IN THE GAULIES. 



D. C. BRADEN. 



November, 1895, found us on our an- 

 nual hunting trip to the Gaulie mountains, 

 of West Virginia, our party consisting 

 of A. J. Braden, H. R. Nye, J. B. Eck- 

 ford, Frank Blood, Jim Judson, Capt. Fee, 

 B. Griesinger, McClellan Leonard and I. 

 We met at Pittsburg and a short and pleas- 

 ant ride, over the B. & O. and West Vir- 

 ginia Central railways, landed us at Bev- 

 erly. Then in 2 wagons, we drove 30 



At last came the long looked for and 

 welcome rain; and the boys, with the ex- 

 ception of Leonard and I went over to 

 our hunting lodge, 3 miles away in the 

 Gaulie mountain. The next day Leonard 

 and I started down Elk river to look for 

 turkeys. Leonard was about a quarter of a 

 mile ahead of me, when rounding a bend 

 in the river I saw a big buck, about 300 

 yards away, coming out of the timber and 



VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF SPORT. 



miles up the Tiggert valley, between the 

 Cheat and Rich mountains, to the foot of 

 Middle mountain, where we stopped at the 

 Hotel Marshall. Another drive of 11 miles 

 and we were at the home of our old time 

 friend and guide, H. B. Sharp, on Elk river. 



We killed 19 big gray squirrels and 

 2 ruffed grouse, which we ate for break- 

 fast next morning. The weather being dry 

 and warm we spent several days hunting 

 grouse and squirrels which we found very 

 plentiful. We also located a big gang of 

 wild turkeys, on Slaty Fork mountain. 



Hunting turkeys is great sport, and re- 

 quires a deal of skill and good judgment, 

 on the part of the hunter. We killed 11 on 

 the trip. Several of these, with some squir- 

 rels and grouse, are shown, with our Bill 

 Nye, in a snap shot from Leonard's camera. 



making for the water, into which he 

 plunged and started to wade down stream. 

 I slipped 2 buck shot shells into my gun 

 and the deer now being out of sight, behind 

 the river bank, I made a quick run and got 

 within about 45 yards of him, when he saw 

 me and sprang out of the water. I cut 

 loose on him, with the right barrel, and 

 broke a leg. I then fired the left and tum- 

 bled him over. He had a handsome pair 

 of antlers, 5 points on one beam and 4 on 

 the other. Leonard, when he heard the 

 racket, started up the creek. He saw a deer 

 running toward him and opened fire on it. 

 At a distance of 30 yards he put several 

 buck shot clear through it. One barrel did 

 the business. It proved to be a large doe. 

 We hung them up, with a turkey that 

 had been killed the day before, and Leon- 



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