Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-14

even to the keeping and running Of pack
of the ancient royal 'gazehounds.'
We did not only go through the motions
OF hunting deer with these hounds. We
actually hung up deer on nearly every dag
that we went out, until we had a good rack
full of them, all taken as fairly as might
be- for each was killed after full trial of
his own fayorite argument of speed. The
rife was not used at ALL and the game was
given every chance it could ask under the
limitations of its habits and its own sur
roundings. Now, if you come to do that
sort of thing it will be discovered that IT
has been done only after most thrilling
experience. One needs to ride and ride as
hard and fast as the best horse he can get
can carry him. else he will see the little
panorama of back-laid antlers and Of
rhythmic pursuing backs slipping softly and
easily away from him though pulled out
upon a ribbon running from a box. The
singing of the wind in his ears will be so
keen that 1t will sing there forever. all the
rest of his sporting life. If he gets fall
it is likely TO be a savage one. but unless
half-killed one does not feel a fall al such
a time. All that IL is possible to think of
is the mad chase on ahead, and for the
time horse, man and dogs are all alike.
They have in their minds nothing but the
image of the creature which is fleeing and
which holds out the haunting challenge to
a test of speed.
Much Like Still Hunt.
We found that the deer were in the habit
of feeding out in the open country at GER
tain places. like antelope or like cattle, and
therefore thu first stages of a hunt were
much similar to those Of still hunt We
would ride carefully along, going up to the
top of the ridges here and there and look
ing out over the country on ahead. Some
times q bunch OF deer would be seen at a
distance too great to leave any hope of a
chase when they got first sight of US Az
1t would be found impossible to get close
enough for a start upon other deer which
had not yet discovered us. The great desid-
e:atum was to find bunch in such a place
that could get within couple of hum
dred yards or 50 before we jumped them.
1t was not found possible to kill a full
grown buck II he got long start ahead of
the dogs
Sometimes If we got upon the hunting
country late In the morning, after the deer
had ceased feeding and had gone into their
resting places, We would blunder into a
deer lying in the tall grass of the slough,
we're they always went to hide after they
have finished the morning feed. In such
conditions the dogs must jump the deer as
close forty or fifty yards. and in that
case it was all over in few moments. We
never knew deer to escape in such an in
stance for the pack would run into it al
NEST before Ii seemed to realize what ne
cessity there existed for immediate speed. A
deer pressed too closely loses heart quickly,
ard once 1t gives up 1t seems to be paral-
yZed so that II Is incapable of Its top speed
Sometimes before the dogs got to deer 1t
would give piteOuS beat, not altogether
pleasant to hear-and which took pretty
hard rider ever to get to hear-and then 1t
would give up. Once thrown by pack. We
rever knew deer to get up again, and the
dogs killed Ii quickly, several of them seiz-
ing it by the throat at once.
Wisdom of the Old Deer.
The yearing deer can run as fast as q
big buck but they do not have the heart,
the staying quality or the resourcefulness
of the old-timers Of their species. 1t was
a grand thing to see the wisdom Of some
of the big bucks, old fellows that had gone
against the gray wolf speed and cunning IN
their time. Such an animal Is a splendid
sight as he goes off in his easy bounding
gait with his head carried back, his ears
and nose catching full record of what is
going on behind him. and his little feet
seeming hardly to feel the ground at all.
The first thing a big buck would do was
to get over the first ridge as fast as. he
could. Then II he lost sight of the pack
for an instant he would double back and
fly off at another angle The dogs would
pitch up at the top of the ridge, stop for
half an instant to catch sight again, and
then would see their game swinging OIL
many a yard farther ahead than he was
before. The hunt was too far from the
timber for the deer often to head that way
and they always took the down wind course
at any rate. Yet here and there, scattered
over the rolling country, there were little
red willow patches, or sometimes bits OIL
swamp where the reeds stood as high as a
mans head as he rode along on horseback
II was the plan of the deer to get into
some such place as this as quickly as pos
sible. and II was curious to note that, un.
der these conditions, the campaign of the
white tailed deer Is precisely the same as
that of the cotton-tail rabbit. Sometimes