Evening journal., 1900-02-06

tho deer appears ana puts down its
head for the salt It is dropped In its
tracks with a Winchester bullet sent
through the juncture of the neck and
shoulders. The Mexican descends from
his tree. skins the carcass where Il
lies. leaves the meat for the vultures,
picks up his lump Of salt, removes II
TO a distance of 100 yards, drops Il near
some other tree and goes on about his
business. The only exertion connected
with this is the necessity of walking
from his home to the salt-llck and
climbing and descending the tree. A
dcer-hlde Unframed. Is worth here 90
cents in Mexican money. This will get
ain G pound Cf black Mexican tohccco
snd a quart OF smuglled mescal. The
chances are that he has not worked for
longer than six hours and he has
made big wages.
Still-hunting deer, as properly prac-
Iced, Is at once an exciting and an in
forming sport. II calls for skill. per-
severance and endurance In the high
est degree and the man who achieves
success Is generally the kind OF man
who would have been successful in any
walk Of life to which fortune had call
ed him. There never was a fool who
Twas a good still-hunter. Il Is an art
that cannot be taught, and Il can be
, inflated only In its rudiments. Every
man who follows it must learn Il for
himself by degrees. He can be told
now It Is done only in SO far as he can
be told how 10 make a masse shot at
billiards, and nc can be shown how il
is done only in so far as he can be
shown how TO make the masse. The
iaft Of it will come with practice. There
aro certain broad and general rules
lthat may be got by word of mouth from
I'm old hunter, or extracted from any
: look ever written about the pursuit OF
lcer. For instance the animal feeds
the early morning and late after
b ICON. AT those times of the day il is
o be loked for in open spaces in the
I hicket where the grass grows. Again.
must be approached with great
tcalth from the leeward side because
. { VIII scent a man in a good breeze at
! distance Of $50 yards, OF even fur
4 her. It's hearing is exceptionally
lcute and a twig cracking under foot
VIII be sufficient to send It plunging
/ into the underbrush When it makes
this leap Il viii be visible for the frac-
ton Of a second. Then the sea of ever
green closes round it and It is gone
forever. Again,a deer should, when
wind and cover permit, be approached
from a side opposite to the direction I'm
which IL has Travelled, for the reason
that it is always watching its back
trail and expects no harm from the
other quarter. A man, in order to prac-
tice this ruse with success, must be a
sufficiently good Judge Of tracks to be
able to tell when he has approached
within $50 yards of the animal. II will
then be in order for him to make his
detour and come upon it from the far
Their side. This takes long experience
md natural aptitude Some men never
earn IL. The pursuer must be able to
AXE advantage Of everything he secs
i nd TO see everything. A young still
\ hunter viii pass with foot Of a
u freshly cropped limb which had a
! .cnder bud OF leaf on it and never see
u II, but the old hand will see it and
know that within ten minutes a deer
has passed that way, that it IS feeding
as it goes along, that when walking
land grazing it will not average a great
) or speed than a mile in an hour, and
Z that, consequently. the deer Is at that
: moment apt to be within gunshot OF
him. So in the matter Of any track OF
/ depression left by the foot Of the ami
NAL in any place which happens to be
/ soft or little damp. The appearance
! Of the track will be utterly different
after five minutes after It has been
] made and still different within ten
/ minutes of its making The genuine
j. trailer will know within five minute.
Z of its making of how old it is and SC
tiwill be able to form some idea Of the
5 distance of the animal from him al the
! time. The experienced man will b;
/ able to declare too from the depth oil
! the tracks, the manner in which tn,
! -oes are spread, the distance between
! them and 80 forth the we CHI
. q the deer ahead of him
i and the speed at which it wa.
d. travelling Almost invariably there
2 VIII be signs Of some kind on the
! branches of the trunks of mesquite
. lsaying whether or not the animal is s
I. buck or doe. II it be a doe the hunter
win know that he must redouble hi.
/. caution in case he decides to continu,
+ The pursuit In this region, however
e the chances are that he will stop dead
L en- the trail with disgust and. castinl
a widely to the right or left, will pei
Sun another trail in a hundred Yards Of
/, 50.
a 1t IL impossible to convey to
q lwoiler back in tho states an ADEQUATE
# idea OF the number of deer there arr
s Iin southwestern Texas, and yet avoi,
\ charge Of untruth. Literally in al
q bat country west of the Nueces rive
8. ana south of o. line drawn from sai
r antonio TO Laredo there are tens @
n blusands of them. This is not onl
a because the animals are comparativel.
d title hunted In @ thinly settled coun
Y, ~, but also because the country itsel
y IS an ideal one for their propagation
q ard growth. The climate is dry an,
a healthful. There is plenty of shade il
q tie heats Of the Summer. The QUANTITY
y of food is illimitable. There are jus
n enough men to make scarce the mos
p destructive wild animals, such as tn
cougar and the wolf. II is not an I'm
r. common thing for even an amateu
; hunter to leave camp at daylight ant
1 kill three deer before s o'clock. all o
10 them within a mile. The raw ham