The Jennings daily record., 1902-06-30
boy had in the woods.

In those days the southern part of
Allegany County was pretty much all
wilderness. Bear and deer were still
numerous in the woods, and the pan
ther and wolf had yet some foothold.
My fathers farm wasn't far from the
Pennsylvania line The maple sugar
crop was quite an important one with
us. and following close on the gath
ering of that crop the wild pigeons
came into the region by the million.
and during the nesting time we didn't
do much else but kill pigeons aud col
lect squads. the marketing OF which
brought more income to the farm than
any other one crop the farm could
raise.
It was the killing of wild pigeons
thar at last inspired me with the am
bition to bag game of more pretension
j wanted particularly to kill deer
One day. along toward the middle
OF March. my father sent me 10 our
sugar bush to clean out the sap
troughS and get the buckets together
preparatory to the seasons sugar max
Ing. 1 seized this opportunity to do
little deer hunting. SO I sneaked the
old pigeon gun and took it along with
me.
There had been fresh fall of snow
over night, The sugar bush was only
mile from home. and | got through
my task there III an hour or two.
Then ! started on the hunt for Il deer
Travelled 4 mile or more through the
thick growth. ANA then bore off TO my
right in the direction. as ] supposed, of
small laurel swamp that l knew. l
had gone half It utfe when suddenly
out of clump of bushes. not twenty
feet ahead of me, jumped three deer
Just on the other side of the clump of
bushes stood two second growth pine
trees. their stems not more than Il
foot apart
suppose 1t was the great fright that
my sudden coming upon them gave
them that ratified one of the deer so
that it sprang forward directly toward
those two trees and attempted to pass
between them. The space was too
small. and only the deer's head and
neck entered 1t.
Finding that 1t could 90 no further,
the deer. which was yearling doe.
made frantic effort that she broke
her neck. which killed her Instantly
The sudden and unexpected jump
ing up of the deer in front of me
frightened me SO that forgot all about
my gun, and when 1 awoke to the sit
uation there was no need of my hav-
!ng gun. for two of the deer were
mile away by that time. and the
third one was dead between the two
pine trees.
After 1 got over my excitement 1
ha
trees and, started to drag it home.
1 had dragged the deer along for half
an hour or more when / was sur
prised TO come upon the trail of some
one who was travelling through those
woods. either dragging doe, too, or
something else over the snow.
And he's got his dog with him." said
L., noticing the tracks in the snow fol-
lowing the trail.
made up my mind that / was bear.
ing u little too much to the west to
make home the shortest way, and l
took straight course away from the
trail of the man and the dog. - 1
travelled and travelled and began to
think. ! must be pretty near home,
when came to another trail of a man
dragging something on the snow. and
the tracks of q dog, as 1 thought, ac-
companying it. ... -. -. =
This was getting to be, 50 odd and
SO spooky that L stopped and began
TO wonder what it, all meant Then /
sawsthat the tnan;s tracks were exact
'ly like "mine, Further Investigation
satisfied me that they were not only
like mine, but they were mine
Then it struck ME with startling
force that had been simply walking
in circle aud was doubling on my