Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-12-25
THEDAY OUTON A RANCH
THEODORE ROOSEVELT TELLS OF
AN EXPERIENCE IN THE WEST.

Having an Empty Larder the Ranchmen
Set Out to Hunt Deer-They Strike
Trail, Secure the Game and Get a Cold
Ducking.
One December, while l was out on my
ranch, so much work had to be done that
it was within week of Christmas before
we were able to take any thought for the
Christmas dinner. The winter set in late
that wear and there had been comparatively
little cold weather, but one day the ice
on the river had been sufficiently strong
to enable us to haul up a wagon load of
flour, with enough salt pork to last through
the winter and a very few cans OF timed
goods to be used at special feasts. We had
some bushels of potatoes, the heroic vlctors
of a struggle for existence, in which the rest
of our garden vegetables had succumbed to
drouth, frost and grasshoppers; and we also
had some wild plums and dried elk venison.
But we had no fresh meat, and so one day
nv foreman and | agreed to make hunt
on the morrow.
The air was bitterly chill; the cold had
been severe for two days, so that the river
ice would again bear horses; it had already
frozen once and then again thawed. Be-
meath the light covering of powdery snow
we could feel the rough ground like
wrinkled iron under the horses hoofs.
There was no moon, but the stars shone
brilliantly down through the cold, clear
air, and our willing horses galloped swiftly
across the long bottom on which the ranch
house STOOD threading their way deity
among the clumps of sprawling sage
brush. A mile off we crossed the river. the
ice cracking with noises like pistol shots
as our horses picked their way gingerly
over it.
As the dawn redeemed, and it became
light enough to see objects some little
way off, we began to sit erect in our sad
dies and to scan the hillsides sharply for
sight of feeding deer. Hitherto we had
seen no deer tracks save inside the burberry
bushes by the river, and we knew that the
deer which lived in that impenetrable jun
gle were cunning white tails, and in such a
place could only be hunted by the aid of a
hound. But just before sunrise we came
on three lines of heart shaped footmarks
in the snow, which showed where as many
deer had just crossed little plain ahead
of us. They were walking leisureiy, and
from the lay of the land we believed we
would find them over the ridge, where
there was a brush coulie. Riding to one
side of the trail we topped the little ridge
Just as the sun famed up q burning ball
of crimson beyond the snowy waste at
our backs. Almost Immediately afterward
my companion leaped from his horse and
raised his rife, and as he pulled the trigger
I saw through the twigs of Il brush patch
to our left the erect, startled head of a
young black tail doe as she turned to look
at us, her great, mule like ears thrown for
ward.
The ball broke her neck, and she turned
a complete somersault down the hill, while
a sudden smashing of undefbrush told of
the fight OF her terrified companions. We
both laughed and called out ''Dinnerr' as
wesprang down toward her, and in few
minutes she was dressed and hung up by
the hind legs on q small ash tree
No sooner was the sun up than warm
west wind began to blow in our faces. The
weather had suddenly changed, and before
an hour the snow was beginning to thaw
and to leave patches of bare ground on the
hillsides. We left our coats with our
horses, and struck off on foot for group
of high buttes cut up by the cedar canyons
and gorges in which we knew the old
bucks loved to lie. 1t was noon before we
SAW anything more. We lunched at a
clear spring-not needing much time, for
all we had to do was to drink draught of
icy water and MUNICH strip of dried
venison.
Shortly afterward, as we were moving
along a hillside with silent caution, we
came to sheer canyon, of which the oppo-
site face was broken by little lodges grown
up with wind beaten cedars. As we
peered over the edge my companion touch
ed my arm and pointed silently to one of
the lodges, and instantly caught the CLINT
OF bucks horns as he lay half behind an
old tree trunk. A slight shift of position
gave me fair shot slanting down between
his shoulders, and, though he struggled to
his feet, he did not go fifty yards after re-
ceiving the bullet.
This was all we could carry. Leading
the horses around, we packed the buck be-
hind my companions saddle, and then rode
back by the doe, which put behind mine.
But we were not destined to reach home
without slight adventure When we got
to the river we rode boldly on the ice, heed
less Of the thaw, and about midway there
was sudden, tremendous crash, and men,
horses and deer were scrambling together
in the water, amid slabs of floating ice.
However, it was shallow, and no worse re-
suits followed than some hard work and a
chilly bath. But what cared we? We were
returning triumphant with our Christmas
dinner.-Philadelphi Times