, 1890-02-13
SOME FOXES ARE VERY SMART.

bAA ht'oAR'
SOME FOXES ARE VERY SMART.
How Thcy Fool tho Dogs and Hant-
srs-wily cold Tough's" Sad Fate.
Now York Sun.
"No one who has never hunted
foxes can have ally idea of the smart
tricks Reynard often calls to his aid
to throw the dogs and hunters Off
his TRAIL" said Samuel Yohe, vet
eran fox-hunter of Chester county,
Pennsylvania. zone Of the most
amazing things I ever knew fox TO
do occurred once during hunt |
was In over in Lancaster county,
by the way, riding to the houndsin
that part of Pennsylvania has been
u universal sport ever since the re-
gion was settled, nearly 200 years
ago. The preacher, the doctor, the
lawyer, the merchant, the farmer,
and every body else over there en-.
gage as en- Enthusiastically in the sport
rs their ancestors did. Foxes are
plenty, and to guard against their
getting scarce almost every rural
district has some one who raises
foxes to keep up the supply. Packs
of fifty or more trained hounds are
not uncommon property with farm
ers, innkeepers, or wealthy private
citizens In nearly every community,
and unconventional meets are Of al
most daily occurrence,
"This smart fox that ] mentioned
had been started early In the morn
ing. There were forty hounds and
ten hunters on his trail. We fol-
lowed him for miles over all kinds of
country, and Mt last he led the
hounds away toward the Lancaster
pike, near Landis Valley. The
dogs followed the scent until they
got on the pike, and there
Ii abruptly ended. The pack
worked ard unanswered in all
directions, but could not strike the
trail again. The singular part Of
the matter was that the country was
open all along the road. The hounds
had reached the pike two or three
minntes before the hunters got
there. A man on load of hay,
which he was driving to the village
market, had stopped In the road "A
few rods from where the hounds had
burst upon 1t, he having heard their
baying IA minute or more before they
came In sight. The man watched
the hounds for long time and then
drove on his way. We finally had
to give up the chase of that fox and
went oil aud started another one,
which we captured.
"The man with the load of hay, as
we afterward learned, drove on II
mile or 50, aud, meeting an ac-
quaintance, stopped the team to
have n talk with him. While they
were talking fox jumped out Of
the hay nj the rear end of the wagon
and trotted leisurely away across u
field. That was the fox we lost on
the pike. II had reached the road
unpcrccived by the tcamster as the
load of hay was passing, and min
ute or more in advance OF the
hounds. Instinct, or reason, or
whatever you may choose to call II,
told that fox that all he had to do
to save himself was to jump up and
crawl out of sight In the hay on the
wagon, which would carry him
away from the scene of danger
Tho fox lost no time in doing so
When the teamster stopped To talk
with his friend the fox concluded
that he was far enough beyond the
danger limo, jumped from his hid.
ing place aud logged back TO the
woods.
"Once q fox that was close
pressed by hounds in a hunt | was
In turned into q farmyard, and
sprdng from the ground a distance
Of several feet into a big Dutch oven,
where IL lay until the dogs and
hunters had given up the chase. a
big fox that the hunters had long
given chase 10 in vain, and which
had received the name of Old
Tough, got the best of the hunters
and hounds one day, as usual, but
came TO his death by doing 1t. He
had given us u long chase, and az
last led us directly TO the village of
Thornton. The scent took the
hounds to yard in the village, and
there II was totally lost.
a halt-hour's maneuvering failed
to recover the trail, and the hunt
for Old Tough was IA failure for the
/ hundredth time. A few minutes
after we left the premises the owner
of them discovered the fox under IA
bed in room upstairs In his house.
He shut the fox in the room and
subsequently killed It with "a club.
The only way that the fox could
have got into the house, and broken
his trail at the same time, was by u
long leap from wall 10 ladder
that was leaning against a grape
arbor. He must have run up the
ladder to the top of the arbor, along
that to its farther end, and then
made another long leap through u
window that happened 10 bo opened
Z for airing a room. A fox as smart
as that deserved II more fitting end
than TO he penned up In a bedroom