HUNTING AND TRAPPING IN CAMERON COUNTY. 155 



than lightning if not quite so fatal, and for the next half hour 

 I was rolling on the ground and washing my eyes. Bill said 

 that I danced the Bear dance and a Pot Full of Catfish all at the 

 same time. When I recovered enough to see what "hit me", I 

 found that I had been terribly shot by a measly skunk square 

 in both eyes. Bill was grinning and asking "if it hurt much" and 

 telling me that I could see better after a little and lots of other 

 sympathetic nothings. I hope that none of you may ever have 

 the experience that I met with by the treatment of that infernal 

 skunk. 



After the atmosphere and my eyes had cleared somewhat, 

 we went on and looked after the balance of the traps on the run. 

 We then started out to hunt deer, Bill taking one side of the ridge 

 and I the other. I saw nothing more of Bill until I reached 

 camp long after dark. I worked along the different spires of the 

 main ridge and through the heads of the different basins, and 

 only got a glimpse of an old buck's tail, making over the ridge 

 and beckoning me to come on. He had come over from the oppo- 

 site side of the ridge and had got wind of me before he was fairly 

 in sight. I kept on working the different points and basins, 

 shaping my course as best I could in the direction of the camp. 



A drizzling rain kept up all day, and deer had not moved 

 very much. I felt confident that towards evening the deer would 

 come out in the open to feed in spite of the rain, and pretty well 

 toward night I had the satisfaction of seeing three deer feeding 

 along the hillside and coming in my direction. 



The wind was in my favor, and as the deer were rather 

 too far to shoot, I stood quiet, only occasionally moving from one 

 tree to another as a favorable opportunity occurred. The deer 

 finally worked up in gun shot, and they proved to be an old 

 doe, a yearling and the doe's fawn. The yearling was undoubtedly 

 the doe's fawn of the year before. I was very careful to make 

 a sure shot on the doe. The yearling and the fawn only took 

 a few jumps when the gun cracked and the doe went down, and 

 stood looking at the old lady to see what had happened to her. 

 I gave the yearling the contents of the other barrel. He made a 

 jump or two and went down, the fawn still standing and wonder- 



