Hunting Adventures In The West

Excerpt from Hunting Sports in the West: Comprising Adventures of the Most Celebrated Hunters and Trappers This collection of stories is designed to exhibit the western hunters and trappers in their true character. The narratives are all matters of fact and not of fancy, and they have been selected from a great mass of a similar character, on a principle of choice, which the compiler believes will be approved by his readers; the principle, namely, of displaying all the different phases of the western hunter's perilous and adventurous life, as far as was practicable in so small a space. The reader, it is believed, will find in the volume a sufficient amount of novelty and variety, to repay him for the time spent in perusing its pages; and he will, probably, on closing it, come to the same conclusion which the compiler arrived at long since, namely, that hunting adventures with bears, panthers, wild cats, and other animals of a similar description, are, on the whole. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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. 1859 edition. Excerpt: ... depredations on poultry. The most remarkable peculiarity of this animal is the power, alluded to above, of squirting for its defence a most nauseously scented fluid contained in a receptacle situated under the tail, which it can do to the distance of several yards. It does not, however, for this purpose, sprinkle its tail with the fluid, as some allege, unless when extremely harassed by its enemies. The Pole-cat is frequently domesticated. The removal of the glands prevents the secretion of the nauseous fluid, and when thus improved, the animal becomes a great favorite, and performs the offices of the common cat with great dexterity. DEER HUNTING. The different modes of destroying Deer, says Mr. Audubon, * are probably too well understood, and too successfully practiced in the United States; for, notwithstanding the almost incredible abundance of these beautiful animals in our forests and prairies, such havoc is carried on amongst them, that in a few centuries, they will probably be as scarce in America, as the Great Bustard now is in Britain. We have three modes of hunting deer, each varying in some slight degree, in the different States and Districts. The first is termed Still Hunting, and is by far the most destructive. The second is called Fire-light Hunting, * Ornithological Biography. and is next in its exterminating effects. The third, which may be looked upon as a mere amusement, is named Driving. Although many deer are destroyed by . this latter method, it is not by any means so pernicious as the others. These methods I shall describe separately. Still Hunting is followed as a kind of trade, by most of our frontier men. To be practiced with success, it requires great activity, an expert management of the rifle, and a...