IN THE BIG WOODS. 



H. S. BULL. 



About 35 years ago, when I was a ten- 

 derfoot, I went North with an old friend 

 for my first deer hunt. We drove North 

 2 days and at our destination we found 

 comfortable quarters, as the place was kept 

 by an acquaintance of my friend who 

 made us heartily welcome. 



The next morning we were up at peep o' 

 day and away. After going about 2 miles 

 I took my watch on a ridge between 2 

 swamps. I was armed with a 16 bore 

 muzzle loading double shot gun, loaded 

 with buckshot, and a Colt's Navy revolver 

 using powder and ball in the cylinder. 



About 3 o'clock in the afternoon I heard 

 a dog yelp over in the swamp. I looked up 

 the ridge and saw something coming my 

 way. It was a deer, and about 3 or 4 rods 

 behind was another deer. I have often 

 wondered how I knew enough to stand 

 perfectly still. When the leader got oppo- 

 site me I fired and immediately brought my 

 gun on the other deer. To my surprise he 

 never changed his gait but came right on. 

 I gave him the other barrel and knocked 

 him down in his tracks. I looked around 

 for the first deer but could not see any- 

 thing of him. Something was coming down 

 the ridge, which proved' to be a large yel- 

 low dog. I walked down to where my last 

 deer lay, and to my surprise there lay the 

 first one also, only a short distance away. 

 I cut their throats, and had just got out 

 my powder flask to reload when I noticed 

 the old dog's nose in the air, sniffing. Look- 

 ing up the ridge I saw another deer com- 

 ing. 



I could not load my gun and the idea 

 struck me to use my revolver, but what 

 about the dog? I must hold him down 

 somehow, so the deer would come close 

 enough for me to shoot him with my re- 

 volver. I took the revolver out of my belt, 

 piled on the old dog's back, got one hand 

 on his nose and awaited developments. 

 The next thing I knew I was going one way 

 and the dog the other. He threw me so I 

 rolled over 2 or 3 times on the snow. I 

 jumped up and there was the deer, on the 

 circle. Raising the revolver I fired. The 

 deer jumped in the air and did some tall 

 kicking. Instead of firing at him again I 

 set the old dog on him. I thought I had 

 hit the deer and that the dog would kill 

 him. The deer jumped a large pine log 

 and the dog could not get over, so he came 

 back to laugh at me. 



I loaded my gun, marked the experience 

 down as lesson No. 1 and was watching 



for more deer, when the owner of the dog 

 appeared. 



"Did you see anything of them deer that 

 came out here?" he asked. 



"I did," 



"Did you kill one?" 



I replied, 



"I have 2 down and another wing-broke." 



"Why don't you holler ?" he asked. "Have 

 ye been over to see what ye done?" 



"No," I replied, "I hit him and isn't that 

 all you have to do to kill them?" 



"I guess you never shot any deer afore," 

 he replied. 



We went over to where I had pulled on 

 the last deer and found hair and blood on 

 the snow. We followed along a few jumps, 

 when the old fellow said, 



"Let me see that there revolver." 



I handed it to him and after looking it 

 over he said, 



"She's a daisy. She has put a hole 

 clean through that there deer. Don't ye 

 see the blood squirting out each side of his 

 track. I reckon you have hit him sure and 

 we will find him in the morning." 



Which we did, about 30 rods away. 



The next day I went out with another 

 party, including an old hunter of that lo- 

 cality who was to start the deer for us. 

 It was a cold morning and there was a 

 crust on the snow. I watched a long time 

 and was becoming chilled when I heard 

 the old hunter on the track. After a while 

 I heard something jumping on the light 

 snow crust and presently I saw Mr. Deer. 

 He had a set of large antlers that looked 

 like a brush heap coming my way. The 

 woods being quite open I had a good look 

 at him. He loped along a short distance, 

 stopped, looked back and listened to the 

 noise following him. His curiosity seemed 

 to be aroused. He was not satisfied with 

 the way things were going. He was not 

 coming down my ridge, as expected, but 

 was on the next one, which made a long 

 shot for me. 



When he was nearly opposite me I raised 

 my rifle and it went off in the air ! I had 

 forgotten the hair trigger ! 



I jumped behind a stump and began 

 loading as fast as I knew how. Then I 

 stepped out again and there was the deer 

 about opposite me. I fired again and missed 

 him. Getting behind my stump I loaded 

 the old rifle, stepped out again and caught 

 a glimpse of the deer jumping behind a 

 bush between him and me. There he 

 stopped. I knew it was my last chance and 



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