The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-07-12

vSc& manifest qualities In the
men who follow them,
and they should be encouraged in
every way. Long after the ref1eman,
as well as the game he hunts. shall
have vanished from the plains. the
cattle country will afford fine sport in
coursing hares; and both wolves and
deer could be followed and killed with
packs Of properly trained hounds, and
such sport would be even more excit
ing than still-hunting with the rifle.
It is on the great plains lying west OF
the Missouri TINT riding to hounds will
In the end receive its fullest develop
ment as a national pastime.
But ut present 1t is almost unknown
IN the cattle country; and the ranch
man who loves sport must try still
hunting-and by still-hunting is meant
pretty much every kind Of chase where
a single man. unaided by a dog, and
almost always on foot. outgenerals a
deer and kills 1t with the rife. To do
this successfully. unless deer are very
plenty and tame. implies a certain
knowledge OF the country, and good
knowledge of the habits of the game.
The hunter must keep a sharp lookout
for deer sign; for. though a man soon
gets to have q general knowledge Of
the kind Of places in which deer are
likely to be. yet he will also find that
they are either very capricious, or else
that no man has more than q partial
understanding Of their tastes and lik-
ings; for many spots apparently just
suited to them will be almost uninhab-
tied, while in others they will be found
where 1t would hardly occur to any
one to suspect their presence. Any
cause may temporarily drive deer out
Of a given locality. Still-hunting, es-
pecially. is sure to send many away,
while rendering the others extremely
wild and shy. and where deer have be-
one way. it is often an excellent plan
to try some entirely different method.
A certain knowledge Of how to track
deer is very useful. To become really
skillful tracker is most difficult: and
there are some kinds of ground. where.
for instance. it is very hard and dry,
or frozen solid, on which almost any
man will be at fault. But any one with
q little practice can learn to do Ger
tain amount Of tracking. On snow, Of
course. 1t is very easy: but on the other
hand 1t is also peculiarly difficult to
avoid being seen by the deer when the
ground Is white. After deer have been
frightened once or twice, or have even
merely been disturbed by man. they
get the habit Of keeping watch back
on their trail: and when snow has fall
en-. man is such q conspicuous object
deer see him q long way of, and even
the tamest become wild. A deer will
often. before lying down, take a half
circle back to one side and make its
bed few yards from it's trail, where
tracing it up. A man tracking in snow
needs to pay very little heed to the
footprints, which can be followed with
out effort. but requires to keep up the
closest scrutiny over the ground ahead
Of him, and on either side Of the
trail.
In the early morning when there is
a heavy dew the footprints will be as
plain as possible In the grass. ana cum
then be followed readily: and in any
place where the ground is at all damp
they will usually be plain enough to
be made out without difficulty. When
the ground is hard or dry the work is
very much less easy. and soon becomes
80 difficult as not to be worth while
following up. Indeed. at all times, even
In the snow, tracks are chiefly of use
to show the probable locality in which
deer may b found: and the still
hunter instead Of laboriously walking
siong q trail will do far better to mere.
" follow 1t until. from it's freshness
ana direction. he feels confident that