EARLY DAY STORIES. 129 



weeds. This was on the place now owned by Abe Simmons, 

 and here I began to go very slowly, and to watch carefully, 

 expecting the deer at any moment to jump out of his hid- 

 ing place in the big weeds. This he did, but the result was 

 not just what I had expected. I was walking along the 

 ravine ten or twelve feet up its side with the rifle at a ready, 

 and when the deer rushed out, instead of firing at him as 

 was intended, my feet slipped and I sHd down clear to the 

 bottom of the ravine. Shaking off the snow, and cleaning 

 it from the gun barrel which was filled with it, I took the 

 track and followed on. The deer soon came down to a walk 

 showing that he was not greatly alarmed. I soon came up 

 with him again, this time finding him lying down in the 

 weeds and grass, in a little basin or sag in the land, on the 

 place now owned by George Hunter, and not more than 

 forty rods south of the place where the Hunter house now 

 stands. This time I got in a shot, but he ran almost a mile 

 before he fell, going nearly half way to Oakdale. I found 

 him lying dead just east of the Putney place. 



But a single deer, even if it be a big one, does not last 

 long in a family of good size, especially where there are 

 plenty of neighbors. In a few days we were out of venison 

 again. There had been another snow storm by this time, 

 but it did not drift like the first one, but it covered the prairie 

 grass so that the whole country was white. This time I 

 made ready for the hunt by pinning a white cloth over my 

 cap and wrapping a sheet around my shoulders, so as to 

 cover the arms also as much as possible. When about a 

 mile from home, I started five deer at a place now called 

 the Swett Hill, in the southern part of Oakdale township. 

 The deer were in the deep ravine about a dozen rods below 

 where the iron bridge now stands at the crossing of the 

 little creek. The deer ran up the north bank, and near the 

 top ran into a big snow drift that hindered them considerably 

 causing them to run slow. I fired and got one, but could 



