Originally we used paper for scent, but found it bad. It littered the woods; yesterday's trail was confused with that of {293} to-day, etc. Corn proved better, because the birds and the squirrels kept it cleaned up from day to day, and thus the ground was always ready for a fresh start. But the best of all is the hoof mark for the shoe. These iron hoof marks are fast to a pair of shoes, and leave a trail much like a real deer. This has several advantages. It gives the hunter a chance to tell where the trail doubled, and which way the deer was going, It is more realistic, and the boy who can follow this skillfully can follow a living deer. In actual practice it is found well to use a little corn with this on the hard places, a plan quite consistent with realism, as every hunter will recall.
It is strictly forbidden to any hunter to stand in front of the firing line; all must be back of the line on which the shooter stands.
There is no limit to the situations and curious combinations in this hunt. The deer may be left standing or lying. There is no law why it should not be hidden behind a solid tree trunk. The game develops as one follows it. After it has been played for some time with the iron hoof mark as above, the boys grow so skilful on the trail that we can dispense with even the corn. The iron mark like a deer hoof leaves a very realistic "slot" or track, which the more skilful boys readily follow through the woods. A hunt is usually for three, five, or more deer, according to agreement and the result is reckoned by points on the whole chase.
The Bear Hunt
This is played by half a dozen or more boys. Each has a club about the size and shape of a baseball club, but made of straw {294} tied around two or three switches and tightly sewn up in burlap.--One big fellow is selected for the bear. He has a school bag tightly strapped on his back, and in that a toy balloon fully blown up. This is his heart. On his neck is a bear-claw necklace of wooden beads and claws. (See cut.)
He has three dens about one hundred yards apart in a triangle. While in his den the bear is safe. If the den is a tree or rock, he is safe while touching it. He is obliged to come out when the chief hunter counts one hundred, and must go the rounds of the three till the hunt is settled.
The object of the hunters is to break the balloon or heart; that is, to kill the bear. He must drop dead when the heart bursts. The hunter who kills him claims the necklace.
But the bear also has a club for defence. Each hunter must wear a hat, and once the bear knocks a hunter's hat off, that one is dead and out of this hunt. He must drop where his hat falls.