The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1892-02-27

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the boat is sufficient to arouse him.
Nearer and nearer the boat creeps
until the distance is minimum, when
the ritleman, taking careful aim,
pours murderous discharge into the
most available part of his body.
Those killed at night are pulled out
on the beach and skinned the follow
ing day, while those killed in the day
time are usually skinned on the spot
The second method of floating con-
sists of stealing softly within range of
a sleeping gator by day. 1t is diff
cult thing to no. and, on the whole,
unremunerative. 1t is usually prac-
ticed by local hunters, and very rarely
by professionals.
Our party tried the first method
Stepping into the boat the light was
trimmed, the riheman took his accus-
toned position in the bow and the
party started. A mile from camp the
stream widened out into fiat marshy
prairie, filled with small islands and
quantities of driftwood.
Turning the light full ahead an i'm
mense fellow was seen lying on a pile
of drift and iDtently watching the
steering apparatus. With gentle pad
ding the boat approached closer,
twenty feet. fifteen, ten-would the
man never shoot?
A flash, roar, and the great beast
dropped suddenly into the water, shot
through the heart. Instantly some
part of the body is grappled with the
boat hook to prevent its sinking for
ever, and with pulling and hauling it is
got ashore.
The next one shot was swimming at
little distance, only his eyes and
snout being above water, but an ex-
plosive bullet sent with unerring aim
crushed into his brain, and after few
minutes work he, too, was lying on
the bank.
Occasionally the animal sinks to the
bottom and is lost, oftener he is only
wounded and crawls away to die by
inches, while occasionally a sharp fight
ensues between hunter and hunted,
and pair of jaws crunching the gun
wales of the boat is no laughing mat
ter.
Proceeding up the creek about
mile we came to place where two
streams met and on a point of land lay
three, varying in size from seven to
ten feet. Approaching in the same
manner as before, two shots were
fired, apparently killing one and
wounding a second.
The wounded one slid into the water
and swan sotlly by the boat; as it
passed blew the top of his head off,
but before 1 could grab him he sunk.
All this took but moment, but that
was long enough for some lively scenes
to be transacted on land. The appar-
entity dead gator was the smallest of the
three, but he was the liveliest corpse
ever saw.
One of the men landed to examine
him and inadvertently got within reach
of his tail, which appeared suddenly to
become possessed of extraordinary life,
and in an instant he was lying sense
less on his back dozen feet away.
The blow was light one, however, as,
under ordinary circumstances, it is suf-
fcient to break the legs of horse.
A second shot finished him. The in
jured man gave place to another at the
rifle and the sport continued until long
after midnight. Five gators in all
were killed, the skins of which, when
represented about $75-not bad
nights work.
An alligator is naturally tinid, but a
mother in defense of her eggs or young
is one of the most furious animals inn
aginable. After the eggs are deposited
in the spring they are covered with dirt
and debris of various sorts, the whole
forming mound about two feet high
and four feet long; over this the female
wetches for weeks until the young APP
pear, when her vigilance redoubles.
Clumsy in appearance they can, when
occasion requires, get over the ground
with remarkable swiftness progress
ing in long leaps. Under these circum-
stances the best thing is to take to a
tree and call for help. Escape can also
be made by turning quickly, care being
taken to keep out of reach Of the tail.
No man has any business alone in the
swamps; he can never tell at what mo-
ment he may need help, and that, too,
when miles away from any human be-
lng, and where, perchance, months
lfterward another hunter may come
upon his bleaching bones to tell the
5ale. This is why two men invariably !
aunt together in the great Wilderness
If the south and why so few serious
accidents occur. Washington Star.