Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-11-29
Highest of all Leavenng Powerful Govt Report Aug H. 1885,
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ABSOLUTELY PURE

good blankets, or, better still, heavy
comfort. Enough light oilcloth for use
when 1t becomes necessary TO sleep on
the ground is also Il good thing. Where
hunters go into Il regular camp it is
usual to carry hay for a bed on the
earth in order TO keep out dampness.
''To make bed the hay can be stirred
up, dried before fire and spread out,
with the oilcloth stretched over it and
the blanket next. A hunter can lay
down and sleep as comfortably as in his
own home. 1t is usual TO take horses
on Il trip, and they can carry large
quantity of hay packed into small
space. The glamour and false ideas
about hunting which get into the heads
of some people are upset by experience.
The notion that TO have rough time is
to have good one may be well enough
for some things, but if man is hungry
he wants the best he can get to eat, and
he likes to sleep on an easy couch. no
matter how tired he may be.
The manner of finding deer is the
hard part of hunting. 1t depends en-
tirely upon the locality, and the first
thing is to know the haunts of the
game. The only certain means is by
tracking when snow is on the ground.
The deer is harder to approach than the
fox. I've hunted both, and regard that
statement as proved. The deer's sense
of smell isrefned and his hearing in
tensely acute. If the wind is blowing
from the hunter toward him he is sure
TO find the pursuer ont. He is looking
for the man as much as much as the
man is looking for him. A great point
in still-hunting is to see all ahead of you
and make sure that nothing ahead sees
you. The hunter must be the moving
object. The deer usually resort TO wild
and inaccessible places, and in such To-
calities hunter will have the best luck.
Where there are rough crags and pro-
jcctions there is good chance TO hide
and creep up on the game.
"One way TO get shot at deer is to
watch near salt-lick. The best time
for hunting by that means is in hot and
dry weather, for then the deer seem to
need salt more than under any other
conditions. Night is the best time for
the game TO come out. Most licks are
natural, as, for instance, places where
cattle are sailed in the mountains.
Sulphur water often contains a small
proportion Of salt. Sometimes where
salt is placed for cattle year after year
the ground becomes saturated with it.
1t is usual TO make fire near the lick,
so that the gunner can see his game,
and the watchers lay in wait near by
so that the wind will blow toward them.
Deer are not scared at blaze, because
they see such things in the mountains.
The common American red deer is
the variety found in West Virginia.
The same kind is also seen in the
Swamps of Mississippi and Florida.
Now | have noticed wide difference
in the weight of deer in the extreme
South and our own country, as told by
hunters Of the two sections. Senator
Hampton informed me some time ago
that he killed one in his own section
weighing 200 pounds. ! could hardly
realize it. | found, however, that the
deer was weighed as il stood on its feet.
That is the custom farther south, but
in nv State we dress the deer, so as TO
get rid of all superfuous Weight before
testing him on the scale. We do so in
order to attain the greatest convenience
i'm carrying the game about.
81 can see," continued the ; nator,
reflectively, that the number OF deer
has been remarkably reduced in the
last ton yoorp. 1 even HUtIcuu the uIl-
ference on my recent hunt. 1t is safe
10 say that there is not half so many to
be found now as ten years ago. Civl!i-
4 hpn r.
ing them out of existence. The means
of approach to the deer country are now
very much improved, and as a conse-
auence the game is being killed off,
More or less timbering has been done
also, and in this way many deer hauntS
have been broken up. In the white
pine region especially the woods have
been thinned so that deer can no longer
find a home in them. They have been
forced into the wild ranges, which have
so far resisted encroachment.
"The best places to look for deer now
are thinly populated regions, such as
Webster, Nicholas and Greenbrier coun-
ties in our State. In Pendleton, Hamp-
shire. Hardy, Randolph and Pocahon-
tas good hunting can still be had. The
mountains abound also in pheasants ana
squirrels. The streams were once full
of trout, but there are not so many
now"
Senator Kenna has just returned TO
Washington from n ten days eXpedi-
ton after deer in Bath County, Va,
along the dividing line from Greenbrier
County in West Virginia. He hunted
in company with Messrs. j. II. Van
Buren,, Isham Mullins, VIM. Mullins
and Wayne Clay, neighbors OF his in
Charleston, Kanawha County. Fleet
Portcrfeld, Il colored man who has ac-
companied the Senator on hunting trips
for fifteen years, and who takes care OF
his dogs, went along. The party
camped out during the trip, and the re-
suit of their sport was eight deer. Per-
sons who hunted with them killed four
more. The Senator modeStly says his
luoI- ,,,as fairlv UOod