Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1881-09-15
"HARBoRING. AN UNNAMED STAG.
Meaning of the Word-Hrov the No.
BILE Reast Is Found.

ots Ateast Is kOunus
To the reader who boasts of no sport
ing proclivities, harboring an untamed
stag may seem an experiment not less
dangerous than nurturing serpent in
ones bosom and, even to the minds of
many who claim some knowledge of
hunting IN its more common phases, the
phrase Will perhaps convey very vague
meaning. 1t is better, therefore, to be-
gin at once by explaining that harbor-
ing Is technical term, used by experts
ia woodcraft, for which there is no
substitute. Nor is any wanted. for it is
a very good word as it stands. 1t means
SIMPLY the task of tracing the noble
beast to his lair amid some dense thicket
OF the far-stretching coverts that clothe
the steep hills and deep combes of this
wild and picturesque West country.
This has to be done, not with the aid of
keer-scented bounds, but merely by the
highly-trained intelligence Of single
man, who has devoted many years of
his life to the study of red deer and
their habits. The harborer begins his
work hours before the earliest of those
who take part in the more exciting
scenes of the chase are ont of their
beds, and few among these habitual fol-
lowers have any idea of the toll that is
undergone by this man in providing the
means of pleasure for them, or OF the
patient skill displayed by him in pur-
suit of his calling.
Long before the first pale streaN of
dawn glimmers above the tops of those
heather-clad ridges, and while the val
1,
sets out ON his lonely way over moors,
where there may be nothing but q
devious sheep-traek to guide him, and
that often lost In a painless swamp or
overgrown with tangled ling. He and
his forest bred pony, however, have trav-
eled these solitudes together Tor many
day. 10 them every swell or hollow of
the open heath are as familiar as the feat
ures OF broad highway to ordinary
beings and through the thick laists
that roll from seward across these
wastes they can make their way with an
instinct that is as seldom at fault as the
needle III which a sailor places implicit
faith. When the fixture is at Cioutsham
Ball, as 1t always Is for an opening day
with the Devon aud Somerset, his labors
are little Eghtened by intimate knowi-
edge OF the feeding grounds most
affected by the lordly wanderers. The
chances are many that local farmers and
rnstlcs, III whom a love of the sport has
been lnstilled from childhood, will be
able to tell him oil about the nightly
habits OF the wary animal Of which he
is In search. They will have watched
the monach of the herds moving slowly
from field to field Of ripening cora in the
summer moonlight, or returning with
long, leisurely stride from some distant
scenes OF feasting, to the deep shadow
OF his woodland retreat in the gray
dawn.
Still, the harborer may not trust these
men overmuch. Beyond learning from
them the customary haunts of the
heaviest harts, for with them only has
he any concern, he must rely on his
own keen observation. Having given
all the deer time to return into the
woodlands, he Detakes himself straight
way to the part where field u stand
ing corn lies near the covert boundaries.
1t Is here that the latest stag, with noble
breadth of bsamed frontlet," has been
seen browsing ON the wheat for nights
past, and there, in the laziness of his
welI-ted ease, he will probably have been
dalntlly nibbiing the choicest morsels
within the last hour or two. Luckily.
there was rain before nightfall. and on
ground that but day before would
have been too hard to bear the faintest
trace of q footprint a wel- leiined
"slot will be left now. Thsre ii is, too
lndlstlnct for the closest scrutiny Of I'M
trained eyes to make anything of, but
clear enough to him who reads all
these signs as if from a book. A little
further on and he stoops to examine an
ear of corn that is only half eaten
clear sign that stag has been there,
nlbbled at it after his fastidious fashion.
and passed on TO another. He can be
followed into turnip-field, where the
roots, simply bitten by him, then tossed
dlsdainfully over his head, are strewed
IN wastefGl profusion. Again he comes
on clear SLOT this time male deer
without shadow of doubt, but too mar
row at the heel to proclaim a goodly
stag of 10, and, therefore, proving only
of passing interest for the harborer who
is in search OF nobler quarry.
Mile after mile he walks, now piung-
ing into deep valley, where a brook
comes tumbling down and foaming over
huge brown powders, now toiling slow
ly up precipitous sleeps, whence he
looks on the broad channel flooded with
moonlight and on the dim outline Of
distant Welsh hills, until the long sigh
ing of the Severn sea can be heard far
below, where the surf breaks on huge
rounded rocks Then, by wide detour.
he comes back 10 the further side of
Vide valley. Daylight Is falling tull on
the ridge as he crests il, and still no
signs of the looked-for stag have bets
found. At last his footstep, auickens as
he catches sight of rack III the bound
airy fence, with twigs freshly broken by
the passage of heavy deer. There is
the slot now, three fingers ploa1 at the
heel, and the marks Of the dew claws
where he has taken off for his leap into
the covert. Going back little the har-
borer finds another slot well defined, and
the roes spreading only so much as they
do when a stag is travelling at a slow
trot. Evidently, therefore, he did not
mean going on, and will probably he
found III the covert below. Still, to
make sure, the harborer covers all the
ground around by slowly-narrowing cir
Giles, and, finding no trace of slot GO
ing out, he tells almost within gunshot
where the grand old fellow is lying.
Then be masters away loyfully to meet
The huntsmen and hounds at their tryst-
eriDg place on Cioutsham Ball, and
though many will crowd around him
eager to knew the whereabouts of the
quarry he will keep his secret from all
but master and huntsman until the tuft-
ers have been thrown IN, found their
game, and the chase has begun. Cor.
London .Staaddrd.
A French Boy aud His Mother.
Nothing in this imperfect world is so
beautiful IS the Citations of q French
4 1 Al. r