Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-10-30

as bad missing when out In the field.
l have never made big bags myself.
for rarely hunt except for a fine head
or when we need meat. and If 1t can be
avoided do not shoot at fawns or does:
so the greatest number l have ever
killed In a day was three. This was
late one November, on an occasion
when u larder was running low. My
foreman and l, upon discovering this
fact. determined to make a trip next
day back In the broken country, away
from the river.
We breakfasted hours before sunrise,
and then mounted our horses and rode
up the river bottom. The bright prairie
moon was at the full, and was sunk In
the west till 1t hung like a globe Of
white fire over the long row of jagged
bluffs that rose from across the river,
while its beams brought into fantastic
relief the peaks and crests of the buttes
upon u left. The valley of the river
itself was in partial darkness. and the
stiff, twisted branches of the sag
brush seemed to take on uncanny
shapes as they stood in the hollows.
The cold was singing, and we let our
willing horses gallop with loose reins,
their hoofs ringing IN the frozen
ground. After going up a mile OF two
along the course of the river we turned
off to follow the bed of a large dry
creek. At its mouth was a great space
of ground much cut up by the hoofs of
the cattle. which was in summer over
flowed and almost a morass: but now
the frost-bound earth vas like wrin-
kled iron beneath the horses feet. Be-
hind US the w%esterning moon sank
down out of sight; and with no light
but that of the stars, we let Ill horses
thread their own way up the creek bot
tom. When we had gone a couple of
miles from the river the sky In front
of our faces took on a faint grayish
tinge, the ~forerunner Of dawn. All In
the valley was yet dark when we
reached the place where the creek be
gan to split up and branch out into the
various arms and ravines from which
1t headed. We galloped smartly over
the divide into a set of coulies and
valleys which ran into a different
creek. and selected a grassy place
where there was good feed to leave the
horses. Ny companion picketed his.
Manitou needed no picketing.
The tops of the hills were growing
rosy, but the sun was not yet above
the horizon when we started off, with
our rifles on our shoulders. walking
In cautious silence. for we were In
good ground and might at any mo
ment see a deer. Above US was a
plateau of some size. breaking off
sharply at the rim into a surrounding
stretch of very rough and rugged coun-
try. 1t sent off low spurs with notch
ed crests into the valleys round about,
and it's edges were indented with steep
ravines and half circular basins, their
sides covered with clusters of gnarled
and wind-beaten cedars. often gathered
into groves of some size. The ground
was 80 broken as to give excellent
cover under which a man could APP
proach game unseen.
At last. just as the sun had risen
we came out by the mouth of q deep
ravine or hollow cut In the flank of
the plateau. with steep, cedar-clad
sides; and on the crest of a jutting
spur not more than thirty yards from
where / stood, was a black-tail doe.
half facing me. l was In the shadow
and for a moment she could not make
me out, and stood motionless with her
head turned toward me and her great
ears thrown forward. Dropping on
my knee, l held the rifle a little back
of her shoulder-too far back. as II
proved, as she stood quartering and
not broadside to me. No fairer chance
could ever fall to the lot of a hunter.
but. to my intense chagrin. she bound
ed off at the report as If unhurt.
disappearing instantly. My compan-
ion had now come up, and we ran up
a rise of ground, and crouched down
beside a great block of sandstone, in a
position from which we overlooked the
whole ravine or hollow. After some
minutes of quiet watchfulness. we
q 1--WE 6hoP-Nht III was 81 ONAi
we could hear anything-some rods
up the ravine, but below us; and i'm
mediately afterward a buck stole out
of the cedars. Both of us fired at
once. and with a conclusive spring he
rolled over backward. one bullet hay
ing gone through his neck, and the
other-probably mine-having broken
a hind leg. Immediately afterward.
another buck broke from the upper
edge of the cover. near the top of the
plateau, and, though / took a hurried
shot at him. bounded over the crest.
and was lost to sight.
We now determined to go down into
the ravine and look for the doe, and as
there was a good deal of snow in the
bottom and under the trees. we knew
we could soon tell If she were wound
ed. After a little search we found her
track. and walking along 1t a few