198 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May, 192 
and at the crack of the gun he sprang 
up and lunged forward and bang went 
the gun again and by tlie time he had 
made two more jumps he fired again, 
and the deer was out of sight. He had 
shot three times, about as quick as you 
could count. I told him to stay right 
there and I would go down and cross the 
creek and go up and see whether he hit 
him or not. 
When I got over to the place where 
he had been lying I found blood and I 
followed along down the hill a few yards 
and there he lay dead. I called back to 
Frank to come on over and when he got 
there we examined him and found he had 
hit him every shot and two of the shots 
were squarely behind the shoulders, 
both being dead shots. The other one 
struck him high up on the neck just in 
front of the shoulders, which was prob- 
ably the first shot. We went on to camp 
and didn't hunt any more that day^as it 
seemed to be a bad day for game. 
The next morning we started out 
pretty early and took a different route 
this time. \\'e got into them pretty thick, 
as we saw twenty-three all told, and got 
back to camp about two o’clock. They 
were nearly all small deer. Once we sat 
down near a small creek and two fawns 
came down to drink. We kept very still 
and watched them and it was a pretty 
sight and interesting to see their move- 
ments. One stepped back until the other 
drank and then after it walked back up 
to the bank the other one came down 
and drank. After it walked back I threw 
a rock over in 
that direction and 
away they went. 
That evening 
we took the 
horses and went 
and got the big 
buck. The next 
day we went over 
and hunted on the 
east side of 
Smith River, as 
we wanted to find 
where the big 
bucks were. We 
found the kind of 
sign we were 
looking for over 
there but it was 
so dry and hot 
that it was hard 
to see one, al- 
though we could 
hear them get up 
and go smashing 
through the 
brush every once 
and a while. 
.After we got 
up on the side of 
the mountain a 
mile or so from 
the creek, we 
found a nice grassy place with a small 
stream running through it and we could 
see where the deer had been lying in the 
grass during the night. Right ahead 
there was a big patch of Monzinita brush 
with scattering pines through it and it 
looked to me like a fine place for them 
to lie, so I told Frank to drop back and 
go away around and come in on the other 
side and find a good place to wait and I 
would go through and if any ran out he 
would stand a good chance to get one. 
This he did and after waiting long 
enough to give him plenty of time to get 
there I moved forward and soon saw 
where some big fellows had been going 
that way. I followed the tracks as slowly 
and as cautiously as possible, watching 
carefully ahead, and I hadn’t gone one 
hundred steps before I came to an open 
spot with scattering trees and brushes 
and on the opposite side not over forty 
yards away lay three big bucks ; two 
were lying close together near the edge 
of the brush under a small bunch of firs 
and near them on an old rotten log lay 
the other one, with his head thrown 
around to his side, his old antlers loom- 
ing up in great shape. 
I did not wait a second but drew a 
bead down at the butt of the horn and 
fired, intending to load and shoot one of 
the others at least before he could get 
away. The old buck rolled over with a 
bullet through his brain and I worked the 
lever of my gun down and up as quick 
as lightning, but the other two deer were 
gone and I stood there listening to them 
thumping over towards Frank. I hoped 
they would go by him and it proved to be 
so, as hardly a minute passed before I 
heard him shoot and in a few seconds 
bang went his gun again. I did not stop 
to dress the one I had killed but went 
over to where Frank was and found him 
standing by a big buck. I asked him if 
he had killed the other one. He said he 
On the trail into the Coast Range of Oregon 
didn’t know as he had shot at a distance 
of about two hundred yards. They had 
been pretty badly scared and separated 
and this big fellow had come around the 
hillside and stopped within five steps of 
Frank, who was standing by a small pine. 
He pulled up and shot him in the head, 
and hearing the other one down below, 
he had turned his attention to him and 
saw him stop behind a log. He caught 
bead and fired and the deer disappearec 
I said, “Well, let’s go down and see, bt 
I don’t think you could have hit hin 
as it was too far. 
We went down and there he lay wit 
his neck broken. I stepped it back an 
found that it was two hundred step; 
Frank declared he shot at his neck a 
that was all he could see, and I believ 
him, although it was certainly a wonder 
ful shot. We took their entrails out ani] 
got all three of them together and hum! 
them up, as it was about two miles froii ■ 
camp and on our way home and we coufi 
leave them there as well as anywhere. 
We went to camp now and after talk 
ing the matter over concluded to tak. 
our camp up to where we left the deer 
so we got the horses and packed up ou 
camping outfit and other deer and wen 
back up and established camp there. I 
was a lovely place, with the finest o 
water and worlds of grass for the horses 
We took the horses over and packed th< 
three bucks to camp and hung them al 
up. 
Now you will say, “Why didn’t yoi 
go home, that was enough.’’ But wF' 
didn’t think so, as this was in the faf' 
and it would be our last chance and w£ 
had horses enough to pack more in with ; 
us and we had only been there three days, jj 
Besides, this was no hunt at all in those| 
days. ^ 
'^HE next day we went north upon the 
east side of Smith River and after 
we got out a hall ■■ 
mile or so frorr 
camp we sepa- 
rated, and I took I 
the upper side ol 
the hill and Franh 
the lower. I hunt- ‘ 
ed along for quite" 
a while without 
seeing anythingi|j 
and had come tc 
a long, low ridge j 
of short buck, 
brush, when all al 
once a f o rkeei; 
horn buck got up, 
right in front oi 
me, only about 
sixty yards away;" 
and stood looking 
at me, with his" 
breast towards 
me. I pulled upH 
and put a bullet 
squarely in hisj 
breast, and after 
running a few 
yards, he rolleelll| 
over dead. 
I went on three 
or four hundreei , 
yards further and : 
out went a big 
buck across a gulch and up the hillside in 
plain view and the Winchester began to , 
crack, one, two, three, four and five. The 1 
faster I shot the faster he ran and I 
never touched him and he soon disap- I 
peared over the hill and out of sight. I 
could not think it possible that I had 
missed him, so I went over and took his| 
track and followed it along up the hill" 
J 
