Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-12-12
IOWA SPORTS TALK
Deer Hunting, Barring None,
Holds Banner For Deadliest
of Perilous Sports
FOOTBALL A POOR SECOND
While Thousands Play Football to Ev-
cry Hundred Who Hun. Deer, Only
Half a. Many are kilIed-5urden of
Blame Rests Both With the Slayer
and the Slain.

and the Slain.
A great deal has been said by col
lege presidents. educators and editors
against football, as it is now played.
on account of the number of fatalities
which occur as a result OF the rough
ness of the game. 1t would appear
that as a sport fraught with dangers
to life and limb, it must take poor
second place. Deer hunting this sea-
son has run away with the banner. CORY
with the blood OF more than score OF
hunters. The known list Of deaths due
to this last named pastime. which has
recently concluded a run OF from ten
days to month, is twenty-five. OF
these one was a woman. This does
not include as many more seriously
wounded. and is almost double the
number of deaths due to football.
Deducting from this 1t would seem
that visitor to the woods of north
ern Wisconsin or Michigan, merely as
spectator of the doings Of others, ran
a much better chance OF being sent
home to mourning friends in wood
en- box, than ne would were he to hold
position on an eleven thru four col
lege football seasons of three months
each. AS sure means of death Sd
caliber rifle in the hands of a man
shooting at anything that looks like
deer. certainly seems more deadly than
the bullet shaped form OF a charging
half back.
Both sports will continue to claim
their victims. but II the percentage "f
those who went after the red deer AMI
returned corpses increases at the rate
1t has this year there Is due to be Il
falling off in hunters before many more
seasons have passed. The supply Is
liable to become exhausted. Tens q.
thousands play football for three
months and dozen are killed. A very
few thousand hunt deer for a period
ranging from ten days to month AMI
twenty two are dead. Over the bodies
of the first group the country at large
holds up its hand In horror and would
abolish the game. Over the remains
Of the other dead but little Is said in
condemnation OF the sport. Yet which,
can 1t be asked. is the more deadly?
Most OF the deaths in the silent big
woods OF the red deer country can
truthfully be charged to carelessness
without the shadow Of an excuse. This
is true OF either the slayer or the
slain. Either the one paid the PEN
atty OF the foolishness with which he
clad himself, or the other shot frs.
and looked afterward. Either the one,
that he might better seek his game.
SO clothed his body that 1t resenrbled
the color of the game all We're in search
of and reaped the result. or the other
constantly on the alert, fired at the
first moving object which came to his
eye. Both are to blame. The slayer
more than the other.
= -
Could the particulars OF all the cases
| be ascertained it would doubtless be
found that almost all Of those who met
death were shot down by nervous mex
perienced hunters. The new man sta
toned by deer run, having probably
never before leveled gun barrel at one,
is all nerves While on the watch. The
swapping Of a twig causes him to start
in anxious anticipation. Let bulk. 1t
! matter not how little 1t may resemble
a deer come within such ones Wis
ion, and he is very liable to send a
bullet tearing thru the timber m its
direction. If he has held well, dead or
wounded brother hunter Is the game he
has brought down.
$50
The old deer hunter, the man who
Is careful at what and when he shoots,
never mistakes the man for the anil
NAL He simply knows when he fires
at what he shoots. Such man in dis
cussing the subject, told the writer that
on several occasions he would have fir
ed at hunters, thinking they were deer,
had he not invariably followed rule
he had made to avoid SO doing. His
plan was never to shoot until he could
see the legs. He was then safe. Per-
Ihaps he has lost some deer by 80 do
ing, but he has never had death
chargeable to his carelessness.
Watching for deer at the close OF the
day, when twilight Is setting In and all
objects under the always dim light OF
the big woods, appear only in shadowy
bulk. is another time when such acct
dents are liable to happen. 1t is then
much harder to distinguish man from
deer unless the hunter Is very careful.
But If the rule is followed OF watching
for the legs even then no accidents Will
occur. II Is better that score OF deer
90 unshot than that one hunter be kill
ed.
carelessness of dress. as referred to
above, is another very good reason why
some of the fatalities occur. Some men
when hunting deer SO dress themselves
that to distinguish them from the game
is well nigh impossible, except at close
range. A man courts death by so do
ing. Such an instance was the one OF
the man, who in northern Michigan
swamp, was hunting black bear. He
wore black fur cap. While searching
for his game about the roots OF Dig
tree, with only the top Of his headgear
protruding above the bending roots he
was sighted by another hunter who also
was in search Of the same game Hunt-
err No. 2 straightway takes shot, at
h1ork haor