

DEc. 21, 1907.] 
977 

raised, and giving tongue from time to time. 
Jack Marvin on his big roan was at their heels 
with ten more riders close behind. The fox was 
not more than fifty yards ahead and failing fast. 
As he reached Westover plantation road Reck 
less dashed ahead and buried his fangs in the 
fox’s side. They rolled over snapping and growl- 
ing. With a rush and a scuffle the pack closed 
in and made short work of the gallant fox that 
had led such a heartbreaking race. 
It was well on toward noon, and there were 
many weary miles for tired horses and riders 
to traverse, but good company and abundant food 
for conversation shortened the miles. 
Night saw the old plantation house alight from 
cellar to attic. Great logs blazed in the wide 
fireplaces, evergreen and holly graced the white- 
paneled walls, and bunches of mistletoe adorned 
the chandeliers. A score of neighbors had come 
together for the Christmas frolic. The young 
folks thronged the big hall which had been 
cleared for dancing, while their elders in little 
groups recalled the glorious chase of the morn- 
ing or listened to notable tales of sport in_by- 
gone years. The negro fiddlers were full of the 
spirit of the night. The fun grew fast and 
furious. One dance followed fast upon another 
until 11:30, when the whole company joined in 
the Virginia reel. Then the dining room doors 
were flung open and the traditional feast of 
Christmas closed the day of jollity. A great 
saddle of mutton, a noble gobbler, flanked by 
Virginia ham, oysters from the river, birds from 
the covers and the river flats, and the snowy cool- 
ness of the inevitable eggnog kept up the tradi- 
tions of the day. 
The last guest had departed. The Major and 
I stood alone in the vacant hall. There was a 
reminiscent sadness in his voice as he turned to 
say good-night: 
“You see, we try to do things pretty much as 
we did back yondah in the old days,” he said. 
H. A. STONE. 

How the Deer Fare in Winter. 
How the deer fare on Christmas day may in- 
terest readers living in regions where the snow- 
fall is lighter than it is in the Adirondacks, 
where the picture reproduced-on this page was 
taken. 
A few days before the photograph was made 
a severe wind storm passed over the Adiron- 
dacks, leaving a large quantity of fallen trees 
in its wake. Balsams were down everywhere in 
the higher mountains, and the picture shows two 
of them which were pounced on by the deer and 
stripped of every bit of their foliage. The snow, 
which was nearly three feet deep at the time, 
was so tracked up as to resemble a sheep pasture, 
and branches were scattered all about, showing 
that the numerous deer present at the feast were 
so hungry that the remnants were grabbed and 
carried to a distance to be eaten at leisure. 
Beds were noticed in the vicinity of almost 
every fallen balsam, and the nearest brook was 
tracked heavily by deer in search of water to 
slake their thirst after a diet so heating as this. 
The temperature had been so low for a fortnight, 
however, that water was as scarce as on a desert, 
only the larger streams being open in small 
places. Where there were icicles the tracks 
showed that the deer had resorted to extracting 
water from these rather than from the snow, 
but even icicles were scarce during. the long cold 
snap. 
Storms like this one break down many grand 
old trees. Immense spruces were down all over 
the hills, and frequent detours had to be made 
in following the trails on snowshoes. But these 
big trees, in falling, generally carry several bal- 
sams down with them, and in this way the deer 
subsist on the food that is ever in plain view, but 
which is beyond their reach save after wind 
storms and heavy snowfalls. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv, 

REMNANTS OF AN 
A Bear Under Fire. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
One April morning four years ago George 
Pardee went over to Black Creek fishing, and 
for company he took along a .22 caliber re- 
peating rifle. He was swinging his birch pole 
with more or less success when he looked over 
across the creek into the lot and there saw a 
bear about eight rods distant walking diagonally 
away. George dropped his pole and began to 
work the lever of his rifle. Still the bear swung 
along, with his nose straight ahead, apparently 
unconscious of the presence of a man within a 
mile. Few men in the Adirondacks can shoot 
as straight as George, even when he shoots so 
fast that one must pay strict attention to be able 
to count the shots; but the “sassiness’’ of the 
bear caused George to shoot more deliberately. 
He says he is certain that he hit the beast sev- 
eral times. Yet he walked straight on in the 
same unconcerned manner. “Most likely the 
bullets didn’t go through his hide, though,” said 
George. The bear disappeared in a clump of 
bushes which grew on the brow of a hollow. 
George, on his side of the creek, ran to the top 
of a little hill. Arriving there he saw the bear 
headed straight away on a dead run. The pre- 
vious unconcern of the bear and his sudden 
change as soon as he got out of sight is a thing 
of wonder to George to this day. 
Rock Conkling was hunting deer near Wood- 
hull Lake. He had his magazine full of car- 
tridges. Tiptoeing along, expecting every 
moment to see a deer, he suddenly saw two 
bears coming his way. He “opened up,” and at 
that the woods seemed to be full of them. Rock 
worked the lever good and fast. The bears 
were taken with a panic so that all which were 
able climbed trees. A couple were lying dead, 
and a third had crawled away mortally wounded 
and leaving a red trail of blood. Highly pleased 
with his work Rock stepped around to get a 
good shot at one of the “flock” now clinging 
well up in the treetops. He chose a tender spot 
in the bear’s anatomy and let drive; the bear 
came tumbling limp to the ground. It was like 
hunting squirrels and Rock hunted out another 
beast in a tree and took careful aim. The gun 
only clicked. Rock felt in his pockets, but didn’t 
find another shell. He hustled to camp, but re- 
turning found the remainder of the “flock” had 
flown. He had a photograph of his four bears 
taken and it was printed at the time in the Utica 
Saturday Globe. 
ADIRONDACK 
DINNER, 
Several autumns ago John Pardee struck a 
fresh bear track which he followed. Soon he 
saw that he had put the beast on the run. After 
a time the bear began to circle, and following 
the track he saw that he had come around and 
had stopped at the top of a ridge. From there 
the bear had been able to watch his back track 
and had undoubtedly seen Pardee on his trail, 
for the bear’s track in the snow showed how 
he had run away as Pardee came along the 
track. The hunter kept after the bear, but in- 
stead of sticking to the track he followed either 
parallel to it or cut out around and came in at 
right angles. This proved the end of the bear, 
for the hunter caught him after he had made 
another circle in order to come in to watch his 
back track. He was badly wounded, and cur- 
iously enough he seemed to seek out brush heaps 
over which he walked instead of going around. 
Finally he was overtaken and killed. The animal 
was a two-year-old. 
Bert Conkling made boasts to his friends that 
when the snow came he was going to get a bear. 
Aware of the cunning of the beast his friends 
told him that he wouldn’t get one by following 
his track if that was what he meant. With good 
tracking snow, Bert and his brother with packs 
and blankets started out from his home below 
Wilmurt. They intended to go to a camp, but 
within a mile of the house they came upon a 
fresh bear track, One of them followed along 
near the track while the other man continued 
parallel to it or else circled. After a time they 
saw that the bear knew that they were after 
him. He led straight up the West Canada 
Creek. Follow and circle as they might, they 
neither headed him off nor caught sight of him. 
At the approach of night they camped, and in 
the morning started on the trail again. A bit 
further on they saw where he too had spent the 
night and had run off that morning, presumably 
as they came near. All day long they kept on 
and made wide detours in an attempt to head 
off the old bear. He went straight on, crossed 
the West Canada near Indian River, and headed 
toward Lake Piseco. As night came on they 
camped. In the morning again, taking up the 
trail, to their amazement they discovered that 
the bear had also spent the night at a comfort- 
able distance from their own camping place and 
had started off that morning. They followed 
during a large part of that day, but finally gave 
it up, never for a moment catching sight of the 
keen-scented animal. 
EupripcE A. SPEARS. 

