St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-05-23
THE DOG AND THE SCENT.
An Exhibition of Trailing Power
That May Well BE Considered
Unique.

The power of a good dogs nose va
ries. On dry day when the grass
stems are covered with fine dust and
the tiny particles have settled on weeds
and briars it is much decreased. The
dust gets into the nostrils and causes
sneezing, and the mucus deadens the
nerves. Sportsmen say then that the
scent will not lie, says the New York
Sun.
On muggy day, when vegetation il
damp, the scent holds for surprising
time and a pointer or setter has nc
trouble in following. Dogs are often
puzzled by it's strength and will fol
low trail that is too old to produce
anything.
On such days dogs with highly sensi-
tive nostrils have been known to work
cautiously along such a trail, believing
the bevy to be within few yards and
finally come to a rigid stand, though
the birds had passed that way an hour
before and were then a mile away
This was proved by the dogs stickin g
steadily to the scent and finally rout-
ing them, out.
Mary, white and black setter EYE
owned in Lafayette county, Ark, gave
an exhibition of following power not
long ago that is thought to be unique.
She was out with D. v. Lewis, sport
ing planter, who owns her, beating the
edge of field that had green spring
grass mingled with the old and fur
nished good deal. of cover.
There had been slight rain about
daylight and everything was soggy.
She came hard down in a buttonhook
point, her nose within foot of a clump
of grass as big as a bushel basket.
Lewis went forward and kicked the
clump and a single cock quail flushed.
He waited on the bird until it was
30 yards away, missed it with the right
barrel and knocked it down with the
left. The quail fell on long weaving
slant, showing that it was only winged,
and Mary was sent forward to get it.
The birds course had been parallel
with the edge of the field and so yards
away.
She did not find it where it fell and
turned toward the woods. She fol-
lowed to the rail fence, whose corners
were grown up in briars, and went
down it, working her way through the
briars for quite 100 yards. Then she
struck off into the woods.
Lewis climbed the fence and went
after her. The ground was covered
with wet, dead leaves which had lasted
through the winter. Two hundred
yards in, small branch or creek was
struck. The dog went down one bank
a little way and lost the trail.
Crossing, she ran up and down the
other bank and struck the trail again,
taking it up 20 feet from the water.
She was much excited by this time and
was going fast. The man went with
her, much more interested in her work
than in getting the bird.
The trail ran out into the woods,
curved, came back to the creek, crossed
it again and then went to the field, en-
tering it quarter of a mile from it's
point of exit. A hundred yards from
the fence Mary stopped with her nose
within an inch of the ground.
Going forward Lewis found her to be
pointing hole in the ground bigger
around than his arm, made originally
by mouse and widened by rains. He
did not care to stick his hand in it..
since for all he knew it might harbor
snake, yet he did not wish the dog
to go unrewarded.
Finally he pulled on glove and
thrust in his arm to the shoulder. He
took hold of the quail and dragged it
out. Then he examined it. The bird
had been wing-tipped only. which is
to say that the extreme point of it's
right wing had been broken by sin
gle pellet.
Lewis did queer thing for shot
gun man. He showed the bird to Mary,
rubbing it back and forth across so
that she might get the scent, which
was to her sweeter than altar of roses.
Then he broke toothpick in two and
with some thread bound it to the bro
ken bone, joining the ends neatly and
wrapping it round and round, bringing
the thread down between the feathers.
He made a neat job of it and threw
the quail in air. 1t buzzed away as if
nothing was the matter. If the tooth
pick held for few days, and doubtless
it did, the bird got well.
~ .~yv~~.~ ~v--