314 
FOREST AND r STREAM. 
tApsiL 16, 104. 
Confessions of a Dog Borrower. 
And this is about as he tells it — 
"I was about to take a shooting trip up near Win- 
nipeg, having received word from my brother that 
the sharp-tail grouse were more than plentiful in the 
freshly cut stubble. But I had no dog, and dog I must 
have, beg, borrow, buy or steal. 
"I firstly went to the ammunition store and selected 
my supply of shells, and the storekeeper, in conversa- 
tion, wormed out of me the fact that I had no dog. 
I told him, however, I was about to buy one. 'Buy 
an untried dog! Why, no man in his senses does that. 
Shoot over him first and then if you like him buy him, 
but not otherwise. Hire a dog if you will and buy him 
afterward. Yes, I can tell you where you can hire 
a dog. I'll send word to the party and he'll call on 
you.' 
"The time was short, as I was to leave Saturday 
evening for the north. But the man turned up, ex- 
tolled his dog to the skies, offered to loan it for a 
moderate figure, and said I could buy the dog if I 
wished to, after a trial, for $75. He promised the 
dog would be at the depot early on Saturday, so I 
could look him over before I started. 
"Saturday rolled around and an hour before train 
time I was notified that the dog was at the depot. I 
thought it over and feel it now was a groundhog case. 
That dog had to suit. I saw the dog and was not im- 
pressed with him. He fought shy of me, growled, and 
was anything but an amiable dog. The owner, how- 
ever, assured me that on acquaintance he would im- 
prove and would be found docile, kind, obedient, aflec- 
tionate and an all around fine dog. 
I spent most of my time in the baggage car en route 
for Winnipeg getting acquainted with that dog, but it 
was slow work. However, arrived _ at my station I 
found my brother awaiting me with his team, so 
bundling dog, gun, baggage and shells into the rig 
we started oflf. It was early in the afternoon and as 
we made short cuts over prairie and wheat stubble we 
began to see birds. The dog became restless, and we 
decided to let him out. And we did. And he took the 
back track. We knew he would follow the road straight 
back to Winnipeg, and by making a short cut we were 
able to intercept him. We caught the dog and now 
tied him to the hind axle of the rig. We reached my 
brother's farm, petted the dog (keeping him tied up, 
however), fed him on fresh milk and chicken bones 
and felt that having introduced him to a good thing 
he would remain by us. He was unloosened^ and fol- 
lowed us around and at nightfall we locked him in the 
barn. 
"The birds were, to say the least, numerous, and we 
could see them in the stubble and hear them as they 
flushed with a coo-coo-coo-cooo!!! 
"The rig was harnessed up, a fine lunch packed away 
and a large stone jug filled with cool spring water 
placed where it could be handy. Then of? we started — 
and the moment we released the dog of? he started, 
slowly and cautiously at first, until apparently con- 
scious that he was beyond gunshot, when off he loped, 
flushing birds right and left in his course, and the last 
we saw of him was the tip of his tail as he crossed a 
hill far to the north. He never came back, and for all 
I know is going yet. What hunting I did was done 
per se, walking up my birds in the stubble and kick- 
ing around in the prairie grass and now and then flush- 
ing one. My trip was spoiled. 
"When I returned to town the owner of the dog 
called on me and asked me how I liked him. 1 told 
my story and it is needless to say that the same was 
listened to with much evident incredulity mingled with 
surprise. 'Wasn't a better dog in the country.' 'Must 
have abused him.' 'Never knew him to act that way 
before.' The conversation ending up with a request 
to produce the dog or hand over the agreed price, 
$75. And to make a long story short, after much 
correspondence and some very warm interviews I sent 
the fellow a check for $30 an'd considered the inci- 
dent closed." 
"The months rolled by when once more did the 
chicken season arrive. I again went to the gun store 
and whom should I meet there but the man who had 
sold me the lost (and — very likely as far as he was con- 
cerned — the stolen dog). I lost no time in telling him 
in good Queen's English and otherwise just what I 
thought of him. He bore it with surprising meekness, 
and when I halted for breath he started in by telling 
me of another dog that he had. He had his pedigree 
on the tip of his tongue. It was a long one, beginning 
at the kennels of Nimrod and coming down to date. 
This was a dog that was a dog. A nose that would 
scent a chicken a mile off if the wind was right. Broken 
to a T and trained to a knife edge. This was a $100 
acg, not a $7S one. This one he guaranteed to give 
satisfaction, or no sale. I could take him and try him 
and if he did not suit no charge would be made for 
his hire. . , ^ , , , . 
"And I took the dog on trial. I found him more 
sociable than the former one, and my hopes were 
elevated, to say the least. We arrived at the grounds 
at dark and made an early morning start. He com- 
menced to range and work beautifully. The birds got 
up and as we fired the dog broke and made off as if 
the devil were after him for the main "road. We sought 
our rig and gave chase and when within seventy or 
eighty yards, in desperation, I let go at him. Instantly 
he put his tail between his legs and turned in his 
tracks and loped toward us, coming beautifully to 
heel, as it were. There were no shot marks in his 
hindquarters. He acted like a dog that was sorry 
and would try to do better. And we worked back to 
the field and he again began to work with nose to the 
ground, when all of a sudden he threw his head high 
in the air, as if scenting the birds from afar, and started 
off at a steady lope. There were fences here and there 
and we must follow him afoot, which we did as best 
we could. We cut around a hill, thinking to inter- 
cept him at the road, but he was a little too swift for 
us and was already loping up the road towards a farm 
house. We felt hopeful that he would stop there per- 
haps for a drink at the pump when we could once more 
get possession of him. 
"But, alas! out from the farm's yard came three 
great nondescript dogs, scrappers, every one of them, 
snarling and growling as if they meant hasiness. Our 
dog stood not on the order of his going, but, assum- 
ing a jack-rabbit gait, turned to the right and made 
little of fence, ditch or plowed field and was out of 
sight in a jiffy. Gone, but not forgotten. I thought 
of a combination of things, in which a hundred dollars 
was somehow inextricably mixed up with pedigrees, 
guarantees, etc., etc. 
"The dog artist kept out of my way and I have not 
laid eyes on him since, but a few days ago a letter 
from an attorney at law was received by me demand- 
ing $100 or the return of the dog and suggesting a 
prompt remittance and thus avoiding further trouble 
and expense. 
"And, going to my lawyer, he has written the other 
lawyer that if he made a single move to commence 
suit his client would get all the law he wanted, and 
more. And I am waiting for further developments." 
Charles Cristadoro. 
Life in the Woods. 
VIL— How "We Hunted. 
Perhaps the reader, who has followed through the 
tortuous wanderings of this disjointed narrative, will 
pardon a brief digression at this point for the purpose 
of explaining what may have been already guessed, 
namely, the methods used by our party in hunting. 
With the location selected and the camp arrangements 
completed, the next thing has always been to examine 
well the ground and find out as soon as possible 
the haunts and runways of the deer, "make our _ own 
trails or reblaze the old ones so that the more inex^ 
perienced might have convenient routes to travel over 
to camp from certain given points. Around the old 
choppings, along the old logging roads and about the 
swamps, as a rule, are found the best hunting grounds, 
as in the one place the clover and grass have sprung 
up making good feed and in the other there is abund- 
ant cover. During the first few days of the hunt, when 
on new ground, it has been the rule for each one to 
explore by himself until he became thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the country^ and able to travel in every 
direction with not any fear of becoming lost. The 
feeding ground once located, a number of places have al-' 
ways been found where different ones could take their 
stands at early morning or at twilight and watch the 
movements of the deer, sometimes securing in this way 
many a good shot and oftentimes bringing down a fine 
deer. Another favorite method with us is to find the 
hiding places of the deer and their runways and then 
place some of the party on these runways while the 
others go around and drive the game from the cover. 
When started the deer usually take the runways and 
the watcher is rewarded with a shot, and generally 
this method has been attended with considerable luck. 
A large island in the Menominee River was one 
favorite place for such "drives," as we called them. 
I can remember the time when four of the party went 
there and commencing at the lower end spread out 
hunting abreast of each other for quite a distance. 
One of the boys on the left discovered some large 
deer tracks in the light snow and leading into a large 
patch of thick brush. A consultation was called and 
it was arranged for three of the party to take stands 
on some ridges, which partially surrounded the brush, 
while one should go in and start the deer. As soon 
as the watchers had taken their stands the driver went 
in and soon the sound of his voice was heard calling 
"Look out, he's coming," and sure enough, there came 
bounding up the hill a right royal buck, with head and 
tail erect. As he came leaping over the brush he 
looked more like an elk than a deer, but as he neared 
one of the stands a fortunate shot brought him to the 
ground, and when examined by the party he was pro- 
nounced one of the largest deer ever killed in north- 
ern Wisconsin, as it was estimated he would weigh 
over 300 pounds. At the same time two other deer 
were started from the same cover, but they succeeded 
in escaping. Another method of hunting is for each to 
take his selected territory and still-hunt through the 
woods, keeping a sharp lookout for whatever can be 
seen. By this method many deer have been killed, es- 
pecially by the older members of the party, who are 
experts in that style of hunting. 
It was when the first fall of snow came that they 
excelled in this kind of work, for at early morn they 
would start out, take a fresh track and follow it all 
day, if necessary, but finally get their game. In taking 
a track this way the deer, when first started, usually 
puts off at a lively gait, but as a rule soon slows down 
when he finds that he is not being hurried any. Some- 
times he will keep this up for quite a time, but as a 
rule, after having been started a number of times, 
unless it is an unusually wary old buck or doe, they 
gradually become careless, start slower and when 
started run slower, soon dropping into a walk. Per- 
haps the first four or five times a deer is started in 
this way, or maybe even more, not even a glimpse of 
him will be obtained, but sooner or later he will begin 
to lag and every now and then the patient, careful 
hunter will be rewarded by the sight of a flash of gray 
disappearing over the top of a ridge or into the brush. 
It is then that the greatest care must be exercised, and 
at this time experience in the ways of deer and a 
natural ability to judge the country becomes of great 
service, the former in watching the track closely andj 
judging whether the game is still alert or whether it. 
is showing a disposition to stop and watch or lie. 
down, the latter in determining, which way the deer is, 
most liable to turn, so that a short cut will head it; 
off, where it is most liable to stand and watch for- 
you or to lie down ond sun itself. Many a time I' 
have known the old hunters in our party, when fol- 
lowing a deer, to suddenly start off at right angles to 
the track and hurry to some ridge or edge of a swamp, 
there to catch their game traveling along wholly un- 
suspicious of their presence. A gentle "bah" or a low 
whistle and the next second a bullet crashes through 
him. Many a time have I known them to follow so 
carefully and persistently and watchfully that on the 
sunny side of some ridge they would catch their deer 
in his bed and kill him before he had time to rise, and 
then again on several occasions I have known them 
to meet the object of their pursuit face to face as he was 
coming back on his back track, in hopes of throwing 
his pursuers off. Success is not always with one in 
this style of hunting, for deer, when once they realize 
that you are after them, are not as silly as some may 
think. At the outset they will oftentimes be started 
two or three times, but finally assured that they are 
being followed they will put off at a dead run and 
perhaps not stop short of two or three miles and 
perhaps more. As often, too, they will run over their 
track two or three times, then take a big jump off 
sideways, and more frequently they will herd in with 
other deer and make it next to impossible for any 
particular track- to be followed. So that success does 
not by any means always attend efforts of this kind. 
On the contrary, it requires more than the average 
strength and activity to stand the strain of such a 
chase. One must be able to go far and still be strong 
enough and supple enough to step over logs carefully 
and to avoid breaking any brush and at the same time 
be able to cover a long distance quickly if necessary. 
It requires mental vigor also, for one must be con-^ 
stantly on the alert and have his mind entirely on the. 
pursuit, for one careless moment may lose to you the. 
only chance for success of the day. It is a hard wayv 
to hunt and one in which the beginner is rarely suc-. 
cessful. To prowl through the woods watching on a:., 
runway now and then is more enjoyable and not nearly - 
as hard and then, too, one's ambition will not crowd i 
him to stay out and overdo when he should be, for 
his own health, resting in camp. 
One year, when the Wisconsin game law allowed it;, 
we hunted with hounds, but though we were successful/ 
in the number of deer secured, yet none of us were 
satisfied with that method of hunting and rejoiced that 
the succeeding Legislature passed a law prohibiting 
it. We all agreed that it is far better to give the deer 
a chance for his life. If he can outwit you so much 
the worse for you, but if you can outgeneral him so 
much greater and satisfactory is your victory. Our 
experience has shown that hounding deer drives them 
away from the territory in which you are hunting al- 
most as effectually as a band of wolves will. It makes 
the deer more timid and wild, and if you attempt to 
still-hunt them after they have been dogged, at the 
first cracking of a stick or the snapping of a twig 
they are off at top speed, and the most experienced 
cannot tell when they will stop running. Deer that 
are constantly dogged do their feeding at night and 
