The White Deer.
I do not remember whether I have told the boys of the H-T-T the story
of the white deer, which I had the good luck to get, and the picture
of which was shown in one of the sporting magazines a few years ago.
The picture was sent to the magazine by Mrs. Prudence Boyington,
Roulett, Pa., who was the owner of the deer at the time, and I
believe a daughter of Mrs. Boyington still has the deer.
It was in the spring of 1878 or 1879 that a doe and a white fawn were
seen on the hill just south of Lymansville. The fawn and its mother
were seen almost daily in some of the fields near the village, and
often were seen in some one of the pastures with the cows. The fawn
would run and play about like a lamb.
It was plain to be seen from week to week that the fawn was rapidly
growing, and as the open season for hunting of deer drew near it was
generally understood that the white fawn and its mother should not be
killed. When the winter came on, the fawn and its mother were all at
once missing. The general supposition was that they had been killed,
but when spring came the doe and the white fawn (now a yearling deer)
again appeared on its old haunts of the year before. They had merely
gone back into the more dense woods to winter.
Along in June it was noticed that there were three deer instead of
two. Another fawn had appeared on the scene, this time an ordinary
spotted fawn. They were again daily seen during the summer the same
as they were the year before. Now it had been strongly urged by the
people all about the country that these deer should not be killed,
and there was none that was more strongly in favor of this than I
was. The deer were regularly seen again all summer and up to the last
days of October, when they again disappeared and all were anxious for
spring to come to see if they would return as usual. When spring came
the deer came back as before, but in June "the whole bunch came up
missing," and it was generally thought that they had changed their
haunts or they had been killed. The latter was strongly suspected.
I had taken a scout through the woods on the hills back of the
locality where these deer had been frequenting and had seen signs
that convinced me that the white deer, at least, was still alive,
although it had not been seen for a number of weeks. Here I wish to
explain that Coudersport is two miles from Lymansville and it is on
the hill between the two places that the white deer had been seen
most, and it was in the former place that the loudest cry for the
protection of this white deer came from.
Now about this time I had killed a deer in the big woods where
several of us had been on a fishing trip and I took a piece of this
venison to a friend in town. It so happened that one of the side
judges of our court (Stebens by name) was at the house of my friend.
A few days later I was in a store belonging to a brother of the
Judge, when the Judge came in and accused me of killing the white
deer. Of course I denied, and told the Judge that I would wager two
dollars that the white deer was still living. The Judge said "Very
well," and at the same time handed a two dollar bill to a man
standing by, by the name of Abison, who was listening to our
conversation, which was quite heated. I told the Judge at the very
first opportunity I would kill the white deer.
The white deer was not seen in the woods any more, and I was charged
with killing it. I said nothing in regard to the charge, for I had
now made up my mind to kill it if I could. One day three or four
weeks after I had made the wager, Mr. Abison came to me and handed me
two dollars and said that the Judge had got his money and told him to
give me my money back as he (the Judge) did not want to take the
money, that I had killed the white deer all right.
Now I was quite positive that the Judge had learned that the white
deer was still alive. I had heard that the white deer had again been
seen in a field near town. Now this made me all the more determined
to kill the white deer. I will explain that I had learned that
several of the sportsmen of Coudersport, the Judge included, had had
dogs after the white deer several times the previous fall, but it so
happened that there were no watchers at the place where the deer came
to the creek.
That fall as soon as the first snow fell I went after the deer. I did
not strike the trail until quite late in the afternoon, and as the
deer left the woods where it had been accustomed to staying and went
into the big woods farther south, I left the trail for that day. I
would have got a shot at the deer if my attention had not been called
in the wrong direction by the chirping of several blue jays which I
thought were excited over the presence of the white deer.
I was working the trail to the best of my ability and knew that I was
close to the game, when my attention was drawn by the chirping of
those blue jays which were down the side of a hill. I was working the
trail so as to be on vantage ground and could see from where I was
standing that the trail had turned slightly down the hill along the
side of a fallen tree and in the direction of the chirping of the
jays. This led me to think that the jays were scolding the deer, so I
cautiously advanced a few steps down the hill, expecting every moment
to see the deer. While I was watching down the hill, I heard a slight
noise to my right and partly behind me. I looked in the direction in
which the noise came from and was surprised to catch a glimpse of the
deer jumping the log near where I had last seen the trail. The log
hid the deer from my sight so that I was unable to get a shot at it.
The deer had lain down close to the log, and had I taken a few more
steps in the direction I was going instead of giving attention to the
jays I would have seen the deer and made my word good the first time.
It was too late in the day to follow the trail farther at this time,
knowing that the deer would run a long distance before stopping. As I
had a team engaged to take me to my camp and I was anxious to get
there on the first tracking snow, I concluded to give the white deer
a rest a few days until I returned from camp in the big woods. I was
in camp only a few days when the snow went off, so I came home. I had
only been home a day or two when a man by the name of Hill came to my
house in great haste. He had been cutting logs en a hill, and looking
across onto a hill opposite where he was working, saw the white deer,
so came to tell we what he had seen. I at once took my gun and
started after the deer. I went up the hill in the direction that Mr.
Hill had seen the deer until I was quite sure that I was well above
the deer, then cautiously worked my way down the side of that hill.
There being no snow on the ground and the deer being white, I soon
discovered it lying in its bed. I cautiously crept up within shooting
distance and fired, killing the deer instantly.
I will explain how it happened that these deer disappeared so
suddenly at the time Judge Stebens accused me of killing the white
deer and the wager was made between the Judge and your humble
servant. A man by the name of Frank Williams had shot the deer
breaking a foreleg at the knee joint, and this caused the deer to
remain hidden away until it recovered from the wound. The leg or
joint was stiff when the deer was killed and the force of the bullet
was so spent that it lay against the skin after shattering the knee
joint and I still have the ball which I took from the knee. I had the
deer mounted and Mrs. Boyington took it as she was collecting freaks
and curios of this country.