Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-08-27
USES FOR DEERSKIN.
Guides Who Understand Thoroughly
How to Turn 1t to Good Service.

HOW to Iurn 1t to Good Service.
Guides and the native hunters of the
Adirondack region have a variety of
uses for the deer they kill. There are
still good many hunters who know
how to tan the deer'S hide and few
who use as one of the tanning agents
liquid extracted from the brain of the
deer. From the tanned skin many
articles Of use are made. The thick
hide from the neck of an old buck is
excellent for moccasins, and the art of
moccasin making still fingers here
among those whose ancestors learned
it from the Indians. The men and wo-
men Of French-Canadian extraction
are especially apt in household arts Of
this sort, learned from the savages.
Cheap as factory made gloves are, a
few women of the region still cut and
stitch buckskin gloves.
Whole suits of buckskin are made by
expert women Of these parts. Such
suits were once much used by the
thrashers, who travelled from one
mountain farm to another to thrash
the small oats crop of the region. A
buckskin suit is good for dozen years
of hard usage, and with care will last
a lifetime. 1t is remarkably warm and
imperviOus to water.
One rarely sees nowadays such a
suit with the hair on. A garment with
the hair ON to be serviceable must be
made from the skins of deer just COM
ing into the 'blue,'' as the hunters ex-
press it, for then the hair is short,
smooth and tough. Later it is long and
brittle. 1t is necessary, too, if such q
suit is to be of uniform color, that it
be made from corresponding parts of
skins from deer of about the same age
and shot about the same time. Even if
the law did not stand in the way, it
would be difficult in these times to
shoot in a single week enough deer
of the same age to yield the desired
quantity of hide of uniform color, so
a deerskin suit with the hair on is
rarely seen. One still does see, how
ever, moccasinS with hair inside and
out, and very soft, warm, inviting
slippers they make. Raccoon skin
now furnishes cheap fur garments in
these parts, and winter residents buy
or hire overcoats of coonskin to brave
the January winds.
purposes. 1t makes excellent thongs
for tying articles of one kind or
another, good whips and indestructible
shoestrings. You may buy in these
parts rustic chairs with seats and
backs Of woven rawhide. The green
skin is cut in thin strips, stretched I'M
til it is almost translucent, and then
woven into a seat. The result is a
comfortable, elastic chair of almost
indestructible material. Deerskins
with the hair on are still used for car
pets and mats, though here again, as
in the case Of the deerskin suits, the
skin is not serviceable unless the deer
be shot just at the right season. No
body is more fastidious than the
Adirondack guide in these little mat
tiers. If he cannot have his deerskin
coat or carpet just as it should be, he
will go without, though he is in
different enough as to store clothes and
ordinary household furniture.
Out of the marrow from the shank
bones of the deer the guides make, by
laborious process, beautifully clear,
sweet oil, which will keep in good con-
dition for years. 1t is much used by
jewelers. and watchmakers because Of
peculiar qualities that exactly fit their
needs. This oil is sufficiently scarce
and useful to sell for a high price.
BuckhOrn walking sticks are much
cOmmOner in New York than in the
Adirondacks, and, indeed, the hunter
of today finds little use for the antlers
save as trophies. A tiny bone of the
leg furnishes sharp and strong tooth
picks for the native hunter, and you
may occasionally see in the houses of
guides stools, the legs of which are
those of the deer, carefully cured with
the hide and skin. In beauty and use
fulness they fall far short of the ex-
cellent and durable furniture that
guides make from native evergreen
timber.-New York Sun.