FOREST AND STREAM. 



[JAN. 20, 1906. 
| GAMTE BAG AND GUN 

Deer-Sickness. 
Tue Indian term “deer-sickness” is in reality 
a misnomer, as it is not the deer that is sick 
but the party following its tracks.. The idea of 
writing this article came to me by reading 
“Scent Glands of the Deer,’ which appeared in 
Forest AND STREAM of May 13, and I remem- 
bered how I had had the deer-sickness thirty- 
eight years ago. 
"There are many surprises for a tenderfoot or 
greenhorn in the wild, but the name given to 
one of these very-much-to-be-pitied parties in 
the bush country from the Labrador to Lake Su- 
perior is mangers du lard. This is the universal 
cognomen by which a stranger in the north coun- 
try is known. I found by tracing back that this 
soubriquet was first given by the French courriers 
du bois to a new hand entering the back coun- 
try for the first time. 
It is said that in those early days the French 
youths, from which new hands were recruited, 
lived at home on very scanty food, and when they 
got away working for the fur company, where 
pork was, comparatively, in abundance, they let 
their young appetites loose and ate the flesh of 
swine in prodigious quantities, whereby they be- 
came known as mangers du lard, i. e., pork eat- 
ers, and this denoted a stranger or greenhorn, 
the tenderfoot of the Western prairies. 
I was somewhat of a greenhorn myself and 
suffered thereby by catching the deer-sickness. 
Like a good many other bad knocks that a be- 
ginner has to endure, this bit of sickness had 
an abiding effect on me and was never repeated. 
My experience came about in this wise. I had 
accompanied a family of Indians toa deer battue, 
and after the general slaughter was over I was 
allotted the duty of following up a wounded 
deer; by the word deer I mean a wood caribou. 
This particular buck had been shot at close 
quarters, the bali going clear through its stomach. 
While the shot had the effect of bowling the deer 
over it had not touched a vital spot, and during 
the excitement of the other shooting the animal 
got up and traveled away unobserved. The snow 
was pretty deep, nevertheless the further the deer 
went the better he appeared to get along. When 
this fact became evident to me, w ho was follow- 
ing his track, literally with my nose to the snow, 
I put on a greater spurt to try and end the jig. 
The deer by this time had become cognizant of 
being followed and he also increased his pace. 
I now became aware of a weakness in my 
limbs, a nauseating smell in my nostrils and a 
faint and giddy sensation in my head. This un- 
comfortable feeling grew worse, and at last to 
save myself from falling I had to lean against a 
tree and wipe my brow with a handful of snow. 
This had a momentary good effect. I saw 
clearly once more and pushing ahead redoubled 
my efforts to come within shooting distance of 
my deer. But I had not gone far before I felt a 
relapse coming and in a few moments I was in 
worse distress than ever. The last I remember 
was seeing a whirl of trees going around me. It 
was the last conscious moment before I fainted 
dead away and fell in my tracks in the snow. 
Luckily the chief had sent his two boys to fol- 
low me up, not that he anticipated this ending, 
but for the purpose of skinning and cutting up 
the deer. It was providential he did, for other- 
wise I would never have awakened in this world. 
As it was, the cold had thoroughly penetrated 
my body and it was only after drinking a quart 
or two of hot tea that circulation resumed its 
functions. 
After I had come around to the youths’ satis- 
faction the eldest one started off after the cause 
of all my trouble, leaving his younger brother to 
replenish the fire and attend to my wants. The 
elder boy returned after an hour or two, having 
killed the deer, the proof, the split heart tucked 
in his belt. Darkness was then setting in, but 
the bovs made ready to start for camp. What 
had taken me hours of toil to cover, they passed 
over in a very short time: in fact, we only saw 
my trail once or twice on the way out to the 
lake. 
That night after supper the chief told me of 
the ‘‘deer-sickness,” and warned me against per- 
sistently following the trail. He continued and 
told how the Indians did and in after years I saw 
their mode and practiced it myself. He explained 
to me that a pungent odor exuded from the deer’s 
hoofs when they were pursued and it was this 
that caused my weakness and distress. 
The Indians in following deer cut the trail 
once in a while merely to make sure they are go- 
ing in the right direction and to ascertain the 
freshness of the tracks. This is done with a two- 
fold purpose, first to avoid the odor from the 
fresh tracks and secondly to run or walk in the 
most open parts of the forest. Moose, caribou 
and deer when fleeing from an enemy invariably 
pass through the thickest bush, because the snow 
is shallower under thick, branchy trees than in 
the open, therefore the Indian walks a spell on 
the right hand side of the trail, then crosses over 
and passes on the left. 
From the topography of the country the In- 
dian has a pretty good idea of the trend of the 
caribou’s course, and the cutting of the trail from 
time to time is only to assure himself that he is 
correct in his surmise, and to judge by the tracks 
how near he is to the quarry. He thereby passes 
through the clearest country, has the best walk- 
ing and escapes the nauseous effluvia emitted 
from the animals’ hoofs. Martin HUNTER. 
Brown’s Tract Guides. 
THE annual meeting of the Brown’s Tract 
Guides’ Association, the most interesting and 
successful one in the history of the Association, 
was held at Old Forge Jan. 11. Guides from all 
parts of the wilderness were in attendance. For- 
est, Fish and Game Commissioner Whipple and 
Assemblyman Merritt, of St. Lawrence county, 
were among those present. The business’ meet- 
ing was held at the Masonic Temple, and the 
spacious hall was crowded with members of the 
Association and invited guests. 
A resolution was adopted that no person 
should be allowed to catch more than twenty-five 
brook trout, or more’ than five lake trout in any 
one day. Also that not more than this number 
shall be taken out of the Adirondacks by any one 
person. Another resolution was adopted against 
the sale in open market of partridges, venison and 
fish taken in the Adirondacks. Richard Crego, 
of Boonville, was elected president and A. M. 
Church, of the same place, secretary and treas- 
urer. 
In his report Secretary Church said of the 
non-resident license exaction: “It would be in- 
teresting to know how many of these permits 
were granted, how many residents of other 
States were held up for their passports, how 
many French-Canadian lumbermen had _ been 
driven to camp by the game protectors, or if any 
of these had ever been asked to show their 
license. Since the close of the hunting season 
I have heard of one of these permits. Its num- 
ber was 46. I have also heard of parties from 
other States who registered as residents of the 
State of New York. Why not require a license 
of tesidents also, at a nominal fee, the same as 
in the State of Wisconsin, obliging each and 
every person who carries a gun for the purpose 
of shooting game to apply to a town clerk or 
proper officer for such license, paying therefor a 
fee of $r and requiring a return of the license 
at a certain date, together with an affidavit show- 
ing the amount of game killed? Such an ar- 
rangement, properly conducted, would furnish 
means with which to employ more protectors 
and would be a valuable aid in the protection of 
the forests and game, and the statistics thus 
gained a most valuable aid in the preparation of 
needed legislation. 
“The beaver we had in keeping for the Fish 
and Game Commission through the winter of 
1905 were, with one exception, successfully liber- 
ated in the spring immediately after the ice had 
left the lakes. One pair were taken to the head- 
waters of the South Branch of Moose River, and 
two pairs were liberated on the south fork of 
Andes Creek, at the head of Big Moose Lake. 
Sat information was that they were doing 
well. 
“T obtained from the Fish and Game Commis- 
sion 1.600,000 whitefish fry, which were placed 
in Fourth and Seventh Lakes; 250,000 lake trout 
fry, which were distributed in the Fulton Chain 
and Big Moose Lake, and 10,000 brook trout 
fingerlings, which were placed in streams tribu- 
tary to the Ful Iton Chain and Big Moose Lakes. 
“Tt is greatly to be regretted that the game law 
is not more available for prohibiting fishing in 
the smaller streams tributary to the lakes. It 
has come to be common practice for camp own- 
ers, not- fishermen, and some others to ‘clean out’ 
annually all little brooks within their reach. As 
a sample, one man, a guest of the Eagle Bay 
Hotel, was seen last season with eighty-two 
small trout at one time. One active member is 
reported as having been discharged for refusing 
to shoot deer for his employer to carry home 
with him, and another as having been seen ap- 
parently jacking deer Sept. 1, 1905, at 1:10 A.M. 
“Deer were reported as about holding their 
own on the average. Owing to the unusually 
favorable weather conditions, the slaughter was 
very heavy. As usual, the greater part were 
killed during the last two weeks of the open sea- 
son. Venison was constantly on sale in the city 
markets, and instances are cited of Adirondack 
hotel proprietors, who cater to the sportsmen . 
trade, and to whose hotel live deer are an at- 
traction, transporting carcasses of deer to and 
selling them in these markets. The prohibiting 
of the sale of partridge, woodcock and quail has 
been without doubt an excellent thing for this 
game, and the past season has shown partridges 
in greater abundance than in many years. 
“That there are those who violate the game 
law was demonstrated by the method of the As- 
sociation in sending out scouts for the purpose 
of securing information. It is firmly believed 
that parties living within a stone’s throw of the 
game protector were hunting deer with dogs, and 
several dogs were killed about this section. Dogs 
were seen running deer at Eighth Lake and on 
the Raquette | Lake Railway, near the Brown’s 
Tract ponds.” 
The annual report of the treasurer showed the 
Association to be in a prosperous financial con- 
dition, 
Hon. Garry A. Willard, of Boonville, toast- 
master at the social session, praised the guides. 
for their efforts toward preserving the forest and 
its game, and said that the support which they 
give measures is highly appreciated. 
_ Commissioner Whipple said that he was born 
in a log house and spent thirty years of his life 
in the woods, and that he ought to make a good 
commissioner. He reviewed the trouble he had 
at Raquette Lake with people occupying State 
land. It was his opinion that it would be a mis- 
take for the State to make them move off in the 
winter time. These people, he said, have built 
properties valued at thousands of dollars and 
have made for themselves homes, to break up 
which would be wrong. His method of settling 
the difficulty would be for the State to rent them 
small pieces of land and make forest protectors 
of them all. Commissioner Whipple’s views in 
this matter met with hearty approval and he was. 
