St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-24
CAPTURED BY A RATHER.
That Is What Happened to Big
Buck Down in Pennsylvania.

IVA hihIAes
That Is What Happened to Big
Buck Down in Pennsylvania.
"You wouldn't like to believe that a
rattiesnake captured deer away from
me once, would you-a big buck at
that?" was the startling question asked
by Simon Wagner, of Lycoming county,
Pennsylvania. the other day of the New
York Suns correspondent. But it's a
fact, nevertheless" continued Simon,
..arId curious sight it was to see, too.
II happened up near Coogan House, in
the mountains overlooking the North
ern Central railroad. was still hunt
ing Tor deer. 1t was a bright, warm
day in early fall-how early l won't say,
as some people are little particular
about the time rs fellows stalk deer
nowadays. | had been breaSting the
ridges from early in the morning I'M
til noon, and not a deer had jumped
up, and not the sign of bedding place
could | find if one existed among the
sweet fern. i began to get tired of the
mOnOtoIly, and finally sat down, took q
pull or two out of my flask and dis
cussed it in my mind whether HAD bet
ter Quit and go honieOr give the woods
another overhauiing for all hour or two.
As was thinking the matter over heard
a curious noise on the other side OF a
thick bunch of underbrush that hid the
foot of high ledge l was facing. the
top of which | could see through the
trees. I parted the bushes and peered
through. The sight that l saw was not
pleasant one to me, although some
folks might have liked it. About ten
yards away. at the foot of the ledge,
the space between which and thebuslies
where was peering through was fiat and
open, not less than one hundred snakes
of all kinds were summing themselves.
some crawling and wriggling about,
others lying in quiet coils and others
rolled up together in big. writing balls.
There were several blowing adderS ~
ing about, and they were expressing
their delight with their sun bath by
flattening their ugly heads on the
ground and giving vent to the loud hiss
that gives them their name. That was
the noise | had heard. noticed that a
great proportion of the SerpentS were
rattlesnakes, and many seams and OPEN
lngs in the foot of the ledge explained
the presence of SO many different kinds
of snakes at this spot. They made their
winter quarters in the seams and holes
in the rocks, and this bright, sunny day
had brought them out III force to have
one more day of fun before the cold
weather holed them up for good.
81 was attracted especially by the rat
tlesnakes. With few exceptions, they
Law coiled cleSe to one another, and
every now and then some old fellow
among them would stick up his tail and
sound his rattles until everything
hummed. TWAS plain that the colony
of serpents was extracting heap of en-
joyment from their late outing. /
watched the performances of the snakes
for some time. and at last made up my
mind 10 send load of buckshot into a
bunch of a dozen OF more rattlesnakes
that lay halfway between me and the
ledge, when suddenly, and without any
warning. one of the biggest bucks ever
saw bounded into the opening, and
without any preliminary maneuverS
began pounding the life out OF those
snakes as quick as he could rise and
shoot out his sharp fore feet, and that
was so quick that | could hardly see
them work. l noticed that he selected
rattiesnakes for his victims, and in less
time than can tell it he had stretched
adozen or more of those deadly reptiles
dead on theeground. At the coming on
the scene of the deer the snakes started
heller SHELTER for the rocks. L don't be-
lieye one rattleSnake got there, for the
deer caught them SO quickly with his
hoofs that they had no time to escape to
cover. In a very short time only one
live snake was in sight, and that was a
monstrous old black RATHER.
~ had been SO much surprised by
what / saw that / forgot that | was
deer hunting, and never thought of the
rare opportunity this buck was giving
me to distinguish myself. | just lay
there in the brush and stared with
bullying eyes. The big black RATHER
had nearly got to his hole in the rocks,
when the deer sprang for him. Quick
as lightning the snake threw himself
into coil and sprang at the deer: Inc
deer missed, but the snake didn't. lie
sang his fangs into the deer'S nose. and
there he hung. The deer leaped two OF
three times in the air, and then with q
sb-l-a-a-t' worse than a frlghtenea call
bounded away into the woods, the snake
efinging to its nose. and IN fiasil IL
was out of sight. At that moment my
SENSES came back to me, and l gave
myself one of the best cusSin's fellow
ever got for sitting like a chump
within ten yards of whopping big
back and letting rattlesnake capture
it away from me-"
ga good while afterward, though,
told an old hunter friend OF mine the
story, expecting to hear him laugh and
give me fits. Instead of that he said:
9TH hain't nothin' queer. bout that,
Simon, 'eept yer lesin' yer head an tn, the
snake gettin' the best o. the deer. III
hain't nothin' on top O. earth til't hates
a rattlesnake wllss'n a deer does, an
they know ez we'll ez they know how to
run th't rattlers will come outon their
dens on warm, sunshiny days in the
fall. Deer is alluz layin' fer seeh days,
am they take i'm all the denS they KIN
an thrash the life outen the rattlers.
wy. wen, deer were plenty IN these
woods l'druther hev rattlesnake den
to Law by an watch thin to hey salt
lick, fer deer was sartiner to come to
the den thin they was to the lick.
Many's the rippin' OF buck Eye
plugged on their snake-lillin' rounds.
But / never know'd one to let a RATHER
get the best on him afOre. That's the
queer part o. yer story, .Simon.A