November 22, 1962 — While heads of the houses prowled the ridges and valleys of the Massanutten Monday of this week in quest of deer, the wives of two luckless Page County huntsmen dispatched one with brooms.
Monday afternoon Mrs.Wayne Richards and her neighbor, Mrs. Mattie Johnson, spied a doe in a field near their homes in what is known as Cave Town, and seeing that the animal was wounded and being chased by dogs, they pursued it for a distance to effect a rescue. It was not hard to do since the deer had become cornered in a fence and the dogs were closing in.
Mesdames Johnson and Richards were able to hold the dogs at bay and lead the frightened and dying quarry to the basement of the Johnson home where it was penned up and the game warden called.
The brooms were set aside, but in the meanwhile the deer died from fright and the loss of blood made by the shotgun blast that wounded him.
Game Warden Inskeep reported that evening and the carcass was awarded the two ladies with best wishes. In the evening the husbands of the two ladies butchered the animal for the family larders and are seriously considering trading their 30-30s for the family broom.
~ From the public archives of the Page News and Courier
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