New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-10-16
SELECTIONS FROM THE MAIL.
ADIRONDACK DEER HtNlINi.

PROTEST. AGAINST THE Use or IO1>-DIs-
APPEARANCE or THE DEER.
To the Editor of The Tribune
Sir l have been much interested in the letters
OF your correspondent from the Adrondacks; his
description OF the scenery and the Illustrations
nave been very good. But | inclined io take
exception to his remarks about the deer ara the
ways OF hunting them and think he has been too
ready TO believe the talk Of the guides, who talk to
Keep up their courage. TO prevent more strin-
gent laws for the preservation of the deer Your
correspondent speaks OF four ways Of hunting, and
says driving with dogs Is the faircst, manifest
and most interesting"
cannot understand how any who has had
any experience hunting deer with dogs can say
that It is a fair way great many deer do
cape both dogs and hunters but great many die
from exhaustion and from getting so heated In the
long race Many are overtaken by the dogs when
too tired to run further. and mangled and torn
while still alive If they take to lake the hunter
of any experience has almost sure thing. If they
are shot at on a run way many wounded. and
either die suffer a long time from their wounds.
l have lived in the Adirondacks from four to six
months of the year for thirty years. ana nave
hunted in many parts of this wilderness since
1853, and think that / know much about the
deer any guide. After camping for months at
a time hunting and trapping | should know some
thing of woodcraft. But 1 confess to not knowing
enough to still hunt" deer successfully That Is
to my mind, the only fair and manly way OF hunt-
ing anything. The who can go into the woods
with no help but his rifle. take the track Of deer
and follow it till within shooting distance has got
to have a knowledge of the woods and the habits
of the game; he must be able to walk as noise
lessy as the Indian and | fail to see why he is
not hunting in as fair and manly way as the
"tenderfoot." who sits in a boat with a guide to
or paddle him up to the deer that he can
shoot at the distance OF six inches
The great trouble that comes from DOGS is that
as soon as the summer visitors gone If not
before they are all allowed large. They
hunt in packs all winter and in the spring. when
the deer in poor condition to protect them
selves they are killed in large numbers by the
dogs | have found the remains of many so killed
nearly every summer.
If bounding is to be permitted it should be con-
fined to the month of October. Before that the
weather is likely to be that the vcnison
is good for nothing after having been run for
hours. and the killing of does should be pr3hin-
enforced If passed. The deer have goi 10 20 A.
did the buffalo. Your correspondent says thc
guides say that the deer are more plenty now man
at any time in their memory J hear re saine re-.
mark very often FROM ,hcse who Go i not rymemer
nnety-two deer in six weeks Opposite rsul
Smith is hair little "trip orS OF 1h hnq saa St.
Regis Lake from spitdre Pond. In those days we
not an unusual thing for farmers TO find one or
milk in the morning. Every niue NH near Inc
valley had in the fall yard" with ten or twenty
deer Last week Of the best hunters here
went with dogs nearly to the side Of Mt Marcy
twelve mes-and did not cross "A deer track. The
same day another man went nearly as far on TIE
other side of the Vaet without seeing track.
few years ago could have one or two deer
in the river in an hour after the dogs were out.
For a few years the native hunters have to
Newcomb to hunt. At first they were very sue
cessful but every year they return with fewer
deer Newcomb Is the home of several very skill
full still hunters. and the deer were plenty and
tame; but I'VE or six years Of bounding has made
a great difference FAIR PLAY.
Keene Valley y. Y. Sept 10. 1886;