The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-04-08
WEDNESDAY,, april 8, 1891.
WRESTLING WITH A BUCK.
The Thrilling Adventures of u Hunter in
South Carolina.

AL extremely IaulSOLue pan vi
antlers adorns the dining room chin
ney piece of a cosy fiat in this city,
and the writer having expressed ad-
miration of them in the course of a
recent visit the owner replied: There
is thrilling personal experience con-
nected with those horns. If any
truth be in the old Scotch proverb
that there is death Ill the wound OF
horn OF hart they came very near be-
ing fatal to me-" Urged to tell the
story, the owner of the antlers re-
sponded as follows:
sYou know I run down to South
Carolina every year about Christmas
time, partly on business and partly
for the sake of keeping up old asso-
Citations. believe when a man once
acquires a fondness for hunting he
never loses it, and so whenever I find
myself in the woods my thoughts all
involuntarily run to the chase. Every
Charlestonian, I may say every South
Carolinian, knows where Old st. Pauls
is. tits not church mind you, but a
parish or a subdivision Of county
if YOU like. It is truly historic
ground, having been the scene OF
more than one battle in the Revolu-
ton, and the seat Of very active hos
tilities duling the late unpleasantness
There are parts of South Carolina
where game is more abundant at
present, but in days gone by st. Pauls
was famous hunting ground. Still,
a few deer are left and their scarcity
increases the zest Of hunting them.
s'On two successive annual visits l
had sought to bring down an old
buck, which, Judging by the size OF
his track, I knew to be verltabie
Titan Of the deer family; but so cum
ming was the old rogue that although
we had as fine pack of hounds as
ever followed deer and hunted him
diligently we never once succeeded
in getting him up. The dogs would
trail him to and fro and around
about for hours and finally come to
iault. But successive disappoint-
ments increased my desi,e to get at
least a shot at the coveted game, so
on each recurring visit to the spot l
found myself quite mechanically look
ing for his tracks as 1 rode along the
forest road. On my recent visit !
found the tracks as before and
promptly informed my previous COM
panions in the chase We met by
sunrise on crisp December morning
at a place in the pine forest conven-
lent to the supposed lair. There
We're six guns and eight hounds AS
We approached the rendezvous from
different directions each had kept a
lookout for the track, and it was my
good fortune to find it less than a
quarter of mile from the place of
meeting. It was scarcely two hours
old.
s.Four of the party were hurried
off to the stands, while elected to go
into the drive with Dick, the master
of the hounds. AS soon as the dogs
were put on the track they broke in
to full tongue and went down into
the swamp on brisk trot. In the
stiffness of the early morning the
woods resounded with their cries and
no sweeter music was ever sung IN
hunters ear. On they went to the
south, clear across the swamp, at least
a mile in width. Then they came to
halt, yelped for time in an uncer-
tain sort OF way, and finally made oat
tie trail to the eastward along the
edge of the swamp. A mile or mile
and a half in that direction they came
to another halt, then recrossed the
swamp and turned back to the west
ward on the northern border. Half
a mile west OF the point where the
trail entered the drive the dogs came
to fault upon knoll of one OF two
acres extent in the heart OF the
swamp.
"'The same old storyp exclaimed
Dick. Darn me if I ever saw any
thing like it. It's almost enough to
make man believe that old buck has
wings and, after walking around the
woods till he is tired, finally flies into
his lair.
ssThe knoll was covered with the
leafv underbrush of the Southern
swamp, and dotted with dense clumps
OF sweet-gum bushes. One OF the
largest of these grew around the foot
OF a huge fallen pine, which, having
snapped off about eight feet above
the ground, lay lodged upon the
stump. The dogs, completely a
fault, circled around that particular
clump for at least twenty minutes
and Dick and I, who sat upon oul
horses about fifty yards distant, sup
posed they had gone all through 1t {
dozen times.
.sAt last, when 1t was clear tnat tlle
dogs had lost the trail for good,
said to Dick that it was somewhat
strange that they had made so many
circles around that clamp OF bushe!
and suggested the propriety of riding
through it. But Dick was dlscustet
and worn out. 1t was now after tel
O'Clock, and we had been on the tral
since the sun was rising. l had hard
ly finished speaking when Beauty,
big blush bitch, the most active
trailer and swiftest runner IN the pack
leaped upon the fallen pine and trot
ted leisurely, somewhat despairlnsl y
up the incline toward the stump. l
is wonderful how much can be ex