A GIRL'S ENCOUNTER WITH A DEER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 356, 13 February 1880, Page 19

A GIRL'S ENCOUNTER WITH A DEER.

Four or five miles back of this place, in an old log cabin, lives Thomas Hendershot. He has a pretty daughter about 18 years of age. Clara Hendershot can row a boat, shoot a gun, or trap a bear as well as any man in the county. A few days ago she started across the lake known as the great Walker Pond, to visit a friend. She used a light boat belonging to her father, and carried, as was her custom, a small rifle slung across her shoulder by a leather strap. When nearly in the centre of the lake she discovered an object in the water, a short distance off, and approaching nearer found it was a large fivepronged buck, which had been driven in by dogs. She immediately unslung her rifle and, after taking aim, fired. The ball passed through the deer's neck, making a painful wound. The animal, enraged, struck at the boat with' its front foot, completely shattering the fragile bark, which sunk, leaving Miss Hendershot in the water with the infuriated buck. She was plucky and could swim well, and as the deer came toward her she caught it by the horns and plunged her hunting knife into its neck, killing it instantly. She then called for help, and as none arrived she swam to the shore, about a quarter of a mile, and hurried home. She put on dry clothes, and procuring another boat rowed out to where the buck was floating, and towed it to shore. When dressed, the animal weighed nearly 280 pounds. This is the seventh deer Miss Hendershot has killed. — Oregon Paper.