The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1904-11-25

. ground. each after its own
&Es0xx12 fashion. need never be shy
OF game. though his outfit be old and
wild life in his region scarce. But
stalking does not mean lying in wait
alt night at some water hole for deer
or wildcat or lion. nor yet the imlno-
Iating OF ones self in a blind OF tulss
surrounded by wooden ducks.
Stalking in an open country is in
e-timably harder than the same kind
OF sport as followed by our grand
daidies in the heavily wooded slopes
OF the Adirondacks and later by our
fathers in the Rockies and even the
nearer Sierras. Hunting OF this kind
requires infinite patience and not
little knowledge OF the animal life OF
the hunters country. and was the main
standby OF the Indians before the COM
lug OF the white man brought 10 his
use the shotgun and the rifle.
In stalking coyotes. the returns from
which. in this section, will be one or
more good hides and a days sport,
strike out in the early dawn OF a mid
winter day. on foot. for a coyote will
cot notice man on foot when he
would run like a scared deer from the
same man or a horse In the early
dawn all the little wolves will be com
Ing ~ the draws and dry washes from
the arnyards. where they have put in
the night. SO IL Is wandering along
the foothills. down one little valley
apd up the next, that the stalker should
go. eyes and ears open his whole body
ready 10 freeze" inIo a fence post or
crooked stump at the instant sight
OF came. Then softly. running low in
tue shadow of q bank or the shallow
wasl lodging Imaginary hounds in
every clump OF bush. comes the wild
gray dog of the foothills. Then, il
ever, the hunters muscles sti1en. he
tries 10 keep the coyote in eve without
letting the animal see him. Slowly, as
the wind might raise the limp of
young tree. the rife comes to the
shoulder, but the coyote sees and Is OF
splitting the morning air like gray
cloud. All at once he seems to melt
into the landscape; unless one keeps
his eye on the gray dog he is apt to lose
bis chance. II the eye is good and the
srm quick, the 25-20's crack will be
followed by the sudden leap and fall
Of the coyote. whose fur at this time
OF the year is thick and long and
brighter colorcd than it vii! be later.
Cftentimes a good stalker, even me-
GioCre rife shot, can in this way pick
up two or three nice skins on a fOcgy
morning when the animals hunt later
gfr
ilsS.
Another favorite way to hunt these
wolves is by hiding at the edge of a
l,tie pool or spring in the early morn
ius. as coyotes almost always stop
fer a drink before going 10 ''roost'
after n nights hunting. The writer
has killed a coyote in this manner that
had for months outrun the dogs Of
about half n county and oUtgeneraled
the men who owned the dogs until he
came TO be a sort of Jonah to all the
hunting grounds of that section.
But probably the most difficult of all
California game animals to stalk is
any one OF our deer. The large Nir-
cnian deer is a particularly unaccom-
nodating beast in this regard. seldom
frcqueItng country free enough from
undnrbrush to afford good stalking.
Gut the king of the stalkerS is the
man who can get out on a foggy morn
iug and. beating up and down the
canyons of the lower hills, bring In
q hobcat. or all animals, not even man
excepted. the cat tribe are the most
expert hunters. and their whole Sys-
ten is based on stalking. From the
lion stealing up on tbr Gland in the
african glade to the lynx creeping
through the piny woods TO seize a
sleeping grouse the game j. the same.
always patient following. always wait
ing for a time when the blow cannot
fail. Hunters from the Canadian for
csts tell of being followed by great
tuft-eared lynx. trailing like shadows
from tree to tree. ever following. never
Offering TO attack, but merely sneak
ins along behind from very inborn love
OF that style of hunting The wolf
tribe hunting in packs seldom exceed
by speed what the cats capture by
stalking.
The hardest thing FOR tho stalker TO
grasp at first is the fact that unless
hunted animal catches his pursucr' :
eye in seven cases out OF ten he will
not see the hunter at an. and the
greatest art Of the human hunter is
to be able to see without being seen.
which is. after all. much ike the pre-
ccp- of the old merchant that ito do
without being done j. the candinal
point OF success. Los Angeles Times.
BROTHERS STRANGE MEETING
During the Civil War. while the