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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



be wasted. Finally, in 1SS1, a railroad 

 was constructed between Marquette and 

 Sault Ste. Marie, passing half-way be- 

 tween Lake Superior and the cam]), mak- 

 ing it readily accessible (see pp. 188-9). 

 As I write, the fiftieth consecutive 

 year has passed, during which longer 

 and more frequent visits have been made, 

 many of them recorded in subsequent 

 pages. Seldom has a wilderness camp in 

 this country retained its primitive at- 

 tractions of forest and wild life so long. 

 During this time many States, then un- 

 organized in the West, have lost a large 

 share of their once abundant game. 



CHAPTER III 



THE WHlTK-TAIIv DEER 



The white-tail or Virginia deer has a 

 wider distribution on the continent than 

 any other antlered animal, and is likely 

 to continue indefinitely, in many places 

 increasing under suitable laws, aided by 

 its wonderful capacity to adapt itself to 

 changing conditions. It is the favorite 

 big-game animal among sportsmen of 

 America, for the meat is palatable, the 

 antlers symmetrical and attractive, while 

 its cunning becomes an additional incen- 

 tive to those whose real enjoyment lies 

 in the exercise of skill and persistence in 

 hunting. 



Animals like the moose and elk are 

 seldom killed by sportsmen after one or 

 two sets of antlers have been secured ; 

 for the great bulk of these animals, the 

 difficulty in saving the meat in remote 

 places, and the ease with which they are 

 shot deters annual hunting, whereas the 

 white-tail, much less in weight and usu- 

 ally within reach of transportation, is 

 sometimes hunted by a sportsman for 

 thirty or forty consecutive years. 



While the writer has had an extended 

 experience with various species of white- 

 tails throughout most of the range of this 

 group of deer, from Central America to 

 near its northern limits, the present nar- 

 rative is confined to those of the Lake 

 Superior region. 



The white-tail, while now quite abun- 

 dant, was unknown on the north shore 

 at the time the writer came to the region, 

 in 1870. Moreover, there were few within 

 a mile of the south shore, due largely to 

 the ever-present Ojibways, so aptly called 



"Canoe Indians," who during the sum- 

 mer camped at the mouths of nearly all 



streams and other places a] it to be fre- 

 quented by deer. 



DEER SPENT SUMMERS NEAR LA K 1 

 SUPERIOR 



But when the country to the south be- 

 gan to be settled most of the deer spent 

 the summers near Lake Superior, stop- 

 ping first about the small interior lakes 

 and headwaters of the numerous streams 

 where the Indians seldom went before 

 winter. 



The writer's early visits to Whitefish 

 Lake illustrated these conditions. The 

 fact that approximately eighty thousand 

 deer were killed each year of 1879, 1880, 

 and 1881, and most of these within ten 

 miles of Lake Superior, shows their ex- 

 traordinary increase later. Since that 

 time there has been a gradual and steady 

 decline, largely on account of the great 

 increase in hunters and the convenient 

 method of reaching places previously in- 

 accessible. 



Every summer and fall, I spent a por- 

 tion of each week at least with young 

 companions camping on the south shore, 

 traveling usually in a big, staunch row- 

 boat, with a canoe often in tow. Trout 

 fishing was of the best along the open 

 waters, many of the fish being of great 

 size. In the streams were brook trout, 

 so often preferable for the frying-pan, 

 while wild pigeons frequented the burnt- 

 over clearings near the shore, unpro- 

 tected by law at that time. Grouse were 

 numerous in the same localities. 



Whenever the camp was near a small 

 lake, the canoe was carried over, and 

 during the day a deer could generallv be 

 killed. 



In the course of time all the w r ell- 

 wooded bays and sheltered points for 

 more than a hundred and fifty miles were 

 visited, including each lake and pond and 

 every stream where fish or game abounded. 



HEAVY GAEES UNKNOWN ON EAKE 

 SUPERIOR 



In this long period only once or twice 

 was the party windbound for more than 

 a day and at no time in the slightest peril 

 from wind or waves, showing that this, 

 the greatest of all lakes, is peaceful and 

 dependable beyond compare. 



