The Jennings daily record. [volume] (Jennings, La.) 1900-1903, 1902-07-21
An Early Morning Hunt
For Block all Deer.
BY CLARENCE A. LYMAN.

he time when all sensible deer would
be deep in the thickets of the green
timber, where it would be all but i'm
awares. Already the burros, far down
the valley where camp lay. were up
and moving stifi1y down to get a drink
at the river.
The southern hill before me was one
l had marked the year before as a
likely place for deer. 1t rose in smooth
slopes and narrow benches thousand
feet or So fringed on the top with the
edge of the deep thick forest of spruces
which ran back on the plateau beyond.
The ascending surface had spruce and
aspen groves lying on it in long stream
ers, divided by half dozen open
grassy glades, each with tiny rill
gurgling down the centre, coming from
the banks of snow which still lay pro-
tected by the dense shade of the crown
Of spruces. The streams were fringed
with the succulent marsh herbs which
deer and elk most fancy as dessert
boughs.
1t does not pay to hasten or to get
out of breath when hunting deer. SO
climbed very, very slowly upward,
keeping in the shelter of the bushy
young aspen that fringed the bigger
trees at the edge of one of the ascend
ing glades. At each step. as placed
my foot to avoid any cracking twig,
looked all around and listened for any
sound of game. The stimulation Of the
color of the early coat of the deer to
the dry punches Of grass is so close
that in the imperfect light it was well
to study closely each outline. else some
proud stag might bear his coveted
burden of venisOn out of range at a
bound, before my eyes had seen the
slender legs and gracefully borne head.
There We're plenty of tracks in the
mellow earth, some almost obliterated
by two or three successive dews, and
some apparently as fresh as though
the cushioned hoof had just been lifted
from them. In spite Of all my caution,
a crack of twigs and stamp OF hoofs
off to the right indicated that an alarm
had reached eyes or ears or nostrils of
GULLY uCSA. Dul SAT SSlll anu 1lSlCASO
to the beating Of my heart until APP
parently it decided that its suspicious
did not justify precipitate flight, for
thought it went on, it was in a noise
less walk. From tree to tree l edged
in that direction. l found the fresh
tracks, evidently a buck of good size.
and followed carefully on a slant up
the hill. / saw something moving
ahead of me, and was ready to shoot,
but it came fearlessly down toward
me, evidently not seeing it's danger. A
doe with her two fawns was working
down to safe shelter in the willow
tangle along the river. l did not
want to turn them back in the direc-
ton in which the buck had gone, so l
crouched behind bush to let them
pass Only 4 pot-hunter fails to re-
spect femininity and infancy in hunt
ing deer. The mother was pushing
along with all the ungracefulness OF
her kind. neck out. ears back. One
fawn wanted to stop for refreshments
and was pushing in front of her like
calf at milking time. The other spotted
pet was intent Oh play, bounding about
in eXtravagant semicircles. His cratic
course brought him directly upon me,
and he stopped suddenly with legs
braced at wide angles. so close that l
felt the breath of his startled snort.
His ears We're opened wide and his
dewy nostrils quivered as he drew in a
scent of whose danger he had yet to
learn. His great soft eyes looked full
into mine for moment. and | could
him. Then he remembered his mother.
who had passed on out of sight, gave
& mew-like expostulating bleat, bound
ed u couple Of yards to one side, and
gamboled on in pursuit.
The shadow of my hill had by this
time crawled down to the opposite
slope in the valley. and the sun was
shining full through the tops of the
trees. A raven cawed and tapped
lazily across the valley. high overhead
on tour of investigation. His keen
eye had marked the murderous weapon
| carried. and he circIed above the
mountain and lighted iii tail dead
spruce to await the outcome Of the
hunt. The buck on whose track l was
following was evidently intent on
reaching shelter. He had been in no
haste, cropping the heritage us he went
along, but the determination with
which the tracks forced themselves up
the hill meant that he had mind for
the safe protection of the growing
green timber forest. l must make
haste to head him off. and as it would
be fatal to hurry directly behind him.
! crossed over into the next glade and
then pushed steadily up the mountain
toward the summit. Just at the very
brow was continuous grassy bluff
over which any animal seeking the up