Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-11-20

reCtiOn of the orchard, John waS he
tween and l was down in the meadow.
We all met at the orchard and as we
We're going UP the hill after we left the
lOWlOnd George or John started I'D n
big buck deer. / was climbing over the
stone wall when heard him coming. II
was perhaps half a minute after |
heard him coming. l just had one foot
upon the stone wall and ne was ruD-
ming right along the edge. / was alone
and John was alone and George was
alone. / followed him over into some
birches. He ran over into some birches
and could not track him so l stopped
and we all walked back.
Then we went right east from there.
We went together until we got over
to Mrs. -- | can't think of her
name. she is widow lady and lives
alone in the corner house-we stopped
there together and George was going TO
shoot at what he called woodchuck.
He hadn't used the gun before this
year and it was all full of vaseline and
stuff and it would not so when he. pull
ed the trigger 80 we all went back to-
gether to Mrs. Longfellow's-that was
the lady's name who lived alone-and
got some kerosene oil and put into il
and from there we went right back into
big meadow just north of Alfred
Clark's rlace and from there we separ-
ated again. George went east and John
went north. John and I started to go
together but l only had mcccasins on
my feet and We struck a swamp so
l went back and we met at Mr.. Clark's
I, h1,,
while Mr.. Clark was not at home,
Mrs. Clark was, and we started from
there and walked up the rOad-it is not
a main road but branch road on the
west slope of the Cross Hill road-we,l
we went down in there quite a long
ways. We had been gone down i'm
through thefe-Oh, | don't know, quite
a while, when l jumped two deer and !
whistled and 1 knew pretty near what
direction they We're in as they started
southwest. Well. | started the two
deer and whstled and they did not an
sWer and l hollerad.
THE deer went into some sumachs
They We're laying down in some su-
machs and I hollered two or three
times and George answered me and he
had jumped two more deer and we
whistled for John but could not make
him hear and George says Il will go
down this way and you circle right up
round and possibly we may get them,
one way or the other | came out down
by PoulOt's. l did not find anything of
George or John there 50 | went down
to what we call Bears spring. / did
not know but possibly they might have
kept right on going and struck that
spring and perhaps hung around that
meadow and spring, but Iney were not
there so | went up the main road and
George was up above PoulOt's house
quite n little ways. That was past
noon and 1 had on my hunting jacket
and had lunch in the pocket. John
hadn't come 50 George and / stayed
there and ate some of my lunch and it
WAS quite Il little While before John got
back ana we laid there by the stone
wall in the sun and rested. Then we
started out and separated and we were
not together again. John and | came
together but we three did not come to-
getner again after that.
The last time l jumped the deer
was quite a little while before the
shooting-about two hours, | should
say. John and / came together down
in the woods and he was with me
with his rifle at his shoulder when
| fired. | saw something move in the
woods. My rifle was not set up. 1t
is a $3.50 Winchester. ! should think
what 1 saw was not over so yards
away. l thought it was a deer just
as much as ! ever did in my life. |
heard nothing after 1 fired the first
time. but just before l fired at all l
heard whistle. John answered it by
whis.ling through his fingers some
way. and the answer sounded to me
in the opposite direction from where
| fired. That was the first time that
day that we had been misled on Local
ton.
1--WE both took our rifles right shp
and John said: Let's get down and
crawl little mite snugger." There
was big rock that l should say was
perhaps 30 feet from where we first
stood 1t was west of us. John got
down on his hands and knees and
crawled. but / stopped down and
walked along. l kept my eye on the
object all the time. 1t kept moving
like deer that was feeding. There
was lot of small trees and bushes.
John lost sight of it by moving. When
I'fired John stood right beside me.
After the second shot we heard George
holler. but could not tell what he said
We ran down. I was just as positive
that I had shot a deer as / am of sit
ting in this chair and was not excited
nor bit nervous. / could not say
what the distance was.
When we reached George l think
John had a rope or piece of cord in
his pocket. I had on a new hunting
jacket I had just got. l took that off
and then tore the lining out of my in
side coat. I took that and with the
rope we corded his leg and took him
out. That was all there was to it, |
went ahead and got him across the
stream and down as far as we could,
then l started and ran up and got the
horse George thought he could ride
better than we could carry him. He
was not left alone one moment after
we found him. I think John asked
him if he heard the whistle.
For positive fact | cannot say
whether j took the rifle up or had il |
down when fired. John did not fire at