Waterbury Democrat., 1902-11-29
STILL HUNTS AAID MESQUITE
rhe Method of Killing Deer In the Thorny ThIckets of south-
 western Texas.

Tn that part k,f southwestern Texas. hat is borde@sd by the Rio Grande and swathed, as in blanket, with mesquite and chaparral for hun ireds of miles, the still-hunter of deer now in his glory.
 The heats of September have given way to the first hints of autumn, the temperature in the days is not exces- bive and in the nights is cool, the sky is unmarred by a cloud, the animals are in prime condition. That climate 1t this season of the year is one in which man can work for twenty four hours on end without great ia. tigue, and the deer hunter must be a laborer in order to score.
 His work down there, however, con- sists not so much ln the amount cf ground to be covered, for the deer are thick, as iii the character of the in which it is done. There are thou- sands of acres of chaparral so dense that scarcely ra bbit can get througa and these the man, of course, refuse to attempt.
 He is thus limited to lighter growths of chaparral, or to mesquite thickets which are thorny and heavy at best but, at least, traversable. In these the deer lie up during the night and for most of the day.
 They begin feeding at early morn ing and continue grazing until 10 a. m, then walk mile or so and lie down to resume grazing before sunset. They choose for feeding places open glades in the mesquite and it is for these glades that the hunter must look.
 { Not twice in hundred attempts will he find and kill a deer in the mesquite proper. Walking with utmost care, with eyes painfully intent and head bent forward, he will often hear 9 crash among the trees and the hoof beats of the animal, but that is the best he can do. He finds the glade and trusts that there is deer, or pos sibly half-dozen deer, feeding on it..
 If he does not know where the glades are he must search them out, and he does this just as carefully as if he were trying to stalk the animal itself. Working his way slowly through the clirging thorny branches that clutch at him, stopping forward fin order to worm his way under them when possible, carrying his rife in his right hand and swung down below the knee, refusing to place his foot upon any dry twig or leaf, he has every sense alert.
 Suddenly, 200 yards ahead, he catch es glimpse of lighter air and knows that he is approaching the little open ing which may not contain more than an eighth of an acre. Drawing a little closer, he drops upon his hands and knees, and so sneaks forward, care less of the thorns that prick his fin gers and legs. <
 Arrived at a point from which a view may be had, he rises cautiously and peers. If there are no deer in sight, he straighfens up, swears, and moves on in search of another glade; if there be deer he drops upon one knee, aims carefully and fires.
 The weapon used in the mesquite is exclusively the magazine rifle of A. lca1iber, loaded with black powder and soft bullets; the modern high-power guns are unknown there and would not be permitted if known. Conse- quently the accidental death of hunt CT is almost unheard of. Nobody can see to shoot for~more than 50 yards in the mesquite, and at that distance shotgun loaded with buckshot would be just as effective.
 It is probable that in no part of the union are there so many Virginian deer now existing as in southwestern Texas, though it is possible that they are even more numerous in the north woods of Wisconsin, where they have been stringently protected for many years.
 A man in the southwest who knows his business will be able all through the winter, from October outward, to kill from six to a dozen deer a day. They are so common, in fact, that their venison has no value, and mar ket-hunters shoot them only for their hides
 The sportsman finds there. how ever. that there are plenty of deer all about him; killing one of them de- pends entirely upon his individual skill and industry.
 Crushing New Sect
 The sultan of Turkey has ordered the extirpation, by as severe meth ods as can be devised, so as to teach q lesson. it is reported, of new