Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-03-22
IT WAS A GREAT SHOT
REUBEN PETITIONERS SON A CREDIT
TO HIS FATHER.

The Man From over sinnamahonips way
Tolls of the system lie Employed In sud
denly and simultaneously Killing a Hear.
a Buck and Two Phcassnts.
| 1.-The peculiar success that attended INV
remarkable father, Reuben Pettibone, as
u hunter" said the man from over Sinna.
mahoning way, was due TO his marvellous
knowledge of the anatomical structure Of
wild beasts IA muon ss to his lnerring
skill as n mnrskman.
" 1t isn't enough to know, he used to
say, just where deers heart is located
in the anim's body or the exact spot in
the interior of bear where the kidneys lie
snugly cnsconccd and then to DO able to
sock u bullet there If you want to be sure
of your game. Not by any means, A deer
will go mile easy enough with bullet
in its heart before 1t will drop, and you
may plug n hole clear through bears
kidneys, and yet he will hump himself
and get far out Of your reach In laurel
patch before he Ends out that he Is "A goner
You may get the deer after good deal Of
trouble AID suspense, but you II never get
way to hunt, to say nothing of being mer-
ciful to your beast, is to kill your game
dead where it stands or where it runs
Thus. always sever n ventricle Of decr's
heart when you shoot, and all You have to
do then is to walk up and skin the deer
Never sklrmish around to draw bead Oh a
hears kidneys Separate tho spinal cord
at the neck with your bullet and the bear
| will die in tho middle Of breath.
-" IverybOdy knows, my remarknb BILE
father used TO say, that IL you shoot the
head off pheasant az it swoops like the
wind through the thickot, the pheasant
I will drop dead or course 1t WILL but then
see what shocking looking thing the
dead bird Is with It's ragged, bloody, hend
less neck. Beheading your pheasant thus
is cruel Just at the base Of the birds
bill, below the eyes, is bunch of nerves
A sudden shock TO those nerves will kill
the bird instantly. Direct your rife ball
as the bird takes wing, SO that It will whis
over TINT bunch of nerves so close that II
it was hair closer it would break the
skin A stroke Of lightning couldn't drop
that bird any quicker than the conclusion
of that pas ng bullet will. Remember
this my so Reuben pettibone used to
say and yer waste pain or mummix
your game
Praxiteles,' my remarkable father
used to shy, never waste, pain or mum
mix your game. Let anatomical knowl-
edge 90 hand in hand with knowing how
to shoot. Then if you keep your powder
dry, you tumble things tremendous.
A nd | followed his advice, and | have
tumhed things ! take it Indeed l have
but of all the tumbling of things | ever
did nothing over reflected moro credit on
my remarkable father than neat bit Of
tumbling did once down on the lower
Sinnamahoning claim no credit for 1t for
myself 1t was neat indeed, but far be It
from me to say that | ever would have
thought of doing 1t II 1t had not been for
the prrcept and example of Reuben Petit
bone. Noverl
"Of all the multtudinous things have
tumbled l have seldom gone out with
vengeance in my benrt to tumble 'em, but
this time did. | did indeed Good reason
had for 1t too although had been more
than patient When the ninth sheep dis
appeared from my PASTURE though, 1
thought it was time to call a halt on the
bear. and l took my rifle and went out,
vengeful and determined. I got on the
track of the bear about "a mile down the Sim
naluahoning and followed it three miles.
there and as I moved cautiously around
the bend came in sight of the sheep steal
or stretched out on the bank sound asleep
q hundred yards or ahead of me. He
wasn't in n position for me to give him "a
dead shot and vengeful as l was l could
not bear TO think of giving him even a
moment Of suffering.
Il was on the point Of hollering ut him
to scare him up and show me n proper
shot when | happened to raise my eyes,
and there five rods ahead lay u big buck
chewing his cud in sweet contentment,
Deer were uncommon scarce that season,
and had uso for Just such n buck rs that,
so | concluded to postpone my vengeance
moment kin the deer and then attend
to the bear before he could get into the
brush, for | knew he would he up and off
at tho sound of my gun | WAS just about
to rnu my ego over the gun barrel and let
the buck die with the taste of his cud still
in his mouth when what should como
strutting out into the open, side by side,
but IA big cock pheasant and his hen.
had no sooner spen them than n compre-
hensive idea struck me, and l proceeded
at once to carry 1t ont
This will be the neatcst piece of work
l have ever done, said ! to myself. I
wish father WAS here to see 1t.
Il was npprehensiye of only one thing,
and that was that the bear might wake
up before things were in proper shape. l
watched the wo phcasants as they strutted
on out side by side | was ready to act the
instant they got to tho point my nice cal
culation had fixed on They got there at
last | gave yell The bear woke up and
sprang to his feet, broadsde toward me.
The buck rose like flash at the same in
slant The birds got up neck and neck I
fired The bear sank down and lay there
rs If he had resumed his nap The two
phcasants dropped to the ground side by
side, just the same as they had got up
The buck tumbed where no was lying
when | woke him
If You could see this, Reuben Petit
bone, said l, it's pleased you'd be I'm
sure, to know what an apt pupil have
been indeed and to see how deep your les
sons did sink in
"Yes, the bears spinal cord was sew
cred at the neck, the bullet having plowed
there just deep enough to do it and then
gone on its way. There wasn't IL mark on
the pheasants The bullet had SKINNED
that bunch Of nerves on each and shocked
them to death The right ventricle of the
deer's heart was cut in two, as II 1t had
been done with q knife, go nice had been
N.Y.
The man in the red, blue, pink, yellow,