HUNTING AND TRAPPING IN CAMERON COUNTY. 



143 



had better appropriate the loan of the lick for one night to our own 

 use, and see if we could not get some venison to take home with 

 us as well as huckleberries. 



When the sun was about an hour high, we took our guns and 

 went to the salt log. There was no blind made to get in to 

 watch them. We selected two jack pines that stood near together 

 and we each climbed into a tree, breaking some of the boughs out 

 that obstructed our view in the direction of the lick and laid the 

 boughs across some limbs to sit on. We had scarcely got our seats 

 fixed when I heard th,e crack of a limb off to our left. I whispered 

 to Bill and pointed in the direction I had heard the breaking of 

 the limb. Bill shook his head, to indicate that he had not heard 

 anything, but had hardly done so when I saw Bill begin to cautiously 

 shift his gun from the way it was pointed and slowly move it so as 

 to shoot to his left. When he had the gun worked around so it 

 pointed in the direction in which he wanted it, he be^an to raise it 

 slowly to his shoulder. I thought to myself, that means venison for 

 breakfast. I thought right, for when Bill touched the trigger and 

 his gun spoke, I saw two yearling deer jump into sight and my 

 gun came to my shoulder from habit, but there was no need to 

 shoot. 



The second jump that the deer made one of them fell dead, the 

 other one ran a few rods, stopped and looked back to see what had 

 become of his mate. Bill's gun came to his shoulder like a flash, 

 but I hollowed, "Don't shoot." Bill dropped his gun and said, I 

 came dog-on-nigh making a fool of myself. We got down from 

 our perches and dragged the deer (a yearling buck) out away from 

 the lick, removed the entrails and Bill made a knapsack of the 

 carcass and started for camp. 



The sun could still be seen shining on the highest peaks of the 

 hills. Bill said, "That fun was over with too quick; I had one of 

 the most comfortable seats I ever had. I had no time to enjoy it, 

 when you called my attention to those little bucks and spoiled all 

 my comfort." We got to camp before dark and, stripped the skin 

 from the deer, spread it out, cut all the meat from the bones, layed 

 it on the skin, sprinkled some salt over it, then wrapped the meat 



