CHAPTER XVI. 

 Hits and Misses on the Trail. 



Many years ago when deer were plenty in this section of the 

 country (North Central Pennsylvania) and dogs were allowed to 

 run deer at their will, there being no restriction by way of law 

 against hounding deer, I started from the house about 10 o'clock 

 in the morning to go to some traps that I had set for mink along 

 the creek in a swamp not far from our place. There was an old 

 road or path that led from the wagon road down through the 

 swamp to the creek. Along this path it was thickly grown up 

 with laurel and other underbrush that nearly shut out the path. 



I was accustomed to follow this path to the creek when going 

 to look after my traps. On my way up to the road I heard dogs 

 barking as though they were on the trail of something, but thought 

 nothing of it as it was a common occurrence to hear hounds 

 running nearly every day. I was following this path and had got 

 within a few rods of the creek and was just about ready to climb 

 over a fallen tree that lay across the path. 



The tree lay up from the ground about a foot or so and it was 

 perhaps three feet from the ground up to the top of the log. I 

 was just in the act of climbing this log when a good-sized buck 

 deer went to jump the log also and we met, head on. I had no 

 gun and if I had would have had no time to use it. I seized the 

 deer by the horns and forced him back from the log with a 

 startled cry at the same time. The deer, instead of trying to get 

 away, seemed bound to come over the log to where I was, so I held 

 to the deer's horns, not daring to let loose. 



I could keep him from raising over the. log and after he tried 

 several times to jump the log, he then tried to break, loose from 

 me, but I had the advantage of the deer owing to the log being 

 so high that the deer could not pull me over, neither could the deer 



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