The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1911-12-28

.eng nutter of wings she few upward
S S.,u snot away above the tree-tops. The
aoe gave startled spring ahead at the
ou. tnen she slowly moved away and
again silence settled down about the
aonter. out he was becoming impatient.
.. !. was growing darker each moment,
=; ~ unless the buck showed up very soon
would be too dark for him to see his
ssignts; Hardly had he settled back into
f.s olu cramped position, however, when
ar on IN the darkening woods he
;.nought he heard the crunch of approach
ing footsteps followed by the soft snap
ping OF dead branch. Immediately,
Ma.h every nerve and muscle at atten-
e,on ne listened. The sound grew faint
Ell eI inen stopped altogether. Was it pos
sue s ne had been mistaken? No, again
ne hearo 1t and louder this time, but in
sne ecnolng woods it seemed to come
rom all about and it was impossible for
u, 70 locate it exactly. CHANGING hasti-
around with shortened breath and
near beating like trip hammer he
waited. NO matter how experienced
man may be, nothing in the hunting line
seally gets onto his nerves like sitting
absolutely silent and listening for the
various sounds made by approaching
game and to tenderfoot it spells panic
fever. ' ~ - ''
AS he sat there with eyes and ears
strained for the slightest sight or sound
ne lelt rather than saw the presence of
something directly behind him. Turn
ing slowly, carefully avoiding the least
SOUND, realizing now the advantage of
the clean, damp ground on which to
work, he dimly saw big deer coming
into sight from behind clump of ever,
greens several rods away. By now it
was so dark that all forms blended more
or less together and had the game been
standing he could not have distinguished
1t, and as it was he couldn't feel suffi-
elently sure OF its location to risk q shot,
for the deer had stopped
Had the animal seen him turning, or
scented him? If so, the next thing he
might naturally expect to hear was the
crashing down of stuff as the creature
sprang away, but evidently it was only
It's natural sense of caution which had
caused 1t to pause, for becoming salts
ned that all was well it now stepped
boldly ahead and out into stronger
llght. This was the chance the man had
waning 1Ol, lie SOulu see tile ue6I
plainly now, its big form squarely before
him and its branching antIers standing
like forest above its great head. Bring
ing his rifle to his shoulder and catching
his sights quickly he pulled, sending a
$3.50 soft point crashing through the
buck S fore-shoulder. At the report the
big deer went sprawling to the ground,
kicking and plunging about convulsively,
but Immediately it was up and off like a
whirlwind. AS it sprang ahead Gates
let fly again, the bullet this time passing
through its broad neck, SCATTERING the
bone and sending the noble creature
headlong crumpled up in a heap to stay
this time, for nothing will stop a deer
quicker than a well-directed shot through
the neck.
The trick was turned, the game was
up, there he lay, the very buck he had
tried so long to outwit. As the hunter
stood there admiriDg its fine head and
beautiful horns he was startled by a
shot, quickly followed by two more in
the field below, hurrying down he found
one of his men had killed a small deer,
evidently the one he had allowed to pass
earlier on. Startled by Gates shooting
1t sprang into the clearing, when one of
the sportsmen stopped her as she was
crossing, By now it was dark, so by the
light of lantern which they had brought
along they dragged the game together,
hung it up and dressed it, leaving it to
be brought into camp in the morning.
When all was finished they started camp
ward, congratulating each other on their
splendid success.