The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-09-24
monito,pof pilot.
THURSDAY, SEPT. a, 1856.
HUNTING THE DEER.
An Experienced Sportsman Gives Fe
Pointers OF General Interest.

AcA%-NNis ~ - '''''A
My experience as deer-hunter. says
j. j. Williams. in the Nashville Anaer-
tcGn, mas been considerable, and ia one
respect eminentiy successful. While
have never killed nor shot at deer,
and never cared TO, yet in the sport of
the chase | have perhaps had my full
share. | was always with the driver.
and frequently was that important per-
sonage myself. | had no taste for be-
ing a stander, to be placed away in
advance, out of hearing and almost out
of hope. and when there was only one
chance Of maybe dozen TO see or hear
anything OF the hunt. While thus sit
uated the anxiety and suspense is in
tolerabe. Bat with the driver and the
dogs all is animation, and the anxiety,
though great, is exhilarating in the ex-
treme.
First the cold-traiiers of the pack are
seen smiling at the bushes, and then
they occasionally open where the scent
is q little fresher, and as they advance
1t grows warmer and the voice of the
interchangeable hound is heard more fire.
quently and with more confidence, and
soon the whole pack, with scent less
acute than their leaders, begin to open
on the trail with animation, the lung
power of the driver is stimulated, and
the hills begin to resound and echo
back the commingled voices of dogs
and men. Every moment the scent
gets stronger and the interest more
intense in the momentary expectation
that the antlered denizen of the hills
will spring to his feet. This generally
hantAanc Xybnn tho Hnrrs .lnSn OF
hand, and sometimes the driver is near
enough to get shot. When an old
buck with full head of antlers springs
from his bed before the hounds and
raises his head in proud defiance as he
sweeps his fiery glance on his pursuers,
with tail lifted on high for the chase
like waving plume, he is the most
majestic figure that hunters eye ever
rested on. With graceful spring the
noble fellow bounds away and the chase
begins, and the eXhilarating effect be-
comes uncomfortable to men, dogs, and
horses, and none seems to enjoy it
more than the buck himself, who, con-
scious of his own swiftneSS and powers
of endurance, has little fear of harm,
and need have none but for the fact
that the willy hunter, knowing his
characteristics, ambushes him at the
stands, through some OF which it is
reasonably believed that he will pass,
and he Is thus sometimes slain. But
the writer always felt sense of relief
when he escaped unframed from these
''bushWhackerS' OF the chase.
IL the reader never had this expe-
rience then he ought not to imagine
anything about it, as he cannot do the
subject justice.
| When an old stag has run for an
hour or two and got warmed up and
desires 10 free himself from his pur-
suers he turns his course to the water,
il there be any thing within reach of his
domains, and i have thought when AN
old buck, not too heavy, starts for the
water that he could outfoot any living
animal, with the exception, probably,
| OF the trained racohorse or the grey
hound, for snort distances, and in his
native wiids, among the timber and
| bushes he would far 0ntstrip these.
But for speed aud endurance the deer
has no equal, III my opinion, unless it
| lie in some of its kindred species.
The habits of these animals even in
| the chase vary according to crcum-
has Il fawn not large enough to make
| his escape, will hide it rs a domestic
cow will hide her calf, and she will
| rua clear away from the place to lead
| the dogs and hunters away from her
| young. A stink OF yearling deer will
| run up and down and over the hills in
| contrary, and, to the hunter, very
| disgusting, manner, and the hunter al
| ways knows when he is after a stink.
| Old deer, however, will follow the
| ridges or long stretches, and II 1t DC 8
| buck with full head of antlers he will
seek as far as possible the open woods,
| and if they have been burned over it
| is still the better fer him, as there are
| fewer bushes to impede him Or entan-
| gle his horns; and as his scent is more
| rank, probably he wishes to avoid leav-
| ing it on the bushes, which makes it so
| much easier for the dogs to follow by
scent, and this known habit makes him
| an easier victim than the fawn or sink,
which has no regular habits.
But their leaping power is probably
more remarkable than their heetness
of foot. have seen 4 full-grown deer
in run leap, with apparent ease,
| stake and-ridered fence that must have
been more than seven feet in pcrpen-
dicular height, and their leap is not in
a seasaw movement like horse, but
the whole body goes over on level,
| and he lights on all four of his feet,
while a horse rears on his hind feet and
raises these up as his fore feet 90 down
on the other side. AS is well known,
| these animals shed their horns $50
calledD every year, generally in the
month of January or February, and
new set begins to terminate about
March, and BY July or August they are
full grown and generally have an adj
ditional prong or spike. These are at
| first covered with a rough, velvety skin,
and the horns or horn is soft. But it
soon begins TO dry and harden and the
velvet he rubs off against bushes or
| grayelly banks, and by September it is
as hard as bone, when Richard is him.
| self again" Soon after the running
| season begins and their necks swell and
| they become lean. At these seasons
| they are sometimes belligerent, partic-
| ularlv if wounded or brought to bay,
| and then, with his hair rolled forward
| by the moving of his skin and a gleam-
ing eye sparkling with defiance, he is
a formidable antagonist with his horns
and feet, which he manipulates in
| very energetic and perseyering man.
| rer
These animals, at an early day. were
successfully hunted without dogs. But
| the most destructive way is to track
them in the snow which, after it has
fallen for few days, freezes over with
a crust of ice. III running over this
! their hoofs break through. and the
sharp edges of the ice soon so far dis
able them that they become an easy
prey TO the hunters bullet. When
caught very young they are easily pet
| ted. and l have heard il said that when
| they are lost from their mother they
will follow man if they happen to see
him. But | would advise the reader
not to put too much confidence in all
| he hears about hunting, as hunters, like
fishermen, are not oyersensitiye on
| questions of veracity.