The Rugby gazette and east Tennessee news. (Rugby, Morgan Co., Tenn.) 1884-188?, 1886-05-29
TRACKING A DEER,
Methods Used by Apache Hunters in PuI
suing Game Long Distances.

Methods Used by Apache Hunters in Pul
suing Game Long Distances.
IAN Apache hunter scorns to fir
twice at the same deer, but it is ais
his code that no deer must be permit
ted to escape after it has been shot a
and missed" said an old resident q
the far West. ''If the hunter fails t
check his game at the first fire he mus
run it down and be in at the death
And in this he never fails, for when al
Apache starts on the trail of a marke,
deer, he never leaves it unless he sus
tains an injury on the way that inca
pocltates him, until he tires it out anc
returns with its carcass to his wgwam
AS the deer starts away in its fright a
sight of the hunter or the sound of his
gun, leaping thirty or forty feet al
every bound, the Indian throws his our
on the ground and, with piercing wells,
starts in pursuit The deer at first
leaves the hunter far behind-puttine
forth its greatest efforts to get far be.
yond 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 to the hunter as if it
were marked in chalk all the way.
A deer is the most timid and sus.
plclous OF animals, and at the same
tlme possesses an amazing amount of
curiosity. After it has placed distance
between itself and the immediate dan
ger from which it fed it stops and
awaits further developments. The
Apache hunter we'll knows this charac.
terlstic of the deer, and he joys along
at five-mile-an-hour gait; never lag.
glng,, never stopping. At sight or
sound OF the approaching hunter the
deer bounds off again to run mile or
two and stop 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 stifen. At
each new start the leaps grow shorter,
ana the deer starts away reluctantly
and with decreasing activity. The In.
dian joys along on the trail, maintain
ing uniform rate of speed. He can
Keep it up without stopping for six
hours If necessary. After two or three
hours running the deer begins to look
Tor 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. It fills its
Parched stomach with water, and.
laden with the burden, its leaps grow
still shorter and are made laboriously.
II before drinking the deer made its
halts at intervals of two miles, after
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 exam
ne the trail more carefully as he runs, |
or ne knows that it is then time for
llm to find signs of the deer's exhaus-
ion. A drop of blood here and there
Long the trail indicates to the Indian
hat the deer has fallen on its knees at
hose spots; bunch of hair hanging to
projecting edge of rock or sharp
"oi n"hSihS low across the trail,
'roves that the deer's strength has
allied. SO that it can not turn quickly
ut OF the way of obstacles. When
hese lnfallible signs of the deer's ap-
reaching doom are found by the hun
or ne increases his speed for the first
lme. He soon discovers the game. and
,ith yell of triumph bounds forward.
he cry startles the falling animal to a
burst of speed. After a
apo two it stops. AS if aroused to
he fact that further efforts to escape
ere utterly futile, it turns and faces
S pursuer will all the defiance it's ex-
austed nature will permit. The hunter
nows the animal is too weak to harm
lln' and he seizes it boldly, throws it
the ground, and cuts its throat. Cor.
!. T. World and Erpress.