Outguessing a Bull 



the knoll on the edge of the lake less than half a mile 

 from camp. A second or two afterwards a second bull 

 spoke from the same direction, but with a coarser grunt. 

 This was followed by a crash in the trees, a clashing of 

 horns, and then it sounded as though Bedlam were let 

 loose in the wilderness. 



Charlie, my companion, was lying down on the couch 

 in the living-room with a headache, as I stepped in to 

 get my rifle. He was too sleepy to come out and hear 

 the bulls fight. With my rifle in one hand and call in 

 the other, I walked down the trail from the cabin to 

 a little clearing just west of my barn and called again. 

 Both bulls answered and immediately began to fight. 

 It was quite evident that they both started for the call, 

 but each time decided to settle which was entitled to go 

 to it. I repeated the performance several times at 

 intervals of perhaps five minutes, while the bulls were 

 making a continual uproar. I could not succeed in 

 separating them. 



Believing that a little strategy might accomplish the 

 trick, I went down to the boat-house, took out a canoe, 

 and paddled along the edge of the lake. Guided by the 

 uproar the bulls were making, I tried to paddle up close 

 enough to them to get a shot. The sunset was directly 

 in my eyes. The water in the lake was very high, owing 

 to a dam at Indian Gardens, and I could not force my 

 canoe through the trees in order to get close enough to 

 the bulls to see them nor to make dry land, so, backing 

 the canoe out of the bushes, I paddled along the edge 

 of the lake a few rods farther and called again. The 

 bulls immediately stopped fighting. I had them guess- 

 ing. I could hear them walking through the woods, 

 one circling around to find the new supposed cow, and 

 the other started for the first call. I paddled back as 

 quickly as possible to the landing and slipped into the 



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