Show merlin dimmick writes to california future farmer the following explanatory note and letter appeared in the california future farm a magazine published monthly during the school year by the california association ot of future farmers ot of america elwood spencer assistant adviser ot of the el centro centre chapter originated art an interchange of letters between some el centro centre future farmers and boys in the millard lilard Al high school chapter at fillmore utah where spencer was formerly employed the most interesting letter ietter from utah iv written ritten to donald klump of 0 el centro centre is reproduced herewith fillmore utah feb 11 1939 deal Dear ronald v I 1 i r 1119 was very pleased to get your letter and will do my best to tell you about myself iny project and deer hunting im 16 bears old five feet eight inches tall and weigh US pounds I 1 have blue eyed eye sand band brown hair this is my sophomore year at millard high hiigli sly aly project this year is three duroc jersey gilts the biggest gilt will farrow about the 25 of this month and the middle sized one wont go much longer but the smallest of the three which is sort of long legged and lanky wont tarrow farrow until april 18 it if I 1 can get any of the young pigs ready I 1 plan to take them to the state fair next fall at salt lake city I 1 am now feeding chopped wheat alfalfa hay and skim milk the pigs are such pets I 1 can hardly go to the barnyard without them coming up to me to be scratched or rubbed well so much tor for my project the future farmers at the millard high have just finished a pest drive we divided up into three teams fillmore was one team kanosh and holden another and meadow and scipio made up the third team we started the pest drive about six weeks ago the total scores were fillmore 2150 kanosh find and holden olden ll 1850 and meadow and scipio 1950 the winning team will aill get a peanut bust one of these days and the two losing teams will have to pay tor for st dear hunting is the source of much excitement in this part of the state we are allowed to hunt buck deer each year from rom october 20 to 30 many men and sometimes women come in fiora outside states to hunt everybody wears red sweaters and caps so they wont be so apt to get mistaken and shot for a deer this year I 1 was old enough to get a license so you can imagine how excited I 1 was the lay day before the hunt started we went with our camp up into the mountains the place where we camped is called black cedar hill early the next morning we got up ayed breakfast and started on the t three hr ee mile hike bike over into water can yon where we hunted we arrived there just after day light and spread out in different directions I 1 climbed up a ridge until I 1 could see into the head of the canyon and sat down n a big rock to wait while sitting silting there I 1 saw several bunches 0 of deer with tour four or tire five head in a herd come down but they were so go tar far oft off that I 1 tell whether they were bucks or does I 1 was carrying my dads 32 winchester special ile he dented a krag atter after a while three head came down out ot of the mahogany and would have come right under me on a walk or trot if 1 they been seared scared by a fellow on a horse As it was they came up the hill right straight tor for me they were running through scrub oak about as tall as I 1 am so I 1 see much ot of them when I 1 saw them coming I 1 got all ready and noticed that the lead one was a point buck they came within 75 feet of 0 me but I 1 wasted too much time looking at the others to see it they had horns and before I 1 could shoot they passed behind me that was the only good shot I 1 had or should have had so I 1 get my deer that day the next day I 1 hunted down lower in the foothills and about 9 while sitting in a pass waiting tor for my cousin ned I 1 heard something coming down the ridge when I 1 spotted it I 1 thought it was a doe but when it got about halt half way down his horns shone in the sun and I 1 was able to see them ile he stopped right in the bottom of 0 the hollow behind behead a tree where I 1 see him I 1 was so excited I 1 was shaking like a leal leaf in the wind the next instant he stepped out into the open and I 1 blasted loose at him ile he was only about 75 or a hundred yards oft off and with the second shot he walked on up the hill I 1 figure out what the matter was tor for I 1 had expected to see him drop the first shot I 1 took two shots while he was walking up the ridge and one on the run by this time I 1 only had three bullets left and was so disgusted with myself that I 1 wanted to come back to town I 1 walked back to where ned was and told lim hm about it just then up jumped another buck right in the same hollow as the buck I 1 was shooting at had run we both shot at the same time at it and both missed then I 1 shot and ned said he could tell it was hit by the way it slowed down when I 1 shot then we both shot agan this being my last shot the buck walked a little way and fell over lit in the brush for fear ear he ha would get up when I 1 went over to him ned let me take his gun which was a 2535 25 35 just as I 1 got to where I 1 thought the buck should be up jumped a deer and went crashing down through the oak oa I 1 yelled to ned there goes our deer but when he said that was another one and my deer was still there I 1 felt much better after dressing him we dragged him up hill and down hill for or about a mile and hung him in ili a tree then we went to find my dad and get dinner ned killed a two point buck when we went back after the spike but it as big as the spike the next day I 1 have any luck but tho fourth day I 1 killed a two polut point tor for my dad while tr trailing alling a bunch of does we were hunting down low again riding horses ut from roni town in the morning it was a hout bout noon when I 1 spotted the b buck i k following a herd ot of doe trailing tg them a little way I 1 heard them col coa ing back so I 1 stepped up against again sOa la cedar tree and cocked my gui go when the buck came in sight I 1 him through the shoulder dropping him lu in his tracks I 1 was so excited I 1 could hardly cut rd its throat after after I 1 dressed it up the best I 1 could I 1 dragged it about a hundred yard dardato to the road and hung it in a trey by the horns I 1 tied my handkerchief to a limb so I 1 could find it again easily and went to get my horse when I 1 got nearly there I 1 met dad coming to find me I 1 told him about the deer and then we went to load him we put him across the saddle of the biggest horse and I 1 rode behind we never got any more shooting on the way home although we saw several head this ended my hunt tor for this year because school started the next day write and tell me more ot of your imperial valley yours sincerely merlin dimmick |