Arizona silver belt., 1890-04-26
THREE DEER IN THREE SHOTS.
A Sportsman Tells the True Story of How
 He Did Such Good Shooting.

A Sportsman Tells the True Story of How He Did Such Good Shooting.
 Late one afternoon in the early win ter of 1880, as 1 was leisurely riding { along returning to our Montana ranch near the Ilighwood mountains, three deer, buck and two does, jumped out of small clump of trees in front of me, ran out a short distance on the prairie, deliberately stopped short and turned to gaze upon me. The distance was well within 150 yards, and imme- diately dismounting 1 threw up my rife, drew sights on the buck, and at the sharp crack he fell. With the re- mark, Well, old fellow, you are my meat" pumped in another cartridge from the magazine and fired at the largest doe. With one jump down she went sprawling. By this time the third deer was running and had reached the edge of the woods, and while she was in the air bounding over log l fired. She also fell, but was up and off again in a moment Feeling sure of the first two deer and leaving them to take care of them selves, I ran to the woods for the vic tim of my third shot. As I expected I found the snow plentifully spattered with blood. After following the trail for short distance found where the deer had lain down, leaving a pool of blood, and not much further along I found the doe again lying down and gasping out her last breath. On ex- animation ] could not find where my rifle ball had entered, but beneath the right foreleg 1 discovered a splinter of wood protruding from jagged wound. The following day 1 returned to the spot where the doe had jumped the log when I shot at 1t, and discov- cred the bullet hole in the log. I had missed the deer, but as she jumped she had been impaled upon a sharp branch, and in this extraordinary manner had received her death wound.
 As for the second deer at which I had shot, and which I supposed I should find dead at the spot where it had fallen, or not far away, on return ing to the place was forced to the con- clusion that had missed it. There was no sign of blood on the snow, and nothing to make me believe that the deer had been wounded. The cause of its fall was apparent; at its first jump and at the moment shot it had struck a piece of ice covered lightly by the snow, slipped on it and went down in a heap. 1 never saw the deer again. 1 then looked for the buck at which I had first fired. He was nowhere to be found. l saw where he had fallen and houndered in the snow, and then where he had made off. Two days later I saw party of dozen Black feet or Piegan Indians circling deer on the prairie about a mile distant After an exciting chase, in which they turned the deer from point to point by their shots and shouting, they rode the bewildered animal down and shot him. rode to the spot, and there lay tke buck at which I had fired. I was confident 1t was the same from a mal- formation of the antlers, which I had noticed when l had shot at him two days before. And there was the mark of my bullet through the top of the neck. The ball had creased the deer, that is, it had gone through the gristle on the top of the neck, and had drop ped him as effectually as if shot through the heart, but the wound had only stunned him, and had done him no further injury. This is the true history of how knocked down three deer in three shots. - Forest and Stream.