EARLY DAY STORIES. 119 



CHAPTER XVI . 

 A Summer Hunt. 



Most of these stories are of hunting trips in the fall 

 and early winter when game is at its best — This one will 

 tell of a summer hunt. 



In the fall of the year we hunted not only for meat to 

 be used while fresh, but also for meat to be salted and kept 

 in brine like beef, for winter and spring use, and also for 

 drying. I remember that one fall, we had on hand a two 

 bushel grain sack, filled as full as it could be tied, with dried 

 deer and elk meat, and also a barrel full of salted meat in 

 brine. There was no bone in any of the dried meat, and 

 none in any of the salted elk meat, but the salted deer meat 

 contained the ribs only. Together with what fresh venison 

 we had through the winter, and that was a liberal amount, 

 there was more than we could use, and toward spring we 

 gave away to the neighbors a considerable part of the salted 

 meat. 



Our hunting trips in the fall of the year took us fre- 

 quently as far away from home as fifty or sixty miles, and 

 lasted from a week or ten days to three weeks for each trip, 

 the one to Wyoming in 1888 taking about four weeks' time. 

 Our summer hunting trips did not take us far away from 

 home, nor did they last very long, because it was necessary 

 to bring home the game as soon as possible after it was 

 killed in order to take care of the meat Detore it spoiled, 

 and besides, there was not much time to use in hunting at 

 that season of the year. In the summer time we used to 

 keep the meat in good condition by salting it slightly in 

 crocks, then placing the crocks in a big covered box, sunk 

 in the ground and so arranged that the water from a cold 

 spring flowed through the box. Butter was also kept sweet 

 and cold in the same way. 



