Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ...You were lucky to get your deer that way." He wouldn't ask any more questions because he would understand. He would n 't ask you how the deer acted, because he would know how it acted. Nor would he ask how much strength was used, knowing how much strength was necessary to kill a deer in that manner. He would also know that if you saw a deer too big to handle you would not tackle it. Only a short time after I came from the woods I had occasion to talk with Chief Nicola of the old Penobscot tribe of Indians at Bangor, Maine, about a similar instance. He told me that he had killed a two-hundred-pound buck in a deer yard in the same way. He told the story as if it were a very ordinary occurrence, and no enthusiasm backed his words. The deer was caught by the antlers and thrown to the ground where the chief strangled him. In winter when the snow is deep the deer or moose has difficulty in getting about. They yard together, walking about in furrows worn by themselves. A man on snowshoes can run them down very quickly. There are many different ways to kill a deer. In the yard you can kill him with a club. You can throw him and break his neck, just as the cowboys in the west throw a steer and break its neck. Then again you can strangle the animal by throwing your whole weight against him. Talking with Andrew Sockalexis, the Indian marathon runner, after my return to civilization, brought to light another experience similar to mine. This Indian had run down a deer on snowshoes in the winter and killed the animal with his hands alone. I feel pity instead of anger toward those critics who do not believe simply because they do not know. The reader remembers the story in a preceding chapter of Andrew Douglas having his picture taken with a moose. At...