Old Yeller: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

After milking the cows, Travis grabs his rifle and saddles Jumper up with some ropes to carry back any doe he might catch. Travis and Jumper ride for a while. Knowing how gun-shy Jumper is, Travis leaves Jumper tied in a thicket while he goes on ahead to the Salt Licks, a part of the forest where many animals flock to lick ancient rocks with sedimentary layers of salt inside. Using the knowledge Papa has taught him, Travis treads carefully in the dense woods, so that no deer will detect him. He is tempted to shoot a wild javelina (a type of hog)—but having heard stories about javelinas’ aggression from his neighbors Jed and Rosal Simpson, Travis decides to wait for the small hogs to move away.

As Travis crouches in wait in some underbrush for a doe to come by, he enjoys watching a roan bull and some calves, darting squirrels, and quail. The squirrels’ silly antics amuse him so much that he laughs out loud, startling a doe that he hadn’t realized was there. As the doe slowly creeps toward Travis, he waits for the perfect moment to raise his gun—but when he finally shoots, the doe runs away. Travis fears that he hasn’t killed the deer but rather wounded her and made the final moments of her life painful and miserable.

Travis watches as the injured doe runs through the trees. Then, the doe does something that Travis thinks is odd: she runs head-on into the trunk of a tree and then sinks to the ground. Travis has never seen a wild animal run into something as if it was blind. Travis runs over to the doe and sees that he did indeed make a killing shot—there is a bullet hole right through the doe’s middle, near her heart. Travis feels confident and strong—he’s gotten meat for the family, just like his Papa taught him.

On the ride home, Travis feels proud and accomplished on. He decides that he’ll be kind and generous with Little Arliss and the yeller dog—after all, he’s “nearly a man,” so it’s his job to put up with aggravation. When Travis arrives home, however, he sees Little Arliss and the dirty yellow dog playing in the watering hole, and he starts screaming and throwing rocks at them. He hits the dog with a couple of rocks before an angry Arliss starts throwing rocks at Travis.

Travis knows better than to start throwing rocks directly at his five-year-old brother. Instead, he heads up to the house to tell Mama what’s going on. Mama punishes Arliss for playing in the watering hole—but she also yells at Travis for being “bossy” to his younger brother. After this, Travis heads out to the yard to begin skinning and cutting up the doe. He’s angry that his mother doesn’t seem to acknowledge his good deeds—only his bad ones. And Travis is furious with the dog—whom he’s started calling Old Yeller in his head—for getting him into such trouble. When Travis is finished cutting up the meat, he hangs it in the same spot where Old Yeller stole the hog meat. Old Yeller, however, plays dumb and doesn’t approach the meat—instead, he gnaws on some discarded bones and ignores the sides of venison entirely.