The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-03-17
A Minnesota Deer Hunter.

While hunting in the pineries of Min
nesota / once met an old half-breed
who taught me more in q few days than
/ ever learned before or since. 1t was
when compared my scanty superficial
knowledge with his sound practical lore
that discovered the lamentable extent
of my ignorance and how much had
to learn. This old veteran was about
fifty years of age, and he had hunted
deer for more than thirty-tive years,
making it speciality. 1t can be read
lily understood that his advice was
worth taking, and am only sorry ]
did not prolonS my hunt with him, as
every deer brought out some new
stratagem. and every move was check
mated by this unerring, steady old
Nimrod. He was regular hound, and
could find more game than three ordi-
nary hunters; but, what an anomaly!
he could not shoot. Actually, If deer
moved, or even wagged his ears. the
old fellow would quietly wait till he
was stock still, and then blaze away.
Sometimes he would kill, but that was
and as he would insist on using single
barrel muzzle-loading rifle, Of course
the deer was off before he could ''do it
some more" To miss with him seemed
rather q matter to be expected than
one to get mad about, so, nothing
daunted, he would reload his rifle, sit
on log, light his pipe, soliloquize and
ascribe reasons for his maladroitneSs,
and make wise resolutions for the fu-
ture, and having put in about half an
hour, go ahead, take up the track of the
doomed deer, and eight times out of ten
get another shot, with varying results,
inside of an hour.
How he did it l never could tell; all
that know is that have followed him
for days from morn till dusk, and have
seen him shoot three or four times at
the same deer in a day, and generally
bag him in the long run. When we
became better acquainted, it was mutu-
ally agreed and understood that he
would do the finding and / the shoot
ing; and by that means we generally
had the pleasure of hanging up q deer
or two q day without his firing a shot.
At first l ascribed his finding the deer
merely to good luck, but l soon got
over that. He would follow a fresh
track q short distance, and without CIV
ing any reason, and guided by an un-
erring judgment, which was simply
supernatural, would leave it or strike
out at right angles and shortly come
upon the same track or else point out
the deer, perhaps fifty or one hundred
yards away, shifting and watching his
back track, while his foes were either
in his flank or rear. On such an oc-
casion it was merely q matter of target
shooting with me and not interesting,
being entirely too mechanical, SO that
l frequently purposely made noise to
start the unsuspecting stag to give him
q chance.
This conduct ON my part was sure to
be followed by blessing from the
veteran, who recognized no rules or
laws governing such shots, and as
seldom missed, it was difficult to make
him perceive the difference, as in any
case the deer was "venison." One
day l missed clear and clean,
and as the doe kept out Of
my sight 1 could not shoot again.
The old man, in q tit of rage at my
laundering in having made the deer
run before fired at him, threw up his
rifle and. without taking any aim, let
fly. Down came the doe, all in a heap,
shot through the neck, and dead as a
nail. The funny part is that to this
day the old fellow thinks did the
killing; whereas only fired one shot
and that was away high.
This mans antipathy to breech-
loader amounted to absolute hatred, and
it was only after repeatedly showing
him its advantages that he so far con-
descended as to allow me to hunt with
him while carrying my repeater. l
shall never forget the queer expression
on his tough, weather beaten con-
tenance when at last l convinced him
of the superiority of the repeating rifle.
Forest and Stream.