Jan. 17, 1903.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
49 
Our tent was 12x16, with 3-foot wall, 8-ounce army 
duck. We were now able to prepare our meals and eat 
ihem inside tlie tent. We had everything we brought 
with us inside the tent except the stove box and water 
bucket, and the tent itself. George had brought along 
about three yards of oil cloth to cover our table, and 
it was my habit after washing the dishes 'to put them ■ 
on one end of the table and turn the cloth over the n, 
thus doing away with the stove box as a cupboard. 
After lunch we scattered out, each one his own guid^". 
I went east about a mile, which took me through the 
old burned a'nd brush-grown chopping that extended 
east, north and west from our camp a mile or more, 
and struck into the green woods. There was deer sign 
here and there, and at one place two bucks had that 
morning been engaged in a sanguinary struggle. 
Bushes were broken off or mashed down, old logs torn 
to pieces, dead limbs broken into bits, and at a point 
where one evidently gave up the fight and ran, there 
was hair and blood. I swung around to the left and 
came back to camp past the east side of a marsh that 
lay northeast from our camp. This marsh has no 
doubt been a lake. Lost Creek plays hide and seek 
in it, while high ridges border its boggy shores and 
patches of evergreens give color to its otherwise 
gloomy appearance. Neither of us saw any deer that 
day, and Tuesday, the llth, we tried it again. 
George and Charley acted on the theory that if a 
half dozen or more deer crossed the wagon road every 
night one or more would certainly cross or attempt 
to cross in the day time before long, and they conld 
afford to watch this open chopping for such a prospect. 
I went further up the left or southeast side of Lost 
Creek this trip, getting pretty well up to Lost Creek. 
All I saw was a r«bbit, and I took him home, for we 
were hungry for wild meat. Soon after I turned camp- 
wards, rain began to fall. I gave up hunting and tried 
to dodge the wet bushes and weeds, and when in sight 
of the old chopping that led to camp I hooted for 
Charley, who had come down between me and the 
marsh. He answered me, and then followed the crack 
of his gun four times. When I got to where he was 
standing, on the point of a ridge east of the marsh, 
he told me our shouting had scared three deer out of 
the evergreens down in the swamp, and he shot at 
them as they ran toward the edge nearest our camp. 
George had gone to camp and did not see them. After 
dinner George and Charley went out again, but I 
stayed in camp. Some time in the night the rain 
ceased. Our tent leaked some until it got well soaked, 
and then we were not bothered any more. 
The morning of the 12th we all went north up the 
road. George turned off and up the ridge running 
around the marsh on the southwest. Charley stopped 
further up, while I went across the dam and explored 
some hills and hollows southwest of it. When 1 re- 
turned I saw both Charley and George between the 
road and marsh, and was advised by the latter that 
while he was on the south side of the marsh, a doe 
swam the creek down in the center of the marsh headed 
west, followed soon after by a large buck. They were 
too far away to reach with his rifle, and he had headed 
them off, and had them treed in a large clump of 
tamarack in the edge of the marsh. 
I left the boys on watch while I went back to the 
road, then up north of the cover, but found on inves- 
tigation that both deer had passed the cover, reached 
the ridge and run north along the side half way up. 
They kept the tamarack trees between George and 
themselves and escaped unseen. I believe George's 
.45-70 would have reached them when they came up out 
of the water and stopped to shake themselves. I know 
if I had been' in his stead there would have been some 
thunder and lightning. But George thought he could 
slip around and get nearer, with the result as above. 
Going on to camp, I met a gentleman from southeast 
of the lake in a spring wagon. He wanted to know if 
we intended to let the deer eat us up. He said while 
coming along a half mile east from uur camp he saw 
three deer loping over a ridge. I went on up th.ere, 
and while standing watching saw a deer make a couple 
of jumps, but it was a long way off, and I saw no more 
of it. Then rain began to fall, and I went home. Rain 
fell all the afternoon and most of the night. 
The morning of the 13th broke damp and cloudy. 
George stationed himself west of the swamp, while 
Charley went east to a point southeast of the swamp 
and about a fourth of a mile from George, and the 
same distance from camp. I went east along the wagon 
road to where the road forks near a trapper's cabin, 
and took the left branch, which runs to the south side 
of Lost Lake and on east. I tramped on into the 
green woods about a mile from camp. After freezing 
out on a stand midway between the lake and woods, 
then turned and was retracing my steps when I heard 
Charley's gun about half way to camp. I ran forward 
to a log near the top of a ridge wliere the road crossed, 
jumped on it, turned half round and was ready, as a 
doe and her two grown fawns came dashing by about 
50 yards distant. I shouted to them and they all 
stopped just as I got my gun to my face. 
Now what followed could be omitted in this narra- 
tive on the presumption that I am on trial and under 
no obligation to convict myself, but I have an excuse. 
For two years I had been chained to business, and in 
that time had been led to doubt my eyesight, tlierefore 
was wearing glasses. I had not tried shooting with 
the glasses on sufficiently to test them at different dis- 
tances, and though I aimed at that doe's heart, when 
my gun cracked she whirled one-fourth way round and 
dashed off behind a large stump, near which she had 
stopped, the fawns with heads and tails up leaping away 
over stumps, logs and brush, followed by two bullets 
from my rifle. I was simply amazed. I could hit a 
pine squirrel's head the same distance, and I knew I 
had a bead on that doe all right. In fact, I should have 
killed her in her tracks, and got at least one of the 
fawns. However, it should be remembered that the 
earth's surface in these northern woods is uneven, al- 
most beyond belief. When a deer flees from immediate 
(danger, he seeks the best shelter possible, and as he 
goes over a large log the hunter would do well to 
patch hiin ip the ^ir, for ten to one when he lights it 
will be in a hollow and he will be out of sight, and 
once out of sight, might as well be also out of mind. 
But I hit that doe. There was hair on the ground 
where she stood, and I took up the trail on the bare 
ground among logs, stumps and brush. Where the 
trail went into the green woods a quarter of a mile 
north it took to the hazel brush and dodged and twisted 
about, always on the jump. But the jumps were very 
short, 4 to 8 feet, and the foot prints were wide apart. 
The trail led me through the roughest, hilliest ground 
within reach for more than a mile straight, during 
which there had been immeasurable twist ings, doub- 
lings and turnings and finally lost itself in a walk 
among other deer tracks, leaving me to plod home- 
ward nursing my disappointment, and sorry both for 
our camp that was without meat, and for the poor deer 
that I felt confident 1 had mortally wounded. Charley 
said there was also hair on the ground where the doe 
stood when he shot at her at long range. After dinner 
we all went back to where I left the trail, but could 
do nothing with it. Going back to camp Charley 
killed a pine squirrel and I a rabbit. 
There was a good deer crossing just below our camp 
and another near the mouth of the creek. We had now 
been in camp nearly four days, and had not been on the 
west side of the creek, so after returning to camp I 
took my ax, went down the creek about 100 yards 
and felled a small tree across it. The tree was about 
10 inches at the base, but it did not reach to the west 
shore and sank beneath the surface, except for some 
20 feet of the butt part. My tramps after the deer 
and the chopping, which I was unaccustomed to of late, 
tired me, and I went to camp and sat by the fire. 
George had not come in yet, but when he did come 
he stopped only long enough to lay off his hunting 
traps, then picked up the ax. I told him about the 
foot log, and he said he would go and finish it, which 
he did and then fell to cutting stove wood.. Presently 
I heard him say, "Why, here's a cat," and there fol- 
lowed him into the tent the most forlorn piece of 
feline I ever saw. Charley explained that she belonged 
at the trapper's cabin, and it was evident that she had 
at some time belonged, temporarily at least, to a trap- 
per, for she was minus one forefoot and the other one 
had also been caught, and was cut partly through the 
flesh, leaving her with only her hind legs and a part 
of one fore one to go through life on. She was very 
hungry, and after getting a bite to eat and taking a 
survey of the camp, hobbled to a warm side of the 
stove and squatted on the ground. I dubbed her 
Misery, and she must have had some insight into my 
thoughts, for it was not many hours before, on hear- 
ing the word misery spoken to her, she would look 
up and answer with a plaintive little me-ow. We all 
pitied her, for her master had deserted her for the 
more comfortable quarters of Sayner Hotel, though, 
as we learned later, Mr. Brown was a human being in 
a general way, and came out the four miles periodically 
to feed his cat and look over his possessions. He had 
also left a cat hole in the padlocked door of his one 
room log cabin that Misery might not be homeless. 
At this point my notes say, "Grub low; no venison; 
no mail; no license." 
Being fully convinced, as I have heretofore stated, 
that the object of so high a non-resident license was 
for the purpose of keeping out of the State men who 
have no money to throw at birds, I thought that on 
this trip we would try buying supplies from the people 
who furnished us the sport. So a box that contained 
our tent held also a scant assortment of provisions, 
among which the bread, meat, potatoes and beans were 
not more than half a full supply. We had forgotten 
crackers entirely. As to our licenses, we had made 
out our applications here before starting, and the fol- 
lowing day sent them with U. S. Express money orders 
enclosed, to the State game and fish warden at Madi- 
son, Wis., from the office of the general passenger 
agent of the C. M. & St. P. Ry., Chicago. We had not 
felt like waiting for our licenses before proceeding to 
hunt, knowing that we had done our part. However, 
we would have felt more at our ease had these licenses 
been in our possession, for there was no knowing 
when a deputy game warden might call on us. 
Friday, the 14th, opened with rain a:nd continued all 
day, mixed part of the time with sleet, George and 
Charley went up the wagon road for a couple of hours 
in the morning, but gave it up and came in. I stewed 
the rabbit and squirrel for dinner, and we spent the 
remainder of this, our fourth day, in camp. 
Some time in the night the rain ceased, and on Sat- 
urday morning we started out filled with hope that we 
would have no more rain for a few days at least, and 
wishing for snow in its stead. A short distance from 
camp Charley saw a doe turn and dodge back into a 
tamarack thicket. George and I went east along the 
road. He went on to green woods, then came back 
part way. I stepped on a small elevation where the 
road crossed a ridge, near where I had shot at the doe 
and two fawns, and while standing there, saw over my 
right shoulder a deer on the jump, down toward the 
lake. I put in three shots at it zig-zagging through 
the brush, stubs, stumps and logs, but it seemed so 
far away that I had little hopes of hitting it, and was 
not surprised that it escaped, apparently unharmed. 
George and Charley hunted in the afternoon, while 
I went up to Sayner postoffice. I got a couple of let- 
ters, and inquired of Mrs. Sayner for mail for George 
Hedrick and Charles Bender, but our licenses did not 
show up. 
I was tired after that eight-mile walk. I could not 
get any smoked meat nor bread at Sayner, so we had 
to content ourselves with fried mush and bean soup 
with some remnants of the fast disappearing shoulder 
we had brought from home, using sparingly at the 
same time of our few remaining loaves and what pota- 
toes were left from a measure full I had carried up 
from my barn to the store to be packed with our out- 
fit. Qur coffee, tea, butter, lard, salt, pepper and con- 
densed milk only held out. So when Sunday, the i6th, 
dawned, and found us without meat, and short on 
bread and potatoes, we shut our eyes to the old Bible 
injunctions and sallied forth the same as other days. 
The case seemed to us much like our predicament 
of the Sabbath before, i.e., we were justified in drag- 
ging the ox out of the ditch. 
Well, the result of it was that I crossed the creek 
on our foot log, went west over a hill that was burned 
over, then skirted a marsh with a small lake in the 
center and dotted on the west side with clumps of low 
evergreens. While on the hill south of the lake or 
pool, I saw a fresh track going toward the pool. The 
day was cloudy and damp, and withal chilly, so that I 
was wearing gloves. My glasses were covered with 
moisture and I took them off to wipe them, but 
chanced to let them fall. Just as I stooped to pick 
them up, two deer broke cover among the swamp ever- 
greens, going off to the northwest. I had to straighten 
up, adjust my glasses, and get my gun in position, and 
by the time I had done this the deer had run 50 yards 
at least. I fired a couple of shots at them as they 
showed themselves between the bushes, and then had 
my attention called to a third one that was going off 
to the north. I turned on him and no doubt he heard 
the whistle of bullets, but he was in the edge of a 
thicket when I last saw him, and I hope none of the 
bullets did more injury than to give him a good scare. 
Monday morning we turned out early, feeling that 
camp meat was a necessity. Charley said he would take 
a morning hunt, then an early dinner and walk out .to 
Sayner, and take the i P. M. train to Star Lake to see 
the town and get some meat and bread. George agreed 
to start later, get the mail that might come in at i P. M. 
and be at the station to help Charley to camp with his 
supplies when he returned at 4:16 P. M. I went up the 
road to the dam, crossed the creek, and then circled west 
by south and was standing on an upturned pine tree 
about 8 feet off the ground and a mile and a half from 
camp when a doe ran over the brow of the ridge in front 
of me. She saw me and stopped behind a bunch of 
sprouts. Presently she stepped clear of them and I 
whistled. She stopped. I said to myself as I was draw- 
ing a careful bead on her just back of the shoulders, "No 
failure this time. Camp meat sure," but when the gun 
cracked she went like a streak for a thicket of pine a few 
jumps ahead, and escaped with a flying shot as she dis- 
appeared. I got down off the tree trunk, tried to find the 
trail, then returned to the position from which I had 
shot, located the spot she stood on, then stepped off 170 
paces to her hoof marks. There was no sign of a hit 
and I went straight to camp, unloaded my gun and laid 
it up. Bender had been in, eaten and g"one to Sayner. 
George and I sat down to bean soup. After our repast 
was over, 1 did the dishes, and George took my .22 Mar- 
lin repeater and started to keep his appointment with 
Charley. I sat smoking and thinking it over. A pine 
squirrel was chattering in the brush a few steps from 
the tent door. Were my shooting days over, or was it 
the gun? I got up, and washed my gun out thoroughly, 
looked through it, seing only certain small specks of rust 
that I had noticed before, then filled up the magazine 
and strolled down the road toward the lake. I took 
quite a turn but came back without seeing any game. 
Charley was at the road, though, acting in a suspicious 
manner, when I came up, and I soon discovered what he 
was trying to partially conceal, the trail of a deer carcass 
that had been dumped off a wagon and dragged down to 
camp. Charley was feeling pretty good, and I confess 
I felt better, for we now had camp meat. Charley had 
carried his gun, and as he neared a deer crossing in the 
thick woods about half way out to the railroad, he saw 
an eight-point buck coming across in front of him. The 
buck was walking with his nose to the ground and just 
after he stepped across the wagon road Charley cut loose 
and the buck dropped. A teamster coming out brought 
Charley and his buck to camp, and the trip to Star 
Lake was given over tuitil the next day. 
I told Charley about my bad work and he agreed with 
me that if it was not my gun it was my glasses that were 
responsible. Now I had given up the idea of being able 
to see both the mark and the notch in the hind-sight of 
my gun at the same time with the naked tye. sufficiently 
clear, and had adopted the glasses as a necessity. With 
these glasses I could see the sights distinctly, also the 
mark stood out more clearly defined. I had been 
bothered a lot with the moisture on my glasses, and the 
water that filled my eyes, caused by the cold winds to 
which I was unaccustomed, and after thinking the matter 
over, and plunking a couple of balls from the gun I had 
been doubting into a stump at about the proper distance 
and spot, I walked back into the tent and voted it a draw. 
George came back from Sayner with two pine squir- 
rels, two loaves of bread, and a peck of potatoes. We 
had something to eat now and all felt in better spirits. 
But we were a little nervous because our licenses had not 
arrived. George had asked for mail for Charlie and me, 
just as I had done for him and Charley. 
The next morning Charley made a short hunt, then 
took an early lunch of deer brains, and again started for 
Star Lake. George persuaded me to take his Winches- 
ter, while he would take his double barreled shotgun, into 
the left barrel of which he had slipped a rifled barrel that 
shot a .45-70 cartridge. The other barrel he could shoot 
either bird or buckshot from, as he chose. He went west 
across the creek and while standing on a stump in a cot- 
ton-wood thicket got a shot at what he declares was the 
largest buck he ever saw. At his first shot the buck 
almost fell, then whirled half round and ran, George 
giving him a parting shot as he went out of sight. I was 
about half a mile north of him, and hastened up, only to 
find George looking in vain for sign that the deer had 
been properly hit. But he soon realized that the buck 
was gone, and I felt truly sorry that I had taken his gun. 
He had only a short time before our leaving home got 
a new rear sight placed on the left barrel of the shot- 
gun and had not tested it fully. It was this new sight 
that bothered him. It was made too thin and threw a 
shadow, causing him to overshoot. But it was done and 
I knew how to sympathize with him. 
After dinner George went west again, but he took 
his Winchester. I went up the road to meet Charley, 
and met him about two-fifths of the way out, in the 
woods where it was so dark' we could with difficulty tell 
a hill from a hole. Charley had our licenses. They had 
been at the .Sayner post-office for a week. The envelope 
was addressed_ to Charles Bender and was not given 
to either Hedrick nor myself, though we called for Ben- 
der's mail. We suDoo<!ed it was a precautionary measure. 
