54 
FOREST AND STREAM 
February, 1921 
sportsmen carried, but which seemed to 
me seriously to interfere with his get- 
ting about easily. To the gathered 
hunters thronged many hounds of 
many a degree, from long lean Walkers 
and drooping-eared, intelligent-eyed 
red-bones, to just plain dogs that had 
had some kind of training in the woods. 
On such a day, the larger the pack the 
better; and if it does happen to be 
promiscuous, that fact renders the pack 
diverting in character. As we left the 
village a little after daybreak, heading 
for the fragrant lone pinelands, every 
hunter wound his horn. This perform- 
ance is partly a matter of hilarity, and 
partly it is to call any stray dogs. 
There is an hon- 
ored custom there 
to the effect that 
at such a time a 
loose dog may be 
called to any 
horn. Inasmuch 
as I mention 
these hounds, it 
may be well here 
to state the atti- 
tude of hunters 
in the South con- 
cerning the use of 
dogs after deer. 
In the states of 
the Northern 
group, deer- 
hounds may not 
be used in hunt- 
ing. Such a pro- 
vision is a wise 
and a just one. I 
recall having 
many a talk with 
Northern hunters 
who could take 
no stock in the 
use of dogs; yet 
some of these 
same men, com- 
ing South to hunt 
with me, found 
these creatures essential to sport. And 
the reason is simDle: in the South 
all deer have sanctuaries such as cane- 
brakes, impenetrable swamps, and the 
like that they can readily enter if 
followed by dogs; and at the bounds 
of these well known barriers, the 
pack usually quits. For example, I 
know a club that hunts near the sea- 
coast. When deer are jumped in the 
adjacent woodlands, they invariably 
make for the vast and melancholy 
marshes that stretch away almost in- 
terminably to the coastal islands. 
Hounds follow these deer to the edge of 
this marsh; there they stop. For the 
reason mentioned, therefore, deer have 
a chance, and a good one, to get away. 
Moreover, since there is never any 
snow worth mentioning in the country 
described, there is no danger of dogs 
running on crusted snow or on ice. 
And it must always be remembered 
that a deer is almost invariably a 
match in speed for even the best pack 
of hounds Occasionally one may be 
caught, but only when the pursued ani- 
mal happens to run foul of a fence or 
something similar. Besides, where dogs 
have long been used, deer know how to 
“handle” them, and develop remarkable 
traits of cunning and resourcefulness 
in evading their pursuers. In all the 
great clubs of the South dogs are used; 
and at such organizations as the Santee, 
the • Kinlock, the Annandale, and the 
Liberty Hall clubs, fine packs are main- 
tained. Finally it may be added that 
genuine stalking of deer is hardly pos- 
sible in the South. The winter woods 
there are too dense; there is too much 
green cover; and the woods are too 
level. Besides, as has been said, there is 
no snow. 
F OLLOWING the dim roads of the 
coastal pinelands, which seemed to 
dwindle away into the wildness of 
mere wide grassy trails as we pene- 
trated deeper into the great forest, we 
came at last to the borders of ,the 
great Wambaw Swamp. Here we were 
obliged to leave our horses, and from 
this point forward we were in a country 
as wild and primeval, I think, as any 
remaining on the North American con- 
tinent. The woods had never been lum- 
bered, and as the pines were growing 
either in water or in a swampy situa- 
tion, their size and height were prodig- 
ious. These were yellow pines, of vir- 
gin growth; indeed, the whole aspect of 
that great forest impressed one with 
the fact that there, as yet, man had not 
set his hand, nor, for that matter, his 
foot either. As we advanced, the trail 
became narrower and more overhung 
with canopies of jasmine vines, tie-ties, 
and supplejack. Every now and then 
the dim pathway would sink incon- 
tinently away into water. As the 
weather was mild, we forded these cas- 
ual streams and pools; it was necessary 
to do so in order to achieve any prog- 
ress. At last the leader of the hunt, 
Harry Lofton by name, typical of the 
New South in his practical views and 
strenuous ways, but tinged with some- 
thing of the manner of the old, an- 
nounced that we were in deer country. 
“Look here,” he added, pointing to the 
damp road, “how many do you say 
crossed here last night?” 
There were various estimates given, 
but the prevailing opinion was that 
eleven deer had trooped across the trail 
only a few hours before. * 
“Jerry,” said the hunt-master to one 
of his trusted colleagues, “I’ll take the 
dogs and drive out Bear Bay. You post 
these gentlemen.” 
After a few more hundred-yard 
swims we were left, one by one, along 
the dim trail. We stood only about two 
hundred yards 
apart, but of 
course, we were 
not visible to each 
other. This is the 
distance thought 
safe for standing 
in the South, 
since a gun will 
hardly drive 
buckshot effect- 
ively so far as 
that; and for 
deer-hunting the 
s h o t g u n is in- !; 
variably used. I 
here mention the 
standard load 
(for the 12- 
gauge): 3% 
drams ballistite 
or infallible in a 
high-base shell 
covered by two 
heavy wads; 
either 16 “blue 
whistles” or else 
22 “low-moulds” 
or No. 1 buckshot, 
covered by one 
light wad. Many 
hunters prefer to 
load their own 
shells and always prime the cap with 
black powder, which they consider to be 
superior in instant ignition powders to 
smokeless. However, I have never had 
any trouble with smokeless. As the dis- 
tance mentioned is considered safe spac- 
ing, it is interesting to consider briefly 
the effective ranges. “After forty 
yards,” said a famous authority on this 
question, “uncertainty begins.” And he 
was undoubtedly right. But under fair 
circumstances, and with a long-reaching 
gun (say with a gun carrying 30 or 32- 
inch barrels), shots are made cleanly up 
to a hundred yards. I have known 
deer killed with one buckshot at that 
distance; on one occasion I fortunately 
stopped a spike buck at 108 yards. But 
I was using an old Westley-Richards 
muzzle-loader, — a gun with 32-inch bar- 
rels. Once I was standing beside a 
hunter when suddenly, from a bay-head 
just in front of us, out leapt a fine 
stag. The deer apparently did not see 
us, for he ran within five steps of us. 
My friend bowled him over; and when 
we came to skin him, we found that j 
he had been killed with No. 8 shot, with 
which the hunter had in error loaded 
his gun. An ordinary gun with a shell 
loaded right ought to bring down any 
Photograph by Dr. G. C. Fisher. 
The vast swamps of the South form ideal cover for deer 
