The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-11-09
SCARCITY OF DEER.
Hunters Say They Are
Almost
in South Jersey.
RECORD OF THE SEASON, EIGHT
Civilization Banishes the Bucks
and Does from Native
Haunts.
RECORD OF THE SEASON, EIGHT
Special to the jersey Cstu Neps.

Special to the Jersey Cstu Nelrs.
BRIDGEToN, Nov. %. 1Ss6.-The deer
season has closed in New Jersey and the
hunter is home from the piney woods
tired but full Of yarns. while the half
dozen deer still remaining in the fast
nesses of marshiand and scrub oak have
settled down for a much-needed rest.
1t is a fact pretty generally conceded
that the city sportsman who goes down
into the deer country with all the most
modern and expensive paraphernalia
gets nothing but exercise. The deer
country in Cumberland, Cape May and
Atlantic counties is too full of expert
hunters who live upon the ground year
in and year out and enc every drive
and stand" They even have a speak
ing acquaintance with every deer in
South Jersey, and they call them by
name. There are ''the Buzzard's Pond
does" ..The Beaver Dam buck the
Jacob FAM" and several others with
like picturesque and particular titles. IN
Guiding "Old C'lumbus,'' an aged buck
that haunts no particular drive, but
seems to be omnipresent. "Old C'lum-
bus appears to have escaped the gum
ners year after year, although each
season brings death to four or five of
his unfortunate companions. A bare
half dozen deer now remain in South
Jersey. and when, within the next two
or three years, the last Of them bows
his antlers to the dust, the sad event
will undoubtedly be spoken of among the
native hunters as "the end Of old
Columbus"
The natives agree that there were not
more than a bakers dozen of deer in the
woods and marshes when the season
opened, October %. During the few days
intervening between that date and the
seasons close, on November 5, several
parties report having killed eight deer
of all ages and conditions. The few now
remaining will pass away very shortly
unless something is lone by the State
to protect them.
The encroachments of civilization in the
shape OF railroads and building booms
are wiping out the hunting grounds. now
nearly barren of deer, and are adding
a regrettable touch of refinement to the
hearty, unsophisticated characters who
shot deer, talked deer and dreamed deer
during the greater part of their time.
Doughty's tavern, in the northern end of
Atlantic county, was for many years a
notable resort for native and visiting
gunners. The old house stood in a wilder
ness of pines in the old days. The new
South Jersey Railroad runs near It now,
and a colony is growing up about it,
and the old-timers who used to sit about
the barroom stove aftersthe hunt and spit
tobacco Juice upon its genial sides are
disappearing. 1hs startling stories of the
chase thai were told as news nearly every
night during the season when Doughty's
was the deer stalkers' paradise are now
no more than traditions.
One of these traditions is old Jimmy
Cars oft-told yarn of how he killed "a
bal up to Penny Pat" The "b'ar was
nothing but an ordinary black hog, but
Jimmy delighted to recite how he
Ing n~eighbors as bar meat, He used
to come over from Mullica Hill at the
opening of each season, and every night
story, and each recital was ~applauded
and laughed at.
A good running mate for old Jimmy
was Danny Mcclure, aged and shriveled,
His eye. however, was quick and true.
and his gait was not feeble by any
means; nse @ol d Danny Nee. Mfeclur r,;;,or the ma,
skunk" There was old Bill Chew. of
Piney sHoller.' whose hobby was a
tree stand. That is to say. he was ac-
" All a L It'll L III
a comfortable fork he would sit with his
gun across his arm patiently waiting all
day Ions for a deer to come within gum
shot of him. 1t was a common thing for
him to remain in his lofty perch from
dawn till sunset. when he would Chamber
down and join his fellows at the tavern
Then the yarns flew. An excited neo-
phyte, swelling with the Importance of
his own particular experience during the
day, would perhaps rush in upon the
group and declare" Arly This mornin' ;,
I jes' slipped up the road by Grassy Pond.
wen / heerd somethin' come ~a-thrashin'
thro' the bresh like a f~our-horse team.
Fust thing | knowed thar wuz Old C'lum-
bus standin' jes' outer range lookin' like
a mule with a rockin' cheer atop of his
head"
The old fellows like Jimmy Carr and
Danny Mcclure would receive this start
ling announcement with silent unc0ncern.
They'd first pit upon the stove, and then
with droll sarcasm begin to catechise the
y~oungster, whom they invariably proved
to be a
OF the younger element Miller Vannote
was probably the best known in the
| palmy days of South Jersey. Everybody
spoke of .Miller's bun luck" The deer
seemed to walk right up TO him and beg
to be shot He found them everywhere.
There were scores of other interesting
characters, including the big family of
Cossaboons, of C-ossaboontown, all expert
hunters: Archie McCaleb, of Cumberland
Forge; Elwood Ford, Eph Loder and
Dave Many have died. and the others
are losing their individuality. for a man
cam continue to be a famous hunter un-
less there. is something for him to hunt.
and there is little game now in the three
counties.