The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-31
That Il the Disgustsd Notion of
an Old Hunter.
THOUGHTOTHeRWlSEO NCE
But Wee Converted By HIS Bxper1snce
with . Bag BUCK. . Bar Fsmily.s
Cunning wildcat and . Turkey
0obbisr In Ps~unsyivania-

I loved the chase. ana i loved TO ny my
skill and ingenuity In outwittlng the cum
ming Of the fox. the bear. the wildcat and
other agacious beasts IN Turing them to
my traps and snares and pitfalls. And i
used to glost at the way ] could run down
and bag the feet and willy deer. II was
great sport. and I used to get indignant
when some one would exciaim when 1
came In with a lot Of game:
Say. maybe you didn't have good
luck
THAT always made me indignant. snd
I would eply: Luck be blowedl No iuck
game bag. Skill. not uck!
And I thought and believed 90. OF
course. But I haven't been In the woods
hunting or trapping now for more than
10 years. The fact Of the matter 10. i GOT
disgusted. I found out that ! had to lake
back a good deal Of what I had always
said about there not being anything In
luck In bagging your game: that IL was
skill that did II. not luck. Had to take u
back. and 1t Disguised me so that i came
away and haven't been In the woods
since.
THE way my disgust started In to take
possession OF me was through an expe-
rience I had on Kettle creek In the fan OF
sc. An immense buck had been airing
UIIIEtl lh hlt AAtA8 ttoo.
on the creek. II didn't take me long TO
discover that he was as smart as he was
big, and I used all the tricks i had learned
in 20 years as a hunter and trapper In
trying to bag that buck. but he got the
best of me every time. That same fall a
wildcat had likewise defed all my kill as
a trapper. and continued to prowI around
there laughing at me; and. to increase
my chaerin over the situation. a Dig sne
bear. followed by a couple of spring cubs.
.---l- - .Ala0 - nrIGh-
ing almost under my very nose, ana YET
gave me the slip every time i went out
with my gun and treated with contempt
my efforts to show them what . superior
dissembler j was In fixing up . trap.
ct was growing furious when some little
announcement came to me. ] discovered
that I q got the best of the wildcat
enough to fool her into stepping into a
steel trap. but the ugly critter had walk
ed away with the trap. l FOLLOWED the
trail OF the wildcat and the trap for miles
and lost u. The same day j got after the
buck and thought l had him dead sure
when the cunning old cuss circumvented
me the slickest kind. I was going back TO
camp disguised when I struck the track
of the bear and the two cubs. Although
I knew from the marks In the snow the
bear must have passed that way two or
three hours before. I struck right after
'em with teeth set and blood In my eye.
had followed them a mile or more ana
the track was getting fresher. when 1
heard a shot Off to my left. ! went down
10 see who II was and what he had shot.
I found a fellow named Asa Cole. who
drove a team for the mill people. He sat
IN the snow and looked half scared 10
death. Six feet away. to my Amusement
and increased disgust lay the wildcat j
had tried so long TO capture. My trap was
on one OF its legs and the cat was dead
with a bullet hole In It's side. Maybe !
wasn't mad! As soon as Asa saw me ne
seemed to think he was safe and began
to grin.
YES and I snapped II out pretty
ugly.
".Jist now said Asa.
YES said l. Just now
"'Oh. then Il wasn't this wildcat you
heerd me shoot.' said he. 4 shot him a
good while ago. II was the big deer that
YOU heerd me shoot fist now. He's laytn'
over there In the brush. l guess, cause j
|, didn't hear him git up and go after he
tnmbled.'
81 stepped over and peered into tho
brush. There lay the big buck that had
fooled me for two months. He was dead
as a stone. I turned back on Asa and was
going to say something ugly. but before
, 1 said II he spoke again. and then forgo'
all I was going TO say and DIDN'T say
anything at all.
yonder on the ridge about a mile you
? mowt a-heerd me shoot some more. Tina
was the two bears. a big un and a LITTLE
un. There was two little uns. but one go'
away fore I could shoot him. too
Now. Asa Cole had never been In ths
! woods before with a gun In all his lie
and here, Just by blind bullhead luck M
: had killed inside OF an hour the wildcat
. the buck and two of the bears that hat
, defed me and all my skill Tor weeks.
: was so made that I made Asa a present o
{ the trap the wildcat had OF and went II
7 and broke camp. I might not have 10
this convince me entirely that skili VA
D inferior to luck In the bagging OF gam
E ~ the memory OF another experience u
the woods hadn't been fresh upon me an
e was sim CALLING me. N II hadn't been 70
r that I might have gone back to KEITH
I creek the next season and hunted an
e trapped as OF yore. But putting the tw'
: together. I didn't have the heart
This previous experience was dow
q along the Junista. where I was Wild tur
X KEY hunting. and where I had been 70
n three successive seasons for no other pur
= pose than to bag a wild turke
that was so smart that II had fooled a
e my efforts. as Il had all the efforts o
Il every other good hunter who tried Z
q bag II. There are a good many wild tur
a KEYS vet in the mountains of that par
N OF Pen~nsyivan mia. but there never wa
one in the whole state so smart or as b'
o as this one. I had seen him often. and ha
ntdTu II 't"
longest and reddest wattles Of any got
bier I ever saw. They actually gleame
like a streak of red fire as IL new or ra
through the woods. Its plumage was a
most black and had a luster that neari
blinded you when the sun shOne on !
IL had been shot at and missed by all IN
crack turkey hunters and came to 3
y known as the spook gobbler.
This third year that ] hunted this bi
j gobbler I went to the Juniats countr
: early In May. The sly old fellow had a
ready been seen by a dozen hunters an
y shot at a hundred times without q feati
" err having been knocked out Of u. I q
~ three shots at the big and aggravstin
. bird the first day I was there. and any or
of them should have brought II down.
" w~oodchopper named Schaener had CON
into those woods on a chopping job. ar