The Jennings daily record. [volume] (Jennings, La.) 1900-1903, 1902-05-31

hoy udO IN tue WOOuS.
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
Their and wolf had yet some foothold
Ny 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
Hring of that crop the wild pigeons
tame into the region by the million.
and during the nesting time we didn't
do much else hut kin pigeons and col
lect squads, the marketing of which
brought more income to the farm than
any other Que crop the farm could
raise
1t was the killing Of wild pigeons
that at last inspired me with the am
bition to bag game of more pretension.
j wanted particularly to kill a deer.
One day, along toward the middle
OF March. my father sent me TO our
sugar bush TO clean out the sap
tr0ughs and get the buckets together
preparatory to the seasons sugar max
ing. l seized this opportunity to do
q little deer hunting. So I sneaiSed the
old pigeon gun and took it along with
me.
There had been Il fresh fall of snow
over night. The sugar bush was only
mile from home. and l got through
my task there i'll an hour or two.
Then ] started on the hunt for a deer.
l travelled II mile or more through the
thick growth. ana then bore Off to my
right in the direction. rs l supposed. OF
had gone half 4 mile when suddenly
out of d 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 a
foot apart.
l suppose it was the great fright that
my sudden coming upon them gave
them that ratified one of the deer so
that it spraug forward directly toward
those two trees and attempted 10 pass
between them. The space was too
small, and only the deer,s head and
neck entered il.
Finding that il could 20 no further.
the deer, which was Il yearliug doe
made a 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 50 that forgot all about
my gun. and when l awoke to the sit
uation there was no need of my hav-
ing q gun, for two of the deer were
Il mile away by that time, and the
third one was dead between the two
pine trees.
After / got over my excitement I
pulled the dead deer from between the
trees and, started TO drag ii home
had dragged the deer along for half
an hour or more when l 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 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.
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 dog. as L thought, ac-
companying it.
This was getting to be so odd and
so spooky that l stopped aud began
to wonder what it all meant Then I
saw that the mans tracks Were exact
iy 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 I had been simply walking
In q circle ana was doubling on my