The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-21
BROWN AND THE BUCK
Was a Long Time Making
Up His Mind to Shoot.


(Fofest and Stream.)
'Ten US about that big buck deer
vor lost once, Brown. They say you
missed a very fine one a few years
ago" said Jones to Brown a few even
ings since.
Wen. it was like this said Brown.
taking a few puffs at his pipe. i had
never shot a deer, and the evening
before the occurrence of which you
speak l was alone in log cabin far
away from the haunts of men. 1 was
hguring on taking a turn out in the
thicket the next day to look for deer,
which 1 had been told frequented it,
and so naturally thought a good deal
about deer and the probabilities OF
my being able to get one 1T you have
ever been domiciled in a cabin in the
woods several miles from any human
habitatiOn. you can readily understand
what the facilities are for undisturbed
thought. BY the time darkness came
on / was shooting deer by the carload.
Sometimes l would be content to kill
them one at time in rapid success
sion, and then again / would have
them lined up and make one bullet do
for two or more, but 1 never failed to
bring them down. Amid these cheer
full reflections 1 fell asleep and dreamed
of sitting on runways and proving
1
started out full of hope and ambition.
Every faculty was on the alert, and
my gun always in readiness for in
slant execution in case deer jumped
from the thicket For a couple Of
hours 1 Travelled thus, and, seeing no
deer, gradually relaxed my vigilance
and was swinging along at an easy
gait with my gun carelessly resting
on my arm. l had come out of the
thick timber and had stopped on hill
overlooking some little meadows. I
had not the slightest thought of seeing
q deer, when all at once there burst
upon my vision a mOnstrous buck
calmly and peacefully grazing along
the edge of the meadow at the foot of
the hill. Instantly 1 was again child,
and by my fathers side I stood cling
ing to his hand and gazed respectfully
through the bars of a cage at the beau
tiful animal. Then the whole thing
seemed like a picture of a beautiful
landscape with the live deer painted
into it. Gradually 1 became conscious
of something on my arm. 1t was the
gun, and then the horrible revelation
came over me that here was the deer
] had come TO kin. Slowly and me-
chemically / raised the gun to my
shoulder and pointed il in the direction
of the meadows, always with my eye
rtveted on the deer. l could not shoot
yet, for ! had not made up my mind
how l was going to keep him there
while l killed him; how l could spare
enough attention from keeping him
chained with my eye, to aim the gun
and perform the operation of pulling
the trigger Those were moments Of
terrible suspense. The deer kept grow
ing larger and larger, a mist swan
before my eyes, and the earth, the
trees and the sky all began to move.
With the sensation that one has when
he realizes that it is the other train
and not the one he is on that is NOV
ing. / awoke to the fact that Mr.. Buck
was leaving the meadow with my eye
stil chained to him. 1t was then or
never. There he was. only a short dis
lance away, moving slowly along (
can see him yet Great big fellow.
His course brought him nearer and
nearer TO where l stood waiting -
(pause).
why didn't you shoot?"
.'What?"
why didn't you shoot?"
"Oh. Why didn't 1 shoot? Well. as
/ said before. 1 had one eye firmly
fixed on the buck. In order TO sight a
gun properly, as you may know, it is
necessary to shut one eye, and with the
other glance along the gun barrel be-
tween the sights. My gun was in
place. but when 1 went to draw a bead
on the buck, refused TO respond, and l
inadvertently shut the other eye. This
moved the gun barrel around out Of
place and changed the position of the
deer. and mixed things up generally.
had been perfectly cool up to that
time. Almost too cool. In fact, frozen,
to speak technically; but this little
matter of getting my eyes changed
had tendency TO make me nervous.
] quickly recovered, however, took aim
and fired. 1 cannot imagine why he
did not drop. They always dropped
the night before. He simply stopped
and looked my way. Could it be that
/ had shot him so dead that he did not
struggle sufficiently to fall at once?
No. he was not dead. He did not even
know he had been shot at, and to my
utmost CONSERVATION he came directly
towards me. He came little way and
stopped. How long we stood there
staring each other in the face / will
never know. but finally it occurred to
me that if 1 killed him I must shoot
again. / raised my gun
why in the world didn't you shoot
then. Mr.. Browne"
Did you ever shoot at deer?'
No"
NO? Well. you see, when I made
up my mind to shoot again it occurred
TO me that I hadn't pumped my re-
peater FASTENED to reload, when
click the deer wheeled like a flash.
and with a gentle, graceful rolling me
ton sank quietly and peacefully into
a kind of little ravine like, and l saw
him no more. If the ground had been
q little more level, or if (sigh)- Say,
give me a match, viii you? My pipes
gone out"
willing TO Make Amends.
London Spare Moments)
An amusing street incident happened
recently. 4 young lady left her hus-