The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-02-06
AOW APACHES HUNT DEER.
RUMN&Ea DOWN. THE ANIMAL. WITH
1HErR TIRBEHss LoPH.

Sun reporter how the Apache Indian
hunts the deer. He says:
"When an Apache hunter goes out for
hunt he dispenses with even the scant
attire he assumes in his ordinary daily
walk in life. He needs no dog, for his
quick eve detects the trail of the deer as
readily as the hounds does, no matter
how keen its scent. On the trail, he fol-
lows it as silently as a shadow, for he
knows he will soon come in sight of the
game, either feeding or lying at rest
among the bushes. When he sights the
deer he steals to within safe gunshot. If
the deer's head is turned away from the
hunter, the latter, first taking aim, shrf-
fes his foot on the ground. If the deer
is lying down it springs to its feet at the
sound, and wheels around facing the
direction from which the sound
came. If it is standing, it turns
around quickly. The Apache hunter is
always desirous of killing a deer by
shooting it as nearly in the center of the
forehead as he can. So, when the deer
turns toward him, he fires at that spot.
His aim is rarely at fault, but sometimes
the deer is quicker to discover the cause
of its alarm than the hunter is to fire, and
turns for safety in fight. An Apache's
gun, also, not infrequently misses fire,
and the deer fees on the wings of the
wind. To permit a deer to escape after
it is once discovered is something that no
Apache hunter is expected to do, and it
is against their code to fire the second
time. The hunter, failing to kill his
game at the first attempt, must run it
down, and it is very rare that he fails in
this chase. As the deer starts away in
its fight, leaping from twenty to thirty
feet at time, tie Indian drops his gun,
and, with hideous yells, starts in pursuit.
! The deer at first leaves the hunter far
behind, putting forth its greatest
| efforts to that end. But its trail is as
| plain to the Indian as turnpike road is
| to white man, and he follows. AS is
its nature, as soon as the deer is out of
sight and sound of threatening dan
ger, it stops and waits for developments.
The sight of the pursuing hunter starts
it on its way again. Every halt of this
! kind tells against the deer, for it is not
of sufficient length to give it any benef
| cial rest, and at every new start it is
sitter and less active. The Indian never
halts. There are runners among the
| Apaches who can run for twenty-four
hours without stop, and can make their
five miles every hour of the time. After
the deer has run for two or three hours,
its thirst prompts it to make for the
nearest water This the relentless hunter
knows to be inevitable, and when the
deer reaches this stage of the chase the
Indian considers the victory won. There
is no hope for the deer after it stops to
| - - kolr snkA &c hoH
stomach all it can. Having ladened
itself with this weight of water the deer
is unable to take long leaps, and cannot
extend its run between halts more than
half the former distance. The Indians
tongue may hang swollen and white
from his mouth, and his mouth be as
dry as dust, and his stomach burning up
with heat, but he never stops to drink.
He scoops handful of water from the
stream as he dashes across it, and carries
it to his mouth, where he holds it a
moment and elects it without taking a
swallow. If he is obliged to swim, he
lets the water run in his mouth, but
| keeps it from his stomach.
''After running an hour or so, after
| the deer has quenched its thirst, the In
] dian knows it is time to find some evi-
| dence of the animals weakening. These
he is sure to find along the trail, in the
shape of blood spots on some rock where
the deer has tumbled on its knees, or a
patch of hair clinging to some sharp pro-
lection, showing that the deers strength
has failed so that it cannot turn quickly
out of the way of obstacles. Now the
Indian increases his speed. He knows
that the deer's race is run. In time he
overtakes the deer, which is now Looping
feebly along. A yell startles it into a
momentary bulat of speed. Then, as il
approaching the fact that it were useless
to prolong the race, it stops and turns
with all the defiance its exhausted nature
can assume, and awaits the approach OF
the hunter. Sometimes however, the
deer runs until it drops dead or dying
in its tracks. If it turns upon the
Indian, the latter keeps right on al
full speed. He knows the deer can
90 him no harm. its inclination to the
contrary notwithstanding. He seizes il
boldly throws it to the ground with
ease, and cuts its throat. Without a
moments delay, whether the deer is dead
or dying, the Indian cuts from behind
the fore shoulder large piece of meat
He sucks the warm blood from it and de
YOURS the morsel, keeping constantly or
the move. If the carcass Of the deer il
not too heavy, he throws it across hii
shoulders and starts Immediately fol
home. He does not rest moment, fo
fear of becoming too stiff to make the
return trip. If the deer is too heavy fol
him to carry, he cuts out the choices
parts, hides the remainder in a secur,
place, and brings in the former. In this
case another member of the tribe is Sc
lected to take his back track on the arri
val of the hunter in camp, and bring il
the venison left behind.
''If deer is young an Apache huntel
will run it down within distance o.
sixty miles, but they have been known
TO prolong chase for 100 miles. Th'