The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-14

the other gets at most two shots. Some men
IN firing at a running deer pay no attention
To- the sights but simply look along the barrel.
allow for speed and elevation and let drive:
They do well at it, too. but II takes lot Of
practice.
The difficulty Of stopping the running deer
Ii, Of course, enormously increased by the
trees and underbrush. There are plenty
Of men in the woods every season who. IL
shooting on "A prairie. would knock down
any and every deer within three hundred
yards. but brown object whiz>ing between
great trunks and leaping fallen logs IL
"a hard thing to hit with single projectile.
All men who shoot running deer hold
ahead of it from six inches TO two feet unless
the animal be going straight away. The
a. it IL called while his companion sits
near a runaway, may get standing shot
If the ground and leaves be damp, but when
they are dry all the deer he sees will be
going like the wind.
The best place in which to hit a deer
Is through the neck, smashing the vertebral
column. hut that is "a shot so difficult that
it is made only by accident Nobody
ever shoots straight at a deer's neck whether
II be standing or running.
Next to the neck shot the most fatal IA
through both shoulders. II they are
smashed the deer goes down instantly
and though through his vast muscle he
may plough along for little wav. he cannot
60 far.
A shot through the heart will stop deer
IN It's tracks II II happens to strike at the
moment when the lungs are empty. but II
the animal has just taken an inhalation 1t
VII run as far and az long as the breat lasts,
say from fifty to a hundred yards, and
there are many men unable TO follow
trail either by blood or tracks even for that
distance.
AT a standing deer. broadside on. all men
who know anything about 1t endeavor to
cover the shoulders. II the animal be hit
through back Of the heart it may travel
five miles before lying down. In any case
IL Is certain to be lost, dying miserably,
of course in q dav or two. and Of no value
or benefit to ANYBODY
II is good weather for deer hunting when
there has been "a rain in the night and the
ground and leaves are soft, the twiRs soaked
through and the air il misty, not carrying
sound WELL hut the best Of all weather is
that which follows three-inch fall of
snow, whether the snow freeze on top or not.
After a snow Of this kind the deer move
about freely in feeding and leave trails that
are unnistakable and hard to lose. More
over their brown coats show more distinctly
at such a time, knowing this they do
their feeding early in the morning and
lat" in the afternoon, making their trails
then. and during the remainder OF the day
they do their best To hide,
Sometimes they 90 into the tamarack
swan p, hut they do not like mud any better
than human beings like il and will stick 10
the dry land ar long "a they can. A favorite
place Of cor cealmert at such time IL in a
wirdfall. or a bushy dead tree-top that lies
between upright trees.
The still hunter will look carefully into all
such trcetops, Inspecting them as well az
Ne can from a hundred yards away. and as
he approaches them noiselesslv he will have
his rife cooked, for the buck NAV jump at
any time. Tie hest thing that any amateur
can do. however when he goes into the north
western woods il 10 hire good cude at o, 90
a. d keep him with him. He will be practically
certain 10 get his deer IN that way, no matter
what the weather or the number of hunters
abroad.
Whether he gets the deer or not he will
lie lerented by the trip. The work is hard
and the fare plain; the nights are still and
sleep comes naturally.
III all that territory there is TO such thing
as Indigestion. A hookkeeper out there
for week could swallow a. many buckshot
as the jumping frog Of Calaveras ard ask
for more The air IL sweet ard resinous
with the odor Of halsam pines, the lake
water is as clear a. crystal and cool. the
chill Is the healthy. steady MINDLESS cold
Of the north. cold that makes the heart
heat fast and the blood flow Chcerily through
every vein.