The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
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SHOT AT A DEAD DEER
By S. C. Turnbo
In giving incidents of hunting in the hills of Taney County, Mo., Mr.
Mart Herrean told the writer the following account.
"It happens once and a while that a hunter will shoot at a dead deer before he thinks what he is doing. I met with a case of this kind once while on my round of hunting on Big Creek one day. I was afoot with no dog following me. Looking across a shallow hollow I noticed a deer lying down broadside on the top of a rise of ground. Thinking the deer was asleep I crept across the hollow on my hands and knees until I was in close gunshot range and leveling my gun at the prostrate form I shot it and saw hair fly up from the deer. But I could not detect the slightest movement of the deer. On walking up to where it lay I found that it was dead and there were unmistakable signs that a panther had killed it and further evidence proved that the panther had pulled and carried the deer 100 yards from where it had attacked and slain its prey. The deer had been killed and brought there only a short time before I discovered it for its body was a little warm and not rigid. I suppose that the panther heard the noise of my approach and ran off. But I did not see it. I saved the panther of further trouble by removing the hide of the deer and appropriating the venison to my own use. But you can write it that I kept a sharp lookout for the return of the panther while I was at work."
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