368 
SMASHING AN ASSUMPTION. 
Editor RECREATION: 
In February RECREATION appears a let- 
ter from E. A. White which is so point- 
edly personal that I own up to the soft 
impeachment at once. But the way in 
which the writer shows his own hand is 
delicious, and the line he pursues, of 
singling out one side -of the controversy 
dearest to his heart to the ignoring of all 
others, and then pronouncing judgment, 
is typical of his ilk. It is not necessary 
for a man to belong to the hide, hog and 
pot hunter set, to become familiar with the 
habits of our avifauna. Putting on one 
side the questionable fairness of tracking 
rabbits in the snow, the episode of the 
imprints of the tips of the owl’s wings 
would, to some minds, bring up some 
other thought than that which occurred to 
E. A. White, and which was undoubtedly: 
“The d—n thing has got my rabbit; an- 
other 5 cents gone!” In all probability he 
was tracking grouse, too, and would shoot 
them out of the trees. Then again, unless 
he starts out with the intention of getting 
as much game as he can to sell, and for a 
change means to supply a dish for his 
table, he simply takes an inch or 2 of the 
back of each rabbit and the breast of the 
grouse, casting away all the rest as too 
coarse for his delicate palate. He is one 
of those who as a class are responsible 
for the large numbers of forequarters of 
venison left hanging in the woods to rot 
when, the deer having been legally killed, 
this wasted wholesome food might be 
devoted to charity or disposed of in many 
legitimate ways. He is one of those who 
have hunted from New York to Califor- 
nia. More’s the pity; he has been at it all 
his life and doubtless knows a good deal 
more than even he and his hard-headed- 
ness would care to acknowledge with re- 
gard to the way the wild pigeon and the 
buffalo were served, seeing how public 
Opinion is, at the present time. Let him 
read poor old Chief Po-ka-gon’s article in 
the same issue. I fear it would be lost 
on him—incomprehensible—no money in 
it. Thank goodness! we are not all de- 
void of sentiment. Neither need we be 
sentimental at all over it. The true sports- 
man is made up of honorable sentiment 
and is fair to his game, himself and other 
creatures; he also allows Nature’s lesson 
to influence any selfish promptings that 
might try to assert themselves. 
Too many thanks cannot be extended 
to RECREATION for the immense good it 
has done and is doing in fostering this 
sentiment which E. A. White so deplores; 
but the spirit of the times says his side 
must go to the wall, and to the wall it 
RECREATION. 
will go, let the kicking be ever so vig- 
orous. 
Percy Selous, Greenville, Mich. 

TWO DEER IN 5 SECONDS. 
CHAS. F. HICKOK. 
A party of 5 of us had gone to my home- 
stead, some 25 miles from town, to build 
a cabin. I had promised the boys all the 
venison they could eat if they would ac- 
company me on the trip. We had been 
in camp but a few hours, had our tent 
up and things in shape, when they all 
in one voice notified me that the venison 
I had promised would now be in order. 
Knowing I would get no peace until I 
had meat in camp I donned my moccasins, 
shouldered my Savage and went forth, 
confident I would return with a deer. I 
took an old logging road and worked 
down through an old slashing where deer 
were likely to be out feeding. Seeing 
nothing I worked over to a creek which 
ran through a patch of green woods. Up 
this creek about 40 rods was a little marsh 
and I made for that. . On reaching it I 
made my way along carefully to a spot 
where I could command a good view of 
the opening and stopped. As I stood sur- 
veying the marsh I saw nothing to indi- 
cate that a deer had ever visited the spot, 
but I made up my mind to watch the place 
for awhile and was looking for a conven- 
ient spot to sit down when I saw a pair 
of ears sticking up above the tall grass 
about 40 yards away. An instant later 
up came the head to which the ears be- 
longed. I drew my rifle to my shoulder, 
took careful sight and fired, throwing in 
another shell without taking the gun from 
my face. Looking in the direction in 
which I had fired, I saw what I supposed 
was the same head sticking above the 
grass, about 5 feet from where it had stood 
before. I thought I had missed and that 
the deer, not knowing where the shot had 
come from, was at a loss to know which 
way to run. I took sight again, that time 
at the deer’s neck, and fired. The little 
fellow bounded straight into the air, going 
down in the tall grass out of sight. I ° 
walked over to the spot where the deer 
fell and found aé_= yearling buck, shot 
through the neck. At almost the same 
instant I saw his exact counterpart, lying 
less than 6 feet away, dead as a stone, 
shot through the head. I had thus within 
5 seconds killed 2 deer. I drew them out 
to the edge of the marsh and started for 
camp, reaching there in less than 34 of an 
hour from the time I had left. 
As I went into camp I was greeted from 
all sides with. the query, ‘‘Where’s that 
deer; how about that venison?” etc. When 

