The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-01-04
HOW APACHES HUNT DEER.
RUNNING DOWN THE ANIMAL WITH
THEIR TIRELBss LoPE.
The Penalty of Failing 10 shoot The
Quarry-A Suct ossfuI Pursuit that
Lasts sixty Miles.

basts Sixty Miies.
An ex-frontiersman tells a New York
SIN 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 eye detects the trail of the deer as
readily as the hounds does, no matter
how keen its scent On the trail, he fol-
lows 1t 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, shut
files 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 DESTROYS of killing 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 flight. An Apache's
gun, also, not infrequcntly misses fire,
and the deer fees on the wings of the
wind. To permit 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
of tbn fret Of MIN OF
down, and it is very rare that he fails in
this chase AS the deer starts away in
its flight, leaping from twenty to thirty
feet at time, tie Indian drops his gun,
and, with hidcous 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 a 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
drink, for it takes into its parched
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 a handful of water from the
stream as he dashes across it, and carries
it to his mouth. where he holds it q
moment and elects it without taking o
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 evil
dencc 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
patch of hair clinging to some sharp pro-
lection, showing that the deer's strength
has failed so that it cannot turn quickly
out of the way of obstacles. Now the
| Tn1;o, hic cnoa1 a kDnurS
that the deer's race is run. In time he
ovcrtakes the deer, which is now Looping
! fceblv along. A yell startles it into Il
momentary burst of speed. Then, as if
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 1t drops dead or dying
! in its tracks. If it turns upon the
Indian the latter keeps right on at
! full speed He knows the deer can
do him no harm, its inclination to the
contrary Notwithstanding He seizes it
boldly, throws it to the ground with
ease, and cuts its throat. Without a
moments delay, whether the deer is dead
or diving, 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 on
the move If the carcass of the deer is
not too heavy, he throws it across his
shoulders and starts Immediately for
home He does not rest moment, for
fear of becoming too stiff to make the
return trip. If the deer is too heavy for
him to carry he cuts out the choicest
parts, hides the remainder in secure
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 in
the vcnison left behind.
''If deer is young an Apache hunter
will run it down within distance of
sixty miles, but they have been known
to prolong a chase for 100 miles. The
! course taken is ALWAYS devious and cir