil defeats his scent, and
breaks his baying into infrequent and
impatient howls. The swamp is passed
and as the chase leads of in straight
line parallel with the shore, our guide
fairly shouts. "That deer is ours there
he goes straight for Great Forked and
and right into BIS hands" We wait
minutes that seem hours. "Why
doesn't he shoot? the deer is in the bay
long before this" and BIS rifle cracks
two miles away, and the hunt Is up.
Five hours of steady watching gives us
deer. 1t is the story of a representa-
tive hunt which might have been var
led in a score of ways and ended in de-
feat at last.