Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-02-19

I
either of them. Armed with a Win
chester rifle and dagger apiece, we
struck fot a willowy valley, where
the deer were wont to browse, and
it was not long before we routed out
five: a buck, three does and a young
one. We halted one before it had
got fifty yards, the rest went tearing
away through the brush and were
soon lost to sight, though we heard
them for quite a while getting away
from the spot as fast as fleet legs
could carry them 1t was just here
that the snow stood us in good stead,
for after giving the quietus with the
dagger To the wounded doe, which
lay on its side breathing heavily and
looking at us with such plaintive,
| pleading eyes, SO that | could hard
! iy bear the sight, we struck out on
the track of the Others. They soon
parted, two going one way, the fawn
and another to the opposite One
of my companions and myself took
the latter trail, while the buck trail
was followed by the sold hunter"
Our trail got away from us somehow
or other on some high ground, which
the wind had blown clear of snow.
However, we had the satisfaction to
hear the report of a rifle in an oppo-
site direction as we were returning
disconsolate, and knew our compan-
ion had dropped another, for he sell
| dom missed.
A surprise awaited us when we
arrived at the place where the doe
had been killed, for it was nowhere
to be seen, aud had we not noted the
exact spot We should never have
found it-covered so neatly, yet nat
urally, 10y leaves aud branches
"Bears," sade Sam. "Where?" said
|, a li,tle apprehensively, | confess
"Ronnd here pretty close. The
blasted thieves covered up the deer
when they heard us coming. We
made more noise than a regiment" "
"I don't hear anything said |, cock.
ing my Winchester. "Mebbe they're
within one hundred yards, mebbe
they amt within half u mile," was
Sam's remarks he examined the
bushes. "This is the way they went
two of 'em-a big one and one
not so big. Come on" "Where?"
''After them bears" | mildly sug-
gested was out hunting deer, and
that | hadn lost any bears, But
seeing that he was hungry for bear,
rather than be thought tiinid went
along though / had no relish for
grizzleys in the least. But, by-and
by, the bush became so thick and
the ground SO rugged that even Sam
thought it would be prudent To 20
back to our deer. "Mebbe the blast
ed thieves have eaten it mp while
we've been gone" 50 we went back
but the bears hadn't been there; aud
pretty soon along comes cold hunter"
with a doe on his back. He was a
strong fellow, was old "old hunter
1t was getting somewhat late by
this time; the sun vas just dipping
behind a tall mountain peak, cold
baldy" we called it, 50 we made
preparations to pass the night in an
old, deserted poIe.chopper's "dug
out" where we were soon discussing
some veni,on tenderloin steak along
with the events of the day, which
was followed by game Of seven
up by blazing fire, which was in
turn followed by a sound sleep all
around. Next day we were unlucky
We saw quite a number of deer, but
they all got away from us. A man
doesn't follow a deer fifteen miles
in this country, for before he has
gone half that distance he sees some
more and goes for them. But some
how we couldn't get near them,
though cold hunter" once went off
by himself, and after a long while
we heard him shoot, and when we
got back to the cabin along he comes
with nothing and though / was
rather tired, | went long way tol
help him bring in moderate-sized
elk This was the first dead one | /
had seen, and felt rather proud |
that we had got one, though had |
no more to do with the killing of it
than the man in the moon. | know
be was terribly heavy, though we
got rid Of ali Of him that we could |
spare. This wound up our hunt,
and we went next day and got
horses to bring them home.
Some time before this | was off in
the mountains, along with another
fellow, after horses | believe, and
one night he didn't come back to
the little log cabin we called home
for the present-went off to a rancho
so ! staid there all alone; and by
and by, after dark, as | was smoking,
and reading an old newspaper by
the aid Of talIow dip, the wolves
began to howl in the surrounding
forest and rustic around outside in