DEER -SHOOTING. 1 33 



one instant, he sprang into the air and was away, dash- 

 ing, plunging, hurry-scurry through the swamp as far as I 

 could hear him. 



The Adirondack woods abound in deer. It is an easy 

 matter to kill a half-dozen in a day, and they frequently 

 do it at a place like Smith's. But I am compelled to 

 say that some of the Adirondack hunters would not be 

 admitted into the society of hunters of which my an- 

 cient friend and ally Black, of Owl Creek cabin, was the 

 leader, and for this reason : they butcher the deer here 

 instead of shooting them in a fair way. Some still-hunt- 

 ing is done, but the principal part of the hunting here 

 consists in driving the deer into the lakes, and drowning 

 them in the most abominable manner. I can see your 

 flush of indignation, my old friend, when you read this ac- 

 count of the way they treat our game in the forests of 

 Northern New York, and so thoroughly was I disgusted 

 with it that I declined taking any share in any of the 

 hunts. I could see it done, sitting on the piazza of 

 Smith's house ; and this was the way of it. 



The dogs were sent out with one of the hunters, who 

 crossed the lake and went over to the Upper St. Regis 

 Lake, putting the dogs out on the side toward the Fol- 

 lansbee. Here they soon found the scent and opened on 

 it, and the music came to us across three miles of inter- 

 vening forest. As soon as they opened, the hunters at 

 Smith's, three sportsmen, each with a guide, got into their 

 boats and paddled off on the Follansbee Pond, taking po- 

 sitions close under the shores on three sides. 



An hour passed, during which the dogs were heard at 

 intervals ; then suddenly one of the guides caught sight 

 of a black spot on the surface of the pond, moving not 

 unlike a loon. It required a sharp eye to see it in the 



