RECREA TION. 



97 



my rifle slowly, sighted behind the 

 shoulder and fired. 



A surprise came now, for there were 

 four more deer in the hollow. Out they 

 bounded and went flying across the flat 

 to a small grove of black pines that 

 stood at the base of the hill. I kept my 

 eye on the fawn which was evidently 

 hard hit. It ran in a little circle and 

 then dropped. I had intended letting 

 the rest go, but a sudden idea struck 

 me and wheeling round I fired at the 

 nearest one — a doe — just as she entered 

 the timber. She did not fall, but came 

 limping back directly towards me ; her 

 right hip was broken and the bullet had 

 entered the body as well. So close did 

 she come that I could almost have 

 touched her with the muzzle of my rifle. 

 Suddenly she saw me and with a loud 

 snort dashed by on the run and went down 

 into the thick forest where my otter 

 stream was. I had been expecting to see 

 her fall every second, but she had more 

 vitality than I had thought. Just as I 

 gained the edge of the slope I saw her 

 drop behind a log, and a second shot 

 finished her. 



This bit of good fortune saved my 

 packing in meat from some distance up 

 in the hills. After dressing the two 

 deer I dragged the offal and the doe's 

 shattered hind quarter out to the trail, 

 and cutting some little slits, I dosed the 

 meat with strychnine. Wolves came 

 along here occasionally, but not so fre- 

 quently now as during the fall and early 

 part of the winter ; and so far I had not 

 secured one. Schomberg had only 

 poisoned two cayotes, but no big wolves 

 as yet. I dragged the fawn home that 

 evening on the snow and brought in the 

 rest of the doe a day or two later. 

 Nothing touched the poisoned meat for 

 a long while. 



My otter traps still caught nothing, 

 and I learned by this time that nothing 

 could be expected during fine weather, 

 for this animal is a wonderful traveler 

 and will travel many miles along the 

 river ; but just before a storm he is cer- 

 tain to return to headquarters. Late 

 one evening I went down to the beaver 

 dam to see if any traces of my friend 

 could be found, but saw none, and was 

 just breaking my way through some 

 willows to ascend the slope, when a 

 sharp sniff sounded beyond them, fol- 

 lowed by a splash, and glancing quickly 



that way I saw some heavy rippling 

 circles on the dark open piece of water 

 between the two dams. The otter had 

 been swimming there, and my presence 

 caused it to dive suddenly. Thus for 

 the second time I lost the chance of a 

 shot ; but the fact of the otter's return 

 was encouraging, and next morning I 

 was on hand with a trap. 



During the night a fresh hole had been 

 made in some thin ice close to where I 

 had descended the bank, and it was evi- 

 dent that the animal had played around 

 it for several hours. I decided to try 

 this new place. The water was a foot 

 deep and making everything ready while 

 on the bank, I approached carefully, set 

 my trap under water, washed away my 

 traces, and retired. Everything looked 

 promising here, but it was useless, and 

 for all the good my work did I might as 

 well have thrown my trap in the river. 

 I tried a baited trap, too, but what otter 

 would look at meat or dead fish when it 

 could get all the live trout it wanted ! 



Its stay this time lasted quite a while, 

 and I did my best to catch it, at one 

 time having three traps set, but all to 

 no purpose. The wily tobogganist care- 

 fully avoided every place where a trap 

 was set, although I did once find one 

 sprung and, of course, empty. No 

 sign of one's presence was ever shown 

 where I had caught the other one, but 

 the larger open place by the same dam 

 was once visited, and a scheme occurred 

 to me which I proceeded to put into 

 practice. I found the water here was 

 quite deep, all around the edge, except- 

 ing at one spot, and there 1 placed my 

 largest trap, for I found only the small 

 ones thrown. It was set with the greatest 

 care, for this was the only convenient 

 landing place in the hole, and I left this 

 locality strictly alone, awaiting the ad- 

 vent of another storm and with, it my 

 otter. Several days later a light fall of 

 snow came, but no otter. Then the 

 heaviest fall of the winter occurred, and 

 I once more saw the well known trail by 

 a little open hole at the head of the 

 beaver pond, and now to try my 

 scheme. I went to every place the 

 otter had frequented, and purposely left 

 traces of my presence, scraping the snow 

 with my hands and handling grass and 

 mud there. But the spot where my 

 No. 4 was set I left untouched. 



This dodge worked to perfection. 



