The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1902-11-28
THE STRICKEN DEER.
Wonderful Endurance Sometimes
shown by the Animals When
MOrtaIIy Wounded.

Il
The capacity of deer to withstand
the shock of bullets sometimes APP
proaches the marvellous There are
many instances of a deer shot under
full Roadway that has run 100 yards
with hole through the heart, says
the New York Sun.
There are instances of deer shot
through the brain and knocked fiat
that have bounded up and fallen
dead so yards from the place of their
undOing, deer with both hind legs
broken that have travelled half
mile before succumbing, and, stran-
ger still, one instance of deer's go
ing more than mile with fore and
hind leg on the same side smashed
to smithereens by raking shot from
the rear.
So plentiful are these instances
that hunters have a way of saying
that no deer is dead until it has been
gralloched, nor is there any shot
which is absolutely certain to stop
them in their tracks save one through
the neck, severing the spinal chord.
| These animals are so swift, they CO.
ordinate so admirably and their
muscular systems are of such perfec
ton that instantaneous extinguish-
ment of the vital spark is achieved
but seldom, no matter how expert
the man behind the gun.
| William Humes. one of the best
known guides in the Wisconsin north
woods, gives two excerpts from his
experience which are strongly con-
trasted:
Being one day on a runway near
LetOurneau lake, standing with his
back to a great maple and expecting
deer at any moment, he saw sud
denly a great buck emerge from the
underground on one side of the road
and start across. The buck was walk
ing slowly with his head swung far
down, his nose being within six
inches of the ground.
Evidently he had not been dis
| turbed by the hunters, but was trail
| ing a friend or a doe. He carried
magnificent pair of antlers and~his
brown coat shone like satin in the
sun.
Humes is a good thought not
markable, shot, and has killed too
many deer to have a touch of the
buck ague. He sighted carefully at
the bucks shoulders, intending to
smash them both and down him in
his tracks. At that distance he is
able with his own gun to hit spot
the size of a mans palm five times
out Of six.
At the crack of the Pife the buck
half wheeled and started down the
runway at full speed. Humes sight
ed again and let drive, but the only
effect of this shot was to make the
deer increase his rate of going.
Three more bullets were sent after
him, the last being fired at a distance
of 25O yards, and then the buck dis
appeared. Humes walked forward
and found plenty Of blood sign, and
was comfOrted, because he could not
understand how he had missed.
Expecting to find the deer dead in
side of mile, he took up the trail.
This was in the forenoon. He found
his quarry some seven miles away
and the hour was nearly dusk.
The buck lay stretched in a clump
of bushes and had been dead not
more than two hours. Five bullets
had struck him.
He had been shot first through the
brisket just in front of the shoulders.
then along the back, through the left
haunch without breaking the bone,
through from front to rear under the
right shoulder and just between the
launches in the rear, this bullet
passing out at the right side back of
the ribs. 1t was this wound which
finally did the mischief.
On another day, when Humes was
walking through the woods and
Keeping his eyes skinned, a young
buck jumped so yards away and went
Ieaping high, quarteripg to the
guides left. At the third lump
Humes fired and saw the buck leap
twice and disappear behind some
fallen trees.
Certain that he had missed he
strolled forward. On the log which
the deer had cleared as the gun
cracked he found single spot of
blood, not larger than a nickel.
There was no blood on the further
side OF the log, nor any on the
bushes.
He took up the trail: hoping to get
another shot. Twenty yards beyond
the blood spot the deer was doubled
across a fallen tree, stone dead The
bullet had struck back of the left
ribs ranged forward. smashed the
heart and passed out at the shoulder.
Many Skulls in a Crypt
In the crypt of ST. Lennarad,s