The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-09-06
old TEXAN TELLS
/. OF STRANGE EVENTS
IN LONE STAR STATE
Some of the Tricks of Prairie
DOgs-HOw He Got the Deer
That Was Too Wary to Be
Shot = Experiences With
Mountain Trout.

the old Westerner, skeptically, when a
Texan had finished telling the other
day about village of green prairie
dogs that he once came across In the
Lone Star state. Yes, sir, that kind
O. sounds to me, and 1 believe you're
either a-lyin' or that you wuz drunk
at the time, and I amt a-sayin' which.
faint likely a prairie dog could
stay in Texas very long without chang
in his color, and there amt much un-
possible for prairie dog to do" the
old man went on to say. as he bit off
heavy chunk of tobacco. you
mightn't believe 1t, but I've seed them
critters do some mighty peculiar things.
Il recollect 'oncet, when 1 lived out
near the foothills in Colorado, that the
prairie dogs got so alfred plentiful
and tame that / had to get outen the
region. I'll never fergit one experience
I had with 'em. l went out there to
raise stock, and had one old SOW.
Well, sir, that old SOW had the finest
litter of pigs you ever seed west of the
Missouri. and they growed and pros
pered like coyote on a chicken ranch
But all to oncet I noticed the little
pigs begun to fosin' weight and shrink
in up. 1 couldn't figure it out what
wuz the matter, but doctored 'em and
1t didn't help a bit. Finally them pigs
all dried up and died, though the old
SOW KEEP her usual good health and
spirits.
Found the Prairie Dogs Busy.
II laid the whole thing to the climate
and thought young pigs couldn't live
where 1t wuz so dry, and I reckon I'd
be a-thinkin' the same thing now II
hadn't learned different. Well, sir, one
day wuz a-walkin' up to the sod barn
when seed the old SOW a-layin' out in
the lot. / walked over to where she
wuZ, and when / got there I'll bet not
less'n fifty prairie dogs took a sneak
fer their holes. But some on 'em didn't
run. They simply stayed right where
they wuz and kept on a-nursin' that
old SOW.
Il never seed such fat and fine look
in prairie dogs in my life as they wuz,
and / jes' stood there and laughed.
Then 1 thought about how them pigs
had starved to death, and 1t made me
mad. / gave a kick at that layout of
dogs and they started on a run to their
holes. They wuz stuffed SO full that
they couldn't run much, and when they
got to their holes they wuz swelled up
so they couldn't crawl inside.
THE more thought about them pigs
the madden l got, and 1 pitched in an
kicked the daylights outen yever
prairie dog could get near. They wuz
so fat they couldn't run, and they jes'
set still and let me kick 'em until got
ashamed on myself and moseyed back
to the sod hut.
Yes, sir. that's Gods fac, and you
can believe 1t or not, but If you ever
find the remains of that sod hut you'll
find there's still plenty of the descend
ants of them prairie dogs still loafin'
round that neighborhood.
The Deer They Couldn't Shoot.
1--WE seed lots o. queer things out in
that country. Fer instance, there ust
to be big buck deer on the hills that
wuz a Jim Dandy. He'd been in that
country fer years, and he had a bunch
of prongs on his head that would make
you tired a-countin' 'em. We ust to
get up huntin' parties to try and kill
the old Teller, but no matter how clost
we got to him and how much lead we
pumped at him no one could ever get
his hide and antlers. He would stand
twenty PAGES away and look at you
and let you shoot at him till your gun
barrel melted
II reckon that deer would a been
Twin today If 1t hadn't been fer a
accident. One day I was out a-lookin'
fer a rabbit or sagehen, and stroIled
up to the woods on the hills. hadn't
seed a thing but prairie dogs to shoot
at, and I wouldn't waste powder on
'em. Finally seed a old eagle soarin'
around and thought I'd take a wing
shot at him, but when I pulled the
trigger the gun wouldn't shoot. mon
keyed with it until / got mad, though
I amt much on gettin' mad. I snapped
it again and it didn't go, and 1 Tapped
1t around tree as hard as I could
belt.
well, sir, I'm a pretty strong man,
and that lick nearly bent the gun barrel
double. The gun went off when / hit
1t against the tree, but / didn't think
anything about 1t until about a hour
later, when I was walkin' back on the
other side o. the hill, when / come
plump acrost that old buck a-layin'
there In the last agony of death. Well,
sir, 1 wuz puzzled, you bet, and it took
me long time to figure out how the
old buck come to his tragic end.
found out that when that bullet shot
outen that curved gun barrel 1t circled