The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-31
DEER DIE IN ORCHARDS.
THEY LOVE APPLES EVEN MORE
THAN THEIR LIVES.

in Maine include rorcupines.
Squirrels, And an Occasional Bear
Searching for Fruit-A Hunt That
Secured Lynx skin BESIDES Vent
son-HIntcrs' Mistakes Are some
times serious and Amusing.
From the New York Sun.
zone thing that deer likes above all
others is an apple orchard" said New
York commercial traveller recently return
ed from trip to Maine. Apples are so
much to it's taste that it Will take great
risks to obtain them. During the open
shooting season in Maine the country pa
pers in the big game region print weekly
accounts of farmers who have killed deer
in their orchards sometimes literally
shooting them from their doorstep. But
mostly the deer resort to the old orchards
on the abandoned farms along the skirts
of the numbering region. There are many
of these places which the owners found
Improbable to keep up after the lumber
men pushed further back into the woods,
and ceased to buy their hay and pota-
toes. SO they moved away and left the
farm buildings to tumble down and the
fields 10 grow up to ferns and bushes. But
the orchards have stood, and still bear
fruit, and to them the deer and squirrels
and porcupines come in the autumn for
apples. Sometimes bear comes out of
the woods to visit the sweet apple trees
and, taken altogether, the sportsman who
has not time or inclination TO make far
trip into the backwoods finds his li<eiest
chance for big and small game in these
old orchards
Staying in FoXcroft. with a couple of
days at my own disposal / yielded to the
voice of the TEMPER and went deer shoot
ing with John Robbins, the fishing guide
He knew an old orchard in the township
of Barnard, twenty miles away, where
deer would go there to watch for a night
on the chance of getting a shot Rob
bins had Winchester rifle and l borrow
ed a shotgun, which, with charges of buck
shot, is a surer weapon for night shooting
than rifle. AS we packed our outfit
into the back of the buggy l saw Robbins
stow among it two lanterns wrapped in
blankets.
What are those for? I asked. Are
we going to jacklight the deer?
Not a bit of it, he answered. Those
are our stoves-foot stoves. Youll see the
use of them before tomorrow morning.
I'VE got to Barnard, an old farming
settlement in the woods, now gone back
to the condition of a plantation, in time
to visit the orchard by daylight Il was a
quarter of a mile from the road with
woods on three sides Of it, Having recon
| noitered the ground and selected our
watching place, we drove a mile to
farmers house, where we left the team
and got our supper. Then we went back
to the orchard and took up the position
we had chosen, behind fallen stone wall
oVergrOwn with bushes. There was a log
TO sit on. and it was here that our Ian
terms came into play. The night was cold.
with frost already glistening on the grass,
and thin ice forming on the little wayside
pools. Sitting perfectly still, as we had
TO, with a lighted lantern placed between
the feet and a blanket wrapped about the
legs and waist to confne the heat we
| kept fairly warm and comfortable. This
| is an old Maine hunters trick and a
| handy one to know, whether one be
watching FIR deer or driving abroad in
wintry weather.
There was a full moon which did not
| set until midnight, and for six mortal
| hours we sat on that log, with no sight
or sound of a deer Something that came
and rusted around beneath the apple trees
| gave us a thrill of hope for a minute but
| il proved to be pair of porcupines brows-
| Ing about among the fallen apples We
watched the dipper in the sky whirling
| round the North Star while tbe boots Of
| owls ana once the crv Of a 1orn-cer,ia,
| came to our ears from the woods about
MS. An immense owl sailed out of the
darkness and circIfne swooned three a.,
four times close to orr heads as ~ he
| had an idea AZ tacleIinq ono of nc tbon
Topped away back into the woods AT
last the moon went down.
NOW keen vour eves onan for a door
Robbins wbispered
"For a o,,arter Of an hour all ,s,as ,or-
feet stiffness in the orchard rben I hoard
the faint sound Of sometime moyine
amono tbA fallen leaves an no fa.tb1rsido
with orr euns at ready we waited Onno.
st+a o,,r bidipo mace rort,, ,rards 80.
wos sweet annie tree with bushels If
annles on tho eround benaatb n ana ~.
l,neu, tbat II What we hoard u,as a door
If v,onid come M This tree 10 nor alarmed
- sae,,,ad an bour tbat ,za rTaitod -
Inc, novJ and tbon n sound aroonT a..
1osvos h,,t eoeine, moi bing Of the creaf,,ra
49, ,,a4 - nj, ~ - .Is5