The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1909-12-24

u OulIO " J1y " plCh uD Il IdUUlL or
a prairie fowl.
AS the dawn Redeemed, and it be.
came light enough to see objects some
little way off, we began to sit erect
in our saddles and to scan the hill.
sides sharply for sight Of feeding deer,
Hitherto W. had seen no deer tracks
save inside the burberry bushes by
the river, and we knew that the deer
that lived in that impenetrable Jun.
gle were cunning whitetails which in
such a place could be hunted only by
aid of a hound. But just before sun.
rise we came on three lines of heart.
shaped footmarks in the snow, which
showed where as many deer had just
crossed a little plain ahead of us.
They were walking leisurely, and from
the lay of the land we believed that
we should find them over the ridge,
where there was a brush coulee.
Riding to n side of the trail, we
topped the little ridge just as the sun
famed up, a burning ball Of crimson,
beyond the snowy waste at our backs.
Almost Immediately afterwards my
companion leaped from his horse and
raised his rifle, and as he pulled the
trigger l saw through the twigs of a
brush patch on our left the erect,
startled head of a young black-tailed
doe as she turned to look at us, hel
great mule-like ears thrown forward
The ball broke her neck, and she
turned a complete somersault down
hill, while a sudden smashing of IN.
derbrush told of the fight of her ter
rified companions.
We both laughed and called out
dinner" as we sprang down toward
her, and in a few minutes she was
dressed and hung up by the hind legs
on a small ash tree. The entrails
and viscera we threw off to one side,
inter carefully poisoning them from
a little bottle of strychnine which l
had in my pocket. Almost every cat.
tleman carries poison and neglects no
chance of leaving out wolf bait, for
the wolves are sources of serious loss
to the unfenced and unhoused flocks
and herds. In this instance we felt
particularly %revengeful because it
was but a few days since we had lost
a fine yearling heifer. The tracks
on the hillside where the carcass lay
when we found it told the story
plainly. The wolves, two in number,
had crept up close before being dis.
covered, and had then raced down on
the astounded heifer almost before
she could get fairly started. One
brute had hamstrung her with a snap
of his vise-like jaws, and once down,
she was torn open in a twinkling.
No sooner was the sun up than a
warm west wind began to blow in Our
faces. The weather had suddenly
changed, and within an hour the snow
was beginning to thaw and to leave
patches of bare ground on the hill.
sides. We left u coats with our
horses and struck off on foot for a
group of high buttes cut up by the
cedar canyons and gorges, in which
we knew the old bucks loved to lie.
1t was noon before we saw anything
more. We lunched at a clear spring
hot needing much time, for ali we
had to do was to drink a draught of
icy water and MUNICH a strip of dried
venisOn. Shortly a~fterward, as we
were moving along a hillside with 81.
lent caution, we came to a sheer can.
yon of which the opposite face was
broken by little lodges grown up with
~wind-beaten cedars. AS we peeped
over the edge, my companion touched
my arm and pointed silently to one
of the lodges, and instantly | caught
the CLINT of a bucks horns as he la,
half behind an old tree trunk. \
slight shift of position gave me 2
fair shot slanting down between Iii,
shoulders, and though he struggled to
his feet he did not go so yards after
receiving the bullet.
This was all we could carry. Lend.
ing the horses around we packed tho
buck behind my companions saddle.
and then rode back for the doe, whic,
| put behind mine. But we were lot
destined to reach home without =
slight adventure. When we got tc
the river we rode boldly on the ica
needless Of the thaw; and about rcic.
way there was a sudden, tremendous
crash, and men, horses and deer wcr,
scrambling together in the water AMID
slabs Of floating ice. However, il We:
shallow and no worse results followed
than some hard work and a cliu,
bath. But what cared we? We urj
returning triumphant with oar Chr.,;
mas dinner.