The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1909-01-13

and that not once, but again and again.
l nave never made big bags myself,
TOR rarely hunt except for a fine head
| or when we need meat, and if it can be
avoided do not shoot at fawns or does.
| so the greatest number l have ever
| Killed III day was three This was
| late one November, on an occasion
| when our larder was running low. NV
| foreman and l.. upon discovering this
fact, determined to make trip next
day back in the broken country. away
| from the river
We breakfasted hours before sunrise,
ana 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 it 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 our left. The valley of the river
itself was in partial darkness, and the
stiff. twisted branches of the sage
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 on the frozen
ground. After going up a mile or two
along the course of the river we turned
off to follow the bed of a large dry
creek At it's 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 was like win
kled iron beneath the horses feet Be
hind us the westerning moon sank
down out of sight; and with no light
but that Of the stars, we let our horses
thread their own way up the creek bot
tom. When We had gone q 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
it headed. We galloped smartly over
the divide into a set of cou!ies and
valleys which ran into a different
creek, and selected grassy place
where there was good feed to leave the
horses. Ny companion picketed his:
Mantou needed no picketing
The tops of the hills were growing
rosy, but the sun was not vet 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-
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 its 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 SO broken as to give excellent
cover under which man could ap-
proach game unseen.
At last. just as the sun had risen
we came out by the mouth of a deep
ravine or hollow cut in the flank of
the plateau. with steep. cedar-clad
sides; and on the crest of jutting
spur not more than thirty yards from
where | stood. was blacktail doe.
half facing me. | was in the shadow
and for moment she could not make
me out. and stood motionless with her
head turned toward me and her great
ears thrown forward. Dropping Oh
my knee. | leld the rife a little back
of her Shoulder-too far back as il
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
rise of ground. and crouched down
beside a great block of sandstone in
position from which we overlooked the
whole ravine or hollow. After some
minutes of quiet watchfulnesS. we
heard a twig snap-the air was SO still
we could hear anything rods
up the ravine. lat below us: and i'm
mediately afterward Il buck stole out
of the cedars. Both of us fired at
once. and with Il convulsive spring he
rolled ever backward. one bullet hay
| ing gone through his neck. and the
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 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 few
yards, came upon some drops and then
a splash of blood. There being no
need to hurry. we first dressed the
dead buck-a fine. fat fellow, but with
small miSShapen hornS-and then took