The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-05-27
TRACKING a DEER.
Methods Used by Apache Hunters in Pur
suing Game Long Distances.

TRACKING a DEER.
Methods Used by Apache Hunters in Pur-
suing Game Long Distances.
"An Apache hunter scorns to fire
twice at the same deer, but it is also
his code that no deer must be permit
ted to escape after it has been shot at
and missed" said an old resident of
the far West 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 he never fails, for when an
Apache starts on the trail of marked
deer, he never leaves it unless he sus-
tains an injury on the way that inca
pocitates him, until he tires it out and
returns with its carcass to his wigwam-
As the deer starts away in its fright at
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 efforts to get far be-
vond 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 rs 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 charac
teristic of the deer, and he joys along
at a e-mile-an-hour gait; never lag
ging, 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 stiffen. At
each new start the leaps grow shorter,
and 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
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 laboriOuSly.
If before drinking the deer made its
halts at intervals of two miles, after
they are made every mile.
can hour or so after the Indian has
discovered that the deer has filled its
stomach with water he begins to exam
inc the trail more carefully rs he runs,
for he knows that it is then time for
him to find signs of the deer's exhauS-
ton. A drop of blood here and there
along the trail indicates to the Indian
that the deer has fallen on its knees at
those spots; Il bunch of hair hanging to
a projecting edge of rock or sharp
branch hanging low across the trail.
failed. so that it can not turn quickly
out of the way of obstacles. When
these infallible signs of the deer's APP
preaching doom are found by the hun
ter he increases his speed for the first
time. He soon discovers the game, and
with yell of triumph bounds forward.
The cry startles the falling animal to a
momentary burst of speed. After Il
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 will all the defiance its ex-
hausted nature will permit. The hunter
knows the animals too weak to harm
him. and he seizes it boldly, throws it
to the ground, and cuts its throat.-Cor.
N. Y. World and Express.