1891 - Chittenden Deer

Several fine deer make Chittenden, some twelve miles from Rutland, theri home. It was among the mountains of that town that their progenators were placed some years ago. While the descendants scattered among the mountains to the north and south the largest number seem to hover about their early home. A herd of about half a dozen have selected their winter quarters in a sort of basin on the mountains in Chittenden. A quiet, tame deer ahs during the summer herded with the cattle of John Baird, a farmer of that town. During the day the animal would go off int o the woodland to browse, but at night rarely failed to come home with the cows. He seems to know the famil and shows no fear, but when a stranger appears he pricks up his ears and starts on a full gallop for the wooded mountain side. The laws of Vermont are very stringent for the protection of deer. But one has been killed recently, and that was shot in Mendon about a year ago, and the carcass sold to Rutland marketmen. The party claimed ignorance of the law, but he was arraigned in the Municipal Court and fined $20 and costs. The first animals were purchased by General W. Y. W. Ripley some ten years ago and left to roam among the mountains, and are evidently yearly increasing. They may been seen frequently. Ere long Vermont may prove quite an extensive deer park. (Bennington Banner)