Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-03-03
"Playing
the Goat

sound a needed warning to those
sportsmen who persist in donning dis
guises whether of cloth or Of skins
of the nature or color Of the animals
they hunt. 1t is told by my friend
Murray Grenlet, mountain climber
camera hunter and expert gunner
In early September Grenlet had his
camp high up in pass in the Bear
Grass trail. He had located a band
of goats on a mountain slope above,
after three weeks of hunting for this
game. He was prepared for photog.
raphy, his outfit consisting of cam
era with telephoto lenses. a disguise
or decoy suit made of genuine white
goatskins-a -four legged" suit with
a headpiece comically like that of a
hornless goat, and a pair of mocas-
sins with thick, stiff soles Of Indian
tanned elkskin.
Grenlet was afoot early in the
morning. 1t was a beautiful day for
stalking, trihe cloudy, with breeze
enough to carry his scent straight
away Before now he had climbed g.
900 feet above the Bear Grass Riv-
er, and was in land of snow and ice.
He wore no coat or waistcoat and
the suit Of skins which he now dom
ned, although clumsy to travel IN.
was rather comfortable. He was now
on the range of his goats, and he
spent an hour or two in careful ex-
ploration. He had even taken the
precaution to cover the camera, which
was slung under an arm, with dirty
white cloth.
After a time he sighted the band
and on a slope below his elevation,
quite where he wanted them, for If
you wish to approach mountain
goat you must, as rule, descend
upon it, and that with much caution.
Upon second observation, however,
which took in all their surroundings,
Grenlet saw that the animals were in
a position where they would be ex-
ceedingly difficult to come at unless
he should, indeed, play the goat ef-
fectively. The animals were in
scoop-like basin, with a barren sur
face, which looked like a crazy quilt
in black and white" and there were
no hollows or tree growths to screen
an approach.
Grenlet had to go nearly straight
down to them, keeping somewhat to
the left to get snap shot across the
bottom of the little basin. He began
the descent in a careless and confident
fashion, taking no pains to conceal
his movements or the noise of his
moving. He hitched along down on
all fours in the jerky fashion of an
aged "billy-goat"
When he was within about two hun
dred yards of the game, and hitching
gingerly down an icy slope, the goats
suddenly seemed to take notice of
him.
The smaller ones punched together
and raised their heads, while an old
leader raised himself on his hind legs,
after the comical fashion of his kind,
and apparently took long and criti-
cal survey of the newcomer.
This was an agonizing moment for
the camera-hunter. If he should fail
to act the goat pretty satisfactorily,
the animals would take to their heels,
and matters would be ended for the
day and perhaps for good. However,,
BILLY" seemed satisfied at last, and
the goats resumed their nosing for
stray bits Of moss and frozen vegeta-
ton.
Grenlet came within hundred
yards finally and was congratulating
himself on at least chance for sue
cess, when, with no warning at all,
the goats took to flight and went up
the opposing slope with celebrity
that was marvellous. In his disap-
pointment the hunter groaned in spir-
It, If not aloud.
He sighted a boulder and was
hitching along toward 1t, when, high
up on the left-hand ridge, he heard
the crack Of rifle, and Immediately
the peculiar, spiteful whine of soft
nose slug which spatted into the ice
somewhere beyond him.
Was the fellow shooting at those
goats on the opposite ridge His men
tai question was answered by two
shot. close together, and the whistle
and thud OF their bullets convinced
him that he himself had become a tar.
get. And he owed this peril to his
disguise!
He got to his feet and waved his
arms in signal, and losing his footing,
slipped, slid and rolled for twenty
five yards or more, till his freezing
fingers clutched the tops of low
bush.
AS he raised himself to a sitting
posture, faint and laughing cheers
a feeble yet irritating yolley-canle
down the wind to him from the crest
OF the high ride on his left. Again,
as he staggered to his feet, rifles
cracked. three Of them, and the fierce
song Of their bullets buzzed in his ear.