Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-26

CH, SUNDAY, JUNE
bucks right out of the opening in the
laurels But they went right on, and as tar
as Dey and I are concerned they may be
going yet. They were too quick for US,
and we didn't even shoot 1t wasn't long
before father came to us. well, where's
your deer?' he asked.
| 1--WE had to own up that the bucks were
trifle sudden for US, and expressed it as our
| opinion that they were at that moment
somewhere in the vicinity of the setting sun,
at the rate they were going.
I guess 1t was coons you fellows came
out to hunt, father said. That's it; so you
60 right up yonder on the ridge and hunt
'em. I'll go and get those two bucks
Hunting Coons in the Snow.
'The end of it was that Dey and had to
| 60 up on the ridge and hunt coons. There
were two or three inches of snow on the
ground. We soon struck regular path OF
| tracks that looked exactly as if drove OF
young pigs had recently passed that way.
| We followed the path some distance, and
| the tracks began to separate and scatter
| out.
"'Well,' SAYS I, we've struck 'em surei
This is drove of coons, that's what it ISL
"We followed the coons. They led US
down off the ridge to spring run, and that
run, for q hundred yards up and down it,
looked as if a steam plow had been doing
| its best to turn it bottom side up. There
wasn't stone in it but what had been
turned over, and they were tumbled helter
skelter and every which way. 1t was evil
dent that the drove of coons had been at
work in that run, and I learned afterward
that they were looking for crawfish, and the
reason that they were not still there when
we got to the run was that there were no
more stones to turn over. They would
have stayed there all night and all the next
day if the stones had held out, even it they
didn't catch a crab. The coon goes on The
principle that the crab he is after may be
under the last stone.
They Were industrious Coons.
"From the plowed-up spring run the
tracks led back up on the ridge again. We
followed them up, and then along the
ridge for a mile and half Then they led
out into an opening of two or three acres,
where there were a number of beech trees.
The snow was dug up over that entire space,
and the leaves were turned over and tossed
about in the same reckless fashion that the
stones in the spring run had been tumbled
and piled. The coons had been putting IN
their time beech-nutting under the snow
and leaves, and it was plain that they were
large and busy and hungry family.
"'We ought to have brought horse and
wagon 1 said to Dey. 'Weneve can back
all of these coons in
"sAll of which coons?' said Dey.
"I mean all of these coons when we get
'em,' replied.
"sWell, let's get 'em first says Dey.
'"And 1 thought that might be the best
plan myself, and started to look the coons
two acres was tracked and torn up all over
1t, but nowhere, on any side of it, was there
track leading away from it to show that
the coons had left it. 1 walked all around
the edges. Not the sign of track in the
snow, and not hide nor hair of a single coon
to be seen anywhere within the space.
"'There's flying squirrels, amt there"
said Dey.
eyes, said.
"Then I'll bet there's flying coons, too,
and we've struck a flock of emil said he.
A AsuspiclouS-LookingO Oak.
"Right in the middle OF that open stood a
mammoth red oak tree. 1t was easy four
feet in diameter at the butt, and big and
tall in proportion. 1t looked as sound as
rock. There was no visible opening any
where near the bottom where coon could
have gone in. There were tracks all around
h,
the trees scattered about the space. Away
up toward the top of the big tree, though,
there was something on the trunk that
looked as if it might be an opening to some
hollow place in the tree.
"I believe those coons are somewhere in
the interior of that oak, said.
"T believe those coons have taken wing
toward the Susquehanna, said Dey.
".I wonder if 1 can climb that tree,
said I.
"'There's an easier way than that
said he
"'What's that?' said I.
"'Pull it up by the roots !.said he.
"After looking the tree over made up
my mind that it would be about as easy to
pull it up by the roots as it was to climb it,
and so said I would 60 and get an az and
come back and chop it down.
"'Fetch supper and breakfast along, and a
snack for dinner tomorrow, said Dey. I'll
stay and boss the job
$50 cut all the way back to Forest
House to get an ak. 1t was getting late in
the afternoon when I got there. I asked
the landlord to loan me his az.
"'What for?' said he.
"To cut drove of coons out of trse,'
said.
The Tree Proved to BE Hollow.
$50 he loaned me his az and I started
back for the big oak. I cut across the
ridge and when got back Dey had big
fire built, and was taking things easy. That
four-foot oak tree looked like a big job to
tackle, with night coming on, dull ak. and
I not much of chopper
"'But we have got to have those coons!'
said 1.
"'Come all the way from Geneva to kill
deerp said Dey, and sitting here in the
snow waiting for four-foot tree to be
chopped down, so we can find out whether
drove of coons went into a two-inch knot
holen
"But went to work and chopped like a
beaver for half an hour, and hacked
quite notch in one side Of the tree. Dey
began to take quite deep interest in the
work.
"'Say! said he. That tree sounds as If
there might be a coon in it'
'Then he got up and chopped a while.
Then took hold again. 1t looked like an
endless job, and it was getting dark. Pretty
soon the ak went clear through into the
tree The oak was as hollow as a barrel,
the she'll of solid wood being only about a
foot thick.
"If there amt coon in that tree, said
Dey, I'll eat it, hollow and all.
"The discovery that the tree was hollow
gave US new. courage, and although our
hands were blistered from wrists to fingers.
we chopped away Justify. By and by the
great tree began to totter, and then she sud-
denly toppled and came down with a crash.
crushing the beeches in its path as if they
had been shafts of clay.
"'Now fetch on your coonsp cried Dey,
grabbing his gun and club and rushing
into the fallen tree top. I rushed there too,
with cudgel. But not coon put in an
appearance.