This is the ninth in a Series of Reminiscences by E. R. Brown. Brown was born in Pulaski County on August 9, 1845. His writings are abstracted from the Pulaski County Democrat on microfilm housed in the Pulaski County Public Library, Winamac, Indiana. Find links to earlier entries at the end of this article.
Published in Pulaski County Democrat, April 6, 1922
That wild game, both animals and fowls, was once very abundant here, is, I think, well known. It continued to be plentiful for many years, though a persistent decrease was evident and older people reported that this has been true from their first arrival. Is it because the white race is hoggish and pitiless, or because of their increased numbers, superior skills or equipment? Or, more to their credit, is it because they improve the country, changing forests and plains into grain fields, with pastures for domestic animals?
Perhaps the fact hardly needs to be stated that our first white settlers found no bears or buffaloes here. Though unquestionably once here in large numbers, both had vanished long before the departure of the Indians. The largest wild animals of any kind found here, therefore, were deer. They were of the species still found in northern Michigan and Wisconsin, being larger and heavier than those found farther west and northwest. Though somewhat spindled legged, they were shapely beautiful creatures, graceful as well as swift in movement, while their deep lustrous appealing eyes would charm a savage. The males have horns which shed and a new pair grown every year, the number of their prongs indicating the age of the animal. These horns are not an unusual sight at the present time. A perfect, well-preserved set is something of an ornament, as well as an interesting souvenir. A deer’s color changes with the seasons and at times was hard to distinguish from that of many cattle, particularly at a distance or when the view was partially obstructed. Hence the hunter sometimes shot what he took to be a deer, only to find, to his dismay, that he had killed a tame animal, his own or his neighbor’s. On the other hand, he sometimes missed this mark and was glad of it when he found what he had fired at. So it came to be a common remark that a gun was greatly needed ‘which would hit a deer and miss a calf’. In a figurative sense such a gun would still be a fortunate contrivance possibly in newspaper offices and other places, as well as in legislative halls.
Our older people said they had often seen deer in large droves of a hundred or more. The most I ever saw at one time was ten. They crossed our school path ahead of us, leaving their trucks in the snow. It was common to see them any day in smaller numbers, wherever we might be. People often killed them near their houses, firing out of their windows and doorways. It required a close, careful aim to drop one on the spot. It was more common for them to run some distance before falling while often it was necessary to follow and shoot them again. This often led to two or more persons having a hand in killing the same deer. After one was wounded it was killed by another hunter. To cover such a case there was a rule or ‘hunter’s law’ which was generally lived up to. It was that the man drawing first blood should have ‘hide and half’.
I never had the distinction of killing a deer by myself alone. Because being too young to be trusted with a rifle while they were more plentiful, when I came to have one its bore was too small for deer. But I frequently had a part in killing those previously wounded and returned home with all the pride of a Roman conqueror, bearing as a trophy all the venison I could carry. It may be said in short, that in all those early years it was easily possible with a rifle of fair sized bore, to kill a fine deer almost any day, sometimes requiring less than an hour. Except for a short time in summer and occasionally late in winter, when their food had been limited, deer meat was greatly relished by all and was on most tables habitually. Those not equipped for killing it or who did not care to do so, could usually buy very cheaply.
Perhaps our narrative should not end without reference to the ‘buck ague’. For some strange reason, many persons after voluntarily starting out to hunt deer, perhaps after hunting or killing them previously, when they would see one, would be seized by a fit of twitching or shaking, which rendered them wholly unable to do effective shooting. This came to be known as ‘buck ague’. I personally knew of a man, an old, almost professional hunter, who once scared up three deer. At a running shot he killed one dead, and the other two stopped in point blank range. But an attack of this hunter’s malady then came on and though he managed to load and fire several other shots before the deer ran away he never touched a hair.
No other animals of much size and having material food value favored us with their presence, even in that early time. Raccoons were numerous and a fat raccoon when dressed closely resembled a dressed pig and weighed well-nigh as much. But my blessed mother could easily have been persuaded to cook a polecat as a raccoon. Opossum, though small, were likewise plentiful and were eaten by most people, particularly by those from the South. But my father was from the East, so with him it was a polecat before a possum. Squirrels were not plentiful-not as much so as they became later. I often heard this commented upon but never heard a reason assigned. It may be because I was not much accustomed to eating squirrels in childhood that when I eat one now, I have the feeling that the house cat has been done for. As for the ‘bunny’, he was everywhere. He infested not only the orchard and garden, but the door yard as well. To rout him out of his lairs, with a dog, drive him to cover in a hollow log or tree and then yank him out by his hind legs, was a favorite sport, often the sole occupation of the small boy. His absence from many tables would have meant a scant meal.
Links to Earlier Articles
- Part one (Common Inconveniences) October 2018 newsletter.
- Part two (Land) June 2019 newsletter.
- Part three (Trees & Timber) November 2019 newsletter.
- Part four (The River) February 2020 newsletter.
Later editions are carried as separate posts.
- Part five (Public Roads)
- Part six (Schools)
- Part seven (Markets & Trading Points)
- Part eight (It’s Mills)