The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-07-16
RUNNING DOWN A DEER.
Methods Used by Apache Hunters II
Pursuing Game Long Distances.

IAN Apache hunter scOrns to fire
twice at the same deer, but il is also his
code that no deer must be permitted to
escape after il has been shot at and
Missed" said an old resident of the far
west to a correspondent of the New
York Mail and Express. If the hunter
fails to check his game at the first fire,
he must run it down and be i'm ut the
death. And in this he never fails, for
when an Apache starts on the trail of a
marked deer, he never leaves il. unless
he sustains an injury on the way that
incapacitatcs him. until he tires it out
and returns with its carcass to his wig
wan. As the deer starts away in its
fright at the sight of the hunter or the
sound of his gun leaping thirty or forty
feet at every bound, the Indians throws
his gun on the ground, and, with pierre
ing yells, starts in pursuit. The deer
at first leaves the hunter far behind
putting forth its greatest efforts to get
far beyond his reach. But no matter
how fast the deer may reel off the miles
between it and its pursuer, the trail it
leaves is as plain 10 the hunter as If it
were marked in chalk ali the way. A
deer is the most timid and suspicious of
animals, and at the same time possesses
an amazing amount of curiosity. After
it has placed distance between itself
and the immediate danger from which
it fled it stops and awaits further devel-
opments. The Apache hunter well
knows this characteristic of the deer,
and he joys along at five-mile-an-
hour gait; never tagging, never stop
ping. At sight or sound of the APP
preaching hunter the deer bounds off
again to run mile or two and stops
again. 1t is these halts that are the
first fatal steps. The halts are not long
enough to give the deer any beneficial
rest, but on the contrary give time for
its limbs TO stifien. At each new start
the leaps grow shorter. and the deer
starts away reluctantly and with de-
creasing activity. The Indian joys
along on the trail. maintaining q uni
form rate of speed. He can keep it up
without stopping for six hours if neces-
sary. After two or three hours running
the deer begins to look for water to
quench its thirst. When this stage of
the chase is reached, the hunter knows
that the deer's doom is sealed. After
the deer once drinks there is no hope
for it. 1t fills its parched stomach with
water, and, laden with burden, its leaps
grow still shorter and are made labor
iously. If before drinking the deer
made its halts ut intervals of two miles.
after drinking they are made every
mile.
IAN hour or so after the Indian has
discovered that the deer has filled its
stomach with water he begins to ex-
anime the trail more carefully as he
runs, for he knows that il is then time
for him to find signs of the deer's ex-
haustion. A drop of blood here and
there along the trail indicates to the In
dian that the deer has fallen on its
knees at those spots; bunch of hair
hanging to a projecting edge of rock or
sharp branch hanging low across the
trail proves that the deer's strength has
failed, so that it cannot turn quickly
out of the way of obstacles. When
these infallible signs of the deer's ap-
preaching doom are found by the hum
ter he increases his speed for the first
time. He soon discover the game. and
with yell of triumph bounds forward.
The cry startles the failing animal to q
momentary burst of speed. After
leap or two it stops. As If aroused to
the fact that further efforts to escape
were utterly futile, it turns and faces its
pursuer with all the defiance its exhaust
ed nature will permit. The hunter knows
the animal is too weak to harm him, and
he seizes it boldly. throws it to the
ground, and cuts its throat"