Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1903-01-15
TRAILING WILD ANIMALS.
There Is Much Fascination for the
Hunter In Following Them by
Their Footprints.

Their Footprints.
Trailing deer is one Of the finest
sports of America, either up in the
SHOWS of Manitoba or down in the
south and west, where the black tailed
deer abound in the hills says NJ. Tin
dali, in Pearson's Magazine. The deer
is swift and cunning, and the hunter
must needs be strong in wind and limb
TO follow where he leads, and very wise
TO unrayel the story of his footprints.
The elegant hoof-mark of the deer
could never be anything but deer's
imprint to the old hunter-but men
may live for years in places where
deer are found, and yet, on coming
across a footprint, be unable to deter
mine whether it was made by a deer
or by sheep or pig. Indeed, tie
footprints of deer. sheep and pig. seen
singly, are remarkably alike, and only
an expert can tell the one from the
other.
To trail deer successfully needs the
cunning Of the North American Indian,
who knows from the mere touch and
smell Of the track not only how long
ago the track was made, but also the
size and condition of the deer who
made it! The hunting Indian is as cum
ming as the hunted deer himself; he
seems to enter into the very workings
of the brute mind.
The first mistake made by the young
deer hunter is 20 follow too closely
on his game If the hunter watches
the trail It his feet, instead Of looking
ahead, he may stumble on his deer un-
awares.
This is what the boy hunter did in
Mr.. Thompson Seton's little story of
"The SandhiH Stag"
Sneaking along, watching the tracks
at his feet, he was so startled when the
big-eared, grayish animal he was after
sprang suddenly up before him that
he could only stand still and gaze as
they bounded away. rising higher and
higher at each bound. Then, when
he goes to examine their trail, he reads
a wonderful story. Between one track
and the next he finds a blank space Of
IS feet. then another blank after the
next track, the blanks increasing to IS
feet, then to 20, to 25 and sometimes
even TO 80 feet.
The tracks made by running deer
have spaces between them of from IS
TO 30 feet!
Running deer are wingless birds.
''They do not run at all, they fly" said
Mr.. Tompson Seton. 'and once in
awhile come down again to tap the
hilltops with their dainty hoofs."
If the hunter always followed on the |
deer's trail he might follow for thou |
sands of miles without having shot.
He must leave the trail when ii grows |
new and hot, make a detour and lie up
in ambush in front. BY clever ma
neuyering a strong man can always
run down the swiftest deer, and then
at the end Of long chase the short |
ened blanks between the tracks will |
tell a story Of a deer grown weary.
The deer often goes back on his own |
trail Sometimes, when the track is
dim. it is hard to tell which way it
leads. But the footprint is a little
sharper at the toe than at the heel,
and when the trail leads over a hill the
hunter can always tell which way the
animal came, for if he went up the hill
his spaces would be short, through the
labor of climbing.
All manner Of tricks are played by
hunted deer who know that they are
hunted. One thing they often do is to
return a little way along their own
track, and then making great leap
to one side race away in mother d.
rection. Sometimes when hard pressed
deer repeat this vancouver time after
time, finally lying down TO rest (hay-
ing bounded aside from the last traiD
in a spot where theycan smell and hear
the hunter long before he comes dan.
gerously near The hunter. constantly
finding himself on cold scents must pa
tiently unravel all the twisted story
by the deer's feet, barking back on the
cold scents until he finds where the real
trail begins anew.