Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-09-17
THE LUcKlEST SHOT.
Beginning of Hunters Hun of Luck Ths
Brought Two Deer and Two Panthers.

Brought Two Deer and Two Panthers.
FIFTY years ago when was a lad"
said Ira Parmenter, Of Potato Creek,
Penn, II was stillhunting for deer,
and saw doe and fawn leapine
along in an open space. not ten rods
from where the railroad station now
stands Mt Gardeau. 1 stood as still as
any of the trees around me, for, saw
that the course the two deer were TAX.
ing would bring them along by big
chestnut tree not more than eight rods
from where was standing, and l cal
culated that T could bag them both.
Gas they came by the tree ! raised
my gun to shoot the doe, but before L
could fire something dropped down
out of the tree like big branch fall
ing and landed square on the does
back. 1t was a panther. The doe was
crushed to the ground by the weight
of the panther and the force of its leap,
and the ferocious beast instantly had
it's teeth fastened in her throat. The
fawn sprang ten feet away into the
thicket But that panther got little Of
the does blood. for bored it through
and through with bullet and charge
of buckshot almost as soon as it had
horne the deer to the ground. I don't
know if killed the doe or if she was
dead before my bullet struck her, but
the bullet that killed the panther
lodged also in her vitals.
"Hhe frightened fawn, true to the
nature of its kind, came stealing back
after a time to look for its mother, and
I killed it out of pity more than for
anything else. The panther was
male, and, l believe, the mate of one
that fell victim to what I have called
a providential shot of mine in my camp
shanty the night before. The shanty
was what we used to call face camp,
all open ut one side. Noah Parker was
with me, and some time after we had
turned in for the night most unearthly
screech, sounding like the cry of a per-
son in distress, broke on our ears.
Parker said it was the cry of loon.
After long interval of silence, the cry
was repeated nearby. Then there was
silence again, this time so much nearer
that it seemed to be close to the shanty.
7 asked Noah what we had better do,
as 1 wouldn't get much sleep if that
terrible screeching was going to he
kept up around the shanty all night.
"Fire your gun," said he. Some
times that will frighten looms away on
the double quick.
"NIy gun lay within reach. took
it up, held it out from my body as I
lay on the ground, aud fired out of the
shanty. That was the end Of the noise,
and Noah said we had scared the loon
so it wouldn't be heard in that locality
for many day. I soon fell asleep,
and it was broad day light when L
woke. rubbed my eyes and looked
around. Then I rubbed them again
and turned cold. for stretched on the
spruce boughs in the shanty and not
six feet away lay panther 1t was
dead, for rife ball had entered its
eye and come ont at the top of its head.
The bullet was the random shot had
fred in the night to frighten away the
supposed loon, and it had killed the
bloodthirsty beast instantly A Asecond
more, no doubt, and it would have had
it's fangs in my throat. Noah Parker
said that was the luckiest shot that
was ever fired in those or any other
woods, and I have always believed that
he was right. New York Sun.