Part 9 (1/2)

Cartwright's signal of danger; and their ed thear ceased his purring, stood up, and soon leaped off into the dark forest and disappeared, very ht's relief He presently reached the river, un current soon reached his home

An Experience of My Own

In the su party, high up into the Cascade Mountains Our route was along the Santiam River, and we made our final ca for over a e, on the south side of the river--a short distance beyond, was the highest table land, or dividing plateau of the --it being the ust, was indifferent; because the black-tailed buck at that season was lying in sorass--hardening his horns

My co the brush covered sides of the e buck who passed down the sides of the mountains by, to him, a well known but secret trail, and crossed the head of the narrow prairie, and then dashed through the thick brush by an accustomed trail to the river below The space between this prairie and the river, was a succession of descending benches

These benches had before this tirowth of fir When this fir had reached the height of eight or ten feet, a fire ran through, and killed nearly all of it, and another growth of fir had sprung up, led mass As ere out of venison, it was proposed that I take two rifles and go to the head of this narrow prairie, while o up on the reat deal of noise, start this buck from his sylvan retreat, and when he came down the mountain and crossed the upper end of the prairie, I should improve the opportunity to kill hih the thick brush on the mountain side, and dashed across the prairie When he was nearly opposite to me, I fired at him with my own rifle, but struck hiet the second rifle in ht I reloaded my own rifle, and went to the spot where he hen I fired, and I found that he was shot through the lungs, because the blood came out in sprays; and as it cah hih the brush--sometimes on my hands and knees, and at other times, after the manner of a serpent He stopped frequently When he did, he left a sment was that the bullet struck him while he was stretched out, and that the skin closed at ti internally--I concluded that as soon as he atteo down a steep incline, the blood would rush forward and sully or deep ravine, which heash tree, that stood on the riully When I arrived at the tree I stealthily looked down into the gully and saw the buck in a s his back intently looking at him in the face I muffled the cock of ar's head He fell beside the dead buck Disregarding the safe rule of the hunter, without loading my rifle, I slipped down the steep incline and with the breech of htened out his tail, and was just in the act of pacing to ascertain his length from the tip of his tail to the end of the nose, for that is the hunter's rule for deter this, a small quantity of fine white bark fell on e limb of the ash tree, nearly directly over ar Her hair was raised up, her back bowed, and her tail rolling She was crouched for a spring I kept my eyes upon her, raised my powder-horn to my mouth and pulled out the stopper with un and poured until I thought I had powder enough, and soon after found that I did have plenty I then took a bullet out of my pouch and raround and put a cap on the nipple

Then I gently raised the gun towards her, and she showing a good deal of agitation, drew herself up into a --but I quickly fired and she cah she had not been struck at all I jumped back a few feet, but her nose brushed round She fell dead at e it into her if she moved--but the bullet had done its work effectually

I have always been of the opinion that I shot her just as she was in the act ofa leap upon ully, and my companions soon joined , one of theht out a passable route through the brush to the prairie Theallayed his fears

A Battle Rarely Seen

Late in the fall of 1867, I accoe for Jackson and Josephine Counties, Oregon, from Jacksonville to Kerbyville--the county seat of Josephine County--to attend a term of court to be held at Kerbyville in the last named county The Honorable Jae to Josephine court There had been high water and sweeping floods which had rendered the crossing of the Applegate River on the bridge, which was located about two erous and i the journey on horse back, we crossed Applegate about twentyand over the foothills on the left bank of the river, intending to stop at a hotel on Slate Creek on the left bank of the Applegate, and on the north bank of said creek about twoacross the mouth of a cove in the hills, we heard to our left a noise, and looking in that direction,a feed in a bloody battle We stopped and watched the fight for about half an hour The battle ground was on a gentley sloping grass-covered side hill The bear persistently kept the upper side The cougar kept in front of hi The battle proceeded with alar paced back and forth in front of the bear for a fewher ; the contact was furious Sometimes they would seize each other with the jaw-hold, and to our astonishar was more than a match for the bear in this hold, and the bear round, and digging furiously into the cougar with the claws of his hind legs By these ar The hold having been broken, and the coar would pace back and forth in front of the bear for a few ain Soar closely, and use the claws of his hind feet with terrific effect Thus the fight proceeded Both were covered with blood The bear would quietly sit during the inter, we left theo to Slate creek--cross it--get some rifles from our host, and then return; but e ca its banks, and spreading out over its narrow valley Our host, anticipating our co of the creek We had to swierous current for soh we successfullyhunter's blood in his veins, was anxious to go to the scene of the conflict, yet we so dreaded the crossing and re-crossing of Slate creek that we denied ourselves the pleasure

On our return about a week afterwards two of us stopped over at our friend's, and ith our host out to the battle ground; but we found no trace of either combatant

On my return to Jacksonville I wrote up and published an account of the battle--it was signed by all itnessed the fight--but I have not the manuscript nor its copy

We all had our opinions of the cause of the conflict The prevailing opinion was that the bear had been interfering with the young of the cougar

The lynx, and wildcat may be briefly noted They are both nocturnal marauders They are rarely seen in the daytime Either of them located in a dense copse near the ranch or farm, with a forest-reach beyond, is a pestiferous nuisance which , or trap, before either la It is cowardly and dangerous

The wildcat is an intractable and untamable animal His ferocity is never softened under the influence of kindly treatment He is the concentrated eerous to get within the inner circle of the metallic tether He is the pest of the deer-hunter There is no aht, which is safe frory marauder

On two occasions, I have found him seated on the hams or saddle of my suspended venison, and I have shot him On the last occasion, I did not kill but severely wound him I approached hiet to h his brain and ended his warlike career

Two species of wolves are natives of Washi+ngton--the everywhere present coyote, and the large dark-gray wolf of the mountains The coyote does not in any considerable nuet Sound basin, or tributary country west of the Cascade Mountains His choice habitat is the sage-brush plain, and the grassy undulations of the great Coluh and sunless canyons are the habitat of the large dark-gray wolf He also loves the depressions in the high es where there exists usually an alternation of marsh and thick forest His dismal howl may nearly always be heard amid the soleerous to tether or hobble your horse in such a place, as the early irants learned to their sorrow Many a fine anie packs of these wolves often follow the deer, their usual prey, to the foothills and outlying settlements While the wolf in this country is not considered an anierous to er, and he asserounds, hefriend of mine of the name of Taylor lived on a ranch, in the early pioneer days, about a mile south of the now busy and prosperous town of North Bend, in King County This small but fertile valley in which his pioneer home was located, lay near the base of the foothills of the Cascade Mountains It was his custoht fall of snoith his trusty rifle in hand, tohorse, and, with a pack ani a prairie adjacent to the foothills, to kill from one to three fat bucks, and to return the sa three or four hours for game, he found no deer, but saw plenty of wolf tracks He concluded that there had been an invasion of his hunting ground bygrounds He immediately commenced his return to the trail where his horses were tied Soon, however, he heard the patter of feet and saw a slight movement in the brush on every side of him A closer observation showed that he was encircled, by froh a man of nerve, he confessed that he was somewhat alarmed His situation was a novel one to hi rifle, as he had always refused to adopt the repeating rifle because of its alleged want of accuracy As the wolves were slowly contracting the circle surrounding hi his rifle up with hi or slowlyabout, looked intently at hi feast Sole the situation, and its possible dire results, he concluded to try the effect of a shot upon this hungry pack Quickly suiting the action to the resolve, he sent a bullet crashi+ng through the brain of one of the larger ones The animal leaped into the air and fell dead Its companions rushed upon it and fiercely tore its body to pieces Finding that his first shot was ineffective for rescue and quickly deciding on a theory different from that which prompted the first shot, he sent a bullet into the abdo ani and painful wound The animal struck, leaped into the air, wheeled around several ti howl, started off, his coallop that can tire the hound's deep hate and the hunter's fire” My friend, thus fortunately relieved from his imprisonment, quickly descended from his perch and hastened with anxious steps to his horses--and then to his hoame family to man, and especially to the pioneer, was and is the deer Without venison the table of the pioneer would be lacking in one of life's choicest andfood Of beef, pork and mutton, in any of their various forms, he had none The rifle was his purveyor; a table furnished with delicious venison, the realization

Deer are everywhere to be found in this State, and especially in the wooded country west of the dividing-ridge of the Cascade Mountains

While he likes open ridges and sunny coves as a roaround, a dense thicket or sylvan bower is the deer's dormitory

I can say, without a breach of reat deer-hunter I have found hier numbers on the islands of the Sound, than elsewhere On one of these islands, Whidby, I found quite a number of pure white, and also spotted or, to use the popular expression, calico deer Before this I had doubted so on that island I caed white buck, a spotted doe--his see companion--and two calico fawns I saw them from ambush, and my first impression was to shoot the buck; but I hesitated, and finally concluded not to do it After observing them for souous woods After their departure, I went to the ranch of a pioneer-friend, and I found that he had in a small park a pure white buck and five does--some spotted, and others of the ordinary color I learned froreat majority of cases was of the usual color--sometimes calico, but rarely pure white I tried to purchase the only pure white fawn--offering fifty dollars for it--but he refused

Deer were so plentiful in pioneer days, especially on the islands of the Sound, that the pioneer had to fence against theht, and, as one expressed it,oats, of potatoes, which he readily digs with his sharp hoofs, of cabbage and lettuce, and other products of the field and garden

The cougar, the wolf and the lynx, the natural enemies and destroyers of the deer for food, do not exist on the islands; hence their large and, if left to natural causes, their constantly increasing nueneral rule, are smaller than those on the mainland; and o back froh the continuous woods, to the foothills andto what is familiarly known as the black-tailed faet Sound, including therein all of the country west of the dividing-ridge of the Olye, to find and kill a deer decidedly fat In Southern Oregon I have killed as called bench-bucks, as fat as any es and foothills where they roam were covered with oak timber, which produced an abundant supply of acorns, of which they are very fond and upon which they plentifully feed Such food is rich and fattening There are no oaks or acorns in this State; at most, they are so exceptional as not to deserve notice

Lingering along the snow-line in thewith it, is a species of deer known as the mule-deer He is so called for two reasons: first, many males have dark stripes across their shoulders and the same kind of stripes across the loin; the mule-deer has the sa, if not exceeding, in size those of the mule His head is more like a calf's head than that of a deer He frequently reaches in weight two-hundred-and-fifty and even three hundred pounds He is king of the deer family He is not often shot, as he is known, only, to the hunter and the adventurous pioneer

This concludes ton Well-considered laws have been passed by the Legislature for the protection and preservation of the useful, and for the destruction of the non-useful and dangerous anihly enforced