The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1903-08-21
CAME AND FOREST FIRES.
Deer and Small F~ur-Bcnr1nE
Routed in the Burned Adlron-
dack District.

Some curious effects have been oD-
sorved in the parts of the Adlrondacks
which were visited by the forest hies'
These concern the deer, trout, D1rua
and small game generally, says lne
New York Sun.
The deer of the north WOODS WIN.
tered splendidly. There was plenty OIL
good food and, as a result, the umDe
of fawns seen by guides and 0
men early in the season was eAcep.
tionally large. The long drougnt
caused the deer to gather about d
streams and ponds.
When the fires started their spread
was rapid because the ground was
strewn with infammable tops left by
lumbermen. AS the cutting of pulp
timber had been heaviest along tne
banks of streams down which the logs
could be floated, the fire was hercest
at Just the places where the deer a
sought the water. The old deer, bucks
and does, were overcome by the flames
only in rare instances, but the NOR
tality among the weak fawns was
heavy.
AS the fires continued the deer were
driven in all directions, some seeking
the heart of the forests and others
wandering to the verge of the woods.
In a number of the villages and towns
on both the south and the north edge
- <Lo A J;rorIoo1 Ioor haUa hQQn
seen for the first time in years.
At Canton, the county seat OF st.
Lawrence, the janitor of st. Lawrence
university reported that on June II
two deer, a buck and a doe, ran across
the campus and out to the athletic
field, from which they headed for a big
grove a mile or more away. Six miles
north of Canton, which itself is some
fourteen miles from the A~dirondacks,
in the village of Merely, an old bear
wandered into the main street, to be
killed.
Like reports come from other places
and tend to show that in the districts
visited by. forest fires the hunter will
have to seek new fields in order to
bring away his legal two deer. The
have sought new haunts in these dis
tricts.
The destruction of the smaller fur
bearing animals has been great in the
burned districts. The fires overlook
countless rabbits, squirrels and chip
hunks. The birds likewise suffered.
AS in the case of the deer, there has
been a shifting of h%abitation by small
animals and birds.
1t is generally thought that in the
burned districts the trout have suf-
fered. Where the streams were shall
low this was especially the case. In
the quiet waters at the foot of rapids
and at dams and places where burned
trees have fallen over the waters the
bodies of dead trout have been found
in numbers. In the larger lakes and
ponds fed by spring brooks there were
also evidences of destruction.
The fires destroyed great numbers of
insects, and this has brought about
conditions which promise good sport
for the skilful hy-caster who seeks
the Adirondacks this summer. Never
before have trout been so greedy for
flies.
They rise for them as if in a famine.
Even the guides, who have eyer turned
up their noses at fly fishing and, 1t
must be admitted, stocked the larder
of the camp with ~worm-caught trout,
have fallen back on the leader and the
glittering flies under the changed con-
ditions.
In one respect, at least, the fires
have proved themselves true friends to
the thousands who summer in the
woods. The dense smoke that for days
covered the mountains was death to
the tribes of black flies, midgets,
punkies, deer flies, mosquitoes and
other man-eating insects. This season
will be comparatively free from them.
All in all, from the sportsman's
point of view, the fires have not been
an unmixed evil. In the burned dis
tricts they have destroyed trout. but
the trout are still plentiful elsewhere.
and fy-ishing is a joy. They have
driven deer and other game to new
pastures, but the true sport in hunting
deer is the chase; and to this the new
stamping grounds only add interest.