USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 13
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In looking over old copies of the Elk County Advocate I find advertise- ments something like this :
" HUNTERS .- Several young fawns are wanted, for which a liberal price will be given. Enquire at this office."
In some of the old papers Caleb Dill, of Ridgway, advertised for elks : " For a living male elk one year old I will give $50; two years old, $75 :
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three years old, $100; and for a fawn three months old, $25." Elks were easily tamed.
" The common Virginia white-tailed deer, once exceedingly numerous in the northwest is still to be found in limited numbers. This deer when loping or running elevates its tail, showing the long white hair of the lower surface. If the animal is struck by a bullet the tail is almost invariably tucked close to the ham, concealing the white.
All deer kind who have branch horns, with one exception, shed their antlers annually every February or March, and have them completely restored by August of the same year.
" The American deer, common deer, or just deer, is peculiar to Penn- sylvania. It differs from the three well-known European species,-the red deer, the fallow deer, and the pretty little roe. Of these three, the red deer is the only one which can stand comparison with the American.
" The bucks have antlers peculiar in many cases, double sharp, erect spikes or tines. The doe lacks these antlers. The antlers on the bucks are shed and renewed annually. Soon after the old antlers fall, swellings, like tumors covered with plush, appear; these increase in size and assume the shape of the antlers with astonishing rapidity, until the new antlers have attained their full size, when they present the appearance of an ordinary pair of antlers covered with fine velvet. The covering, or 'velvet,' is filled with blood-vessels, which supply material for the new growth. The furrows in the complete antler show the course of the circulation during its formation, and no sooner is the building process completed than the 'velvet' begins to wither and dry up. Now the buck realizes that he is fully armed and equipped for the fierce joustings which must decide the possession of the does of his favorite range, and he busies himself in testing his new weapons and in putting a proper polish upon every inch of them. He bangs and rattles his horn daggers against convenient trees and thrusts and swings them into dense, strong shrubs, and if observed during this honing-up process he frequently seems a dis- reputable-looking beast, with long streamers of blood-stained ' velvet' hanging to what will shortly be finely polished antlers with points as sharp as knives. When the last rub has been given and every beam and tine is furbished thor- oughly, our bravo goes a-wooing with the best of them. He trails the coy does through lone covers and along favorite runways unceasingly; he is fiery and impetuous and full of fight, and asks no fairer chance than to meet a rival as big and short-tempered as himself. He meets one before long, for every grown buck is on the warpath, and when the pair fall foul of each other there is frequently a long and desperate combat, in which one gladiator must be thoroughly whipped or killed. All deer fight savagely, and occasionally two battling rivals find a miserable doom by managing to get their antlers securely interlocked, when both must perish. Two dead bucks thus locked head to head have been found lying as they fell in an open glade, where the
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scarred surface of the ground and the crushed and riven shrubs about told an eloquent tale of a wild tourney long sustained, and of miserable failing efforts of the wearied conqueror to free himself of his dead foe."-Outing. The Vastbinders, Longs, and all the early hunters found just such skulls in these woods.
Artificial deer-licks were numerous, and made in this way: A hunter would take a coffee-sack and put in it about half a bushel of common salt, and then suspend the sack high on the branch of a tree. When the rain descended the salt water would drip from the sack to the ground, making the earth saline and damp, and to this spot the deer would come, paw and lick the earth. The hunter usually made his blind in this way: A piece of board had two auger- holes bored in each end, and with ropes through these holes was fastened to a limb on a tree. On this board the hunter seated himself to await his game. Deer usually visit licks from about 2 A.M. until daylight. As a rule, deer feed in the morning and evening and ramble around all night seeking a thicket for rest and seclusion in the daytime.
" For ways that were dark and for tricks that were vain" the old pioneer was always in it. When real hungry for a venison steak he would often use a tame deer as a decoy, in this way : Fawns were captured when small, tamed, reared, and permitted to run at large with the cattle. A life insurance was ' written" on this tame deer by means of a bell or a piece of red flannel fastened around the neck. Tame deer could be trained to follow masters, and when taken to the woods usually fed around and attracted to their society wild deer, which could then be shot by the secreted hunter. At the discharge of a gun the tame deer invariably ran up to her master. Some of these does were kept for five or six years. Deer generally have two fawns at a time, in May, and sometimes three.
Love of home is highly developed in the deer. You cannot chase him away from it. He will circle round and round, and every evening come to where he was born. He lives in about eight or ten miles square of his birthplace. In the wilds of swamps and mountains and laurel-brakes he has his " roads," beaten paths, and " crossings," like the civilized and cross roads of man. When hounded by dogs he invariably strikes for a creek or river, and it is his practice to take one of these "travelled paths," which he never leaves nor forgets, no matter how circuitous the path may be. Certain crossings on these paths where the deer will pass are called in sporting parlance "stands." These " stands" never change, unless through the clearing of timber or by settlement the old landmarks are destroyed.
" The deer loves for a habitation to wander over hills, through thick swamps or open woods, and all around is silence save what noise is made by the chirping birds and wild creatures like himself. He loves to feed a little on the lowlands and then browse on the high ground. It takes him a long time to make a meal, and no matter how much of good food there may be in
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any particular place, he will not remain there to thoroughly satisfy his appe- tite. He must roam about and eat over a great deal of territory. When he has browsed and fed till he is content, he loves to pose behind a clump of bushes and watch and listen. At such times he stands with head up as stanch as a setter on point, and if one watches him closely not a movement of his muscles will be detected. He sweeps the country before him with his keen eyes, and his sharp ears will be disturbed by the breaking of a twig anywhere within gunshot.
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Deer and fawn in Mahoning Creek
"Sparkling and bright, in its liquid light, was the water."
" When the day is still the deer is confident he can outwit the enemy who tries to creep up on him with shot-gun or rifle. But when the wind blows, he fears to trust himself in those places where he may easily be approached by man, so he hides in the thickets and remains very quiet until night. To kill a deer on a still day, when he is not difficult to find, the hunter must match the deer in cunning and must possess a marked degree of patience. The deer, conscious of his own craftiness, wanders slowly through the woods; but he does not go far before he stops, and like a statue he stands, and can only be made out by the hunter with a knowledge of his ways and a trained eye.
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" The deer listens for a footfall. Should the hunter be anywhere within the range of his ear and step on a twig, the deer is off with a bound. He does not stop until he has reached what he regards as a safe locality in which to look and listen again. A man moving cautiously behind a clump of bushes anywhere within the sweep of his vision will start him off on the run, for he is seldom willing to take even a small chance against man. Should the coast be clear, the deer will break his pose, browse and wander about again, and finally make his bed under the top of a fallen tree or in some little thicket.
" To capture the deer by the still-hunting method, the hunter must know his ways and outwit him at his own game. First of all, the still-hunter wears soft shoes, and when he puts his foot on the ground he is careful not to set it on a twig which will snap and frighten any deer that may be in the vicinity. The still-hunter proceeds at once to put into practice the very system which the deer has taught him. He strikes a pose. He listens and looks. A deer standing like a statue two hundred yards away is not likely to be detected by an inexperienced hunter, but the expert is not deceived. He has learned to look closely into the detail of the picture before him, and he will note the dif- ference between a set of antlers and a bush.
" The brown sides of a deer are very indistinct when they have for a background a clump of brown bushes. But the expert still-hunter sits quietly on a log and peers into the distance steadily, examining all details before him. Occasionally his fancy will help him to make a deer's haunch out of a hump on a tree, or he will fancy he sees an antler mixed with the small branches of a bush, but his trained eye finally removes all doubt. But he is in no hurry. He is like the deer, patient, keen of sight, and quick of hearing. He knows that if there are any deer on their feet in his vicinity he will get his eyes on them if he takes the time, or if he waits long enough he is likely to see them on the move. At all events, he must see the deer first. Then he must get near enough to him to bring him down with his rifle."-Outing.
Deer will not run in a straight line. They keep their road, and it is this habit they have of crossing hills, paths, woods, and streams, almost invariably within a few yards of the same spot, that causes their destruction by the hounding and belling methods of farmers, lumbermen, and other non-profes- sionals. Deer-licks were numerous all over this county. A " deer-lick" is a place where salt exists near the surface of the earth. The deer find these spots and work them during the night, generally in the early morning. One of the methods of our early settlers was to sit all night on or near a tree, " within easy range of a spring or a ' salt-lick,' and potting the unsuspecting deer which may happen to come to the lick in search of salt or water. This requires no more skill than an ability to tell from which quarter the breeze is blowing and to post one's self accordingly, and the power to hit a deer when the gun is fired from a dead rest."
" Belling deer" was somewhat common. I have tried my hand at it.
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The mode was this: Three men were located at proper distances apart along a trail or runway near a crossing. The poorest marksman was placed so as to have the first shot, and the two good ones held in reserve for any accidental attack of "buck fever" to the persons on the first and second stands. An experienced woodsman was then sent into a laurel thicket, carrying with him a cow-bell; and when this woodsman found and started a deer, he followed it, ringing the bell. The sound of this bell was notice to those on the " stand" of the approach of a deer. When the animal came on the jump within shooting distance of the first stand, the hunter there posted would bleat like a sheep; the deer would then come to a stand-still, when the hunter could take good aim at it; the others had to shoot at the animal running. The buck or doe rarely escaped this gauntlet.
" The deer was always a coveted prize among hunters. No finer dish than venison ever graced the table of king or peasant. No more beautiful trophy has ever adorned the halls of the royal sportsman or the humble cabin of the lowly hunter on the wild frontier than the antlers of the fallen buck. The sight of this noble animal in his native state thrills with admiration alike the heart of the proudest aristocrat and the rudest backwoodsman. In the days when guns were rare and ammunition very costly, hunters set stakes for deer, where the animal had been in the habit of jumping into or out of fields. A piece of hard timber, two or three inches thick and about four feet long, was sharpened into a spear shape, and then driven firmly into the ground at the place where the deer were accustomed to leap over the log fence. The stake was slanted toward the fence, so as to strike the animal in the breast as it leaped into or out of the fields. Several of these deadly wooden spears were often set at the same crossing, so as to increase the peril of the game. If the deer were seen in the field, a scare would cause them to jump over the fence with less caution, and thus often a buck would impale himself on one of the fatal stakes, when but for the sight of the hunter the animal might have escaped unhurt. Thousands of deer were killed or crippled in this way gen- erations ago."-Outing.
A deer-skin sold in those days for seventy-five to ninety cents. Of the original wild animals still remaining in Northwestern Pennsylvania, there are the fox, raccoon, porcupine, musk-rat, martin, otter, mink, skunk, opossum, woodchuck, rabbit, squirrel, mole, and mouse. Fifty years ago the woods were full of porcupines. On the defensive is the only way he ever fights. When the enemy approaches he rolls up into a little wad, sharp quills out, and he is not worried about how many are in the besieging party. One prick of his quills will satisfy any assailant. When he sings his blood-curdling song, it is interpreted as a sign of rain.
" In fact, when a porcupine curls himself up into the shape of a ball he is safe from the attack of almost any animal, for his quills are long enough to prevent his enemy from getting near enough to bite him.
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" Their food is almost entirely vegetable, consisting of the inner bark of trees, tender roots, and twigs. They are fond, however, of the insects and worms found in the bark of pines and hemlocks.
" Provided with powerful jaws and long, sharp teeth, the porcupine gnaws with great speed, stripping the bark from an old tree as though he were provided with weapons of steel. Often he seems to tear in a spirit -of sheer destructiveness, without pausing to eat the bark or to search for insects. This is more especially true with the old males.
" The porcupine is not a wily beast. He establishes paths or runways through the forest, and from these he never deviates if he can help it. What is more, he is exceedingly greedy, and stops to investigate every morsel in his way.
" A trap set in the middle of a runway and baited with a turnip rarely fails to catch him." The hunters liked them cooked.
Porcupine
The wholesale prices of furs in 1804 were: Otter, one dollar and a half to four dollars; bear, one to three dollars and a half; beaver, one to two dollars and a half; martin, fifty cents to one dollar and a half; red fox, one dollar to one dollar and ten cents; mink, twenty to forty cents: muskrat. twenty-five to thirty cents ; raccoon, twenty to fifty cents ; deer-pelts, seventy- five cents to one dollar.
The pioneer hunter carried his furs and peits to the Pittsburg market in canoes, where he sold them to what were called Indian traders from the East. In later years traders visited the cabins of our hunters in the northwest, and bartered for and bought the furs and pelts from the hunters or from our merchants.
Old William Vastbinder, a noted hunter and trapper in this wilderness. and pioneer in Jefferson County, was quite successful in trapping wolves one season on Hunt's Run. about the year 1819 or 1820: but for some un- known reason his success suddenly stopped. and he could not catch a single
9
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wolf. He then suspected the Indians of robbing his traps. So one morning bright and early he visited his traps and found no wolf, but did find an Indian track. He followed the Indian trail and lost it. On looking around he heard a voice from above, and looking up he saw an Indian sitting in the fork of a tree, and the Indian said, " Now, you old rascal, you go home, O1.1 Bill, or Indian shoot." With the Indian's flint-lock pointed at him, Vastbinder immediately became quite hungry and started home for an early breakfast.
Bill Long often sold to pedlers fifty deer-pelts at a single sale. He had hunting shanties in all sections and quarters of this wilderness.
In 1850 the late John Du Bois, founder of Du Bois City, desired to locate some lands near Boone's Mountain. So he took Bill Long with him, and the two took up a residence in a shanty of Long's near the head-waters of Rattle- snake Run, in what is now Snyder Township. After four or five days' rusti- cating, the provisions gave out, and Du Bois got hungry. Long told him there was nothing to eat here and for him to leave for Bundy's. On his way from the shanty to Bundy's Mr. Du Bois killed five deer.
George Smith, a Washington Township early hunter, who is still ( 1898) living in the wilds of Elk County, has killed in this wilderness fourteen pan- thers, five hundred bears, thirty elks, three thousand deer, five hundred cata- mounts, five hundred wolves, and six hundred wild-cats. He has killed seven deer in a day and as many as five bears in a day. Mr. Smith has followed hunting as a profession for sixty years.
CATAMOUNT-BEY LYNX
The catamount is larger than the wild-cat. They have been killed in this forest six and seven feet long from tip of nose to end of tail. They have tufts on their ear-tips, and are often mistaken for panthers.
MINK
" The mink is an expert at swimming and diving, and able to remain long under water, where it pursues and catches fish, which it frequently destroys in large numbers.
" The mink does much damage to poultry, especially chickens and ducks. Various kinds of wild birds, particularly ground-nesting species, crayfish, frogs, and reptiles are included in the dietary of the mink; and it is also learned from the testimony of different writers and observers that the eggs of domestic fowls are often taken by these nocturnal plunderers.
" The average weight of an adult mink is about two pounds, and for an animal so small it is astonishing to observe its great strength."
WILD-CAT-BOB-CAT
" The wild-cat inhabits forests, rocky ledges, and briery thickets, but its favorite place is in old slashings and bark peelings, where in the impenetrable
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and tangled recesses it is comparatively safe from pursuit, and is also able to prey upon many varieties of animals which have a permanent or temporary residence in such unfrequented wilds.
" The wild-cat subsists entirely on a flesh diet, and the damage this species does in destroying poultry, lambs, and young pigs of farmers who reside in the sparsely settled mountainous regions is not in any degree compensated by the destruction of other small wild animals which molest the farmer's crops or his poultry."
Wild-cats hunt both by day and by night. A whole family of them will hunt and run down a deer, especially on crusted snow.
" The wild-cat usually makes its domicile or nest in a hollow tree or log. The nest is well lined with leaves, moss, and lichens, called commonly 'hair
Wild-cat
moss.' The nest is also sometimes found in rocky ledges and caves. From two to four constitute a litter. It is stated that the young are brought forth in the middle of May. Wild-cats may be caught in traps baited with rabbits, chicken, grouse, or fresh meat."
THE RIVER OTTER
Our otter was about four feet long, as I recollect him, very heavy and strong ; usually weighed about twenty-three pounds, was web-footed, a fisher by occupation, and could whip or kill any dog. On land he had his beaten paths. Big fish eat little fish, little fish eat shrimps, and shrimps eat mud.
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Otters ate all kinds of fish, but preferred the speckled trout. Like other animals, otters had their plays and playgrounds. They were fond of strength contests, two or more pulling at the end of a stick something like our " square pull." They made slides, and frolicked greatly in winter time, sliding down hill. They made their slides in this wise: By plunging into the water, then running up a hill and letting the water drip from them to freeze on the slide.
River otter
They lived in excavations on the creek or river bank close to the water. They were hunted and trapped by men for their pelts. John Long, a noted hunter, told me that the most terrific contest he ever had with a wild animal was with an otter near Brookville.
THE FOX
In pioneer times we had in this wilderness the gray, the cross, and the red fox. The gray is now extinct in the northwest, as he can only live in solitude or in a forest. The red fox still lingers in our civilization. Six varieties of foxes are said to be found in the United States, and it is claimed they are all cousins of the wolf. But notwithstanding this relationship, the wolf used to hunt and eat all the foxes he could catch. The wolf's persistence in hunting, and endurance in the race, enabled him at times to overcome the fleetness of the fox. The gray and red fox were about three and one-half feet long. The red fox is the most daring, cunning, and intellectual of all the varieties. You cannot tame him. The term " foxy" originated in connection with him. The red fox has from four to eight puppies in April, and these, like little dogs, are born blind. The red fox has the astounding faculty of creating deep-laid schemes to deceive and thwart his enemies. He is the only animal that will match his intelligence against man, and the only way man
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can best him is by poison. It was not unusual for the red fox to back-track in such a way while racing for his life as to follow the hunter, and turn the tables from being hunted to being the hunter. He would even feign death- allow himself to be kicked or handled, only waiting and watching for an opportunity to escape. His tricks to outwit man were many and would fill a
Red fox
volume. The fox was very fond of ground-hog eating. Like the bear he would dig them out. His presence in a ground-hog neighborhood created great consternation. All animals have a cry of alarm,-danger,-and if ob- served by any ground-hog he always gave this cry for his neighbors.
WEASEL
Both sexes have the power to emit a fluid nearly as offensive as that of the polecat. " A glance at the physiognomy of the weasels would suffice to betray their character ; the teeth are almost of the highest known raptorial character ; the jaws are worked by enormous masses of muscles covering all the sides of the skull; the forehead is low and the nose is sharp; the eyes are small, pene- trating, cunning, and glitter with an angry green light. There is something peculiar, moreover, in the way that this fierce face surmounts a body extraor- dinarily wiry, lithe, and muscular. It ends a remarkably long and slender neck in such a way that it may be held at right angle with the axis of the latter. When the animal is glancing around with the neck stretched up and
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the flat triangular head bent forward and swaying from one side to the other, we catch the likeness in a moment-it is the image of a serpent.
" His coat changes with the seasons, and while in winter we find it white tinted with sulphur yellow, in summer it is on upper parts of a dark brown not unlike the coloring of a mink; on its under parts it is 'white almost in- variably tinged with sulphury yellow' (Coues). The tail partakes of the color of the upper parts, except the bushy end, which, in summer and winter alike, is black. Its legs are short, with slender feet, and are covered all over with fur in winter, but in summer the pads are generally visible.
" Their homes are frequently to be found in a decayed tree-stump and under rocks." He can climb trees with ease.
" The poultry-yard is frequently visited and his apparently insatiable desire for rapine is most clearly shown while on these visits. One chicken will satisfy his appetite, but after that is gratified he does not leave; he kills and slays without mercy all the remainder of the poor frightened chickens, until there are none left and not until then does he leave the scene of carnage.
" He sucks the eggs also, leaving in some instances the unlucky farmer who has unwillingly and unwittingly been his host completely routed as regards his efforts in the poultry line." He also feeds on rats and mice.
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