Outdoor pastimes of an American hunterRoosevelt, Theodore
General
Outdoor pastimes of an American hunter
Roosevelt, Theodore
Hunting -- United States; Hunting -- West (U.S.)
We rode out in the early morning, the dogs trotting behind us; and,
coming to a low tract of rolling hills, just at the edge of the great
prairie, we separated and rode over the crest of the nearest ridge. Just
as we topped it, a fine buck leaped up from a hollow a hundred yards
off, and turned to look at us for a moment. All the dogs were instantly
spinning toward him down the grassy slope. He apparently saw those at
the right, and, turning, raced away from us in a diagonal line, so that
the left-hand greyhound, which ran cunning and tried to cut him off, was
very soon almost alongside. He saw her, however—she was a very fast
bitch—just in time, and, wheeling, altered his course to the right. As
he reached the edge of the prairie, this alteration nearly brought him
in contact with the cross-bred, which had obtained a rather poor start,
on the extreme right of the line. Around went the buck again, evidently
panic-struck and puzzled to the last degree, and started straight off
across the prairie, the dogs literally at his heels, and we, urging our
horses with whip and spur, but a couple of hundred yards behind. For
half a mile the pace was tremendous, when one of the greyhounds made a
spring at his ear, but failing to make good his hold, was thrown off.
However, it halted the buck for a moment, and made him turn quarter
round, and in a second the deerhound had seized him by the flank and
thrown him, and all the dogs piled on top, never allowing him to rise.
Later we again put up a buck not far off. At first it went slowly, and
the dogs hauled up on it; but when they got pretty close, it seemed to
see them, and letting itself out, went clean away from them almost
without effort.
Once or twice we came upon bands of antelope, and the hounds would
immediately take after them. I was always rather sorry for this,
however, because the frightened animals, as is generally the case when
beasts are in a herd, seemed to impede one another, and the chase
usually ended by the dogs seizing a doe, for it was of course impossible
to direct them to any particular beast.
It will be seen that with us coursing was a homely sport. Nevertheless
we had good fun, and I shall always have enjoyable memories of the rapid
gallops across the prairie, on the trail of a flying prongbuck.
Usually my pronghorn hunting has been done while I have been off with a
wagon on a trip intended primarily for the chase, or else while
travelling for some other purpose.
[Illustration:
CAMPING ON THE ANTELOPE GROUNDS
]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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