, 1885-02-03
MARVELLOUS SHOTS.
STORIES WHICH MAKE THE TRIGGER
FINGER TwlTcH.


Wore1t and steaml
One day ! followed a does tracks from II
a m. TIL sunset without having obtained
nnything Ike ths merest glimpse OF my
game. ! was fast losing hops, as but a few
moments Of daylight were left me, when, on
coming 70 the edge OF a fiat, covered by
heavy yellow birch timber. and terminated
on the further side by an abrupt bank. like
that OF a river, l saw the old doc standing
half way up the bank, broadade 70, tho fawn
below her. ia slender neck uptrotchsd OK
nctly IN lin with its mothers shoulder. Al
that distance tninsty very long paceq the
neck looked about the size Of a h~oe-hnndla.
but ! took n quick look through tho double
sights and firod. Tho fawn went down like
q stone; tho doc gave ono ~convulsive bound,
neariy twenty feet, 20 tho top Of the bank,
dropped dead In her tracks and rolled back
across her fawn.
Ny next shot, purely one Of chance, ]
think can b clnsssd as wonderful / was
following the tracks Of doc and fawn.
Within twenty rods Of whero l struck the
tracks suddenly raw half Of the neck and
the head OF the fassn, which was lying down,
partly turned from me, placidly chewing IL
eud- A shot through its mock stretched Il
nfeless, and, with my rife held ready for a
second shot. ] I'D ranrsi cautiously. expect
ing TO zee tho do: but nothing stirring, ]
concluded that she had got away unohserved
in the thick spruce growth. So setting away
my rifle, ! began TO dress the fawn, which
proved 70 be a very largo one In doing this
l had changed my position, so that on rising
caught full sight Of the doe lying dead,
twenty feet away to the left, and at right
angles with the limo Of FIRE. Half stupohed
with amazement / walked up to her, and
found the warm blood still trickling from q
ImsIIa4 A-IA = A.. 49, -.
belly, and saw that she had died
in her bed without a kick. On going
back to he fawn to investigate, l found
that the bullet "a pointed onel, about four
feet beyond the neck of the fawn, had passed
through a hackmatack sapling two niche
through, a little to tho left of the csntsr,
tearing the left Eido out and cutting the tree
nearly half down, then turning at a right
angle, 1t had struck the doc as mentioned,
passed directly upward between the kidneys,
cutting OIL the big artery and burying itself
In the spine. The deer was as safe from o
direct shot as though tho Rocky mountains
had interpossd between US.
At another time, whom following a big, fat
dog In a feathery snow, which adhered fc
everything, on coming to an alder run, about
eighty yards across, filled with these bushes
from the size Of a knitting needle to over an
inch through, l caught sight OF her black tail
hanging down motionless. There was about
one chance in a thousand OF getting a bullet
through, but 1 always took all such
chances, and fired without a moments hest
tAtion. The tail disappeared i-nstantaneousiy
and, fixing my eyes on an object IN
range, 50 as to advance in a direct line,
1 ollowed the path OF the bullet Half way
across I GUN an alder about as big as q
pips-stem cut of clean; but half way from
there, TO where the deer stood, and fully ton
feot TO the right Of the line, l saw another
alder fully an inch in diameter cut of not
more than n foot above tho ground and
thrown three feet from It's stump. THAT
settles II, L said to myself, and started
rapidly forward to take up the track again.
On reaching the spot l found some black
hairs lying on the snow exactly as II cut out
by a bullet and the first bound OF the deer
was nearly twenty feet This looked like a
wounded deer, but, smiling at the absurdity
OF the idea. l pressed forward and within
ten rods came upon my game stone dead,
with a bullet exactly through the center Of
its tail To hava struck the deer at all after
being denected ton feet out OF its course
would have been sufficiently remarkable,
but to go exactly to the spot aimed at was a
singular chance.