74 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



VIRGINIA OR RED DEER 



Odocoileus virginianus, in Ohio 

 By Chas. Dury 



This graceful and beautiful deer, once so abundant in Ohio, 

 has now become scarce to the verge of extinction. Forty 

 years ago it was yet to be found in numbers in certain parts of 

 the state. As late as 1868, in Paulding, Henry, Jackson, 

 Adams, Scioto, Pike and other counties there were many wild 

 deer left. In December, 1872, with a light snow covering the 

 ground, in Mercer Co., I found it an easy matter to trail them 

 though the animals were very shy and wary and had the habit 

 of lying down in the tops of fallen trees or in thickets. When 

 the hunter approached their place of concealment, even though 

 a long distance away, the deer would bound out from the oppo- 

 site side of the thicket and soon leave its pursuers far behind, 

 repeating the same maneuver whenever the hunter came too 

 close. The leaps and bounds over obstructions, made by a 

 frightened deer, are astonishing, but as the animal leaves the 

 hunter or dog in the distance, it quickly diminishes its pace, as 

 it seems to tire quickly when pursued. 



Still-hunting the Virginia deer was the usual method em- 

 ployed in their capture, though dogs were sometimes used to 

 drive the game past certain points called ''stands," where it 

 was thought the deer would be likely to run. Here the hunter 

 concealed himself and shot the animal as it ran past. 



Another method was to watch a ''salt lick," which was a 

 salty place in the ground. To such places the animals came to 

 lick salt, of which they were very fond. The hunter concealed 

 himself so as to get a shot at the deer when it appeared. Deer 

 hunting was hard work, requiring great patience, accuracy and 

 endurance ; so much so that I seldom indulged in it, contenting 

 myself with smaller game, which was then very abundant. 



In early days the muzzle-loading rifle was used in still-hunt- 

 ing deer, but when shotguns came into use in Ohio, they were 



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