The news., 1886-12-14
An Indian Deer-Hunt.

N1A A4AlAGbA AIOOA
1t is well to prohibit the bounding |
of deer in the game regions of this or
any other state" said Lorm Wagner,
who left this place twenty years ago |
to live in the west, and who is on his |
first visit east since then "but if you
had pack of Apache Indians living
in your deer woods the prohibition on
dogs running deer would be of no use
unless the Indians were also prohib-
TIED from running them. A dozen
Apache Indians will run down more
deer in one season than pack of the
most persistent hounds could in FIVE
When it comes to matter of human
endurance think an Apache hunter
can give points to any Caucasian that
breathes. To takea sixty mile run
through woods and swamps, and over
hills and rocks after deer is an ordi-
nary everyday task for an Apache
hunter, and he always gets the deer.
In every day life the genuine, I'M
tanned Apache scorns to burden him.
self with any unnecessary apparel,
taking as a model in this respect the
original Adam before he INDUCED in
that unfortunate bite of apple, and
when the Apache hunter sets out for
hunt he dispenses with even such
light articles of raiment as he may
have been induced to wear. He
needs no dog to find the deer trail for
him, for his eve is as quick as a dogs
scent. He follows it as silently as
shadow, for he knows that it will not
be long before he will come in sight
of the game, either feeding or lying
down in the bushes.
when he sights the deer, which he
does long before white hunter would
be able to discover it, the willy savage
steals upon it with such skill and
stealth that ito seldom the animal sus-
poets his presence. If the deer's head
is turned away from him he scuffles
his foot on the ground or break twig
At the sound the deer, if he is lying
down, springs to its feet and whirls
about, facing the direction of the
noise. If it is feeding it turns quickly
with its face to the hunter. The In
dams always desire to kill the deer at
the first shot, and that must be bull
let in the centre of the forehead.
When the deer turns the pach aim
at the forehead with great accuracy
but il, as sometimes happens, the
deer is quicker to discover the cause
of its alarm than the hunter is to
shoot, and turns for flight, or if the
hunters gun misses fire, as it frequent
ly will, the serious business of the
hunter begins, for the deer is off with
the speed of the wind.
HE scoRNs TO FIRE TWICE.
IAN Apache hunter scorns to fire
twice at the same dear, but 1t is also
his code that no deer must be per-
.mitted to escape after it has been shot
at and missed. If the hunter fails to
check his game at the first fire he
must run it down and be in at the
death. And in this way he never fails
for when the Apache starts on the
trail of marked deer he never leaves
it, unless he sustains an injury, on the
way that incapacitates him, until he
tires it out and returns with its car
cass to his wigwam. 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 Indian throws his gun on
the ground, and with piercing yells
starts in pursuit. The deer at first
leaves the hunter far behind, putting
forth its greatest effort to get far be-
yond his reach. But no matter how
fast the deer may reel off the miles be-
tween it and it's 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-
picious of animals and at the same
time possesses an amazing amount of
curiosity. After it has placed distance
between itself and the immediate dan
ger from which it fled it stops and
awaits further Developments. The
Apache hunter well knows this char
acteristic of the deer, and he joys along
at five mile-an-hour gait, never lag
ging, never stopping. At a sight 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. They are not
long enough to give the deer any ben
eficial rest, but ON the contrary, give
time for his legs to stifien. At each
new start the leaps grow shorter, and
the deer starts away reluctantly and
with decreasing activity. The Indian
joys along on the trail maintaining
uniform rate of speed. He can keep
up without stopping for six hours if
necessary. 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 the burden, its leaps grow
still shorter and are made labor
iously. If before drinking the deer
made its halts at intervals of two
miles, after drinking they are made at
every mile.
SIGNS OF THE DEER's ExHAus ZION.
THE relentless Indian pursuer
never drinks while on the trail. His
tongue may hang white and swollen
from his mouth, he may be choked
with dust, his stomach may be burn
ing up with heat, but not swallow of
water does he take. When deer
drinks of stream he swims to the
other side. and the Indian plunges
Into the water at the same spot and
crosses. AS he dashes across he
scoops up handful of water and
carries it to his mouth, where he holds
it. rinsing it about for few seconds
and then rejects it. If he is Obliged