Jan. io, 1914. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
41 
to be some size he would drive the cows home 
every evening for his supper of milk. When this 
elk was full grown, Long and Dull led him to 
Buffalo, New York, via the pike westward to 
the Allegheny River, and up through Warren, 
and sold the animal for two hundred dollars—one 
hundred dollars in cash and a note for the other 
hundred, that was never paid. 
In the fall of 1836 Long took Henry Dull 
with him to hunt wolves. The second evening 
Long found an old wolf with six half-grown 
pups. He shot two and the rest ran away. Long 
and Dull then climbed a hemlock, and Long 
began his wolf howl. On hearing the howl, two 
pups and the old wolf came back. Long then 
shot the mother, and afterward got all the pups. 
Dull became so frightened that he fell head first, 
gun and all, through the brush, striking the 
ground with his head, producing unconsciousness 
and breaking his shoulder. Long nursed Dull 
at his home on the North Fork for three months. 
In that same year Fred. Hetrick and Bill killed 
an elk at the mouth of Little Toby which weighed 
six hundred pounds. 
In the winter of 1834 William Dixon, Mike 
and Bill Long, with dogs, went out to “rope” 
or catch a live elk. They soon started a drove 
on the North Fork, and the dogs chased the 
drove over to the Little Toby, a short distance 
up from the mouth. The dogs separated one 
buck from the drove, and this elk, to protect 
himself from the dogs, took refuge on a ledge 
of rocks. Bill Long, while Mike and Dixon and 
the dogs attracted the attention of the elk from 
below, scrambled in some way to the top of the 
rocks and threw a rope over the elk’s horns, and 
then cabled the elk to a small tree. This in¬ 
furiated the elk, so that he jumped out over the 
rocks and fell on his side. Mike and Dixon now 
had the first rope. Bill Long then rushed on the 
fallen elk and threw another rope in a slip-noose 
around its neck, and fastened this rope as 
a guy to a tree. Each rope was then fastened 
in an opposite direction to a tree, and after the 
buck was choked into submission, his feet were 
tied, and he was dragged by these three men 
on the creek ice to where Brockwayville now 
is. Here they secured a yoke of oxen and sled 
from Ami Sibley, a mighty hunter. A small tree 
was then cut, the main stem being left about five 
feet long and the two forks about three feet in 
length. Each prong of the tree was fastened 
to a horn of the buck, and the main stem per¬ 
mitted to hang down in front over his nose, 
to which it was fastened with a rope. A 
rope was then tied around the neck and antlers, 
and the loose end tied around the hind bench of 
the sled; this drove the elk close up to the hind 
part of the sled. The ropes around the feet of 
the elk were then cut, and he lighted on his 
feet. After the animal had made many desperate 
efforts and plunges, he quieted down, and no 
trouble was experienced until within a few miles 
of Brookville, when, meeting an acquaintance, 
Dixon became so much excited over the success 
in capturing a live elk, that he ran up and hit 
the elk on the back, exclaiming, “See, we have 
done it!” and this so scared the elk that he made 
a desperate jump, upsetting the sled into a ditch 
over a log. The oxten took fright, and in the 
general melee the elk had a shoulder knocked out 
of place and the capture was a failure. 
ELK AND VENISON JERK. 
This was “venison flesh cut off in a sheet or 
web about half an inch thick and spread on the 
tops of pegs driven into the ground, while under¬ 
neath a fire was kindled, fed with chips of sassa¬ 
fras and other odorous woods, that gradually 
dried it.” The web would be removed 'and re¬ 
placed until the jerk was thoroughly dried. The 
old hunter used to carry a little jerk always with 
him to eat with his bread. This jerk was a 
delicious morsel. Bill Long gave me many a 
“cut.” I think I can taste it now. Mike and 
Bill Long would bring it to Brookville and retail 
it to the people at five cents a cut. 
In the forties, when Long lived above Falls 
Creek, he went through wastes of snow and 
icicled trees to find a buck that he had wounded, 
and took his son Jack, who was but a boy, along 
with him. On their way the dog scented some 
animal that was no deer, and Long told him 
to go. The dog soon treed a panther, and when 
the two hunters came to him they found two 
more panthers on the ground. The dog seized 
one of the animals, and Jack stopped to shoot 
the one on the tree, which, after he had shot 
twice, fell dead. At the same time Long threw 
his gun down in the snow, as he could not shoot 
for fear of killing the dog which had seized the 
panther. Long then ran to the dog’s assistance 
and tomahawked the panther. Jack then came 
up to his father and said, pointing, “There is the 
other one looking at us.” The dogs were urged 
on and both took hold of this panther; Jack ran 
in and caught the panther by the hind legs, the 
dogs having him in front. Jack was anxious to 
take this animal home alive and wanted him 
roped. Long got a rope from his knapsack and 
tied it around the hind legs. Making a noose, 
he put it over the panther’s head and tied the 
rope to a sapling, and Jack pulled back on the 
other rope, thus stretching the panther full 
length. The front feet were tied without any 
danger and the panther was soon secured, but 
when they had him tied and ready to move home, 
they discovered he was bleeding at the throat. 
On looking closely, they discovered the dogs had 
cut the jugular vein, and before they had the 
other two animals skinned, the third one was 
dead. 
On Bill Long’s first trip over to Chess Creek, 
he took Colonel Smiley with him. Nearly every¬ 
body in those militia days was either a colonel, 
a major, or a captain. Under this system Penn¬ 
sylvania had one year forty-eight generals. 
Colonel Smiley then lived between the town of 
Du Bois and where Luthersburg now is. They 
went on this outing for young wolves. On arriv¬ 
ing near the head of Chess Creek, they found a 
very rocky ridge, when it was nearly dark. Long 
told Smiley they had better lay by for the night, 
as he thought there must be wolves near there. 
Smiley wanted to know where they would sleep. 
“There, upon that,” said Long, pointing to a flat 
rock. Smiley then picked up a pheasant feather, 
remarking that he was going to have a downy 
pillow any way. Long, as usual, made a bed of 
hemlock boughs, and the two slept upon this bed 
on the rock. Smiley took his feather and there 
in this deep forest, with nought but the sky 
above their heads and the shadowy clouds that 
passed, wrapped in the arms of Morpheus, they 
slept until about the hour of one, when in the 
deep stillness of night they were awakened by 
what proved to be the bark of a dog wolf. Long 
told Smiley to listen to see if there would be an 
answer to this bark. Soon they heard an answer 
in a howl. Long then told the colonel to arise 
and set the compass for the direction of this 
howl, for this was a she wolf, and by this means 
they could see if the howl was repeated in the 
morning at the same place. About daylight the 
dog wolf commenced to bark again, and was an¬ 
swered by the she wolf with a howl. Long said, 
“Set the compass now.” This the colonel did, with 
the remark, “She is at the same place.” “Now,” 
said Long, “let us follow the direction,” and the 
colonel, keeping the compass before him, they 
came, after about three-quarters of an hour, to 
where a big tree had been blown out of root. 
There was that she-wolf near to it. On coming 
up they found nine pups, and while they were 
getting the pups the old wolf came at them with 
her mouth wide open. Smiley drew his gun to 
shoot, but Long told him not to shoot, for that 
wolf was more to him than a horse, as he wanted 
to get her pups next year. Long then killed seven 
of the pups and took two of them to Oldtown, 
now Clearfield, where he sold the two live ones 
and got the bounty for the seven he had killed. 
Long got the pups of this wolf for three years 
afterward, always near the same place. Shortly 
after this Long took his little boy Jack and 
started up Spring Creek on the Clarion River to 
the big elk lick there. He stayed at the big lick, 
and put Jack at a deer lick a short distance 
further up the creek. Long soon heard elk com¬ 
ing into his lick, when he fired and killed one. 
Jack, hearing his father’s shot, came down to 
him the next morning. Long left the boy to skin 
this elk and started for Ridgway to get some pro¬ 
visions. On his way up to the town he killed five 
deer. When he returned Jack had finished skin¬ 
ning the elk, which Long then “jerked,” took to- 
Brookville and sold in cuts. 
Mike and Bill, with their dogs, one day 
started for the waters of North Fork. When near 
the head of this stream, the dogs took the scent 
of wolves and followed them under a large rock. 
Bill crawled under this rock and took from it 
eight young wolves. These scalps brought sixty- 
four dollars. Long went another time and took 
his son Jack, who was quite small, with him, also 
his dog, which he called Trim. I remember this 
dog well. He was most thoroughly trained, and 
I have seen Long, in Brookville, command this 
dog Trim to smell for wolves, when the dog 
would actively and carefully scent every part of 
the room. While on one trip Long crossed over 
to the waters of Little Toby, and at a certain 
point he knew from the actions of Trim that 
there was game somewhere near. Looking in 
the same direction as the dog, he saw a big 
bear on a tree and two large wolves at the foot 
watching the bear. Long told Jack to hold Trim 
and he would crawl up and shoot the bear. As 
he got within shooting distance of the bear, Trim 
broke loose from Jack and the bear seeing the 
dog, came down the tree and ran off. The dog 
then ran after the wolves. The she wolf ran 
under a rock and the dog wolf ran in a different 
direction. Long and Trim pursued the dog wolf, 
and in a short time Trim came back yelping 
with the wolf at his heels. Trim had about one 
inch of white at the end of his tail which the 
wolf had bitten off. The wolf paid no attention 
to Long, but went straight on. At shooting dis¬ 
tance Long shot him through the head. The two, 
father and son, then went to the rocks, and Bill 
crawled under, finding there seven young wolves 
—six he caught, but the seventh he could not 
find though he could hear it bark. Long came 
out and gave his gun to Jack and told him that 
he would howl like a wolf and the pup would 
come out, and then for Jack to shoot it. The 
pup hearing Long howl, and thinking that he 
was its mother, came out, and Jack shot it. The 
seven pups and the old male made eight wolves 
all together. Bill long took the pups of that she 
wolf every spring for five years, finding them 
some place between the mouth of Little Toby and 
Brandycamp. When out on the ridge near where 
Bootjack, Elk County, now is, Long saw signs 
of a panther. He had two dogs with him, and 
soon came on the panther. The dogs were bark¬ 
ing at the animal as it sat up on a rock. Long 
fired at the panther and wounded it. The dogs 
then rushed upon the panther, but soon let go, 
though not before one of them was badly crip¬ 
pled. Long at that time had a double-barreled 
rifle. He then ran upon the panther, and, put- 
