The Squirrel Hunters of Ohio; or, Glimpses of Pioneer LifeJones, N. E. (Nelson Edward)
History
The Squirrel Hunters of Ohio; or, Glimpses of Pioneer Life
Jones, N. E. (Nelson Edward)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Ohio; Ohio -- History -- 1787-1865; Ohio -- Social life and customs
An accurate likeness with minute description of this dog has been
preserved--height, above the average fox-hound; length, medium;
head, long and narrow and well elevated when running; under jaw,
three-fourths of an inch short, which gave a pointed appearance to
the face; eye, intellectual and gamy, but of a most singular yellow
color; ears, long and thin, but not wide; neck, slim and clean;
shoulders, firm; chest, deep, the breast-bone projecting so as to make
a perpendicular offset of two inches; back, quite straight; loins, not
wide; hind legs, unusually straight; hams, thin, flat and tapering;
tail, slim, medium length, little curved, and hair short towards the
tip; color, white, excepting a large black spot on each side of the
chest, tipped with lemon; a small black spot joined to a lemon spot on
each hip or root of the tail, lemon head and ears, with small black
spot behind each ear. Altogether a fine appearing dog, especially when
engaged in the chase: and before two years old, was held in high
esteem by the owner.
[Illustration: Gamer.]
The popularity of Gamer was now fast gaining ground, as his
performances were casting shadows over dogs of high repute, and many
things were attempted to silence the repeated huzzahs that came in at
the end of every chase for “Gibb’s Stray Pup.” Years rolled on, pack
after pack, pick after pick were pitted against the “pup” to no purpose
excepting to widen the difference by comparison.
A single incident taken from many that might be given, will
sufficiently illustrate the superior qualities of this remarkable dog,
as well as the usual success attendant upon the efforts to detract
from his merited superiority by running picked hounds with him in the
chase. A number of persons in every neighborhood kept hounds, and each
owner considered himself the possessor of a small fortune, consisting
at least of one animal that was considered faster and truer than any
one belonging to a neighbor; and it was an easy matter at any time to
summon on short notice fifteen to thirty of these favorites surrounded
by a conflict of good opinions. On the 11th of November, 18--, twenty
gentlemen, some of whom afterwards rose to high political and judicial
eminence in the history of the state and nation, met by agreement and
entered the forest at four o’clock in the morning with twelve dogs,
the pick of the best packs known in the state. The atmosphere was
still, white frost hung on the trees all day; the ground was but little
frozen, and other things perhaps conspired to make it favorable, as
hunters say, “for scent to lay.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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