A HUNTER'S METHOD OF TOTING DEER 



By JOHN BOYD 



that 



snot them 



to be like to get 



IM and I sat eating- 

 our midday snack 

 one fine November 

 day away up in 

 Northern Algoma, 

 and between the 

 mouthfuls of the 

 bread and pork were 

 discussing in general 

 some of the incidents 

 of the hunt, but par- 

 ticularly those con- 

 nected with the two 

 fine deer we had shot 

 "I'm mighty sorry we 

 Just think what it's going 

 them out," murmured 

 Jim, who though not a lazy fellow, had 

 not yet got hardened to the life of a 

 deer hunter. 



"It won't be so hard,'' was my an- 

 swer, "if we go the right way about it.'' 

 "It won't, eh; well just leave me at 

 home next time if you want me to hike 

 a couple of deer three miles to camp. I 

 was nearly petered out getting one out 

 of the swamp, and that was only a hun- 

 dred yards or so. I guess I know how 

 much is good for my health." 



"Never mind, Jim, we'll only take one 

 in to-night, and I guess we'll get there 

 all right, and be able for the other to- 

 morrow," was my soothing reply ; for 

 while my companion was a larger and a 

 stronger man than I, he had never ac- 

 customed himself to any trials of endur- 

 ance, and was therefore "soft" and eas- 

 ily winded. 



He also had the unfortunate knack of 

 not falling in with the ways of the 

 woods, and like a good many others pre- 

 ferred to have some one else assume his 

 burdens, but which are really part of the 

 pleasures of the chase. 



It was on points such as these that 

 mv friend and I always differed, and I 

 have chosen this day's conversation as 



preliminary to taking up some of the so- 

 called hardships, with a view of ex- 

 plaining how they may be made easy. 



I think it belittles a man in the eyes 

 of his fellows to ask his comrade, or 

 even his guide to carry his rifle, his bag 

 of cartridges or any other article, which 

 in all fairness falls to himself, giving as 

 his reason that he is tired. Of course, I 

 am assuming that he is sound and 

 healthy and is able physically to do as 

 much work as the one to whom he seeks 

 to give a double load. A sick man is 

 always to be pitied and helped, and so 

 is the novice before he gets hardened to 

 the strenuous life of the still hunter. 



Jim and I had many arguments over 

 the ethics of the woods, he holding that 

 a guide should always be engaged to 

 carry in the game, or do any other hard 

 work required, while I argued that it 

 was better for the office man who came 

 to the woods for a change to do as much 

 of these duties as he could undertake, 

 and that the more he did the better man 

 he would be when he returned home. 



Thus each knew beforehand how the 

 other felt over taking the deer to camp, 

 and now that I had Jim where he could 

 hardly refuse to do his share, I made up 

 my mind that he would be shown that to 

 carry a 160-pound deer for even three 

 miles through an untracked bush was 

 not so much of an undertaking as he 

 had pictured it. 



We therefore refreshed ourselves 

 with a hearty drink at the creek, and 

 proceeded to where the deer had been 

 dragged from the swamp. Imagine my 

 surprise when I saw that he had run a 

 "game stick" through its hind legs, tied 

 a piece of rope to the center of it, and 

 fastened the other end to a three-foot 

 pole, and with it across his breast and 

 the rope over his shoulders had dragged 

 it over fallen trees, rocks, etc., to where 

 it now lay. The hair was nearly all off 



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