The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1902-02-28
A TENDERFOOT
AFTER DEER.
40
BY T. S. VAN DYKE.
BY T. S. VAN DYKE.

.nINIHAT do you take me for, any
wv way? Haven't you stuffed me
enough already? The idea of deer
living in this kind of q country!" said
my friend Boswell one day, when we
were out hunting quail. 1t was on
one of the most forbidding parts of
the cobble-stone and cactus mesas
along the lower coast of California,
and when / suggested that we should
come out after deer the next day with
rifles I had quite forgotten how alb
surd the same idea had seemed to me
some years before, as it must to any
one who has ever known much of deer
in the east. induced him, however,
to try it, and as he had never had any
experience with deer except with the
shotgun before hounds, we had not
been out long before his kicker was
in good working order.
Cant you dig up something deeper
than this?" he said as we started
across big ravine. eff there is any
thing 1 like it is a California canyon
on a hot day."
= well have some hills that'll make
up for the difference before we get
through" I replied.
'You bet. There are some eXpecta-
tions here that never go back on me.
But how the deuce do you expect to
find any deer here? What is there for
them to live on?"
whats the matter with living on
climate, the same as some of the peo-
ple?"
''By Jove, there is some hope that
you'll live to tell the truth yet. I'm
afraid, though, you slipped that adj
mission out accidentally" he growled.
A glimmer of greyish brown
through bush on q hillside made me
whirl my rifle from my shoulder be-
fore it came into full sight outside the
bush and showed it was coyote get
ting under full sail.
Boswell tumbled to the ground and
rolled with laughter. The best 1 could
do was to smile cheap smile and
keep still.
1t was my turn again before we
had gone half mile. AS we rounded
a point of rocks at the bottom of a
gulch, just above some brush about 60
yards ahead fared the big round ears
of doe, and lower down, still larger
by contrast, were the ears of two
fawns; all looking much like huge
lobes of the dead prickly pear, with
little besides the neck and part of
the back to indicate the difference. In
those days we paid no attention to
the sex of deer as we do now. 1t was
simply a question of whether we
wanted venison or not, and when we
went after any we made practice
of wanting some. So I said:
''There are three deer. Hurry up,
too, for they see us and won't stand
long"
where? Where? Where?'' he said,
looking in the direction in which I
was pointing, while his hand trembled
on the rife. 81 don't see any Where
are they?"
'Why, right over that brush there.
Don't you see their ears?"
what? That! Why, they're gone"
he said, as with that mysterious pow
er deer has of folding his tent like
the Arab and silently stealing away,
they dropped their heads and left us
gazing at the brush.
"Why, darn it! I thought that was
cactus" he said.
''Of course. You never saw deer
standing still before except in a pic
ture. You were looking for the at
titude of the sculptor's warhorse, with
arched neck, mouth wide open,
couple of dozen tines on his head all
flashing like streaks of lightning, sew
eral hundred individual hairs all shin
ing and plainly visible at 60 yards or
more; dew claws all drawn out in
full with glistening curve, with a
binding glitter on perfect hoofs and
line of dark jet for the split in the
hoof. Such deer was never seen ex-
cept in smoothly shaver park, but
that is exactly what the tenderfoot
is always looking for, and consequent
ly he can't see anything else.''
.'Your granny's nightcap. It's in
the cussed country. Like everything
else here, mighty fine to talk about,
but don't stand inspection. Just like
you, always sneaking out when cor
ner you on anything in that cussed
book of yours that brought me out
here to make fool of myself when
there was. plenty of better shooting
at home. Why don't you have deer