Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1902-04-24
INCIDENT OF A DEER HUNT.
Why Two Hunters Spared Their
Quarry when They Caught
UP with IL.

The hunter had long been follow
ing the trail of a deer. From certain
signs which his Praeticed eye noted
along the way he knew that his long
tramp through the snow in the forest
7as coming to an end, relates the New
York Sun.
He had followed the single trail for
nearly four hours, starting with a
glimpse Of the deer as she sprang IN
expectedly from a covert at the side Of
the old log road. The great leaps Of
the doe were easily detected and the
hunter set out in pursuit fully believ-
ing that in time he could tire the an
imal out and shoot her.
The chase was a hot one, first along
the margin of little stream over
which the snowladen branches were
bent until they swept the water, then
through a marsh and up on the side Of
a mountain.
As the man followed, first at a slow
trot and then walking and struggling
with the brush and. stumps, his hopes
rose higher and higher, for he noted
that the leaps Of the deer were grow
ing shorter and shorter, and finally
that the doe was walking, either tired
out or confident that she had distanced
the danger she had scented when she
had stopped to nibble the tender bark
Of bush.
The toes of the deer were no longer
spread as they are when the animal is
running. Up and over the mountain
the hunter continued with increasing
confidence.
The ground was stxange to him; he
had never hunted in that region be-
fore and he watched with particular
care the direction in which he was tray
cling from the sun and he studied the
lay Of the ground and noted the time
IL required to cover il from the start
ing point. The mountain seemed toru
Al right angles with the trail Of the
deer, and the particular features Of the
locality were fixed in his memory as
a precaution against getting lost.
The doe worked along the side OF
this new watershed and entered a
bowl in the slope of the mountains.
When the hunter came up the deer
was there in full view, and he raised
his gun TO shoot.
Suddenly he heard a plaintive cry;
there was an answer, and a movement
at the deer's side arrested his atten-
ton. He saw young deer, apparent
~ fawn of the spring before, bound
into the opening
The doe turned to caress IL and
then sank to the ground, for she was
plainly exhausted. The young deer
did not appear to notice the does IA
tigue and played about her with every
evidence of delight.
The hunter did not shoot. The gun
was quietly lowered and set upon the
ground, and the man watched with
increasing interest the playful antics
of the little one.
/ For some time the hunter waited,
hoping to see a buck, and then he
started to go away. He looked all
about to discover the trail over which
he had approached the glen and by
which he proposed to return.
Across the ridge he saw through
the leafless trees the form of another
hunter, and he hesitated as he spec
ulated over the appearance of the
other. Then, he whistled low and
softly.
"Did YOU see?' he asked after he
| had attracted the others attention
and he pointed in the direction Of
/ the two deer.
yes was the response. II discov
cred the doe and was about TO shoot
when | saw the little one. Then
watched it play for an hour or more.
The first hunter found the end of
( his long trail through the forest and
began to retrace his steps, and the
other walked away among the trees.
This is a true story. Hunters are
not always inhuman.