626 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Nov. is, 1913. 
Forest and Stream is the official organ of the National Archery Association. 
Deer Hunting with the Bow. 
BY ERNEST THOMPSON SETON, HEAD CHIEF WOOD¬ 
CRAFT INDIANS. 
Every outdoor man should do it. It is easily 
possible for every outdoor man when he knows 
how, and Forest and Stream may be the means 
of teaching it to thousands. Your paper has 
given new popularity to the noble old game of 
archery, and may well appear as advocate of the 
archery deer hunt. We have played it for a 
dozen years in Jersey and Connecticut, and at 
this time there may be hundreds of hunters who 
kill their deer with nothing but arrows, and spill 
no blood in the chase. 
It doesn’t matter much how the game grew, 
but we began first with a target hidden anywhere 
in the woods, and then tried a dummy deer at 
the end of a paper trail, and finally achieved a 
well-made burlap deer with a line of hoof marks 
for guides, assisted by an occasional handful of 
corn. 
The successful manager of many field days 
said to me not long ago: “You must give your 
target an animal form if you want to get every¬ 
one interested. These mere targets with bullseye 
and rings may appeal to one out of ten, but a 
realistic deer or bear catches everybody.” 
This was the principle I discovered when 
first I used the dummy deer. It is made with a 
frame of strong wire, about size No. 10. This 
is wrapped with soft hay until filled out to the 
dotted lines, then all is covered with soft open 
burlap, tightly stitched on. A few touches with 
black and white paint are a great help to a re¬ 
alistic effect, and last of all two lines or ovals 
are drawn on the brown burlap. These are the 
heart line and the body line. When finished, the 
burlap buck appears as in No. 2. 
So much for the deer. Now for the trail. 
When first we began the game at my Indian 
scout camp eleven years ago, we used a paper 
trail as in an ordinary paper chase, the scent 
being distributed by the boy who carried the 
deer to its hiding place. We soon found first 
that it littered the woods in an unsightly man¬ 
ner, which is against our law; second, it spoiled 
the ground because yesterday’s trail was con¬ 
fused with to-day’s. Then we hit on the idea 
of a corn trail. A handful of corn used instead 
of paper answered for one chase, and the birds 
and squirrels usually kept it cleaned up before 
the next. Tf not, we could always change to 
some other kind of corn, but the desire for 
realism led me to invent a hoof mark, at first 
used on the end of a walking stick, but finally 
worn on the shoe. This is now used in all of 
our deer hunts, though we do not entirely dis¬ 
pense with the corn, for as every hunter will 
remember pellets dropped by the deer give essen¬ 
tial information to the man on the trail. The 
game is played by from two to eight or ten 
hunters. If there are but two, they need a buck 
boy or deer carrier; if more, the hunters take 
turns at carrying the deer. 
The deer carrier usually slips on his hoofs 
after going twenty or thirty yards, then he drops 
a few grains of corn every hundred yards or 
in places where the hoof marks cannot be seen. 
He is given ten minutes to lay his trail and hide 
the deer. He may make as crooked and difficult 
a course as he pleases and hide the deer where- 
ever he fancies, except that it must not be hid¬ 
den among rocks which would break the arrows, 
or on top of a ridge where the arrows might be 
lost or do mischief. In fact, it is best to hide 
the deer against a soft bank. 
Aften ten minutes is up the hunters set off 
to find the trail exactly as in real hunting. The 
first one to find it shouts, “Trail” and gets five 
points on the score. 
After that all follow the trail, each shout¬ 
ing, “Ki-yi” whenever he finds a sign. When 
the trail is lost, the leader or tally keeper shouts 
"Lost trail.” The one who finds it after this 
shouts, "Trail’’ and gets two points. When at 
last someone sights the deer, he gets ten points, 
but anyone giving a false alarm is docked five 
points. The other hunters claim place in order 
of seeing it, but they do not score. 
Now the one who found the deer must shoot 
at it from the very spot whence first he saw it. 
If he misses, the next one steps up five paces; 
if he misses, the next steps up five paces more 
and shoots, and so forth until someone hits the 
deer, after which all shooting is from that very 
spot whence the successful shot was fired. 
A shot in the big oval is a body wound that 
scores five. A shot in the dummy outside that 
is a scratch that scores two. Inside the small 
oval is a heart shot and ends the hunt. If the 
arrows are used up, or if each hunter has had 
six shots, and the deer is not killed, it escapes, 
badly wounded, but sure to recover; in which 
case the deer carrier, if in the game, scores 
twenty-five, and is deer for the next hunt also. 
If the deer is killed, the one who found it is 
deer for the next hunt. 
A hunt is usually on points for three or five 
deer. Other rules are: No one may step up 
nearer than thirty feet. If the deer is nearer 
when found, the finder has his shot, and the 
rest step back to the thirty-foot limit. No one 
may stand in front of the firing line. Arrows 
which do not stick, do not count, unless it is 
clear that they went right through. If an arrow 
touches the heart ring, it is a heart shot, etc. 
If an arrow pierces two scores, one on each 
side, the highest only is counted. 
Some hunters do not stick to the trail, but 
prefer to range ahead at random. This is per¬ 
mitted, but is offset by their losing the chances 
to win trailing points. 
A clever deer can add countless interesting 
details. He can make it extremely realistic, and 
give the archers all the perplexities and thrills 
of the real hunt. One can make the game stren¬ 
uous or easy by varying the choice of buck 
bearer. 
This has proved a most successful and fas¬ 
cinating sport, and it may well be one to add a 
double interest to archery meets in the future. 
I have described the game very fully in 
several of my scout manuals, but venture to 
hope that I may reach another public by call¬ 
ing attention to it through your paper. The 
dummy and hoof marks may be got of Boy Scout 
Headquarters, 200 Fifth avenue, New York city. 
Taylor Scores High with Bow. 
Homer S. Taylor scored exceptionally well 
in the regular contests for the men’s champion¬ 
ship of the Chicago Archery Club. The scores 
are recorded by James H. Pendry, field captain. 
Mr. Taylor made a few higher scores in prac¬ 
tice. The season’s scores follow: 
York round: 
June 21. 
Team rounds: 
July 12. 
121-550 
July 26. 
. 117-591 
93-419 
Aug. 2.. 
. 119-573 
108-578 
Aug. 30. 
. 122-578 
112-534 
Sept. 6 .. 
. 121-599 
123-611 
Sept. 27. 
. 115-561 
88-452 
May 31. 
. 90-484 
88-496 
Sept. 13. 
. 92-584 
” 83-517 
Aug. 30. 
. 90-612 
86-466 
Sept. 6 . 
. 90-608 
85-493 
Sept- 27. 
. 89-561 
89-503 
Oct. 19. 
. 90-580 
Pittsburgh Archers. 
Pittsburgh, Pa., Nov. 4. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: A team round match, the third of the 
series, was shot on the Beechview range, Jiles 
and Hertig on one side; Holmes and Douthitt 
on the other. Holmes by making a strong finish 
succeeded in winning the match by a very small 
margin. Scores: 
Holmes . 90-530 Hertig 
Douthitt . 69-293 Jiles . 
93-477 
76-344 
159-823 
168-821 
These four scores added together make the 
comfortable team round of 1644 with 328 hits. 
American round, single: 
Holmes . 90-572 Hertig 
Double: 
Jiles . 
88-544 
175-975 
Jiles was very much annoyed at his failure 
to make over 1,000 in the double American. Try 
again, brother. O. L. Hertig. 
Scores Wanted. 
Chicago, Ill., Nov. 6 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: In your issue of Oct. 25 you kindly 
printed a request that the archers send me the 
highest practice scores which they have made 
“this” year. I did not intend to limit the scores 
to those made this year, and did not know that 
I had done so until reminded of it by a corres¬ 
pondent. 
Will you please right things? 
Edward B. Weston. 
511 People’s Gas Building. 
