Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-08-18
NUMBER z.

I
| hunting. As / sat on my horse and
watched the motion of the fire-pan, fol
| that was all | could see, as it swung
| backward and forward, all else was
, pitch darkness, l thought to myself
This is one way to hunt, but it looks
to ME like a very dark way" All al
| once | saw the fash and heard the gun
Then a keen whistle to come to him.
When | rode up to him, | could see
| nothing, as he stood with the pan oi
| fire on his shoulder. He looked sc
| singular [ felt almost afraid of him.
As | was about to speak to him, he
motioned me to hush; he nodded and
beckcned me to hand the ammunition
and get down. AS I came up to him
he said, "You load this quick; | have
got one and there are two more stand
ing looking at the light, and they are
blinded SO they can't see where to go. y
1t did not take me long to load the gun
and hand it TO him. AS he took it. |
saw him raise it to his face and fire.
looked the way he had shot, but
everything was just as dark as pitch;
could not see a thing, but | heard
something make a noise. He said, 81
have got another, but the other has
run off, so you load up the gun and VIC
will go and see what we have got"
When we walked about fifty yards
in the way he had shot, we found two
deer lying on the ground, one was
dead, the other was fioundering around
trying to get up, but with one blow
with the tomahawk we settled him.
After hanging them up, we went up in
the direction he said the licks were.
Every mile Or so he would stop his
horse and beckon me to hand the gun,
and put On more pine. As he took the
gun, and handed me the reins of his
horse briddle. away he would 60, as
you watched the light swinging back
ward and forward, and that was all l
as though it was standing perfectly
still; perhaps you would see a sudden
motion of the light, and then it would
look as though it was coming towards
you; then it would stop and you would
!, cvI In:I .-41 10
have gone; they were all bucks; there
were six of them, real old mountain
GERS; they have seen fire-pan before. "
After getting on his horse again, we
would go on. At last we had got over
in the country where he said the licks
We're, but if there were any licks in
those woods we failed to find them that |
night.
If fire-hunting don't come the near
est filling the saying, If the blind |
lead the blind they will both fall in the
ditch" You are in the dark, except a
little light spot around you, and the
light that is around you makes the
outer darkness ten times darker. In
Ill my experience in fire-hunting,
never saw the man that could keep d
lirect course for q quarter OF mile at
L time. He will be way out of his
course. To illustrate: That night We
ode past a very large tree that, about
en- feet from the ground, divided and
made two trees. 1t was SO singularly
haped / took particular notice of it.
We rode on and on, but saw no more |
yes. | asked the man how far is it to
he licks? He said, '.Just a little bit (
arther; we are most there; Well soon {
e there After riding about half an
our, | should think, we came to
,round; the trees looked very famil- a
ar to ME; pretty soon We passed an i
ther great double tree. | said to him,
If here isn't another double tree; this
lust be a curious country to have so
lany trees that look just alike; | am
Ding to spot it, So / rode up to it +
nd with the tomahawk made blaze [
n the side of the tree. He said, 'You g
ever saw that tree before; the licks
re just right over there" and we rode 4
H. After awhile we came in sight OF b
mother big double tree, | said, s'JOhn, +
ere is another of the same sort"
ode up and there was my mark on it. A
gave it another cut with the tOma- C
awk. He then turned his horses II
cad in another direction and rode on II
gain, but we could not see any more
yes. We had ridden, perhaps, half an 81
our, and, don't you think, here we b
ame to that same tree! There we had Ii
cen riding in a circle and had passed =
lat same tree five times. After stop .,
ng and taking observation by the al
ars, we started off, not looking for d'
,er, but to get out of that range.
After riding until we found we were =
another part of the woods did he h,
ok for eyes. All at once he stopped OF
S horse and sat and looked. | rode OF
, to him; he said, Il see two pair of Il
es and [ don't just know what they 9,
long to-" said, "Well, get down G.
i'd go and see" Prettys soon he shot 81