Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-09-02

l
with such pcrsistency that he feel
more like ticket-of-leave man than
| free American sportsman, endowed
| with power to shoot and kill all kind.
Of animals not protected by law.
| The shooting of Potter, the guide, bs
young Russell. of Massachusetts, abov,
| Grindstone last Saturday, though sim
ply repetition of what happens in
Maine every year, was the first fatality y
reported this season, and as such il
caused great deal of comment. Camp
owners and guides who stay around
the Twin lakes the greater part of the
time say there are about FIVE people
killed and from 20 to 80 wounded in
Maine every year, because the un-
skilled hunters mistake human beings
for bears or deer or something tina
shouldn't run at large. Many of these
fatalities are due to the dangerous
zeal Of the city clothiers who furnish
gray or tan colored suits of corduroy
CT canvas to the amateur sportsmen.
The idea of the clothing manufac-
turers is to make suits of subduod tints
that blend with the color of tree trunks
and fallen leaves. Wearing these gar
mentS the hunters can creep through
the woods unobserved by the game II
SO happens that most of the big game
Of Maine have dressed themselves in
similar colors ever since hunting be-
came a sport and claim to be the or
iginators of the idea. Until the rail
roads penetrated the Maine wilderness
accidents We're rare, because almost
every dirt colored object that travelled
the woods was deer or a moose: but
when the hunters grew plenty and
large game became shy the chances
were reversed, and the natty. city made
hunting jacket became peril to
everybody who wore it.
To name those who have of late.
years persisted because somebody
thought they were deer and fired be-
fore making sure will do no good
Statistics of fatal accidents for the
last dozen years show that in nine
cases out of ten the man who did the
shooting was a novice in wood lore
and wholly unacquaintod with the
habits and appearance of large ami
mails. The figures also show that in
more than half the cases the victim
was the warm, personal friend and
chosen hunting companion of his slay-
er. In cases where the men who blum
large game they seemed to have been
acting on some sudden impulse that
defied reason and practically compelled
them to shoot regardless of conse-
Guences.
often have when in the presence of n |
stately deer, is a slight arrangement
with the overmasterng de-
sire to shoot something which occa
enslaves the involuntary HON
icide. The symptoms of buck fever are
hands and lack of ability to
handle the gun until the game is he
You'd range. The shooting mania is
born from the rustic of leaf or the
cracking of q tWig. and before the
hunter realizes what he is doing he has
taken aim and fired. The most re-
men who in ordinary cases could not
hit the side of barn at twenty rods
have been known to kill guides and
bring down deer at twice that dis
tance. There also seems to be a strange
Authorization in most cases. Hunters
OF good sense have shot dogs and Grip
pied cattle out at pasture in the belief
they We're shooting deer.
Some years ago, before the law
against logging deer was enacted
Capt Atwood took his favorite deer
hound and went to Katahdin Iron
Works for hunt He met with such
good success that he wired to his
brother. Judge Sam Atwood, to come
up and help him. The morning after
the judge arrived they found a large
yard containing five moose. of which
two We're big males The captain shot
one Of them and the others started
down the slope at brisk trot, closely
followed by the dog. The judge, who
was waiting for his shot, saw the
moose come toward him, waited until
it was in easy rifle shot, and fired He
bored tWo-inch hole clear through
the dog and the moose went on OF
course the captain was mad. He said
so, too. In reply the judge said he was
bewildered at the sight of such a state
ly animal and fired while under some
kind of a malign spell. He liked the
dog and wanted it to live. and of course,
he 70 Ii