THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

THE STILL-HUNTER

BY THEODORE S. VAN DYKE,

Author of " The Rife, Rod, and Gun in California," etc.

NEW YORK :
FORDS, HOWARD, & HULBERT,

1883.

COPYRIGHT, 1882,
By JOHN C. VAN DYKE.

1/3

ym

PREFACE.

THAT mystic tie, which binds in one circle of en-
chantment all the varied scenes in which the rifle, rod,
or gun play a part, must mak'e the subject of this work
of some interest to every lover of the field, whether he
uses the rifle or not, and whether he ever expects to
hunt large game or not. I have therefore endeavored
to treat it in such a manner as to be at least readable
to all such, as well as interesting to those who desire
the information it contains. The part on rifles and
rifle-shooting and on game may be interesting to all
who love the sporting rifle. And, judging from the
comments and letters in the leading papers upon field-
sports at the time when I first wrote upon the use of
the rifle in the field, even the experienced hunter may
find a hint or two that may one day serve him.

M3130S1

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Introduction 7

II. To find Good Hunting-ground 16

III. Examining the Ground, Signs, etc. .; 24

IV. The Senses of the Game and Hunter 38

V. The Daily Life of Deer and Antelope 50

VI. Looking for Deer that are on Foot 58

VII. Looking for Deer Lying Down 73

VIII. The First Sight of Game 86

IX. The First Shot at a Deer 99

X. Running time 113

XI. Hunting on Snow 122

XII. The Surest Way to Track Deer when very Wild 135

XIII. Tracking on Bare Ground 145

XIV. Still-hunting on Open Ground 156

XV. Deer on Open Ground 167

XVI. A Day in the Table-lands 176

XVII. Another Kind of Open Ground 192

XVIII. The Still-hunter's Cardinal Virtue 204

XIX. Hunting in the Open and in Timber Combined 214

XX. Subordinate Principles 222

XXI. Two or more Persons Hunting in Company. Hunt-
ing on Horseback 232

XXII. Special Modes of Hunting. The Cow-bell and Tiring

Down Deer 242

XXIII. Deer in Bands. General Hints, etc 248

O CONTENTS.

XXIV. To Manage a Deer when Hit 258

XXV. The Rifle on Game at Rest 271

XXVI. The Rifle on Moving Game 282

XXVII. The Rifle on Moving Game (continued) 297"

XXVIII. Long-range Shooting at Game 311

XXIX. The Effect of Recoil upon Shooting 321

XXX. The Killing Power of Bullets. Explosive, Expan-
sive, and other Bullets. Slit Bullets, Buckshot,

etc 329

XXXI. The Hunting-rifle, and Flight of Balls 344

XXXII. The Sighting of Hunting-rifles 351

XXXIII. The Loading, Care, and Management of Rifles 367

XXXIV. Moccasins, Buckskin, etc. Advice. Conclusion. . . 379

THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

STILL-HUNTING, the most scientific of all things
pertaining to hunting, has hitherto been almost con-
fined to the backwoodsman or frontiersman, and has
been little enjoyed by those born and reared at any
distance from facilities for learning practically the
ways of the wild woods and plains. Thousands of
our best shots with the shot-gun are men born and
bred in the city. But of the thousands who enjoy
the still-hunt the majority are backwoodsmen. One
great reason of this is that the art is one requiring
for proficiency more life in the forest than the aver-
age city man can spend there. But another great
reason has been the almost utter lack of any informa-
tion or instruction upon the subject. For this, the
greatest and most important branch of the whole art
of hunting has, I may safely say, been totally neg-
lected by the great body of writers upon field-sports.
Most attempts in that line have been like " The Deer-
Stalkers" of Frank Forrester — a short fancy sketch,
not intended to convey any instruction. And where
the subject has been touched upon at all in works

8 THE STILL-HUNTER.

on hunting, the information given has been so ex-
tremely general in its nature and form of expression,
and so utterly lacking in qualifications and excep-
tions quite as essential as the rules themselves, that
to a beginner in the woods it is of little more use
than the maps in a child's atlas are to a tourist
Consequently he who would single-handed and alone
outgeneral the bounding beauties of the forest and
plain, and with a single ball trip their wily feet, is
nearly always compelled to work out his own knowl-
edge of how to do it. And this he must generally
do, as I had to do it, by a long series of mortifying
failures.

I have spent too many days alone in the depths of
the forest primeval and on the mountain's shaggy
breast not to know full well that printed precepts are
poor substitutes for Nature's wild school of object-
teaching. Yet from that same life I have learned
another thing quite as true ; namely, that while in-
struction cannot carry one bodily to the desired goal,
it can nevertheless clear the road of hundreds of
stumps and fallen logs, cut away a vast amount of
tangled brush, and bridge many a Serbonian bog.

Not without hesitation have I undertaken to ex-
plore this "dark continent" of the world of field-
sports. At this day a writer upon almost any other
subject has the roads, paths, blaze-marks, and charts
of a dozen or more explorers before him. I have
nothing to follow ; the only work upon deer, that of
Judge Caton, thorough and fine as it is, deals only
with the anatomy, physiology, and natural history of
deer; all those habits which it is essential for the still-
hunter to thoroughly understand being as much be-
yond the scope of his work as the part he has treated

INTRODUCTION. 9

of is beyond the scope of this work. The same is the
case with the part upon rifles and shooting; nearly
everything in print on the subject pertaining only to
target-rifles and target-shooting. Besides this dearth
of pioneers to clear the road, the habits of large game
generally, and of deer especially, vary so much with
climate, elevation, and character of country, quality,
distribution, and quantity of food, amount and nature
of the disturbance to which the game may be sub-
jected, and other causes, that there can be no man
who thoroughly understands still-hunting in every
part of the United States. Moreover, the deer is so
irregular in some of its movements, so difficult to
observe closely, and so quick to change many of its
habits after a little persecution or change in methods
of hunting, that it is not probable that any one per-
son thoroughly understands the animal even in any
one State. And I have heard the very best and oldest
hunters of my acquaintance say that they were con-
tinually learning something new about deer. But
there is still enough that is both universal and cer-
tain to carry the learner over far the greater part of
the difficulties and save him many an aching limb
and sinking heart.

To impart this is, however, no easy task for any
one. Unfortunately those who best know in practice
the rules of hunting are almost necessarily deficient
in power to lay out and finish in the details a treatise
on a subject so extensive and recondite. The "old
hunter" to whom the learner must now resort for his
advice knows practically a great deal ; but between
what he knows and what he can o* will tell there is a
difference as wide as it is provoking. Even if he were
never so well disposed to impart his knowledge, it

10 THE STILL-HUNTER.

would require at least fifty long and elaborate lec-
tures of several hours each for him to do so in his
language. Moreover, the average " old hunter" or
Leatherstocking is full of wrong theories, which he
either does not follow in the field or, if he does, he
succeeds in spite of them by virtue of his other quali-
fications. The stock of nonsensical theories held by
the old-time country " old hunter" with the old single
shot-gun is nothing to the mass of absurdities that a
very successful old Leatherstocking can dispense on
the subject of deer-hunting, rifles, and rifle-shooting.
So that unless constantly by his side in the field — a
thing to which any good hunter will seriously object
— the beginner can learn little from him. I have had
to work out almost every particle of my information
from a mine of stubborn ore. And I flatter myself
that I can save to those who will take the pains to
study — not merely read — this work, at least two thirds
of the labor, vexation, and disappointment through
which I was compelled to flounder; though I started
in with keen eyes, tireless feet, unflagging hope, and
years of experience in all branches of hunting with
the shot-gun, beginning even in childhood.

To be exhaustive without being exhausting is one
of the most delicate tasks ever set a didactic writer.
To avoid being tedious I have intentionally omitted —

ist. All that part of the natural history and habits
of our game which does not bear directly upon the
question of how to find and shoot it ; such as its
birth, nurture, growth, and shedding of horns, all of
which may be found in other and better books — such
as Judge Caton's.

2d. A large mass of vague and unreliable theories
held about hunting and shooting even by successful

INTRODUCTION. 11

hunters. We are never so wise as when we know what
it is that we do not know. There are many movements
of game that it is impossible to reduce to rule, in
which the animal seems governed only by the caprice
of the passing moment. As there are doctors who
will never admit ignorance upon any point, but will
explain to you at once, like the physicians Cn the plays
of Moliere, the efficient causes of the most slippery
phenomena, so there are hosts of hunters who have
ever on their tongue's end an exact explanation of
every movement of a deer. Agreeing with Sir Wil-
liam Hamilton that " contented ignorance is better
than presumptuous wisdom," I have omitted all such
dubious theories.

3d. Everything that can be safely intrusted to the
beginner's common-sense ; though I have been cau-
tious about presuming too much upon this.

The art of still-hunting deer carries with it nearly
the whole art of still-hunting other large American
game. As a good and accomplished lawyer has only
a few special points of practice to learn in transplant-
ing himself from State to State, -so the thorough still-
hunter will go from deer to antelope, elk, or other
game, already equipped with five sixths of the knowl-
edge necessary to hunt them. And this very knowl-
edge will, as it does in the case of the lawyer, enable
him to learn the rest in one fourth of the time in
which a beginner could do it. Consequently a large
portion of this work applies to antelope also without
special reference.

It is a common idea that shooting game with a rifle
does not call for a very high degree of skill with it, or
for very much knowledge of the principles of shoot-
ing. That considerable game is killed by very ordi-

12 THE STILL-HUNTER.

nary shooting is true. But it is equally true that as
much game is lost by bad shooting as by bad hunt-
ing. And it is quite as true that bad shooting is
as much due to downright, solid ignorance of the
rifle, the principles of projectiles, and the use of the
rifle in the field as distinguished from its use at the
target, as to nervousness, excitement, want of prac-
tice, and all other causes put together. The extent
of this ignorance, even among very successful hunters,
is amazing ; their success being due to their good
hunting, energy, and perseverance, and in spite of
their poor shooting. I therefore deem a treatise on
the hunting-rifle : and its use in the field an indispens-
able part of any work on still-hunting. And since
this information cannot be found to any valuable ex-
tent in any other work on shooting that I have seen,
I have treated the subject quite fully, omitting how-
ever, out of regard for the reader's patience, much
that can be trusted to his intelligence and much that
may be found in works on the rifle and on target-
shooting.

It is to be expected that many hunters, and good
ones too, will differ from many of my views. Among
even the best and most intelligent sportsmen there is
much disagreement on even the simplest points. It
is therefore vain for any one to expect indorsement
upon every point from the man who declares that a
gun is safest with the hammer resting on the cap ;
who thinks a slow twist makes a "slow ball," a quick
twist a "quick ball," a gain twist a "strong ball;"
who sincerely believes that his rifle shoots on a level
line for two hundred yards ; who talks of putting a
ball in the heart of a running deer at three hundred

INTRODUCTION. 13

yards as a matter of course, and discourses about
knocking a deer down "in his tracks" as he would
knock down a cabbage-head with a club. It is also
impossible for any writer upon field-sports to .avoid
occasional mistakes. There are others, doubtle'ss, who
would make less than I do. But they do not write.
And from the length of time the world has waited for
such a book it is fair to presume that they do not in-
tend to write. Therefore take this as the best you
can get, and bear lightly on its infirmities.

Some will think I have been too fond of repetition.
But there are principles which cannot otherwise be
understood in their practical extent. The great trouble
is to make one understand in the concrete what he
knows well enough in the abstract. Other principles
require repetition in their different applications, re-
quiring contemplation under different points of view.
Many will think that I have been too fond of analysis,
have drawn distinctions too fine, and have been too
lavish with refinements and caution. Undoubtedly
deer may be killed in large numbers without heeding
one half the advice I give. There are still parts of
our country where deer are yet so plenty and tame
that any one who can shoot at all can kill some.
Often when concentrated by deep snows, fires, or
other causes, and enfeebled by starvation, the wildest
of deer or antelope may fall easy victims to any one of
brute strength and brute heart. Even when deer are
scarce, wild, and in full strength the veriest block-
head may occasionally stumble over one and kill it
with a shot-gun. And in almost any place where the
ground or brush does not make too much noise be-
neath the feet, if there are any deer at all, brute en-

14 THE STILL-HUNTER.

durance in getting over ground enough, assisted by
brute perseverance, will bring success.

But from all this we can draw only one conclusion;
namely, that the greater the success one has by care-
less or unscientific methods, the better it would be
and the more ease and pleasure he would have in it
by doing it scientifically. And to put the beginner
on the very best track, I have treated, throughout
this work, of deer very wild. This is rendered the
more necessary by the fact that in nearly all places
the deer of to-day is not the deer of thirty years ago ;
in many places not even the deer of ten years ago.
Deer become more wary as hunters increase.. They
change their habits to suit new styles of hunting and
fire-arms. And these tendencies have been so trans-
mitted by descent that the average six-months-old
fawn of to-day is a far more delicate article to handle
than were most of the mighty old bucks on which
the Leatherstocking " old hunter" of thirty years ago
won his name and fame.

It is quite common to hear still-hunting denounced
as "pot-hunting" by the advocates of driving deer
with hounds. That the market-hunter is almost al-
ways a still-hunter is unfortunately true. It is also
a sad truth that the man who murders woodcock in
May for Delmonico's epicures possesses a breech-
loader. But this hardly makes the use of the breech-
loader pot-hunting. I have seen it stated that a
still-hunter on snow was certain to secure the deer
that he once took the track of. All this savors of sour
grapes. No man who ever had any experience in
still-hunting ever committed such stuff to paper. But
to correct at the outset any misapprehension I will
say that, with whatever proficiency in still-hunting

INTRODUCTION. 15

any mortal ever reaches, with all the advantages of
snow, ground, wind, and sun in his favor, many a
deer will, in the very climax of triumphant assur-
ance, slip through his fingers like the thread of a
beautiful dream.

16 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER II.

TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND.

MUCH has been written about the essential quali-
ties of a good deer-hunter, the only effect of which is
to deter from attempting it many a man who might
easily enjoy still-hunting, or " deer-stalking" as our
English cousins call it. To make a good professional
hunter who shall kill a large number of deer in a
season, and do it on all kinds of ground and in all
kinds of weather, does undoubtedly require such
physical and other qualities as are mentioned by Stone-
henge, Forrester, and others. But on the other hand
any man of sufficient savoir faire, strength, and energy
to make a respectable bag of quail or woodcock in
any of the Eastern States, whether he be bred in the
backwoods or in Fifth Avenue, whether a knight of
the trigger or only a carpet-knight, can by study and
practice make a fair amateur still-hunter ; that is, one
who can go where deer or antelope are moderately
plenty and kill, not great quantities, but enough for
good sport and quite as much as any man has any
business to kill.

We will leave the equipment for hunting for future
consideration ; and, supposing you already prepared,
let us see where we are to find our game.

To find ground where deer are plenty enough for
good sport is still an easy matter even at the present
rate of destruction. And there need be no fear that

TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 17

they will soon be too scarce. The days of the mar-
ket's lofty prerogative are numbered. The American
people are fast awaking to the fact that the true ques-
tion before them is not, Why should not he who kills
game have a right to sell it ? not, Why should not he
who cannot hunt his own game have a right to buy
it ? They are fast awaking to see that a far higher
question than either of those imperiously demands an
immediate answer. That question is, Shall we have
game for those who are able to hunt it for themselves,
who need the health-giving medicine of the woods far
more than epicures need their palates tickled, or shall
we have game for none ? Shall we have game for our
own people forever under close restrictions, or shall
our woods become a cheerless blank in order that the
present generation of epicures in New York and Bos-
ton may wax fat for a few years ? And when Amer-
ica awakes from sleep she spends little time in yawn-
ing and rubbing her eyes.

The deer is still found in nearly every State in the
Union, though in many is not now plenty enough for
still-hunting unless upon snow. In Canada and the
northern tier of States in the Great West, in nearly
all the Territories, in most of the Southern and South-
western States, and on the Pacific coast it is still quite
abundant in large tracts of country. But it is quite
impossible to lay down any reliable rule for finding
where deer are abundant, for there is no other kind of
game whose movements and habits are so influenced
by locality, climate, season, elevation and shape of
ground, quality, quantity, and distribution of food,
amount and nature of hunting to which they are ex-
posed, as well as by snow, flies, scarcity of water,
timber, brush, etc., as are the movements and habits

18 THE STILL-HUNTER.

of deer. Besides all this there is sometimes a caprice
about their movements that will overturn all calcula-
tions even when based upon the most reliable data.
Sometimes deer will shift hundreds of miles 'on the
approach of winter, as they do in Northern Wisconsin
and that part of Michigan lying north of it. Yet in
other places of apparently the same character they
move little or not at all. In places their migrations
are very regular, in others so irregular as to appear
quite accidental, occurring only at intervals of several
years, often without apparent cause. In general they
are regular. The snow-belts of mountains they are
quite apt to forsake in winter for the warmer or barer
foot-hills or valleys below, sometimes going many
miles away into the lowland ranges, sometimes linger-
ing around the mountains' feet, sometimes returning
early in the spring to the high ranges, sometimes re-
maining in the low ground for the greater part of the
summer. Even when in the high mountains their
movements will vary. Sometimes they will keep
along the highest ridges on which timber or brush is
to be found, descending only at night to the little
meadows or valleys below to water and feed; while
at other times they will be most numerous half-way
.down the mountain, and are frequently more plenty,
even in summer, in the foot-hills than in the high
ground. Sometimes they will be found most plenty
in thick brush; and again the thick brush will be al-
most bare of them and they will be found in the
gulches and breaks of comparatively open ground.
Sometimes they will be most numerous in the depths
of the heaviest timber, sometimes on the edge of it
where it breaks into scrub oak, hazel and other brush,
sometimes in the long grass of the sloughs on the

TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 19

prairie. Often they will be most plenty in the dense
undergrowth of river bottoms, and again in the high
bluffy lands along them; sometimes in the heaviest
swamps and places abounding in lakes or ponds ; some-
times in the valleys and low ravines, and again mainly
on the ridges and points. By all this I mean that the
greater part of the deer will be in such places, and
not that they are exclusively on such ground; for in a
country abounding in deer generally more or less will
be found on nearly all kinds of ground and at every
season, except perhaps on the mountain-tops in case
of deep snows in winter. The habits of deer in regard
to shifting will often vary very much in the same sec-
tion of country. In some parts of Southern California
fully three fourths of the deer on a certain range will
leave it for another range. In other parts the same
deer will always be found on the same old circle where
you have found them for years, and if killed out there
will be few or none to be found there for a year or two.
While antelope generally have a far more extensive
daily or weekly range than deer, they are less apt to
shift from section to section for any cause but snow.
Some of the bands yet remaining in San Diego County,
Cal., stay on their old range through the severest
drouths, clinging to their native plain long after
horses and cattle have been starved out upon it, re-
fusing to leave it though there be good feed in other
sections not far away. But it must not be inferred
that the antelope in all sections retains this love for
his native heath. Such may be the case, but a few
instances do not prove it. And all through the study
of still-hunting you cannot be too careful how you
draw conclusions from a few instances, and especially
about the migratory movements of deer.

20 THE STILL-HUNTER.

The plain truth is that there is no trustworthy rule
by which to decide in what section deer or antelope
are plenty enough to afford good sport. The only
reliance is on —

ist. General reputation of a range.

2d. Information from those hunting or living upon
it.

3d. Personal inspection of the range.

When a certain section has the reputation of being
a good deer-range, such reputation is not apt to be
baseless. But when you reack it you will probably
have to decide for yourself whether it will reward
you to hunt it. And probably you will have to decide
for yourself upon which part the most game is likely
to be found ; for though few sources of information
are more reliable than general reputation of a range
few are more unreliable than special information about
it. The opinion of persons who are not hunters is
bad enough about almost any kind of game, but al-
most worthless about deer. Some people are always
seeing some wonderful thing, while others never see
anything beyond their immediate business. One man
will declare that "the woods is lined with 'em" be-
cause he occasionally sees one or two along the road
or near a spring, taking them, of course, every time
for different deer, or because he sees a few tracks in
his turnip-patch, counting unconsciously a deer to
every track, as is usual with most persons not hunters,
and with too many that are. Another dogmatically
assures you that " deer are mighty scurse" because
he does not see some every time he goes smashing
through dry leaves and dead sticks with hobnailed
stogey boots to look for his cattle in the woods.

The opinion even of good hunters is very unreliable.

TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 21

Unless they are hunting they know little about what
part of the range the deer are actually most plenty
upon. And if they are hunting, a stranger can scarcely
expect them to introduce him to their best preserves.
That is a little thicker cream than can be reasonably
expected to rise on even the richest milk of human
kindness. Yet there are many hunters capable of just
such weakness whose hearts open at once towards the
genial, gentlemanly stranger who gives himself no
airs and makes no pretensions. And right here it is
my duty to say that if you are out for only two or
three days' hunt, if your object be only to kill a deer
for the sake of saying you have killed one, and you
do not intend to continue still-hunting, the very best
thing you can do is to entwine yourself around the
heart of such a hunter and, if necessary, pay him a
fair price to work you up a good shot. If you cannot
do this and have little time or patience to spend, you
had better go home and leave deer alone, for the
chances are that, that even with all the advice that any
one can give, you will be deeply disappointed.

There is scarcely any kind of ground on which
deer may not sometimes be found in considerable
numbers, provided it be somewhat broken and con-
tain some cover, brush or trees. The deer loves cover
and will have it. He loves browse and will have it,
though he will be sometimes miles away from it. He
loves ground more or less rough, and will rarely be
found away from it unless there are extra inducements
elsewhere, in the line of brush, long grass, or other
good food and cover. As a rule, he loves water; though
he belongs to that class of animals that will drink
water if conveniently obtained, but can go without it
entirely, even in the hottest summer weather, like the

22 THE STILL-HUNTER.

valley quail of Southern California. The deer will,
however, often go a long distance for water, and this
fact, combined with the fact that he can and often
will go without it, makes the water question some-
what unreliable in determining his whereabouts.

A kind of ground that in some parts of the coun-
try will never contain a deer may in other sections
afford good sport. Yonder wide stretch of plain that
looks so bare to the eye, and is so far away from tim-
ber or hills that in Minnesota or Wisconsin a huntef
would not look at it, may in Southern California, Ari-
zona, or Mexico contain numbers of deer in those
gulches, cuts, gullies, and creek bottoms where from
a distance the shrubbery looks too thin and sparse
for even a jack-rabbit to live in. Yonder mountain,
that even through the glass seems only a frowning
mass of castle, crag, and boulder, may on inspection
yield many a deer stowed away in its little brushy
ravines or plateaus. And yonder wavy sea of stony
ground, so utterly bare of grass, so bare even of brush
except in the ravines, so bare of water that you can-
not camp there, may at times afford you good sport.
Hence it is about as puzzling to say where deer may
not be found as to say where they may be.

There is not so much difficulty about the antelope.
There seems, indeed, to be no kind of ground too poor
for him to live on and keep, too, in fair condition,
though, unlike the deer, he lives mainly on grass in-
stead of browse. Though he loves the plains, he has
no objection to high rolling hills if they are not too
brushy. But he hates brush and timber; and though
he will occasionally go into thin brush or into very
open timber, he need never be sought where either
one is thick or extensive.

TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 23

As a rule, good deer and antelope hunting must be
sought in pretty wild sections; and generally the wilder
they are the better. This rule, again, has its excep-
tions, and they must not be forgotten. Many tracts
of howling wilderness and many undisturbed and
splendid mountain-sides are almost entirely bare of
deer at all times, though all the conditions of good
deer-range exist. On the other hand, many a tract
that has been settled for years and contains two or
three or four settlers' cabins to the square mile will
often contain deer enough for excellent sport. It is
much the same with antelope; many a fine plain hav-
ing been bare of them within the memory of the old-
est Indians, others having a band or two that care
nothing for its settlements, except to keep just out of
shot, remaining on their old haunts until, one by one,
they fade away before the relentless rifle.

Neither the deer nor the antelope can, however, be
called an admirer of civilization. Sometimes deer
will at once forsake a good-sized valley or timber
grove because a settler has moved into it, though this
is apt to be the case only when it is isolated from the
rest of the range. Antelope, too, will often cease to
run up a valley leading from the plain when settlers
have moved in, and this even though not hunted.
Both of them hate sheep and will generally desert
ground over which sheep range. But for cattle and
horses they care nothing ; in fact, rather seem to en-
joy their company at times, provided the herdsmen do
not come among them too often. But all such things
affect only parts of the range and have little to do in
determining its general character.

24: THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER III.

EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC.

HAVING selected the general range or tract upon
which you will hunt, the next point is to determine
upon what part of it it will be best to hunt. For deer
are not distributed generally over the whole even of
the best ranges, but are more or less concentrated in
particular parts. And this is so even when they are
not banded but are living separately. The same is
true of antelope even when the does are scattered
with their kids and are not banded as they generally
are. It is also a provoking fact that you have prob-
ably noticed in other branches of hunting, that the
very best-looking ground is often bare of game. And
deer, above all other things, fail to appreciate your
kindness in selecting their abiding-places, and prefer
to make their own selections.

For these reasons you will do well to make the ex-
ploration of your ground and inspection of signs, etc.,
the principal object of your first day's hunt. I do not
mean that you are to go carelessly or without a keen
outlook for game. But before you can hunt to much
advantage you must learn what is commonly termed
" the lay of the land," and also know upon what parts
of it the most deer are ranging. " The lay of the
land " is of such importance that it must never be
neglected. Every ridge, every pass, every valley,

EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 25

every spot that you are likely ever to travel again
should be deeply impressed upon the memory, with its
general character — either as a deer's feeding-ground,
lying- down ground, lounging - ground, skulking-
ground, or ground upon which deer rarely or never
stop. The courses of all valleys should be noted so
that you will know how the wind is in any one of
them at any time, how the sun shines in them, the
facilities for traveling in them quietly, and for seeing
what is in them without climbing too high on the
ridges. The best routes along the ridges should also
be noted, with the best point of observation from any
of them. In short, study how the ground may be
traversed so as best to take advantage of the princi-
ples hereafter laid down.

In most ranges the question of food will, at the
proper time of year, aid you more than anything else in
determining what hunters call the "run of the deer."
The deer is a browsing animal. He cares but little
for grass in general; though when it is young and
tender, or when other kinds of food are scarce or the
browse is old and tough, he will eat even grass. And
some of the grasses, such as young wheat, oats, bar-
ley, etc., deer frequently eat. I have never known a
deer to eat what is known as "dry feed," to wit, sun-
dried grass, as antelope and stock do in California.
Nor have I ever found " dry feed " in a deer's stomach.
They eat the buds, twigs, and leaves of a vast variety
of shrubs and trees. And this makes their feeding-
ground for a large part of the year too general to be
of much aid in determining their favorite haunts.
They are fond of turnips, cabbage, beans, grapevines,
and garden-stuff generally; but all such food is too
accidental to influence their movements much. There

26 THE STILL-HUNTER.

is a long list of berries and fruits which they will eat;
and individuals sometimes extend their researches
beyond this list. I once shot a fat buck that con-
tained half a peck of the worst kind of prickly
pears. There are, however, but few fruits or nuts
that influence their movements much, and of these
the principal are chestnuts, beechnuts, and acorns.
Wherever there is abundance of these, in a very short
time after they begin to fall the deer will gather in to
feed on them, sometimes shifting ground many miles
to get convenient access to them. And of all these
the most universal is the acorn. Deer are very fond
of bush and scrub-oak acorns, which they begin to
eat earlier in the season than the tree acorns, not
being obliged to await their falling. But ground on
which these grow is apt to be too brushy and make
too much noise for very successful hunting. The best
ground, for the beginner especially, is the ground
known as "oak ridges," consisting of small "hog-
backs" or higher ridges covered with black oak, red
oak, and white oak. These are found throughout all
the heavy forests of the Eastern and Western States,
and here one has a prospect of interviewing a bear,
as he too is fond of acorns. Moreover, if you hunt
east of the Missouri you can do little till the leaves
have fallen, and by that time, if it is an " acorn sea-
son," there will be more or less acorns upon almost
any good deer-range. So you had better go first to
the " oak ridges."

One of the first points upon which you should sat-
isfy yourself is this question: How much are the deer
disturbed by still-hunting? For it is a settled fact, of
which you must never lose sight, that a deer's habits

EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 27

and movements will be very much and very quickly
-influenced by still-hunting.

It is a common idea with hunters that driving deer
with hounds drives them away and makes them wilder.
This may in some places be true. It may also be gen-
erally true if swift hounds be used. But there are
places where it is not so, and within my observation
deer have little fear of slow dogs. Deer that had been
made so wild with still-hunting that it was almost im-
possible to get even sight of them except under the
happiest combination of soft snow, favorable wind,
and rolling ground, I have seen play along for half a
mile across an open pine-chopping before two curs
wallowing and yelping through the snow behind them.
They seemed to consider it only fun, stopping every
few jumps and looking back at the curs until they got
within a few feet of them. About the tamest deer I
ever met were some that were habitually chased with
hounds and never still-hunted, and one of these I ac-
tually approached within five yards with a shot-gun.

But more than any other thing they fear the still-
hunter. Right well they learn, and quickly too, that
mischief without warning now lurks in every corner
of the once peaceful home. And quickly they adapt
themselves to this change of affairs. I have seen men
that were successful hunters ten and even five years
ago, but who had not hunted of late, traverse their
old grounds without getting a shot or scarcely seeing
a " flag;" seeing plenty of tracks, however, and com-
ing home wondering where the deer all were. I have
seen deer that I positively knew had no other disturb-
ance than my own hunting desert entirely the low
hills and open canons in which they were keeping
before I began to trouble them, shift a thousand feet

28 THE STILL-HUNTER.

higher up, keep in the thick chapparal all day, and
double their vigilance when they were out of it. They
soon learn to watch more of the time; to lie down
where they can see their back tra*;k; to go farther
back into higher, rougher, and more brushy ground;
to lie down longer during the day; to feed, water,
and lounge about more at night; and to be on foot
less during the day. They also learn to run on hear-
ing a noise without stopping to look back; to keep on
running long past the point where you can head them
off; to slip away before you get in sight of them; to
skulk and hide in thick brush and let you pass them;
and a score of other tricks we will notice as we go on.

While I prefer still-hunting to hounding as a far
more scientific, wide-awake, and manly sport, as well
as more healthful and less monotonous, there is no
doubt in my mind which makes deer the wildest and
drives them out the quickest. I have not a particle
of interest in the question of " still-hunting versus
hounding;" for the world is all before me and- 1 shall
hunt as I choose, but I want the beginner to under-
stand thoroughly the effect of still-hunting on his
game, whether my opinion suit him or not.

Keeping well in mind these points, go directly to
the oak ridges if it is acorn time; for here you will
find the most indications as to the number of deer
about, though these indications are the least reliable
of all. The less the deer are disturbed the more time
they will spend upon these ridges, and generally the
larger will be the proportion of deer from the whole
range that frequent them to feed. Hence the greater
will be the quantity of what is called "sign."

Signs consist of tracks, droppings, beds, pawing or
scraping places, places where the brush has been

EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 29

hooked with horns, or the bark of small trees frayed
by the rubbing of horns against it, the nipped-off
shoots and twigs of brush, etc. Of these the only re-
liable signs by which to judge of the number of deer
about are the tracks, droppings, and beds. All else
you need not consider at present. The fraying of
bark is only where the buck has rubbed the velvet
from his horns. As this is done late in the summer it
is of no use to you now. The hooked brush indicates
the commencement of " running-time;" of which here-
after. It will, however, give you some idea of the
number of bucks about; though one energetic buck
will fight a great many bushes in one night. The
same is true of pawing and scraping places, except
where snow is pawed up to get at acorns.

Having reached the ridges, pass on from ridge to
ridge, noting carefully the quantity of tracks and
droppings, and especially the size of both. It is a
common mistake, into which hunters of some experi-
ence often fall, to count, unconsciously often, a deer
to every sign or two. The beginner especially is
almost certain to estimate the number of deer from
six to ten times too high. The age of both tracks and
droppings is quite as important to be noted. As it is
nearly impossible to describe the difference between
a stale track or dropping and a fresh one, this point
must be left to your common-sense aided by experi-
ence. Staleness is,, however, as easy to detect with
the eye as it is hard to capture with the pen.

As there may be two or more deer of the same size,
you may of course underestimate the number of deer.
But there is little danger of this. Nearly all the dan-
ger lies in overestimating their number.

Little can be determined, however, from a small

30 THE STILL-HUNTER.

tract of ground. One deer, especially an old buck in
the fall, will often track up two or three acres or
more so that one would think there had been a dozen
deer there; while the common expression "just like
sheep-tracks" with which some ignoramus is wont
to addle the beginner's head is often based on the
work of two or three deer over a few acres of ground.

You must move on, then, over a considerable area
of ground. And in so doing it is still more important
to note the size and freshness of the tracks and drop-
pings. For the very same deer may have marked
several acres y.esterday and several different acres
each day before, until nearly a hundred acres may be
so marked that to the careless eye it would look like
the work of fifty deer.

As a rule, deer do not travel far if undisturbed.
And they generally travel less in timber than in open
ground. With the exception of a buck in the fall,
deer in timber seldom have a daily range of over half
a mile in diameter, and in open ground seldom over a
mile. In brush it is often much less. This is, how-
ever, on the assumption that food, water, and ground
for lying down are all near each other. For if these
are not near together a deer may travel very far. I
have known them to go three miles for acorns, a mile
or two from there to water, and a mile or two in an-
other direction to lie down. I have known them de-
scend five thousand feet at night for food and water,
returning at daybreak to the very tops of the highest
ridges in the timber-belt. Disturbance will also soon
drive them to this. But where undisturbed, and where
food, water, and good ground in which to lie down
(of which hereafter) are close together, a deer's daily
circuit is generally very limited. They will, however,

EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 31

often change this circuit, sometimes every day for a
few days, sometimes every few days, and sometimes
will spend a week Or more on a thirty- or forty-acre
piece of ground. This change of daily circuit is, how-
ever, not extensive, being comprised often within a
circle of .a mile in diameter, and seldom exceeding
two or three miles except for such special causes as
much hunting and great distances between food,
water, and cover, etc.

In thus examining ground to determine something
about the amount of deer, there are certain places
which require special attention. Next to the actual
feeding-ground there is scarcely any place more cer-
tain to have signs and show them plainly than burnt-
off ground. Why the deer resort to burnt ground is
of little consequence. It is certain that the tender
shoots of grass, etc., which spring up there are not the
sole attraction. For often they begin to frequent it
as soon as it is fairly cooled off, and continue to fre-
quent it even in those countries where there is no
summer rain to start any vegetation upon it. In
brushy countries this is the very best ground on which
to hunt, especially when after a cold night the morn-
ing sun shines brightly into it.

Look also in the ravines and swales that lie between
ridges ; along the edges and in the open parts of
thickets ; along the bottoms and in the flats by little
creeks and rivulets ; in and around the heads of
ravines, especially if the heads are brushy ; around
the edges of windfalls, especially fresh ones, as the
deer will come to browse on the tops of trees and on
the young saplings that have been knocked down by
the larger trees. Look also in the edges and open
places of the brush on the outer edge of timber, espe-

32 THE STILL-HUNTER.

daily if it be hazel, on which they love to browse
when in bud. Look also on all the highest points in
the timber, on the points and backbones of ridges,
the passes from ridge to ridge, and the connecting
ridge of several ridges.

In inspecting open country do the samer but pay
special attention to the bottoms and sides of valleys
and the top of dividing ridges between them. For
here, if the country be at all rough, you will be quite
apt to find the trails or runways of the deer.

In those countries containing cattle running at
large the cattle-paths are also good places to find
deer-tracks, especially those paths leading to water
or to high, rough, or brushy ground. On ground so
open as to approach prairie in character, look well
around the sides, heads, and mouths of all gullies,
gulches, etc., and the nearest passes from one to the
other across intervening ridges; also in and around
all patches of brush or timber, and all sloughs or
other places full of very long high grass, reeds, etc.

In inspecting ground in those countries like Cali-
fornia and the other Spanish-American States in
which there is a long season without rain, you may
save time by going first to the watering-places, which
will be some distance apart. But here you may easily
draw wrong conclusions, as even in the very hottest
and driest weather deer often go a day or more with-
out drinking at all. And where it is much trouble
for them to get it they will often go without it alto-
gether, And when the browse is young, soft, and
succulent, as well as when it is wet overnight with
dew or fog, they will generally dispense with water
even though it be close at hand. The deer is also a
quick drinker, and when he goes only for a drink and

EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 33

not to get rid of flies, etc., generally wastes little time
around a spring, especially if much hunted. In these
dry countries, too, the tracks are soon obliterated by
those of quails, animals, ants, and other creatures.
There may also be other water-holes near at hand of
which you are unaware. So you must beware how you
decide from the absence of tracks that there are no
deer about. Deer also often remain several days or
even weeks in dense chapparal, moving very little,
though this is not apt to be the case in the fall, when
deer move more than in summer and winter.

On the other hand, if you find many tracks at the
water you must be careful not to reckon a deer to
every four hoof-prints. When several deer come to
water together they may crowd and jostle each other
around the edge and change their standing-places so
often that the whole margin of the water is cut up.
Or some may stand around while the others drink,
and if not hunted or disturbed much they may linger
about a while. On such ground every track shows.

In all such cases lose no time at the spring, but
circle around one hundred or two hundred yards
away from it, examining carefully all the trails and
open places in the brush or natural passes among
rocks that lead to the water. For even where deer
generally have no regular runways they nearly always
have certain directions from which to approach a
spring, and will either make some paths of their own
or take those made by cattle or other animals. Here
also much ground must be examined, for upon dry
ground tracks (except in trails) are not readily seen
by the. unpracticed eye ; and to such an eye both
tracks and droppings are apt to appear as fresh to-
day as .they would have seemed yesterday.

34 THE STILL HUNTER.

These same principles apply to examining almost
any kind of ground. Deer are often found in great
numbers in dense jungles of canebrake, swamp, and
chapparal. But in such ground Tittle can be done
by still-hunting proper. One can only get them by
driving or by hunting around the open places in the
morning and evening, when they may be out. '

Antelope are such rangers that this kind of inspec-
tion will not do for them. Besides, they are so sure
to be on foot during a great part of the day, to be in
bands, and to be on open ground, that the quickest
way to find them is to ride over the country, stopping
at every eminence and sweeping the country with a
good glass. They will go great distances for water,
seeming to need it more than deer do ; and as they
generally go to it in a band like cattle, the water-holes
are the places to look for their tracks.

And now a puzzling question may meet the begin-
ner-, namely, What is plenty? and are deer plenty
enough to hunt ?

The word " plenty" has of course different mean-
ings for different kinds of game. One bear to the
square mile would be plenty for bears, in most bear
countries ; yet one deer to the square mile would
hardly be worth hunting except upon very favorable
ground, and then you would generally need snow.
" Plenty" varies also in meaning with localities. In
parts of Northern California plenty — a few years ago
at least — would mean forty or fifty deer to the square
mile, while in San Diego we call five to the square
mile plenty. In such heavy timber as covers the
north of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota a-n aver-
age of ten to the square mile would be quite plenty,

EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 35

and five to the square mile would be plenty enough
for the best of sport on light snow.

The word " plenty" varies, again, with the persons
using it. A man finds his turnip-patch well tracked
up and talks of " plenty of deer," " lots of deer," "just
like a sheep-yard," etc., when in fact it is all done by
two or three deer that are by daylight a mile or more
away safely ensconced in some windfall or brush-
patch, without another deer within two or three
miles. " The deer are so plenty they are destroying
the vineyards" is a species of twaddle very common
in the papers of Southern California. He who lies
out a few moonlight nights to watch one of those
selfsame vineyards, or, failing in that, attempts to
follow the tracks of the ravagers back to their moun-
tain-home in the morning, if he is fortunate enough
to get even a sight of the old doe and two fawns, ac-
companied perhaps by a buck or a yearling or two,
that did the whole mischief, returns hot, breathless,
and disgusted from a long scramble among the rocks
and brush, and goes home with a vastly different
notion of " lots of deer" from what he had when he
came out.

One of the first and most ineradicable ideas the
beginner gets is that there are about ten or twenty
times as many deer about him as there really are.
The consequence is a speedy feeling of disappoint-
ment. If in the course of a day's walk you start
six or eight deer — that is, either see them or find
where they have run away from you — and can find
tracks or droppings not over a day or two old at every
fifty or one hundred yards of most of your course over
the kinds of ground above described, you may con-
sider deer quite plenty enough for the best of sport.

36 THE STILL-HUNTER.

Antelope, being banded, being on open ground, and
visible at such long distances, will afford good sport
on a far smaller average to the square mile than will
deer. That is, on ground suitable for still-hunting.
And this is a question that for either antelope or deer
should be decided before you waste any time in hunt-
ing it.

Upon some kinds of ground successful still-hunting
is almost an impossibility; while in ground that is
suitable for it there is such a difference that five or
six deer to the square' mile upon one kind will give
better success than twenty to the square mile upon
another kind. The best kind is timber that Is open
enough to allow you to see at least a hundred and
fifty yards in any direction, free enough from under-
brush to allow you to walk without touching too
much of it, yet brushy enough in places to afford good
browse and lying-down covert for deer, and, above all,
rolling enough to allow you to keep out of sight be-
hind ridges and look down into hollows and basins.
Ground that is very brushy or quite level is very dif-
ficult for any one to hunt alone, and had better be
entirely shunned by the novice, as his lot will almost
certainly be vexatious disappointment. But, as I shall
show hereafter, brushy ground may sometimes be
hunted to advantage by two or more persons ; and
if there are openings enough through it, it may afford
good sport in the season called " running time."

As a rule, the more rolling the ground the shorter
"the breaks," and the higher the ridges, up to a hun-
dred and fifty feet or so, the better. If it roll too
much and the ridges be too high, it will make your
walking too laborious and your shots too long. The
best of all ground consists of hard-wood timber, well

EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 37

open beneath and broken into ridges about fifty feet
high. Such ground generally contains acorns in the
fall, has plenty of windfalls and brush to make lying-
down covert for deer in the daytime, while the tops
of the ridges are generally clear enough of brush to
allow still movements of the hunter and afford him
a good view in nearly all directions. Whether you
hunt in timber or open country, the more nearly your
ground approaches the rolling character of these oak-
ridge forests the better your chances of success.

For antelope-hunting muchlhe same kind of ground,
though built on a larger scale, is generally necessary.
On a broad level plain it is now almost impossible to
get within shot of antelope except by some kind of
trick in the way of disguise. And even that must be
an unusually smart invention. Quite rolling ground
is the best on which to approach them; and if the
antelope are in numerous bands or small bunches,
this is the only sure ground upon which to get close
shots except by such tricks as flagging, etc. But if
they are scarce or all in one band, it is often impos-
sible to look over enough of this kind of ground to
find where they are without in many cases a vast
amount of traveling, there being so many places
where they can be out of sight in a valley or behind
some knolls

38 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER IV.

THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER.

HAVING selected the ground upon which you are to
hunt you will probably, if left to yourself, go wander-
ing around the woods with your eyes fixed about fifty
yards ahead of you, expecting at every turn to see a
large calf-like object standing broadside to you in a
nice open spot, patiently awaiting your bullet — dis-
tance twenty-five or thirty yards.

The first thing you must do is to lay aside each and
every idea of how a wild deer looks that you have
ever derived from your imagination, from pictures
even by the best artists in the best magazines or
books, even when drawn by accomplished sportsmen.
No picture unless of immense size and made by a thor-
ough hunter who is also a thorough artist can convey
any notion of how a deer looks on his native heath
under the circumstances in which three fourths of the
time you will have to see him to get a shot. There
are of course cases in which a deer appears in the
woods just as he does in a picture. Such was often
the case in the olden days. But such is the exception
now. There is an occasional deer that is either a nat-
ural fool, or has never before seen a man, or that may
have dropped into a doze in the daytime and awakened
bewildered for an instant at your near approach, or,
owing to formation of ground, cannot make out the

THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 39

direction of the noise that alarms him and stops a
minute to locate it. Such an one makes an easy shot.

The deer you will be apt to meet at this day are
animals very different from the one above mentioned.
And in order to understand them thoroughly it is
necessary to consider well their senses.

You have doubtless heard and read dozens of times
that the deer is timid, shy, and watchful. The trouble
with all such information is that it gives no idea of
\hepractical extent of a deer's acuteness. From all I
have ever heard or read one would never dream of a
deer's starting two hundred or three hundred yards
away, out of your sight, beyond your hearing, etc.,
when you were walking " so quietly," as you thought,
and against the wind too. You feel dazed when you
find the tracks of his long jumps so fresh and far
apart. And many times must even this be repeated
before the light of the true state of affairs breaks in
upon your picture-trained mind.

As a general rule, the nose of the deer is perhaps the
most important sense to avoid. Not that they can
smell any farther than they can see or hear; but be-
cause the smell of a man alarms them more thor-
oughly and completely than any sound or sight. A
deer will often stop an instant to locate a noise or
look at any unusual object; and when entirely undis-
turbed by hunting deer are so certain to do so that
there is hardly ever any need of taking a running
shot. But almost every wild animal knows instinct
ively the smell of a man. A deer seems to know it
above most all others. When he catches the scent he
does not have to take a second sniff of the tainted air.
He has generally no further curiosity. He is perfectly
satisfied as to the character and direction of the odor,

40 THE STILL-HUNTER.

and his only concern is to effect his immediate dis-
appearance.

This delicacy of scent is developed very early and
needs no practice to keep it acute. Once, while hunt-
ing on a very hot morning, I sat down to rest at the
mouth of a little canon that led into a larger one. At
the time scarcely any perceptible wind was stirring.
I had been seated only about two minutes when a
sudden crash and bump, bump, bump of hoofs brought
me with a bound to my feet, and I saw two half-
grown fawns bounding up the canon at full speed and
a hundred yards away. On examining the ground
I found that they had been lying under a thick bush
of sumac about eighty yards from me, and had sprung
several feet at the first bound. An intervening rise
of ground showed plainly that they did not see me,
and as I had been walking in a soft dusty cattle-trail
with moccasins with great stillness, sat down quietly,
and sat without anything moving for over two minutes
(just about the time it would take scent to move to
them in the light breeze there was), I feel equally
confident that they did not hear me. From my knowl-
edge of that ground I know positively that those
fawns had never before met a man. I have often
noticed that fawns, though they may stand and look
at you, or stop when you start them with a noise only,
seldom stop when they smell you.

He who has seen a good dog scent grouse against
a cool morning or evening breeze on a prairie needs
scarcely to be told of the distance at which a deer can
smell such a great gross beast as a man, especially
with a cool damp breeze in a valley.

This fear of a man's scent is also more universal
than the fear of a sight or sound of him. In an

THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 41

open country deer will often stand and watch a dis-
tant man when they know perfectly well what he is.
The brush-deer often cares little for noise, and will let
a man come tearing through the brush quite close to
his skulking form. But let such a deer catch your
scent and he tarries no longer.

Still there are times when the scent of a man does
not alarm deer. But this is probably due more to the
casual existence of cross-currents of air that carry
away the scent than to any indifference on the part of
the deer. Also when running, and even when walk-
ing, they will often pass to leeward of a man, and
may come very close to him if the man keeps perfectly
still. Where they seldom see a man on a horse or in
a wagon, deer will frequently stand quite unconcerned
within plain sight and scent of both. And where
men travel much on horseback they will often do the
same thing if they are not much hunted. But upon
these exceptions no dependence must be placed, as
where one thus stands probably two slip away unob-
served.

Where much hunted the ears of a deer become the
most acute and practiced of his senses. And in many
sections it is his hearing that makes the most difficulty
in approaching him. And often it is the hardest of
all his senses to avoid. I have often seen a deer
spring from his bed at a bound and run away at a
racer's speed before I was within two hundred yards
of him, when I was positive that a man could not at
twenty yards' distance have heard the soft tread of my
moccasins on the light snow, and when I touched not
a single bush or twig in a way that could make a
noise. Yet the fact that the breeze was coming from
the deer to me showed that he could not have smelt

THE STILL-HUNTER.

me. And looking from the deer's bed to my own po-
sition at the time he sprang showed plainly that he
could not have seen me even had he been standing
instead of lying down as he was doing. Lie down
upon the ground in the woods some still day about
the time of your companion's return to camp and see
how far you can hear his footsteps even with your
dull ears.

Even when the long practiced and moccasined foot
falls on the ground as softly as snow, even when the
leaves or twigs are softened with long rain, there is a
faint crushing, packing sound that acute ears can
hear along the ground a long distance. And the
lightest snow, if of any depth, makes a faint grinding
noise as it packs beneath the foot. So they will hear
at a long distance the snapping or brushing of twigs
against your clothes and the switching sound in the
air as you let them fly back. These latter are, how-
ever, not so apt to alarm a deer lying down as sounds
from the feet, though the other sounds may be the
more audible to you.

Deer know, too, as well as a man the distance of
sounds, and also their character, and are rarely de-
ceived. They will often lie all day within plain hear-
ing of the noises of a settler's cabin, the sound of the
ax, and the lurid vocabulary of the teamster in the
"pinery." The crash of a squirrel's jump, the roar of
thunder, the snapping of trees with frost, their creak-
ing or falling in the wind, generally does not alarm
them in the least. Yet the faint pressing of the leaves
beneath the feet, or the crack of a twig a hundred
yards or more away, may send them flying.

The direction of noise, however, often perplexes
deer. And in their perfectly natural state their curi-

THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 43

osity to know its exact location and precise character
generally leads them to stop after running a few
jumps. And often they will rise up and look, stand-
ing directly in their beds. After a certain amount cf
persecution they generally lose this curiosity, become
perfectly satisfied with a general presumption of mis-
chief, and stand not on the order of their going;
though the very wildest of deer may occasionally
yield to the temptation to take just one look.

Against the wind a deer cannot of course hear so
well as he can down the wind. But even up wind
you should relax no caution, as in such case there is
generally no need of haste.

An apparent exception to this sense of hearing is
in case of the skulking or hiding deer. The excep-
tion is, however, apparent only. Deer that live much
in very thick brush, often depend, like many other
animals, upon standing or lying still and letting you
pass them. They know perfectly well that you oan-
not see them. The deer of Southern California is
very apt to be of this character when found in the
brushy regions. Even when in the open hills or in
the timber-groves or in the mountains this deer is not
half so shy of noise as is the deer of the Eastern
woods. If deer in San Diego County were as afraid
of noise as they are in the Wisconsin and Minnesota
woods it would be nearly impossible to approach
them in the dry season when the brush, grass, and
weeds are brittle. In Southern California they depend
more upon their scent and sight than upon hearing.
But it would be absurd to suppose that they do not
hear. Many a hunter there loses a shot through his
folly in reasoning upon this point. A deer does not
stand or skulk because you make an extra noise. That

44 THE STILL-HUNTER.

trick he will play anyhow if he has decided on that
course. But half the time instead of standing he slips
quietly off before you get in sight of him. You gain
nothing on the skulker by your noise. And by it
you lose the other entirely.

Another exception, which is perhaps apparent only,
is the case of deer in open ground. This results
mainly from the difference in the appearance of dis-
tances in the woods and in the open; distance in the
woods appearing much greater. It is probable, too,
that sounds can be heard a trifle farther in the woods
owing to there being less wind and some cover over-
head. At any rate, it seems so with noises not too
distant, though the point is a hard one to prove.

To recognize an object at rest the eyes of a deer
are about as dull as those of a dog. But this, again,
has two partial exceptions. On open ground deer
can often recognize a man quite well, especially if he
be standing. And if they have taken any alarm they
will be quite sure to do so. Even in the woods if a
man be standing and the deer has taken alarm, the
deer will be quite apt to identify him. But as a rule,
if the deer is unalarmed, he will not know a man
from a stump on open ground if the man is seated
and motionless ; nor will he in the woods even if the
man is standing. If the deer is moving, and especi-
ally if running, he is quite blind to anything ahead of
him, provided it does not move. Hence if some one
drives a deer toward you, you need little or no con-
cealment if you keep still. But when he gets in sight
of you, beware how you move a step for a better
position. You may do it, but your game is liable to
switch off to one side in a twinkling.

A deer can also see a long way. I have seen them

THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 45

watching my companion nearly a mile away, whose
motions I could hardly make out myself. It is doubt-
ful, though, if a deer can distinguish a man at any
such distance, or even at half of it.

But a deer's eyes are marvelously quick to catch a
motion. And the fact that deer are generally at rest
while you are in motion gives them an immense ad-
vantage over you. So keen are their eyes to detect a
motion that if you once get within their eye-range and
they suspect you, it is almost useless to try to get a
single step closer to them. From this arises the com-
mon hunter's maxim, "When you see a deer, shoot;"
a maxim demanding great qualification, however. A
deer not alarmed may often be approached after you
come within his sight; as we shall see hereafter.

Not only are they quick to detect a motion, but
they can detect a very slight one or a very slow one,
and do it, too, at quite a distance. The slow rising
of your head over a ridge, the slow movement of your
body across the trunks of trees, the slow motion of a
creeping body along the ground they see almost in-
stantly, unless the motion happens to be made while
they have their heads down feeding or walking, etc.
A deer once started watches back with an acuteness
that in the woods is quite certain to baffle the keenest-
eyed pursuer, and is likely to do so on open ground.
And when much hunted by tracking they learn to
watch their back track without waiting to be started.

The senses of antelope are about the same as those
of deer. Their great bulging eyes like old-fashioned
watch-crystals will catch a far slighter motion than
those of a deer, will catch it three or four times as far
away, and catch it, too, in almost any quarter of the
horizon. My experience with them at close ranges

46 THE STILL-HUNTER.

has been too limited to enable me to determine satis-
factorily whether they are as sensitive to noise as a
deer. So far as I have seen they are not, though this
is probably on account of being on open ground; a
distinction before explained. For the same reason
the question of scent seems to be less important.
But then you should not presume in the slightest
upon any failure of acuteness in any of their senses;
and especially in their eyes, to which you must never
yield a single point of vantage.

In fact, you must not presume upon any exception
about the senses of either antelope or deer. If you
deal with every one as if he were the most wary of
his race, you will lose nothing if he turns out a sim-
pleton. Whereas if you deal with any as if they were
simpletons, you will lose not only the wise ones but
many a simpleton also.

And now let us consider what you have with which
to outgeneral these senses of your game.

I have seen one man who claimed that he could
smell deer. As he could make no practical use of his
power in jumping, or starting, or finding the animal,
even against a cool morning breeze, it may be^ con-
sidered worthless even if it were not all in his fancy.
A good musky old buck in the fall, if close by, may
be smelt. And so may a billy-goat. But the buck
cannot be smelt far enough to keep him from discov-
ering you first. The hunter's nose may be regarded
as useless except to find camp at evening when the
bacon and coffee are ready.

Your ears will often detect the sound of hoofs when
you have started a deer, and are then useful as a guide
to your eyes. They may also help you discover a
deer moving in brush or on hard ground if near at

THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 47

hand. They may also catch the snort or bleat of a
deer. They should by all means be cultivated.

But your main reliance must be your eyes. And
these should be of the first class. If you are near-
sighted or weak-sighted you may as well give up all
hope of being anything like an expert. You may
be a good shot at the target and see very well with
glasses, but you will lack that quickness, comprehen-
siveness, and acuteness of sight that is indispensable
to success. A deer hanging up in market, standing
in a park, or stuffed in a museum is one thing. But
in the ground where he is generally found, whether
feeding, standing up or lying down, he is quite
another. This is the reason why all pictures are mis-
leading. A deer as he appears about five sixths of
the time in his native home would make an almost
invisible point on a two-by-four-foot canvas. Not only
his smallness but his varying color and shape in
different lights and positions, the fact that one sel-
dom sees the whole of the body at once and sees it
then only on a dim, perhaps dark, background, make
him one of the hardest of all objects to catch with the
eyes. Nothing in the whole line of hunting is so im-
portant as to see the deer before he sees you; and
there is scarcely anything else so hard to do. In this
more than in almost any other one thing lies the
secret of the old and practical still-hunter's success.
Sometimes a dim blur in a thicket; sometimes a small
spot of brown or gray or yellow or red or white or
nearly black far away on a hillside or ridge; some-
times a dark gray or brownish patch among tree-
trunks or logs of the same color; sometimes only a
pair of slender legs, looking like dead sticks beneath
a huge fallen tree; a few tines looking like dead

48 THE STILL-HUNTER.

sticks in a distant bush; a pair of delicate ear-tips just
visible above weeds, brush, or long grass; a glisten-
ing point or two where the sun strikes upon a polished
horn; a shiny spot far away where the light just
touches a bit of glossy hair. It takes the highest com-
bination of natural keenness and culture of vision to
detect one until just a second or two too late for a
shot. J shall never forget the surprise of a certain
youth who even in boyhood was distinguished among
far older hunters for his acuteness in seeing squirrels
hidden in trees, hares in their forms, woodcock on
the autumn leaves ahead of the dog, etc. etc., when
he first began to turn that eye on deer, and see them
run out of a thicket through which he could see
clearly; and going to it, find the deer had been stand-
ing up in it all the time he was looking through it.

Very often it is impossible for any one to see them;
as where they are in thick brush, old pine-slashings,
heavy windfalls, especially when lying down. So
when they lie in the long slough-grass of the prairie,
and in hot weather when they lie in the shade. Of
course they will sometimes be in such a position that
any one can see them at once. But this is the rare
exception and must not be depended on. A good
glass is a great help in a large open country; but you
must not allow yourself to depend on it, and should
use it only when you have to. In timber it will gen-
erally be of little use, though if you must carry a lot
of things it will do no harm and may be useful. For
antelope-hunting it is often almost indispensable.
Every spot of white or brown or gray, every hazy line,
every point or glimmer like mirage for miles around
should be carefully scanned with it. But for deer it
had better be generally reserved to resolve doubtful

THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 49

things which you first catch with the naked eye.
Otherwise your eye will lose the extreme keenness
and quickness absolutely necessary for good still-
hunting.

50 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER V.

THE DAILY LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE.

BEFORE one can expect any success in still-hunting
he must know something about the daily life and
movements of the game. In hunting antelope this is
not of so much importance, as they live in country so
open, are so conspicuous in color, and keep so much
in bands, that with a good glass and careful searching
from prominent points they can be seen at immense
distances. And this must be done any how, for
they are such wide rangers that there is little use to
be made of their tracks except to get their general
course; and when you are once upon their range you
can employ your time to better advantage in covering
as much ground as possible with your horse and
sweeping it with your glass.

But the deer keeps so close to some kind of cover,
is of a color so neutral, often resembling the general
background upon which he is to be seen, that one
may often pass within easy shot of a dozen without
seeing them at all unless they run. There is little
trouble in seeing antelope, on rolling ground at least,
provided you get within a half-mile or so of them.
The main difficulty is to get a shot after you do see
them. With deer it is not only difficult enough to get
a good shot, but almost as hard to find them at all.
The general whereabouts of antelope being known, it
is little trouble— or rather it takes little or no skill or

DAILY LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE. 51

knowledge — to find their particular whereabouts. But,
given the general whereabouts of deer, it generally, on
bare ground, remains a highly intricate problem to
find the clew to their particular whereabouts. To do
this, on ground where it is not possible or advisable to
track, a pretty accurate knowledge of the deer's life is
necessary. This varies so 'much in the details in dif-
ferent countries, and even in different parts of the
same country, that all that any writer can do within
the limits of a general work is to mark out the out-
lines and leave them to be filled in by your own expe-
rience and study in the woods.

The deer is an early riser. He is generally up before
daybreak, and often up the whole night except at
short intervals. But by daybreak he is nearly always
on foot. About the first thing he does in those coun-
tries where water is scarce and where the season is
dry and hot enough to make him thirsty is to start
for water. This he may do very leisurely, though;
feeding along the way and taking plenty of time to
look about him, so that he may not reach water until
sunrise or long after. Or he may go straight to it and
walk away quite as rapidly as he came. Or he may
come directly to it and then lounge away from it, feed-
ing and looking as he goes. How a deer will act in
going to water or leaving it, as well as his time of
watering, are things that cannot be reduced to rule.
When entirely undisturbed they will in hot weather
water at any time of day, and when flies or mosquitoes
are bad will spend much of their time there if there
are large bodies of water. But where there are simply
small drinking-holes they will rarely stay there, and if
disturbed much will water only at night or very early
in the morning. And they will be apt to do the same

52 THE STILL-HUNTER.

when watering very near a house or spring where they
may see people passing, even though they are not
shot at. In the forests of nearly all the Eastern States,
especially in the mountains, water is so abundant that
little use can be made, in still-hunting proper, of the
question, When and where does a deer water? For
fire-hunting, etc., the question has its importance.
And even in those dry countries where the water-holes
are scarce one must beware — for the reasons hereto-
fore given — of placing too much reliance upon a deer's
habits in regard to drinking.

A deer is, however, quite certain to feed more or
less after daybreak, even though he may have been
on foot the greater part of the night. The deer be-
longs to that class of animals like the horse, the ox,
etc., that can see tolerably well in the dark and always
do a certain amount of moving about at night, but
nevertheless prefer a little more light when it is not
too inconvenient to get it. So that, though he may be
never so well fed during the night, he is quite likely
to take a little more browse or a few more acorns at
daybreak.

Like a cow or horse in good pasture a deer may do
all of his feeding on an acre or two of ground, or he
may straggle over fifty or a hundred acres of equally
good feed. Which he will do it is impossible to deter-
mine except approximately. When in heavy brush
he is apt to feed close. So when he has been much on
foot during the night, as during full moon; so when he
is hunted much. On the contrary, in thin brush or
during the dark of the moon, or when little disturbed,
he is more apt to straggle about while feeding. The
quantity of food at hand seems to make little differ-
ence. A deer will often wander on over ridge after

DAILY LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE. 53

ridge well covered with acorns, picking up one or two
here and there and going on a few yards for more, or
eating half a dozen here and there and going on a
hundred yards for more. In such particulars he is
governed mainly by whim.

A deer may straggle over fifty acres, feeding and
finishing very quickly, or he may take three or four
hours about it. The same when feeding on a small
space. He may stand and browse half an hour on one
bush, or after one or two bites leave it for the next
one, which perhaps is not half so good, and spend an
hour in trying fifty bushes. In all these respects he is
a provokingly aggravating beast, governed largely by
caprice and often upsetting your best calculations.
And it is often very important to make these calcula-
tions correctly, especially in hunting open country,
where you see a deer feeding a long way off and need
some time to get within good shot. But in general,
the length of time a deer will feed will depend, as in
case of the space over which he will wander in feed-
ing, upon the moon and the amount of persecution
he has. It will depend also upon the weather. In very
hot weather he will, as a rule, finish feeding and lie
down sooner than in cool or cold weather.

In nearly every case in which deer are foraging in a
garden, a turnip-patch, or other cultivated crop, they
understand perfectly what they are about. Daybreak
will nearly always find them gone or departing. When
feeding in such a place they must generally be sought
far away from it in the daytime.

But when feeding after daybreak there is one thing
a deer rarely fails to do, and that is to keep up a
pretty constant watch for danger. Every moment or
two the head comes up and scans at least half the cir-

54 THE STILL-HUNTER.

cle of vision, while the big ears flare impatiently for
the faintest sound. Sometimes this looking is con-
tinued so long and suspiciously that you feel positive
that he suspects you. Yet if you have perfect patience
you may soon find that he suspects nothing, though
he may have been looking never so keenly and directly
at you. When the head is thus up and the animal
watching, it is unsafe to make the slightest movement
if you are near, as, even if you are out of his sight, his
ears are then keener; if within fair shot, you should
shoot notwithstanding the movement necessary to do
so, as a deer thus watching is liable to vanish at any
moment, and, even if suspecting nothing, is liable in a
econd to slip out of your sight behind a bush or tree
or rise of ground.

Having finished feeding, the deer generally proceeds
to lounge a while. He is a gentleman of elegant leis-
ure, and has all the deliberate ease of aristocratic dig-
nity. He stands a while and surveys the landscape or
the dark rotunda of tree-trunks around him. Then
perhaps he scratches one ear with a hind-foot, wiggles
his tail, and stands a while longer. If there are any
fawns, they are apt to skip and play a little. A year-
ling is also apt to feel a little frisky, and even a digni-
fied old doe or buck may romp a minute or two with
some young deer.

But there is generally at such times a decided ten-
dency to move on. This is generally done by easy
stages. The deer walks slowly a little way, and then
stops a while. Why he stops he probably does not
know himself. He may nibble a twig or two during
these pauses, or he may stand half an hour by a bush
full of succulent and savory twigs and not touch one.
He may stand two, five, twenty, or thirty minutes and

DAILY LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE. 55

do nothing ; or he may move slowly on, making
numerous short pauses. If the weather be cold or
very cool he will be almost certain to stop in the sun-
shine. If it be hot he is quite as certain to tarry in
the shade; generally on the shady side of a bush if on
open ground. As he often postpones drinking until
after feeding, he may all this time be tending toward
water; though, as a rule, when going to water after
feeding — that is, unless feeding toward water — the deer
walks fast and stops but little. While thus walking or
lounging along the deer is generally not as watchful
as when feeding. He will often stand a while with
head down like a cow, especially in a rain or snow
storm, and often when in the shade on a hot morning.
When the sunshine feels good on a cold morning he is
more apt to have his head up. But, as I have before
remarked, never presume upon a deer's carelessness if
you can help it.

This lounging spell may be continued for an hour
or two or three hours, depending, like his feeding,
much upon the length of time the deer has been on
foot during the night, the temperature of the morn-
ing, and amount of still-hunting.

All this time he is either tending toward the ground
where he will lie down, or when he finishes his loung-
ing he starts for it. In a previous chapter, under
the directions where to look for deer-tracks, I have
given the places over which a deer will be most apt to
pass during his feeding and lounging time; though
there is scarce any place over which he may not pass.
In a subsequent chapter I will give the kind of places
to which he is most apt to go to lie down.

The length of time deer will remain in bed during
the day is also impossible to determine. Sometimes

56 THE STILL-HUNTER.

they will lie until four or five o'clock, and sometimes
rise by three. I here mean rise for the rest of the day.
In very hot weather, if a deer has a cool shady place
away from flies and mosquitoes he is very apt to stay
there during all the heat of the day. And if much
hunted and he finds good comfortable and safe cover
he is also likely to stay. But in cool, cloudy, or windy
weather, especially if little disturbed, he is quite apt to
be on foot two or three times during the day, brows-
ing a little, lounging a little, shifting position a little,
or merely getting up for the sake of lying down again.
During the dark of the moon, if little hunted he is
apt to feed a little during mid-day. In rainy or
snowy or cold blustering weather he is quite apt to be
on foot the greater part of the day, standing most of
the time in some brush-patch, windfall, or sheltered
ravine or little gulch, with head down like an old cow.

In the afternoon, if the deer rise early he is quite
apt to lounge about a while as he did in the morning.
If he rise late he is quite apt to go directly toward his
feeding-ground, though he will doubtless browse some
on the way. He will then feed and lounge about in
much the same way he did in the morning until dark.
In hot weather, if he is little disturbed he is quite as
apt to go to water between sundown and dark as he
is to go there in the morning.

For a long while after dark the deer is still on foot.
If the moon be full he may be on foot most of the
night. If he has any mischief to do he can find his
way to it without any moon. Sometimes he will
lie down and sleep a large part of the night in one
bed. Sometimes the same deer will make three or
four different beds in one night. When very much
persecuted he will do nearly all his feeding, watering,

DAILY LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE. 57

sleeping, etc., during the night, without regard to the
moon or anything else, and spend the day in close
concealment.

These movements are varied somewhat in what is
known as the "running time;" a matter we will con-
sider hereafter.

How much antelope move by night I cannot say.
But they certainly move far more by day than deer
do, and it is therefore probable that they move much
less at night, if they move at all. Though they lie
down during a large part of the day, they are still
much longer on foot than deer are. And generally
some of the band are on foot while the rest are lying
down. All that I have ever seen watered in the morn-
ing from sunrise to nine or ten o'clock. Their habits
may, however, vary in this respect with places. They
are much more apt to feed ahead on a straight course
than deer are, and cover a much greater area of
ground in doing so. They go- many miles for water
if necessary. In fact in nearly all their business they
travel a mile where a deer goes two hundred yards.
But whatever they are doing they are watching,
watching, watching; trusting more to their great eyes
and less to nose and ears than a deer does to his.

58 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER VI.

LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT.

SINCE it is generally sq hard to catch sight of a deer
until it is just too late to shoot, and since lying down
is a position in which it is generally next to impossible
to see one at all, it follows that far brighter prospects
of success lie on the side of finding a deer on foot.
So much is this the case that in many kinds of ground
it is almost useless to try to get a shot at one in any
other way. Such is the case where deer are keeping
in heavy swamps, canebrake, tule, chapparal, or other
stuff that is too high and too dense to afford a fair
shot at one when running. There your only chance
of success is to find them on foot along the edges, or
from some piece of rising ground see them moving or
standing in the covert. You may in such kinds of
ground find enough eminences to give you some fair
running shots at deer started below you; but such is
not generally the case.

And now we are about ready to take the field. But
let us first see whether the day will do for still-hunt-
ing. For, recollect, there are some days when you
might almost as well stay at home. Such are the
still, warm days of autumn, when you can hear a
squirrel scamper over the dead leaves a hundred
yards away;

" When not a breath creeps through the rosy air,
And yet the forest leaves seem stirred with prayer."

LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 59

Such are the days when the snow is crusty and stiff
or grinds under your feet, while the trees snap and
crack with the frost; in short, all days when you can-
not walk without making a noise that a man could
hear at forty or fifty yards; though even on such
days it will pay you to go out and study the move-
ments of deer and the " lay of the land." And if it
should be very windy, by moving against the wind
you may get a shot, though when the trees are creak-
ing and rattling with wind the deer are often in a
very nervous condition all day; but against a strong
wind they cannot smell you and cannot hear you as
well as usual.

But when the autumn rains have softened down
the dead leaves and sticks, or during or just after a
gentle rain, or when the ground is covered with an
inch or more of soft snow, then is the time, especially
if a gentle breeze sighs through the tree-tops, when
your heart may well bound high with hope.

We will first consider hunting on bare ground.

To find a deer on foot you had better be in the
woods about the time the morning star begins to fade
in the first smile of coming day. This exactness is
not always necessary. But if deer are not very plenty,
or if they have been much hunted, or if the moon is
near or past the full, the earlier you are in the woods
after it is light enough to see a deer at all, the better.

Let us first try the oak ridges, as these form the
easiest ground upon which to take your first lessons.

The first questions that arise are, from which way
shall we approach the ridges? and, in which direction
shall we traverse them?

In determining these points, the first thing in im-
portance is the wind. Be cautious how you decide

60 THE STILL-HUNTER.

that there is no breeze yet. If you can notice it in no
other way, wet your finger, and holding it up see
if you can feel one side colder than the other. This
test on a cold morning in dry air is quite delicate,
the faintest movement of air making the side toward
the wind cooler from increase of evaporation.

There being no perceptible wind, the next thing in
importance is the elevation of ground and its freedom
from brush, etc. It is best in hunting such ridges
to walk where you can move with the least noise and
can get the best view of all the other ridges and the
intervening hollows. We will therefore wind along
the highest ridges; they being in most places quite
free from brush.

And now we must move with great caution. Avoid,
when possible, walking through any brush that your
clothes will touch. If you cannot help touching some
twigs, ease them off with your hand so that they do
not scrape on your clothes, snap, or make a switching
noise in flying back. Above all beware of treading
upon dead or dried sticks or piles of dead leaves, and
feel the ground cautiously with each foot before you
rest your whole weight upon it.

But none of this care must take off any of the atten-
tion of your eyes. For these must ajl the time be
sweeping the whole ground as far ahead as you can
see and covering the whole arc of a semicircle in
range. Do not look as a child or woman does — at
only one thing at a time— but let your gaze be com-
prehensive as well as keen, taking in at one view the
near and the distant, the front and the sides of your
field of vision.

At the same time beware of going too slowly. To
traverse sufficient ground is quite as important in the

LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 61

long-run as anything else in still-hunting. You must
rid your mind at once of the besetting sin of the tyro
— the idea that nearly every bush contains a deer.
It is true that a deer may be in any bush. And you
must hunt and look upon that assumption. But it is
equally true and often equally probable that there is
not one within quarter of a mile of you. And the speed
of your movements must be often based upon that
assumption. Between these two conflicting principles
you must learn to make a happy compromise; yield-
ing sometimes almost entirely to one, sometimes
almost entirely to the other; sometimes taking the
golden mean between the two.

Here we are on the ridges at last. And you at once
see signs of deer about you. Here, there, and every-
where are places where sharp-toed hoofs have pressed
down the dead leaves. In some places they have cut
through the leaves. In some places they have pressed
a damp leaf into the ground so that it forms a lining
to the track. Pick up a few of the dry leaves and see
if any of those lying next the damp ones below are
moistened any on the under side. Here is one with a
distinct trace of dampness where it has been pressed
against a wet one below. The leaf has had no time
to dry since it was done. Here, too, close beside it
are droppings that have had no time to dry (or freeze,
if it be cold weather). Put your fingers in several of
these footprints and see if they are not of different
sizes. Observe the size also of the droppings. Let
nothing escape you that will indicate the number of
the deer, so that you do not mistake the work of one
for that of half a dozen. Here is a bit of ground that
is quite bare. And upon it are plainly visible three
different-sized tracks. One is that of a big buck.

62 THE STILL-HUNTER.

The others are tracks of a doe and fawn. The "edges
of the tracks and the bottom of the depressions are
clear-cut, smooth, and fresh-looking, in that appear-
ance so impossible to describe. A little more inspec-
tion shows that the droppings, too, all vary in size.

Look carefully now all around as far as you can see.
But do not look for a deer. Remember this singular
advice. Do not forget it for a moment. One of the
greatest troubles that besets the beginner is looking
all the time/tf/- a deer. If the artist's deer is in sight
you will see him quickly enough. Never mind that
beast at all. Spend all your time in looking for spots
and patches of light gray, dark gray, brown, or even
black. Examine all you can see from only the size of
your hand to the size of a small goat. Never mind
the shape of them. Examine, too, everything that
looks like the thick part of a thicket, and every blur
or indistinct outline in a brush. No matter how
much it may look like a bit of stump, fallen log, shade,
or tangle of brush, or how little it may in shape re-
semble a deer; if it is in brush, or anywhere where you
cannot see clearly what it is, give it a second, even a
third, look. Look low, too, very low, along the ground.
And be very careful how you run your eye over a bit
of brush, deciding that it is too low for a deer to be in
without your seeing him. Not only does a deer in the
woods generally look entirely unlike the deer that
stands in Imagination's park, but it does nof stand half
so high in the woods as it does in that park. When un-
suspicious, a deer often has his head down, and this,
too, makes him still lower. You need not be looking
at this time of day for a deer lying down, but look
just as low along the ground as if you were looking
for one lying down.

LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 63

There are numerous such spots, patches, and blurs
in view. But under a keen scrutiny they all fade into
stumps, pieces of log, etc., and you are satisfied that
there is nothing in sight.

Before going on, now, stop a moment and take a
very important lesson. You see that the ground in
every direction is dented with tracks. There is scarcely
a square foot anywhere without two or three or half
a dozen prints in it. You see, too, droppings in every
direction. Now nearly every tyro, and a great many
who have hunted enough to know better, will think
at once of not less than forty deer. They will not
so express it in words. And if asked directly how
many they thought had made all these tracks, they
would doubtless tone it down to eighteen or twenty.
But the latent idea that remains in their mind is of
about forty deer.

Now all these tracks and dropping were probably
made by only three deer* There may have been five or
six; perhaps another doe and fawn or two fawns. Or
perhaps another old buck and a yearling or two-year-
old buck. But if you examine the age and size of
the tracks and droppings, you will see how three deer
visiting this ground every day could in two or three
weeks make all this amount of indications. You can-
not say positively that they alone did it. But they
could have done it. And the probability is that they
did. You cannot see the proof of this now. For that
you must wait until snow comes or until you can get
on bare ground where you can track welt and can see
just how a few deer can mark ground. Until then
take my word for it. For a proper idea of how many
deer there are about you will save you a large amount
of wondering, disappointment, and vexation, as well

64 THE STILL-HUNTER.

as help you direct your steps to the most proper places
to search for what they are. Few things so perplex
the beginner and make him go wandering so aimlessly
about the woods, expecting to see deer every minute
yet ever fretting with disappointment, as exaggerated
notions of the quantity of deer around him.

Here you see where the buck has gone down the
side of the ridge we are on and across the flat below.
He has doubtless crossed the next ridge. Although
it is generally not worth while to track an old buck
at this time of year, especially when the ground is
bare — a thing almost impossible where tracks are so
numerous as they are here — yet at this time of the
morning fresh tracks are an excellent guide, and it is
often best to take a look in the direction in which
they have gone. Remember what I told you about
the quantity of deer. You will see the expediency of
doing this instead of roaming idly off in any direction.

In moving across this flat between this and the next
ridge you may now go quite fast. But be still cau-
tious about noise. And above all things tread on no
dead sticks.

Here, you see, is the track again where the buck
has gone up the next ridge. But it turns off and goes
toward the neck of land that joins this ridge to the
one we just left. No matter, though ; he may have
turned again. Now look over the ridge just as keenly
as if you knew he were in the next hollow.

Slowly now ! very slowly ! For your head is about
to rise over the crest of the ridge and come in plain
sight of everything on the next ridge beyond and in
the hollow between. Drop your gun, too, from your
shoulder.

Here are two important points, the neglect of

LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 65

which causes even quite good hunters to lose many a
deer. Many a one brings half his body into view at
once before he fairly begins to look. Then his gun
remains on his shoulder, flashing in the sun perhaps,
swinging as he turns his body to look from right to
left, always making an unnecessary amount of plainly
visible motion if it should be necessary to lower it to
shoot. You remember what I told you about the
quickness of a deer's eye to catch a motion. Should
you happen to bring your head in view of the deer at
the time when he happens to have his head up and be
watching — which is at least one half and often two
thirds of his time when on foot — he is almost certain
to see you unless you raise your head as little as pos-
sible and do it very slowly. This is extremely im-
portant in antelope-stalking ; but its importance in
deer-hunting, even in heavy timber, must never be
underrated. Therefore make this a habit, so that you
come to do it unconsciously — to drop your gun al-
ways in going up the crest of a ridge; to show no more
of your head than is absolutely necessary; to inspect
the ground beyond, layer by layer, beginning with the
farthest ground on the ridge beyond and running
gradually down into the hollow. An exception to this
would be when you know the game is in the hollow,
when you know it to be alarmed or moving, or when
your scent can blow over the ridge into the hollow.
In such case it may be best to get on your hands and
knees to look over instead of showing your whole
body to anything that may be on the slopes beyond.
And you never need your gun on your shoulder at
such times. Cultivate this habit at once. It will cost
you a minute or two of time only, requires no extra
work, and will secure you many a good standing shot

Ob . THE STILL-HUNTER.

where you would otherwise get only a wild running
one or too long a standing one.

A long and careful look over the ground beyond
shows you no game. You however notice plenty of
tracks on this ridge also. And careful examination
will show you that they were made by the very same
deer that tracked up the last ridge.

Here, too, are three or four smooth, oval depres-
sions in the ground about two or two and a half feet
long and about half as wide. The leaves in them are
pressed down nice and flat, and there are some quite
fresh tracks in them made after the occupant rose. I
need hardly tell you that they are beds; but I do need
to tell you that they are night beds. Therefore you
need not expect to see a deer lying at the foot of the
next tree or under the next bush.

The distinction between beds made by deer at night
and those made by them during the day is important,
and one almost certain to be overlooked by the unas-
sisted beginner. And it is almost certain to make
him waste much time and temper in searching for
deer on ground where they lie only at night, while
they are lying down perhaps a mile away. This sub-
ject properly belongs to another chapter, but I call
your attention to it now that you may lose no time
with these beds. The distinction is this. Deer will at
night lie down almost anywhere; but if disturbed by
hunting or otherwise they will hardly ever lie down
by day on or near their feeding-ground, or near their
watering-place, or on any ground except such as, in a
subsequent chapter, I shall describe as " lying-down
ground."

Instead of crossing this ridge and going to the next
one, keep along the side you are now on, but just

LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 67

enough below the crest to see over and along the top
of the ridge. Follow it along in this way until you
reach the neck of land that connects this ridge with
the one you were last on. Then peep as cautiously
over this as you did over the last ridge.

You see several new ridges leading away in various
directions, with nice little hollows between them con-
taining charming places for a deer to stand in or feed
in. But you see nothing resembling a deer. Pass on,
then, along the main backbone of the ridges, and keep
a keen watch from side to side, being careful about
showing too much of yourself or showing even the
upper half of your head too quickly to anything that
might be in any of the hollows; and examine the tops
and sides of every ridge as carefully as you can.

Here, you see, are some more beds; and the tracks
in two of them are of different size from those we saw
before, which shows that within a quarter of a mile
there have been since last evening at least five, prob-
ably six and perhaps seven, different deer. These,
too, are only night-beds, and the occupants may now
be half a mile or more away. But as it is not yet
time to lie down, they may be only a hundred yards
away. And now you may 'walk still more slowly, for
the chances of being near a deer are increasing. Of
course the more plenty deer are, the more carefully
you must move.

But see here ! What is this ? Down the sloping
side of a ridge the ground is torn up and the fresh
dirt and leaves thrown about. There are four such
places nearly together. In some of them there are
plain marks of two long split-hoofs and two prints of
dew-claws just back of them. Here is another set of
such marks fifteen feet farther on, and again about

68 THE STILL-HUNTER.

twelve feet beyond these last. The dirt thrown out is
dark, soft, and damp. The bottom of the torn-up
place is in some spots clean, smooth, and even shiny^
You need not be told what mean these long plunging
jumps of sharp-edged hoofs. But to take a good les-
son, follow the track back a few jumps.

It leads back to the top of the ridge and stops at a
small clump of bushes about waist-high. Here, you
see, are some fresh tracks and droppings of a pretty
large deer. Here, too, are the ends of many twigs all
freshly bitten off. Mark, too, the direction of the
tracks the biter made as he stood here browsing.
You find that they point toward where you were a
minute or two ago. "It could not have been pos-
sible," do you think ? It does indeed seem strange
that a deer could have been standing in brush so low
and thin as this and you not see him. But that he
should run away in full bounding career without your
seeing or hearing him does seem incredible.

Now put a piece of paper on these freshly bitten
twigs and then take your track back to the place
where you first come in sight of the paper.

Following your track back some sixty yards along
the ridge, we reach a point where the paper first be-
comes visible. And behold ! you can almost see
through all that brush, and it appears not over two
feet high !

- Now mark well your error, and never forget it. It
is not at all likely that he either heard or smelt you,
for you were going with extreme caution, and a gentle
breeze was rising and was in your face. But you
passed your eye too carelessly over that brush just
because it was so low and thin. You thought of course
you could see everything there. You were hunting

LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 69

in Fancy's park again and forgot that you were in the
woods ; and when you raised your head more and
were looking around to the right he saw you, and
two jumps took him out of sight. Remember again
what I told you, that a deer is not six feet high in the
woods, and does not spend his time in posing for a
sculptor or artist.

It will be quite useless now to go in the direction
in which he ran ; for not only do you stand little
chance of seeing him, but he will probably stampede
all deer along his course.

You now wander along for nearly half a mile, seeing
plenty of fresh signs of deer, enough, combined with
what you have already seen, to justify the conclusion
that at least fifteen deer have fed on these ridges this
morning; and that is quite plenty enough to satisfy
any reasonable being. You begin to feel a strong
hope that you will soon see something.

You do see something, but it is another set of long,
plunging jumps. Follow them back and see how you
lost the deer. As long^as you hunt, no matter how
old you may grow in experience, make it your custom
whenever you lose a deer to study how you lost him.
This may occupy a little time at first, but in the end
it will well repay you.

Following the jumps back, you find that the deer
was standing on the clear open top of the ridge when
he started. The direction of the wind shows that he
did not smell you; it is not at all likely that he heard
you, for you were moving very quietly and were also
down the wind from him, just as in the other case;
and a glance back at the ground over which you came
shows that you could have seen him at least a hun-
dred and fifty yards off.

70 THE STILL-HUNTER.

To one having much pride in his acuteness of sight
this would seem good proof that some other cause or
thing had startled the deer. But you had better lay
aside all your pride, and remember that this fact may
also prove that a deer in the woods can see you and
run away without your ever seeing him run. And
this can happen in woods and on ridges much more
open than these are. You probably passed your eye
directly over a small, dim, dark-grayish spot far away
among the tree-trunks without a suspicion of what it
was; and as your eye wandered on around the circle
of vision you never noticed its disappearance. Your
trouble is that you cannot yet comprehend in the con-
crete what you already are beginning to realize in
the abstract — the difficulty of recognizing your game
under the circumstances under which you are most
likely to meet it. Your scrutiny of the woods is as
yet entirely too general, and is not one half as keen as
you flatter yourself it is.

You now pass over nearly half a mile, when sud-
denly you see a grand old buck standing in a thicket
a hundred and fifty yards away. There he stands in
all the majesty of the buck on the powder-flask, with
his big antlers, big neck, big body, and all.

No; do not shoot from here. He suspects nothing,
and will stand there a few minutes. You can easily
get close enough for a sure shot. Back off from this
ridge and work around its point. That will bring
you to that large fallen log that lies within seventy-
five yards of him.

With chattering teeth, quaking heart, and crawling
hair you finally reach the fallen tree. Taking a cau-
tious look, you see nothing ; a still more keen and
cautious look reveals only a greater intensity of noth-

LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 71

ing. After more looking and carefully advancing
you reach the place where he was. But there is noth-
ing there, and there are no fresh tracks, signs, or jumps
to show that a deer has been there within two days.
You lean against a huge piece of fallen white-oak that
has lodged in some brush among some upturned roots
and of charred trunks of fallen pine, and wonder where
your deer is.

Well, go. back to the ridge and look at the log
against which you are leaning, and take a lesson quite
as important as any you could possibly take to-day;
namely, how a deer does not look in the woods. At that
distance and among that kind of stuff a deer would
not be one third as large or distinct as what you saw;
and if he were standing there motionless it would take
the very keenest of eyes to detect him.

The sun is now getting so high that most of the
deer have probably left the ridges and gone off to lie
down; and we will leave them for another time. But
be not discouraged in the least by the fact that you
have seen no deer. You have learned far more than
if you had shot one. For if you had killed one you
would probably have sat for a week beneath a cata-
ract of joy and conceit, perfectly blind to all one could
tell you. Few things are so fatal to ultimate success
as an early germination of the idea that you are "a
pretty smart chap on deer." It is almost as ruinous
as the idea that you are a poet. The teachers you
need are disappointment and humiliation. If these
cure you of still-hunting, it is well; for it proves you
were not born for that, and the sooner you quit it the
better. But if there is any of the true spirit in you,
defeat will only inspire you. You will learn more
from your failures than many do from success, and

72 THE STILL-HUNTER.

they will arouse you to double care, double energy,
double keenness, and double hope.

The analysis of error is a far better source of in-
struction than the analysis of truth. For this reason
we will at first study failures more than successes.
And this will be rendered all the more easy by the
fact that at first you will probably have little besides
error to study.

LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 73

CHAPTER VII.

LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN.

HAVING failed to see deer on foot during their feed-
ing or lounging time of the morning, the next best
thing is to seek them where they have gone to lie
down during the main part of the day. It is some-
times more easy to find them in this way than when
they are on foot, though it is generally harder. It is
generally so very difficult to see one in bed at all that
you are mainly confined in this kind of hunting to
what is known as "jumping a deer;" that is, starting
him from his bed, and firing at him as he bounds away
or waiting until he stops to look back a moment, as
deer generally do if little disturbed.

From the loose talk among hunters and the care-
less pens of writers about "jumping" deer the begin-
ner is very apt to fancy it something like kicking up
a hare from its form and rolling it over with a charge
of shot as it scuds away. He is very apt to go march-
ing confidently about expecting to see a deer hop out
of any bush within twenty or thirty yards. This will
occasionally happen, especially if the wind be right
and the ground soft enough for silent walking. But
three times out of four "jumping" a deer is what you
shall soon see for yourself.

When entirely undisturbed by man deer will lie
down in the daytime as they do at night — almost any-

74 THE STILL-HUNTER.

where. But even then they show a decided prefer-
ence for the following kinds of ground:

1. The points and backs of ridges, especially if
brushy.

2. The brushy heads of little ravines and hollows.

3. Windfalls and choppings, especially when old
and brushy.

4. Thin thickets containing fallen logs or trees.

5. Heavy thickets without fallen logs or trees.

6. Patches of heavy fern or willow in little valleys.

7. Little plateaus, knobs, or terraces on hill-sides.
In open country in addition to the above-named

places, if there are any, they will take —

8. The long grass or heavy weeds of sloughs or
swales.

9. The brushy edges and center of patches of scrub
timber.

10. Hill-sides with scattered trees or bushes.

11. The bottoms of canons, gullies, and shady ra-
vines, with the side pockets, etc., connected with them.

12. Brushy basins and the brushy bottoms of creeks
and rivers.

13. The shade of big rocks, etc.

14. Bare ground under a tree on a hill-side, ridge,
or in a valley, lying there just as cattle do.

There are many other places in which they spend
the day, such as swamps, heavy chapparal, etc. But
in all such places it is not worth while to hunt at all
in this way.

If little disturbed they will not generally go far
from their feeding-ground or watering-place to lie
down. I have, however, known deer that scarcely
ever saw or heard a man go as far back as three miles
and as high up as five thousand feet from their feed-

LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 76

ing and watering place. It is only in very high and
quite dry mountains that they are likely to do this,
though flies, heat, and other causes may make them
sometimes go far back anywhere.

Much hunting is, however, almost sure to drive
them farther back, to make them take the thickest
brush and the highest ground. And in mountainous
country it is quite certain to drive them to higher
ground, from which they will descend only at night.
And there is then little ground too high or too rough
for them. They are apt, too, to go farther back
about the full of the moon, though I find the moon
makes little practical difference about the distance
deer go back. It affects more the time of going.

In winter f deer are quite certain to lie in the sun.
In summer they are quite as certain to lie in shade.
In autumn they often do both, lying in the sun dur-
ing the cool part of the morning (though they are
then more apt to stand in the sun), and changing to
the shade when it becomes warm. They seldom lie
down where they will be disturbed with noises that
make them get up often and look, such as wagons,
cattle, etc. Yet they care nothing for the plain noise
of people if it be distant.

Just when and where a deei may be expected to lie
down it is, of course, impossible to say. Like many
other kinds of game, they are provokingly irregular
in their habits, and do not appreciate your kindness
in picking out nice lying-places for them, but prefer
to make their own selection. If you cannot track,
you can only travel on, on, on over such ground as is
above described and have patience until something
starts.

The same caution that was needful before must be

76 THE STILL-HUNTER.

still observed. In regard to noise from your feet you
must be even more cautious than when looking for
deer on foot; since they will hear noise from your
feet more readily when lying with head near the
ground than when standing.

Though a deer cannot smell or see you quite so
readily when lying down as when on foot, he can still
do either quickly enough. A deer lies generally with
head up and sometimes with it laid over on one side;
but in either case is nearly always listening and
watching. Occasionally a deer falls in the daytime
into a light doze, and once in a while you may thus
get very close to one before he springs. In such case
he is very apt to stop after a jump or two. But the
times when a deer thus loses himself in. the daytime
are very rare, and nearly all his sleeping is done at
night. And even if he were sound asleep in the day-
time, it would not allow of any carelessness in ap-
proaching him. His senses are not to be trifled with
under any circumstances. So that the question of a
deer's sleeping by day is of no practical importance.

Sometimes a deer will purposely lie still when he
hears a person. This kind of lying close will rarely
or never trouble you on the kind of ground we are
now considering. All your trouble will be the other
way.

Sometimes it is quite easy to see a deer while in bed;
as where they are in open timber or open bluffy country
with little heavy brush, but with snow on the ground
and the country rolling enough to allow you to get
well above them so as to look down upon them. At
such times every dark-looking oval spot, no matter
how much it may resemble a stump, requires close
inspection. Where they are lying under trees on open

LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 77

ridges, along hill-sides, or in valleys, it is also quite
easy to see them; as in much of the ground that deer
frequent in California and countries of similar moun-
tain formation, before they are hunted too much. But
in the Eastern States a deer will now be rarely or
never found lying by day in such a place.

You must be careful, therefore, how you waste much
time in trying to see deer in bed. Where the ground
is very rocky, brushy, or covered with windfalls, if
there is no snow, or even if there is snow unless the
ground is quite rolling, it will not be worth while to
try to see them so. In such case your object should
generally be to get over the greatest amount of ground
with the least noise, depending entirely upon starting
one close enough for a shot. And even on ground
where deer can be seen you must strain your eyes to
the utmost, for it is even then no very easy matter to
see one in bed.

Very rarely does a deer lie twice in the same bed.
A fat old buck late in summer or in early fall, before
he begins to roam much, will sometimes do it. Any
deer may sometimes lie for several days on a piece of
a few acres, though roaming a mile or more away from
it at night. Fawns and does, as well as barren does
and yearlings, will sometimes lie twice in the same
bush and even in the very same bed of the day before
or beside it. But the rule is very decidedly the other
way. Though deer often keep for years in the same
orbit of a mile or so in diameter, they change their
special whereabouts so often that as a rule it will
never be worth while to hunt around old beds; and
when you have started a deer from a particular bed
you need not, as a rule, expect to find him either there

78 THE STILL-HUNTER.

or very near by it for two or three or four days and
often more.

One of the most natural blunders a beginner will
make is to spend the middle of the day hunting around
the oak ridges or wherever he sees the most tracks,
when in fact most of the deer are half a mile or a mile
away. I have already noticed the distinction between
night-beds and day-beds, and between ground where
deer feed and where they go to lie down. You must
bear this ever in mind or you may lose much time in
hunting where your game was two or three hours or
more ago and a half-mile or more from where it now is.

Let us therefore leave the ridges, as it is ten o'clock
and the majority of the deer are now lying down. Half
a mile to the north are some very brushy ridges and
windfalls, and just beyond them is a large piece of
ground from which the pine has been cut out. This
is known to the woodsmen and hunters as a "slash"
or "chopping." A pine "slash" is about as rough a
piece of ground as is possibly consistent with still-
hunting. It is covered in all directions with tree-tops,
logs too small or too broken by falling to make good
lumber, small brush and trees crushed by the larger
ones, stumps and branches of all sizes, and the whole
is well covered with briers, saplings, and brush. But
there is no other ground that the deer so loves to lie
down in during the cool bright days of autumn and
the sunny days of winter.

Here is a large windfall just ahead. It will bear in-
spection. Mounting one of the huge fallen trunks on
the outside, we see nothing but great shafts of timber
lying headlong in ruinous confusion, mixed through-
out with great upturned roots, crushed tops, and shat-
tered limbs, and throughout all a rank growth of

LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 79

briers and young brush. But wherever we see the
bare ground distinctly there are signs of deer. See
that smooth oval depression in the ground on the
sunny side of those great upturned roots of a pine.
A deer lay there yesterday; and if he has not been dis-
turbed it is not at all unlikely that he is here now.

Hark! Did your ear catch that faint crack of brush
about a hundred yards off ? No. Yet dull and un-
trained, your ear did not notice it. And if it had no-
ticed it, it would doubtless have taken it for a squirrel
or a bird.

We reach the other side of the windfall without
seeing anything. Let us, however, take a circuit
around the edge and see if anything has gone out.
What is that mark on the ground about twenty yards
ahead ? Some leaves are upturned. They look moist
on one side. The dirt, too, is dark, damp, and soft,
and shows plainly the imprint of four feet that have
come plunging into it from above. Look back over
this log and see if you do not find some more tracks
there.

You find them readily. And several feet farther
back toward the main body of the windfall you find
more.

Well, we have "jumped " a deer at last. Let us try
another and see if we cannot get at least a view of
him as he jumps.

Do you see those brushy ridges with the ends point-
ing this way, some two hundred yards away, just vis-
ible in the distance ? The backs and points of those
are worth examining when deer are so plenty as they
now are here. Make a wide circuit to the left so
as to reach the backbone of the first ridge a hun-
dred and fifty yards or more from its point. Then go

80 THE STILL-HUNTER.

carefully out to the point. If you see nothing, retrace
your steps and take the next ridge the same way.

Too much trouble for an uncertainty, do you think?
Then by all means have your own way and go straight
to the point. You may learn more in that way. But
you will yet see the day when you will take far more
trouble than that for an uncertainty.

On you go to the first point, travel down that ridge
and across to the next one. Up that and down the
next one you think you will go, when suddenly you
find some more tracks of long plunging jumps. They
look so fresh that you had better follow them back
to where they came from.

They lead you to the very point of the second ridge,
and there, in a bunch of thin brush, you find a fresh
warm bed about fifteen feet from where the occu-
pant's hoofs tore up the dirt at the first place he
struck the ground. Now stoop down in the bed until
your head is about eighteen inches from the ground.
Do you notice now how you can see over nearly the
whole of the low ground over which you passed in
coming to the other ridge? The deer might possibly
have heard you. But as he could have seen you, we
need not seek any other explanation. Now if you
had followed my advice, he could not have seen you
until you were quite close; you would have had the
same advantage of the wind, for it is blowing across
the ridges; you might have got a shot at him as he
was running away over the level ground; and if he
had run around either side of the ridge you would
probably have heard his hoofs, and by a quick dash to
that side of the ridge you might have got a shot at
him. At all events, you would at least have seen him,

LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 81

which would be no small pleasure to one who has
never yet seen a wild deer in his native woods.

And now we are in sight of the old "chopping" or
"slash," a clearing with an occasional tall dead,
burned or blasted tree standing amid a general soli-
tude of logs and brush.

You must now study four things in the following
order of relative importance :

ist. To avoid noise in walking.

2d. To avoid going down the wind.

3d. To keep on as high ground as is consistent
with quiet walking and the wind.

4th. To keep the sun on your back.

The first three of these we have already considered,
and you know their importance. For hunting open
ground the fourth often becomes of great importance;
and it is sometimes an advantage worth all the rest
together. In hunting ground as open as a " slash," it
is sometimes quite important, especially if there are
any deer in it still on foot, which is often the case, as
deer do not reserve a slash exclusively for siestas. And
on all kinds of ground it is an advantage that should
always be taken where it can be done without sacri-
fice of the others.

Under the head of shooting with the rifle we shall
examine the difficulties of shooting toward the sun,
especially when it is near the horizon, the time when
you will be most apt to get shots at deer. Now to hunt
toward the sun is often to have to shoot toward the sun.
And the more you can avoid this the better. So much
is this the case that if you are hunting down a nar-
row shallow ravine or gulch from which you expect
to jump a deer and will have to take a running shot
along or up one side or across the ridge or open

82 THE STILL-HUNTER.

ground on the other side, you had better walk on the
side toward the sun even though it be the windward
side and be the most difficult one upon which to move
quietly. This principle holds with more or less force
in all cases where your game will be likely to run
toward the sun, especially if up hill.

But there is another reason quite as strong which
is of immense advantage in such kinds of open ground
as prairie, table-lands, etc., where you often see deer
at a long distance. If you have the sun on your own
back and full on a deer's coat, he will strike your eye
twice as far or twice as quickly as if the case were re-
versed. When the sun is the other way you may
sometimes see at a long distance the sheen as the sun
glances from the hair on a deer's back. But as a rule,
the practical effect of having the sun beyond the deer
is to make the deer stand in shade. You need scarcely
be told that this makes him much harder to see, aside
from the dazzling effect of the sun upon your eyes.
And when you are in the sun and the deer has it be-
hind him, it is as much easier for him to see you as it
is easier for you to see him when you have the sun on
your back and it is shining full upon his jacket. And
there is so much sunshine in these old choppings or
slashes that you should give this point all the at-
tention possibly consistent with a due regard to the
others.

For an hour you toil through the bristly beard of
the old clearing, picking your way through old
logging-roads or other open places, when you come to
another series of tracks made by plunging hoofs and
ten or fifteen feet apart. Examination shows that a
doe and two full-grown fawns have just vacated a bit
of brush among some old logs in a manner savoring

LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 83

decidedly of expedition. And yet you have seen and
heard nothing. But you are doing something of much
more ultimate use to you than seeing or even bagging
a deer could possibly be. You are learning at last
what it means to "jump a deer." It means generally
out of shot, often out of hearing, frequently even out
of sight.

Well, let us move along. The ground is getting
higher and more broken and is nearing a creek bot-
tom. This bottom is covered with "hard-wood" tim-*
ber, and some of it begins to appear upon the ground
we are now on.

But hark! What is that? A sound like the distant
hoof of a horse in slow gallop, coming from the side
of the hill toward the creek bottom.

And now see how naturally you will do just the very
thing you should not do — a thing the beginner is
almost certain to do at first if left to himself. You
sneak cautiously to the edge of the hill and peer keenly
over in the direction from which the sound came.
You think you see about everything there is to be
seen. And you are about right. • For that dark, dim
spot in the edge of the timber that faded away with a
single whisk into the dark depths of the timber was
hardly to be seen by even the keenest eyes until just
too late to shoot.

While you were sneaking so cautiously a deer was
getting swiftly away, and stopped in the edge of the
heavy timber to look back. He then saw your hat
rise slowly over the edge of the hill. As he was
standing still and you were moving he had every ad-
vantage of you. He saw you at once and left before
your eye got around to where he was. But you prob-
ably would not have seen him even had you turned

84 THE STILL-HUNTER.

your glance at once upon him, for a deer in such tim-
ber is very hard to see. And even if you had seen
him he would undoubtedly have seen you first, and
would probably have started before you could take a
shot. Now if at the first sound of hoofs you had run
at top speed for the edge of the hill you would have re-
versed all this. You would have come in sight of him
before he stopped running. If you had then stopped
instantly, you would have had either a running shot
or a good standing shot as soon as he stopped. For,
not seeing you if you were motionless, he would have
paused a moment or two before going on. In such a
case don't stop even to reload your rifle, as you can
run to the edge and then load with much more chance
of success than by loading first and then going.

This is a principle that must never be forgotten.
The advantage that one of two persons or animals at
rest has over the other one moving, is immense. And
if a deer in any way gets this advantage you will
rarely get him, if very wild, except by a long running
shot. With antelope it is still more fatal to success.
And even to the tamest deer this advantage must
never be given, but should be always retained by the
hunter. There are many cases in which you cannot
prevent a deer from having it, and such constitute
a large part of what is known as the " luck against
you."

It is now getting toward the middle of the after-
noon and is time to work toward the oak ridges again.
In hunting them observe the same rules that you ob-
served this morning. But remember that as night
approaches it becomes very hard to distinguish a deer
among the tree-trunks, even though other objects still
remain quite distinct.

LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 85

Night drops at last her dark pall around your hopes.
You wend your way homeward with gloomy face and
heavy heart.

Yet why despond? You cannot expect to learn an
art in a day or two. You have made progress enough
already. You have learned what deer-hunting is not.
You do not yet realize in a practical form the exces-
sive amount of caution necessary. You still step too
hard; let your clothes touch too much brush; your
eyes are yet too dull; and you make many mistakes
of strategy.

But there is no ground for discouragement. It took
me just eleven days, where deer were plenty, too, but
very wild, to get sight of my first deer. Humiliating to
confess, but I confess for your benefit. The causes
were books, dry leaves, still days, and totally erro-
neous notions derived from pictures, hunting-stories,
old hunters' gabble, etc., without any book or friend to
help me.

86 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME.

BY the first shimmer of light from the eastern arch
you tread again the oak ridges. Disappointment in-
stead of discouraging you has only spurred your
spirits to the prancing point. The woods, too, begin
to seem more like home than before, and your eyes
take in with swifter and more comprehensive glance
the various sights of the forest. Far quicker and
farther than ever before and with only a side glance
you detect the tip of the squirrel's bushy tail or his
little ears as he peers inquiringly at you through
some fork of a tree. Almost without looking you see
the ruffed grouse spread his banded fan-like tail and
walk over the dead leaves in the heavy thicket
along the creek. And far faster and more keenly
your eye darts down the long forest aisles and
among the dark colonnades of tree-trunks, and sees
everything very much more plainly than before. All
but the thing you wish to see! All around you are
tokens enough of its recent presence, but it seems a
kind of spiritual slipperiness that eludes all your
senses.

You will now observe all the precautions given you
before and wind along and over the ridges, sometimes
crossing them directly, sometimes quartering over
them, sometimes traveling behind the crest, some-
times moving directly upon the top; according to

THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 87

shape of ground, direction of wind, and facilities for
quietly moving.

Suddenly your eye rests upon a dim spot of dark
gray on a ridge a hundred and fifty yards off. A
strange feeling overwhelms you at once, for there is
about it a something — an indescribable something —
that never would have caught your eye before, but
now does most decidedly catch it. But then it does
not look in the least like —

Ha! It moves, and in a moment slides slowly out
of sight over the ridge.

Why, that must have been a —

Of course. What other thing of that color would
be there at this time of day? Its head and legs were
out of sight beyond the crest of the ridge, so that you
could distinguish nothing that looked much like an
animal.

And now what will you do about it ? Seeing a deer
is by no means getting a shot at it, and getting a shot
is often a long way from bagging it. I will leave you
to yourself and let you see how naturally you will do
the wrong thing.

With stealthy step you cross the hollow directly in
line with the spot where the deer disappeared. By
the time you get half way to the top of the ridge a
faint thump -k-thump comes from the other side. Re-
membering your experience of yesterday, you dash to
the crest and arrive there just in time to see — nothing.
You had just a little too far to run; it was up hill
also; and the deer needed but a few bounds to disap-
pear in the heavy timber of the flat below.

And how did you lose him ? Well, he was feeding
slowly along, and was just below where you last saw
him when you came to the foot of the ridge. You

88 THE STILL-HUNTER.

went quietly enough; that is, about as quietly as any
one could go on such ground. But the ridge was
both narrow and low, and it would have been nearly
impossible on leaves, and would have been hard enough
even on snow, to approach close enough to see him
without his hearing your steps. Now the wind would
have allowed you to swing around the point of the
ridge toward which he was feeding, which would
have brought you eighty or ninety yards ahead of
him and directly on his course. From that point you
could either have shot or have lain and watched his
movements, and perhaps have had him feed toward
you. Or you might have swung around the other
way and have come in behind him. But this course
would have been unsafe if the deer were moving at
any speed, as it would have brought you in too far
behind him, and the deer is such a fast walker that
you could not have overtaken him without making
too much noise. You might also have waited a while
in the flat to advantage. For he either might have
appeared on the ridge again or would have had more
time to get off the other side or farther along it, so
that you could have got in sight of him without his
hearing you. As it was, you would have had to get
within fifteen or twenty yards of him to see him at
all; a thing extremely hard to do even on soft snow.

Four or five more ridges are crossed, and as you are
winding along the back of another one there is a sud-
den flash of white among the dark tree-trunks two
hundred yards ahead; another second and it flashes
again, but more faintly; another dim flash, and it is
gone.

There is no need of desponding, however. You are
doing finely. You are making progress enough in

THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 89

getting sight of them at all. And never shall you see
the time when, in spite of all your care, the white flag
will not occasionally wave you such a farewell. You
were not to blame; for there are times when a deer
will see the hunter first and no amount of skill or
caution on his part can prevent it. Still, you might as
well allow this escape to intensify your caution about
walking quietly, as well as your keenness of vision.

Old Phoebus has his wain hitched up at last; its
glowing axle is climbing fast the eastern sky; the
tree-tops begin to whisper in the rising breeze. It is
time the deer were beginning to move toward their
lying-down ground, and we might as well work that
way. But let us not go too fast.

Stop ! There is one just below the crest of yonder
ridge; just in the edge of a little clump of brush;
about ten feet to the left of that tall basswood.

You cannot see any deer? Do you not see that
dark low thing shaped nearly like a piece of log —
right in the edge of the brush ?

That is no deer ? Well, if you cannot take my word
for it, go on and satisfy yourself. Show more of your
head and shoulders, of course. Smash a stick or two
while twisting your head around for a better view.

As you raise your head for a better view there is a
sudden change. Something like the deer of the artist
is suddenly standing beside the bush, looking rather
small, it is true, but an unmistakable picture-deer,
vastly different from what you saw a second ago and
very pretty and sculpturesque. It stands just long
enough to allow you to think of your rifle; then there
is a graceful undulation of white banner over the
ridge; and in a second you are again gazing sadly at
vacancy.

90 THE STILL-HUNTER.

We are now nearing the old pine-chopping or
"slash," but before going into it let us inspect that
mass of wind-fallen timber on the right. Swing
around to the leeward side, mount a high log and go
on through the windfall, moving as far as possible
upon tree-trunks and logs.

One third of it is thus passed when there is a sud-
den crack of brush and over a distant log whirls a curv-
ing mass of gray. As you raise your rifle with con-
vulsive jerk, down goes the gray over the log with an
upward flirt of a snowy tail. Up it comes again, and
curving over the next huge trunk goes plunging out
of sight behind it, just as you try to catch a sight with
the rifle. Away it goes over log after log, with the
white banner flaunting high as the curving gray goes
down; in an instant it clears the last log; glimmers
for a second on the open ground beyond, and fades in
a twinkling over a little rise.

No occasion for desponding now either. You did
just right. No one could have seen that deer stand-
ing still or lying down in there. The only chance was
to "jump" him and take a running shot. And such a
hurdle-leaper is one of the hardest things in the world
to hit. You actually did better to stand and watch it
without shooting at all than you would have done had
you fired without seeing your rifle-sight or making
any calculations for the deer's up-and-down motion.

And here we are at the slash. Now remember the
points about hunting it that you learned the last time.

For nearly an hour you thread the open places,
picking your way with care. But this gets tiresome,
and you conclude to go to yonder point and sit down
a while. A harmless idea enough; but be just as care-
ful in going to it as you have been at any time yet.

THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 91

No, no. Keep out of those briers. Attempt no
short-cuts. Walk around to that ridge on the right
and take that, for it is high ground and is not brushy.

You listen, however, to your weary legs and take the
short-cut. You finally reach the point, and are about
to sit down when your attention is suddenly arrested
by three small objects careering away nearly a quarter
of a mile off. They look but little larger than rab-
bits; and their woolly tails bob up and down in much
the same manner, as, on a gentle rolling canter, they
dissolve in the brush and briers.

Only a doe and two fawns. They were lying just
over the point and heard you enjoying the luxury of
that short-cut. By going that way you made an un-
necessary cracking of brush which you could have
avoided by taking this old logging-road that leads to
that other ridge. That ridge connects with the one
on which the deer were, and is not brushy enough to
prevent quiet walking. Thus you would have made
no noise and would have been all the time in a posi-
tion to see anything that might run, instead of being
in the brush and briers where you could see nothing.
You may sit down now, but spend the time in ponder-
ing this moral: Beware of short-cuts in still-hunting.

But deer do not always lie upon the ridges or their
points, either in a " slash " or anywhere else. There
is some old hunter's talk about " bucks lyin' up on
the pints a-hardenin' their horns." But my experience
has been that even an old buck at the time his horns
are hardening — late in the summer or very early in
the fall — is just about as fond of a nice little brushy
basin as of the points; especially when the sun is hot
and there is little cover on the points. And at this
time — when the acorns are falling and the deer's

92 THE STILL-HUNTER.

horns are fully hardened — I never could observe that
either bucks, does, or fawns had any preference for
points, though of course they will often lie on them.
Now there, some three hundred yards to the right, is
a nice little basin well filled with old logs and grown
up with brush, which will probably repay inspection.

You go over to it, and before you get a fair sight of
the bottom of it you are startled by a hollow- toned
phew long-drawn and penetrating. Instantly there is
a crash of brush, the thump of heavy hoofs, a gleam
of dark gray among the yielding bushes, a sudden
glistening of the sun on sharp-pointed tines, and in a
twinkling bursts from the brush into the open ground
the stately form of the buck that made those big
tracks you saw leading into the "slash." Away he goes,
with sleek coat bright and glossy in the morning
sun, his shining horns carried well up and his long
snowy tail waving up and down. Just as you begin
to remember what you came for he wheels around a
jutting point and is gone.

And now, why did you forget the lesson you so
lately had about short-cuts ? It was too much trouble
to go a little way around, so you came directly down
the wind, perhaps without thinking about it at all.
It was also too much trouble to get on the ridge in-
stead of entering the basin so low down as you did.
Now if you had made a circuit of three hundred
yards, and got upon this ridge to the leeward, you
might have still had to take a running shot, but you
would have been almost certain to get as close
again before starting the buck, and would have seen
him three times as long after you did start him.
Unless you are more careful you will not only get

THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 93

nothing but running shots, but will get only very long
and bad ones even of those.

Half an hour more brings you in sight of a piece of
low ground along a creek. And here a slight move-
ment in some brush some two hundred yards away
arrests your eye.

Drop at once out of its sight and see what it is.
In a moment two delicate gray ears appear above the
brush, followed by the head and slim, graceful neck
of a fawn.

Pshaw! Only a fawn! Surely no sportsman ever
butchers a little baby-deer.

No; not with the pen. It is always that everlast-
ing "old buck," the biggest, oldest, fattest, and
heaviest ever seen. He never weighs under two hun-
dred and fifty pounds, dressed, and never flourishes
less than seven or eight tines on his horns. Such a
number of these fall annually before the unerring
quill-shots of our country that I have at times felt in-
clined, in the interests of natural history, to offer a
reward for any really reliable information about the
killing of a small doe or a fawn.

The idea that a fawn is necessarily easy to kill is
the offspring of an ignorant head. The spotted fawn
generally is, and few sportsmen ever kill one if they
can see exactly what it is. But when seven or eight
months old a fawn can often slip through the fingers
of skill and experience in a style so deeply impressive
that the older one grows in experience (with the rifle
instead of the pen) the more his respect for a fawn in-
creases. Fawns are wilder to-day than full-grown
deer were twenty years ago; they grow still wilder
with a little hunting ; and they are always wild enough

94 THE STILL-HUNTER.

when alone and not running with the mother to be
highly worthy of the tyro's bullet.

It would not do to shoot from here. It is too far en-
tirely for a sure shot by any one, and a tyro would be
sure to miss. Therefore the very first thing you must do
is not to be in a hurry. Find out what the fawn is doing;
examine all the surroundings; see which is the best
way to approach it. But above all things, positively
no hurry, for in still-hunting Hurry is the parent of
Flurry. There is no occasion for haste, for the fawn
will probably not leave that brush at this time of day.
It probably has not yet lain down and is about to do
so. Or it may have been lying down and has risen
to change its bed to the shade, or you know not what.
At any rate, it is not alarmed, and will probably stay
there until afternoon if let alone. It is browsing a
little, you see. A deer is very apt to nip a few twigs
at any time of the day he happens to be on foot.
Every time it nips a bud or two it raises its pretty
little head above the bushes and takes a good long
look. You must get within at least a hundred
yards, and even fifty if you can; for it will be no easy
matter to tell where its body is, and the head will be
too fine a mark for a beginner.

Slipping backward and going down a little ravine,
you reach the low ground without being seen by the
fawn, and soon reach the patch of low brush in which
you saw it. You take unusual care about every step;
you stoop quite low; you felicitate yourself upon
your acuteness and caution. Arriving within a
hundred yards of where it was, you rise up and take
a look; but seeing nothing, you move on twenty yards
more and take another look. Nothing in sight yet,
and twenty yards more fails to reveal anything.

THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 95

Twenty yards more are passed, and your heart be-
gins to labor heavily, for the crisis fast approaches.
A long look. Nothing stirs. The silence becomes
painfully suspicious. A moment more and you reach
the edge of the bushes. The bright sun filters through
them; the bluejay jangles his discordant notes in the
tree above; the raven wheeling on high grates his dis-
mal throat; but of venison there is neither sight nor
sound. Going around the bushes, you find on the
side toward the creek those marks so refreshing to the
soul of the weary hunter whose internal economy has
for half an hour been running under the superheated
steam of anticipation — fresh tracks of plunging jumps
twelve or fifteen feet apart.

I have seen men who would blame the deer for all
this and start for home, declaring still-hunting a
fraud and vowing vengeance on any one who ever
again mentioned the pestiferous business. I have
known others who blamed themselves for it entirely, sat
down and meditated the causes of their failure, and
arose with increased respect and admiration for the
deer, double determination to conquer him and his
tricks, and redoubled ardor for the chase. For the
first class this book is not written. The Adirondack
guide who holds a deer by the tail in the water for
his patrons to shoot from the boat with a shot-gun,
or the owner of the scaffold at some salt-lick, can give
such all the information they are likely ever to need
or appreciate. But you, for whom this is written, can
learn a good lesson here.

You took care to keep the wind in your face; you
went quietly enough and slowly enough; you also
looked keenly enough. So far very well.

But you forgot two very important things.

96 THE STILL-HUNTER.

ist. That the deer was standing in brush of almost
the height of its head.

2d. That a deer in brush can see out of it far better
than you can see into it.

In such a position a deer has every advantage of
you. Your only chance to see him is to get upon
high ground where you can see down into the brush;
or wait until he moves; or else approach the brush in
such a way that you can get a good running shot in
case he starts. Now there is a knoll on the side to-
ward the creek, and it is only sixty yards from where
the deer was. If you had made a circuit and got
upon it, you would have seen the fawn's neck and
head when he raised them. You would also have
seen him if he moved. You might have waited there
an hour or more with safety, for at this time of day a
deer not disturbed will not move far. He might
have come out of the brush and browsed around the
edges a while, or even have come toward you. At all
events, you would have known just what he was
doing; and if he had lain down, by approaching from
this side you might have had a fair running shot; for
the ground on the other side, you see, is rising and
open, whereas this is falling and so brushy that you
did not even see him when he ran.

On your way homeward in the afternoon you sud-
denly discover two slim gray sticks just under the
trunk of a large fallen tree. A few days ago you
would hardly have noticed them, but now you at once
see a curious colt>r, shape, and slant about them not
shared by common sticks.

But stop. Do not try to get any closer; that will
never do. You are almost too close now. Higher
up and farther around, so as to see the other side of

THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 97

the log, is where you want to get. If you go directly
toward those logs the owner of the " sticks" will be sure
to hear you, or see your legs under the log, before you
can possibly see his body. Back out as silently as
death, and circling around behind that ridge, go to its
top from the back side. That commands a view of the
other side of the tree-trunk. If you should start that
deer now, you would not get even a running shot; at
this time of day he may stand there so long that it will
not be advisable to wait for him to move; if he does
move, the chances are against his moving into your
eye-range, as there are many other big logs close by.

A detour of some two hundred yards brings you to
the top of the ridge. You look down at the fallen
tree and see nothing. You look several seconds, and
yet see nothing. Concluding that you were mistaken
or that he is gone, you come over the crest of the
ridge. And in a twinkling

" Venison vanisheth down the vale
With bounding hoof and flaunting tail."

You were too impatient. He had moved only a
few steps while you were going around, and stood in
a thin bush a few steps to the right. You should
have thoroughly scanned every spot within fifty yards
of the log, and looked for several minutes, instead of
several seconds, before showing even your head over
the ridge. So important is patience in general that I
shall have to reserve it for a special chapter.

You wind your way homeward over the oak ridges,
and through the darkening timber see a white hand-
kerchief or two beckoning you on, and hear once or
twice the sound of bounding hoofs. But you reach
home without seeing anything upon which you can

98 THE STILL-HUNTER.

catch sight with your rifle. You have seen plenty of
deer to-day, but all going, going, going, glimmering
through the dream of things that ought to be. Yet
somehow you feel a supreme contempt for the ex-
ploit of your friend who last year sat by a salt-lick
and bagged two in one night with a shot-gun. You
feel rich in a far higher and nobler experience, and
feel that to him who has within the true spirit of the
chase there is far more pleasure in seeing over a ridge
or among the darkening trunks a flaunting flag wave
a mocking farewell to hope, than in contemplating
a gross pile of meat bagged with less skill than is
required to wring a chicken's neck on a moonlight
night.

And you have learned at last the first steps in what
is the most important part of hunting very wild deer,
and about the last thing about which the tyro is likely
to imagine any difficulty; viz., to get sight of a deer at
all.

THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 99

CHAPTER IX.

THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER.

WE will suppose that several days of blighted hopes
have passed over your head; that some days you have
seen nothing but tracks and occasional long jumps,
and on others only a tail or two glimmering out of
sight in the dark depths of timber or over a ridge.
We will suppose this because it is most likely to be
true, and nothing should be concealed from you. On
the contrary, it is far better to know fully the ob-
stacles before you, so that you will know the want of
progress is your own fault, and one which you share
with all beginners.

We will suppose — what is quite certain to be true if
you have any spirit of the chase in you — that these
days of disappointment have been days full of profit
and rich in experience ; that your eye has become
keener, more widely ranging and comprehensive in
its glance, more familiar with all the features of the
forest, detecting instantly shapes and spots before
unnoticed, and penetrating thicket and brush which
at first appeared almost impenetrable; that your step
has become lighter and more elastic, your foot at once
feeling a stick beneath it while your eyes are fixed far
away; your coat and legs avoiding brush as if instinc-
tively; your ears more keenly alive to every noise, and
your whole being worked up into a combination of
watchfulness and caution.

100 THE STILL-HUNTER.

We will suppose, too, that you have duly studied
the lessons you have had, and are getting quite an
idea of the kinds of ground on which a deer may be
expected to be found at any particular time of day,
as well as of those kinds upon which he will probably
not be found. With this improvement we will try
the woods again.

Already the east is flooded with enough silvery
sheen to allow you to see a deer in the woods, and
again you are gliding along the acorn ridges. The
morning is cool and fresh; there was a fine rain yes-
terday, and all the leaves and twigs under foot are
soft and quiet to the touch; the breeze is strong and
fresh, and by walking against it this morning you
shall have good prospects of game, you think. Very
correct. But relax not an atom of either vigilance or
caution on account of these advantages. Mark this
well. , In still-hunting you have never an advantage to spare.
It will do you no harm to retain every one, and you
may lose by throwing away a very slight one that you
think quite needless.

And what sort of a beast is that on yonder ridge
a hundred and fifty yards away, just dimly visible
through the cloud of twigs and branches of interven-
ing trees ? It can hardly be a deer. It looks small
and dark and lacks all that graceful outline of the
deer engraved on the lock-plate of your gun. Its
head, too, is low down and projecting like that of a
long-necked goat, while its nether extremity looks
awkwardly angular like that of a cow. It is not a
very enchanting piece of symmetry, and seems lacking
in that feature so essential to the regulation deer — a
pair of ten-pointed horns. But then it is an animal
of some kind and must be inspected. And to tell you

THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 101

the truth, you had better lose no time in inspecting it.
For it is walking, and the deer, if this should be one,
is a fast walker.

At a glance you see the folly of shooting at a walk-
ing mark of such a small size at such a distance.
Moreover, there are many twigs and small branches
in the way that can easily deflect a ball. You see,
too, the impossibility of crossing in time the flat be-
tween you and the ridge the deer is on; and very
properly doubt the policy of so doing even if you
could cross it. But you also notice that it is walking
with the wind and along the top of the ridge it is on.
You see, too, that some two hundred yards in the
same direction the deer is taking, the ridge you are
on connects with the one the deer is on.

Quickly and quietly you back off of the ridge you
are on, run down along it to where it joins the other,
and then going carefully to the top you raise your
.head with great caution and look down along the
other ridge. But you see nothing.

And now beware. You are coming now to the
trying point. You have done very well so far, but
are now at the point where a little haste often dashes
to the ground the cup of success just as it has reached
the lip. You want to go ahead. You feel a burning
anxiety to see that animal. Your foot is already
raised to go ahead.

But stop and consider a moment. Suppose that
just at the moment you move ahead the deer should
happen to be standing still. Have you forgotten how
hard it will then be for you to see him, and how easy
it will be for him to see you ? Recollect that it is
only daylight; that the deer is undoubtedly feeding,
and is in no haste to move away; and that you have

102 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the wind from him to you. If it leaves that ridge at
all, it is much more likely to come to this point of
junction with another one than it" is to cross that flat.
That is probably just what it is now doing. At all
events, the chances of its doing that or else staying
on the ridge are greater than the chances of your
moving far along that ridge without being seen by it.
Nevertheless you may move out a little farther, be-
cause you got here so quickly that the deer is prob-
ably little over half way here. But stoop very low;
go very carefully; go no farther than is necessary to
give you a good view of either hollow in case the deer
should cross one of them; and then stop behind a
tree, stand upright behind it, and move your head in
looking as little and as slowly as possible.

And there you stand while a second seems a minute
and a minute seems the grandfather of an hour. How
restless your feet become to move on again! But
yield not an inch to impatience now. Recollect that
there is not one chance in fifty that that deer will re-
retrace his steps; there is not one in five that he will
cross either flat, or one in ten that he can do it with-
out your seeing him and getting a tolerably fair shot
at him. Remember, too, that there is not one chance
in ten of your seeing him first if you move on. That
deer is probably within seventy-five yards of you and
feeding slowly along the ridge.

If patience ever brings reward, it is to the still-
hunter. And here at last comes yours — a piece of
dull dark gray slowly moving in some brush forty or
fifty yards ahead.

No, no ; do not shoot yet. It will surely come
closer and make a more distinct mark. But watch it
closely, for you have no idea of how easily a deer can

THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 103

slip out of sight even in pretty open brush. So keep
your eye on that dark gray while I tell you a little
story about a friend of mine, a dilettante sportsman:

'Twas on a clear and frosty morn,
When loudly on the air were borne
Those weird and deeply thrilling sounds,
The clanging tones of clamorous hounds.
"How sweet," said he, "that music floats
And rolls in wild tumultuous notes;
Now ringing up the mountain's side,
Now waxing, waning, like the tide,
Or swinging loud across the dell
Like Pandemonium's carnival."

Hot bounds his blood in swift career,
When bursts the uproar still more near,
And hope and fear alternate play
With bounding joy and dark dismay.

As louder, nearer, bays the pack,
Cold shivers dance along his back;
From tip to toe his nerves all tingle,
His knee-pans seem almost to jingle,
All o'er his skin hot flashes amble,
And on his head each hair doth scramble;
He feels his heart erratic beat,
He nearly melts with inward heat,
And grasps with quivering hand the gun
As nears the pack in rapid run.

And now there comes an ominous sound

Of hoofs that fiercely spurn the ground,

Close followed by a sudden crash,

As through the brush with headlong dash

There bursts in view a lordly buck.

" Ye gods! " he chattered, " oh, what luck !

But oh ! ain't he a splendid sight!

Those spirit-eyes! How wildly bright!

104 THE STILL-HUNTER.

What graceful form! What glossy vest!
What massive neck! What brawny chest!
What proud defiance seem to shed
Those antlers o'er his shapely head!
How in the sun they flash and shine
From rugged base to polished tine! "

" Phew ! " said the buck, with lofty bound

That scattered dirt and leaves around;

Then skipped across the field of view,

Waved with his flag a fond adieu

To his admirer's ravished eye,

Just as the hounds came foaming by.

" But where's my gun? He's gone! Oh, thunder!
How could I ever make such blunder!
It looked so fine to see him run
I quite forgot I had a gun."

Here now is your animal in plain sight. It will
pass you on a slanting course about twenty-five yards
to your right. If you were an experienced shot you
could hit it while moving; but being a novice you had
better make it halt so as to be sure of it. Say Mah!
plainly and distinctly, but not too loudly.

Presto ! what a change ! Mah! is about the sound
of a deer's bleat. At the sound the awkward-looking
thing is resolved, as by the stroke of an enchanter's
wand, into all the grace and symmetry of the artist's
deer. It stands in the light of the rising sun with
sleek and shiny coat, rotund with fatness ; its dark
eyes are turned inquiringly toward you; its delicate
ears are turned forward to catch the slightest sound.
It is -a fine, full-grown doe, only thirty yards away,
and broadside at that. The picture-deer exactly !

The little story has had its intended effect, and has
kept off that form of what is called "buck ague."

THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 105

With hand quite firm you raise the rifle; your eye
glances along the sights and sees they are in line with
the beamy pelt ; with a thrill of delight you press
the trigger.

At the crack of the rifle the doe rolls away in bil-
lowy flight, her white flag riding like a white-cap
each wave of her course, until in a moment it sinks
into the sea of timber and brush around you.

Too close. That's all.

How can a thing be too close ? Well, a deer nearly
always is for the first few shots. It looks too big,
makes you feel too sure of it, and prevents your sight-
ing as carefully as you should do. Even an experi-
enced shot occasionally misses a deer in this way. A
trifling amount of overconfidence is enough to do it.
You did not take a fine enough sight. You flattered
yourself that you were cool and saw the sights of the
rifle plainly. So you did, after a certain fashion. But
you still aimed very much as you would have aimed
with a shot-gun at a rabbit, whereas you should have
aimed precisely as you would aim to hit a two-inch
bull's-eye on a target at that distance. So take this
as your first lesson in shooting; namely, a deer at a
distance where one can almost hit it . with a stone may be
missed with a rifle in perfectly cool hands by a very trifling
lack of care in aiming.

But after shooting at a deer you should always
examine the ground where it stood for blood or hair,
and should follow its tracks for some distance, look-
ing for blood or indications of staggering or unsteadi-
ness in its gait. It will generally suffice to follow them
to the first place where the deer stops to look back.
If no blood shows itself here, you may feel quite cer-
tain it is not hurt enough for you to secure unless

106 THE STILL-HUNTER.

upon snow; though one mortally wounded may run
half a mile or more without showing it even upon
snow. On one occasion I found a stale and bloody
trail of a deer in snow one afternoon with no hunter's
track upon it. I soon tracked it up, and found the deer
dead with a bullet-hole through the neck. As the hole
corresponded in size with the ball I was then using,
and as the deer looked like one I had shot at that
morning, I concluded to follow the trail back to where
it was shot. Nearly half a mile back from there I
came to the place where I had given up the trail in
the morning. I had followed it about a quarter of a
mile, and it was nearly one third of a mile to where
blood first began to spot the snow. Many deer are
lost by neglecting a thorough examination of this
kind, especially when they are shot with rifles of such
small caliber as those in which the American heart
most delights.

You spend another hour upon the ridges without
seeing anything but the tracks of some more plung-
ing jumps of deer that you have started unseen. As
this is a difficulty that you can never entirely over-
come, you need not feel very bad about it. No matter
how carefully one may hunt, or how keen one's sight
may be, a deer will often escape in this way, even
when one has the aid of snow to tell nearly where
the deer is. The advantage which a deer is often sure
to have in being at rest while you are moving, in being
on ground where it is impossible for you to walk
quietly, in being at one of those turning-points in
your course where you must walk down wind for a
while, or in being in one of those eddies or cross-
currents that carry your scent where you least expect

THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 107

it, will often turn the fortune of the day against you
even if you are the very best of hunters.

It is now about time to visit the old " slash" again.
Here is a long low creek-bottom covered with black-
haw, thorn-apple, wild-plum, and other bushes and
scrubby trees amid the heavier timber. And this is
the very kind of ground on which a deer will often
lounge about an hour or so on his way to the "slash,"
windfall, or brushy ridges where he will lie down.
And often, especially in stormy weather, he will spend
the whole day in such a bottom, standing around most
of the time in the thickets or openings between or in
them and often lying down in them. And when they
are not hunted much you will be quite apt to find
some deer in such a place at any tiriie of day.

And now stop. There is a dark, dim spot in yonder
brush a hundred and fifty yards away. It may be a
bit of stump or log, but it is worth investigation.
But you cannot go ahead and do so. If it is a deer, it
is one at rest; and on ground so level as this you have
no chance of getting close enough. But here is a
ridge on your left that runs within fifty yards of the
suspicious spot. Stoop low and retrace your steps
until you can get around behind that ridge without
being seen, go about a hundred and fifty yards on the
back side of it, then cautiously ascend and stop the
instant you catch sight of the flat where the spot is.
And remember not to show too much of your head.

All this you do quite well. But when you come to
look over the ridge there is nothing to be seen but
trees and brush, through which you can see quite dis-
tinctly. You have learned, however, that here is a
critical point, and that there is great danger in decid-
ing too quickly that there is nothing in sight. You stand

108 THE STILL-HUNTER,

some five minutes carefully scanning every spot in
sight and studying every bush. And your patience is
at last rewarded. For suddenly you see a slight move-
ment and a delicate head nips off some twigs from a
bush you were looking directly at a moment ago, and
which you then thought you could see entirely through.
And now you see the body and the points of a pair of
small horns glisten on its head. Astonishing, is it
not, to see how quickly the outlines of a deer begin to
develop the instant you know it is one ? A fine
young spike-buck that is. And now do not forget
your last shot and what I told you about holding a
fine sight.

Bang! goes the rifle. The buck takes two jumps and
strikes an attitude a sculptor would envy. He is evi-
dently lost in wonder, and looks about as if in doubt
which way to run, or whether in fact there be any oc-
casion to run at all. A rustic youth, perhaps, that has
never before heard a rifle; or he may be wild enough,
yet be bewildered by the conformation of the ridges,
making it impossible for him to tell whence the sound
comes.

Bang! goes another shot. The buck runs a few
jumps and again stops and looks about half dazed.

Bang! goes another shot from the rifle that now
trembles like a leaf in your hand. The buck takes a
few more jumps, stops for a second, then disappears
in a high rolling wavy line of dark gray and white.

You think you took a good aim that time and were
quite cool ?

, Well, it was a decided improvement upon the last
shot. But you were the victim of an error into which
the expert often falls — overshooting on a down-hill
shot. The tendency to do this is one of the curious

THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 109

things about rifle-shooting on game. Even on a long
shot, where one would suppose the natural drop of
the ball from the line of sight would overbalance any
error of elevation, there is continual danger of it.
This is no optical illusion, nor is there any deflection
of the lines of light to cause it. It is simply from
catching too much of the front sight without knowing
it, and from holding too high upon your game be-
cause you are looking, down upon it. The next time
make the front sight the most prominent object of
your attention, and get it very low on the animal —
not more than one third of the way from the lower
edge of the body.

At last you reach the old chopping, and after a long
tour among its various beauties are about to return
home disappointed again, when, in coming along an old
logging- road that leads through a little basin in one cor-
ner of the " slash," you are suddenly riveted to the
ground by an unexpected apparition. Within twenty-
five yards, standing full broadside toward you and look-
ing directly at you, is the great-grandfather of all the
big bucks you ever heard or read of. He stands like
a statue of glossy fur, with neck as thick as a water-
pail, wide-branching, full-tined horns all glistening
in the sun, bright staring eyes, and great flaring gray
ears turned directly at you. Where he came from or
how he got there you know not. You heard nothing
move and saw nothing move. He probably rose
directly out of his bed, and you may find it beneath
him. This is one of those occasional visitations of
pure good fortune which may come to the most ver-
dant of bunglers and delude him with the idea that
he is a mighty hunter. Even the oldest and wildest
of deer is liable once in a while to get out of bed

110 . THE STILL-HUNTER.

slightly dazed. Perhaps he has fallen into a doze or
into one of those reveries that all animals appear to
indulge in at times, and the sudden alarm has turned
his head a bit.

However he is here, and something must be done;
and rather promptly, too. A cold shiver descends
like a shower-bath upon you, your hand trembles like
an aspen leaf, and the sights tremble all over the body
of your target as you raise the rifle. Your previous
misses; the necessity of making this last chance for
to-day count; and, what is worst of all, the thought of
the large amount of toothsome tidbits beneath that
shiny fur, — all these make you tremble still more.

Put down the rifle and take a second's breathing-
space. Precious as time is, there is a stronger prospect
of his standing than of your hitting him in your pres-
ent state of tremor.

You cannot wait ? Go on, then. But shoot at the
lower edge of his body, just where the fore-leg appears
to join it.

Bang ! goes the rifle. The buck gives a sudden start
and plunges away through the thickest brush and
briers with the speed of a race-horse.

You had another form of "buck ague," a little dif-
ferent from the kind I told you of in the story, but
often quite as effective. It is quite common to sup-
pose that the "buck ague" does not trouble one after
one or two shots. But it is liable to occur for a long
time, and you will have to shoot many a deer and
miss many another one before you can shoot steadily.
Even then you cannot always do it, for a certain
amount of tremor is liable to attack any one on a
long or very fine shot, especially when very anxious
to get something for a vacant larder. I doubt, too,

THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. Ill

if any one of fine sensibilities, and who hunts only
for the love of hunting, can ever acquire the butcher's
coolness when in the imposing presence of noble game.
The only remedy for this when excessive is to stop
and rest a while whenever you can. But if the game
is on foot and alarmed, you have little time for this.
You must then shoot with a trembling gun, and your
only safety will be to shoot at least six inches lower
than you otherwise would. Because you are in such
case certain to see twice as much of the front sight as
you should see. This will not do, however, on a long
shot. There you must wait for your hand- to get
steady, unless you can get a rest without moving too
much in sight of the deer.

But do not give up to despair just yet. Remember
the advice about following a deer you have shot at.
Did you not notice a convulsive jerk about that buck's
manner of getting under way ? Did you not notice
that instead of the white waving tail you have before
seen adorning a glossy rump, it was carried down and
close to the body ? Did you not notice a plunging
heaviness in his gait very different from the airy elas-
ticity you have seen in the gait of others ? Did you
not see that he tore through brush when there was
enough open ground for him to chose, and that he
made as much smashing of brush as a wild bull could
have made ? It will certainly repay you to follow
those tracks.

The ground where he stood reveals neither blood
nor hair. But never mind; your rifle is small. His
shoulders are thick ; the ball may not have passed
through. Let us take the track, which will be easily
followed as long as he keeps on running.

Here is the first jump beyond the bush where he

112 THE STILL-HUNTER.

disappeared. But there is no blood. The next one is
eight or nine feet beyond — a good sign, for if unhurt
he would have cleared twelve or fifteen feet on such a
down-hill slope as this. The next one, and the next,
and the next, for eight or ten jumps, are all right, but
only eight or nine feet apart. But the next one is
closer, and the hoof-prints in it are wider apart from
each other than they were a while ago. Aha ! Look
at the next. He is staggering as surely as you live.
Hold your rifle ready and look well ahead, for it is
just possible that he is still on foot; or if he has fallen,
he may possibly rise. But he is probably dead.

And now the marks of jumps grow closer together,
while the four tracks composing them are wider still.
And now they cease, and the trail becomes a trot,
long-plunging and staggering. A few more yards
and your buck lies dead against a log he could not
get over. He is shot in the shoulder, but nearly a
foot above the lower line of his body. Do you see
now how you would have fared if you had fired at
your own sweet will instead of aiming where I told
you?

RUNNING-TIME. 113

CHAPTER X.

RUNNING-TIME.

STILL-HUNTING is not a system of any special tricks
any more than sparring is. The art of self-defense
consists in the rapid, almost automatic, application of
a very few principles deeply founded in common-
sense. Any one knows that a quick blow is better
than a slow one; that a straight blow is better than a
curving one; that a slight parry that merely turns
aside an opponent's blow is quite as effective as one
that knocks it aside, and much more easy to m'ake
quickly; that dodging a blow is often better than stop-
ping it; that the left hand can strike as hard and
quickly as the right, etc. etc. Yet, strangely enough,
a man left to himself falls naturally into the clumsy,
awkward methods of the rural boxer. And to get
him into the most natural, easy, and common-sense
way of striking, parrying, etc., requires an immense
amount of instruction and drilling. It is the same
with still-hunting. The trick part of it amounts to al-
most nothing. The principles are all natural, founded
in common-sense, and simple. You must first learn
what they are, and especially what they are not. Then
they must be followed until you follow them uncon-
sciously and become a bundle of good habits.

We have now gone through all the leading princi-
ples involved in still-hunting in the woods before snow
falls. And many of these I have repeated even at the

114 THE STILL-HUNTER.

risk of being tedious; for I well know their extreme
importance, and how easily one forgets them just at
the critical moment. The principles involved in track-
ing and in hunting open ground will be given farther
on, and the same effort made to impress them upon
the memory. Any more illustration of plain hunting
in the woods before snow would now be too tiresome
on account of the repetition of the leading principles
we have already seen. Moreover, to follow out in de-
tail all the varying scenes of the still-hunt and all the
special modifications of general principles rendered
necessary from time to time by change of ground,
wind, light, actions of the deer, etc., would swell this
book to a size that would seal its fate at once. We
will therefore pass on to what is known among hun-
ters as the " running-time."

The expressions "rutting- time" and "running-
time" are generally used to mean the same thing.
But the " running-time" is really only the climax of
the "rutting-time."

The "rutting-time" begins at different times in differ-
ent sections, depending upon climate and elevation.
And even in any one place it is difficult to say just
when it begins and when it ends. But at periods
varying from September to December, inclusive of
those months, the does will be in season. And in the
North and West this is about the time of the first
heavy frosts.

For several weeks before the does are ready the
bucks begin to get uneasy. Their necks swell to an
unusual thickness, as you noticed in the one you shot
yesterday. They keep on foot later in the morning
and start out earlier in the afternoon. They roam
more widely than before; so much so that it becomes

R UN N ING- TIME. 115

a tedious task to track them unless the track be
very fresh and it be quite late in the morning. You
have doubtless on your last few hunts noticed places
where the ground had been pawed and scraped bare
in spots two feet or more in diameter, and that on
this bare spot were unmistakable tracks of a big hoof.
You saw, too, some bushes that had been bent,
twisted, and broken by horns, very different in appear-
ance from the marks you saw some time since of
frayed bark on sapling brush, etc., and which was
done by the buck rubbing the velvet from his horns
late in summer. The brush now looks as if worsted'
in a fight with a pair of horns. And such is the case.

These signs show the beginning of " running-time."
But as yet there is no difference of which you can
take advantage.

Though a doe is still occasionally seen in company
with a buck, the majority of them now keep away
from him. And he spends a large portion of his time
traveling about in search of them. This he generally
does on a walk and with head well down. At first he
does this only early in the morning and late in the
evening. But as the season advances his ardor in-
creases, and for ten or twelve days he follows them,
often on a half- walk and half-trot, varied at times
with a clumsy gallop very different from the graceful
canter with which he vacates the vicinity of danger.
And at the height of this time he often spends the
greater part of the day in this amusement.

During the height of the season it is no uncommon
thing for a doe to be pursued by three or four and
even more bucks, one after the other. They are not
together, but a short distance apart. Generally the
biggest one is ahead, and the procession tapers off to

116 THE . S TILL-HUNTER.

a two-year-old or so, keeping a respectful distance in
the rear. But sometimes they come together, and
then there is a clattering of horns, flashing of greenish-
blue eyes, and an elevation of hair that is decidedly
entertaining to one who can keep his finger from
the trigger long enough to "see it out."

If at the time when a doe is pursued by one or
more of these ardents a hunter happens to be upon
her course, either before or after she passes, he may
be overwhelmed with a perfect avalanche of success
before he knows it. A deer running on a gallop is
always blind enough to anything ahead of him that
does not move. But when thus inflamed with passion
the buck is so much so that he often does not care
even for a thing that does move a little, and will
sometimes charge past or nearly upon the hunter in
spite of all bleating, whistling, or any other noise
with which the hunter may try to stop him. The
havoc wrought in a 'novice's nervous organization by
such an onset may well be imagined; and fortunate is
he if he has any nerve left by the time the others ar-
rive, which is generally in a very few minutes, or even
seconds.

I have myself never seen more than three bucks
after one doe, and that but once; but I know several
well-authenticated cases of four and five, and one case
of seven being killed behind one doe in less than
fifteen minutes, so well attested that I feel obliged to
believe it.

But all such cases as even four or five are now the
rare exception, and one might spend the whole run-
ning-time without ever getting on the course of a
buck following a doe either in company or alone.

R UNNING- TIME. 117

And if you do not thus get on their course you are no
better off than if it were not " running-time."

I have seen some very silly stuff in print about the
ease with which any blockhead can kill a deer in " run-
ning-time." This always comes from the advocates
of driving deer with hounds — men who generally know
nothing of still-hunting, but think it necessary to de-
fend hounding by condemning still-hunting. If one
happens on the right runway and does not get flur-
ried when the procession comes, this is true enough.
But unless he happens upon the course of a doe, he
can do nothing more than at any other time.

It is said " all one has to do is to lie along a run-
way and shoot."

Now unless deer are extremely plenty the chances
of getting on a runway likely to be used that day for
such a parade are all against the hunter. And there
is absolutely nothing by which the most experienced
hunter can decide what runway deer will take at such
a time unless he has already seen them in motion.

The habits of deer in forming and traveling in run-
ways or paths are peculiar, and vary with localities
in a way difficult to reduce to rule. In nearly all coun-
tries deer will form runways when the snow gets deep,
but by that time they are generally so poor that only
the brute will molest them. On bare ground deer will
generally form runways in very hilly, rocky, brushy,
or swampy ground. But it is equally certain that on
such ground they often do not form them.

They also, on some kinds of ground, change their
runways so often that when you find one you cannot
feel certain that it will be traveled again at all. And
they often have so many that you cannot decide
whether the next travel upon any one will be to-day

118 THE STILL-HUNTER.

or next week. Again, a road made by a small band of
deer passing only once over a piece of soft ground
may have all the appearance of a runway and yet
never again be used. The best thing to do with run-
ways, except for hounding, is to let them entirely
alone. One can do an immense amount of aggravat-
ing waiting at even the best of them. And if deer are
plenty enough to make it worth while to watch a run-
way at all, you can generally do better by keeping in
motion, as you have done before " running-time."
Though the " rutting-time" is long, the part of it that
will be of much aid to the novice is very short; while
the ease, advantages, and pleasures of lying by a run-
way and taking in a string of bucks are most absurdly
exaggerated. Moreover, the does, yearlings, and fawns
are just as wild now as at any other time. And even
the old buck, though he may be a crazy fool while
actually running, yet that same buck, when he cools
down and goes off to feed or lie down, is just about
as wary and hard to approach as at any other time of
year. When the leaves are dry and stiff, or from any
cause the woods cannot be traversed quietly, then
runway watching may do.

Otherwise the best way to utilize "running-time"
for both sport and success is to hunt just about as
we did before, but with a slight change of ground.
In this way we shall lose no other advantages and re-
tain all the advantages of the " running-time." And
it certainly has advantages which can neither be ig-
nored nor despised.

As in your other still-hunting, you must not let the
sun tread upon your heels, but should be in the woods
early. And you might as well go, as before, directly
to the oak ridges, because the does and yearlings and

J? UNNING- TIME. 119

fawns will not neglect eating, as the buck now sometimes
does, and they will be found in about the same places
as before. Moreover, as a matter of fact, aside from
any foolish notions about the superior glory of bag-
ging a big buck, or having a "head"^o mount as a
'"trophy" — genuine "vanity of vanities" — the does,
fawns, and yearlings are apt to be far the best game.
A big buck is now far more apt to be an old fool than
a fawn ever is to be a young fool, and the adage " No
fool to an old fool " never had a truer application
than when applied to an ardent buck when running.
So that when you kill a fawn of six or eight months
old at this time it is a much greater achievement than
to kill a buck when after a doe. The bucks, too, at
this time are apt to be strong and musky in flavor.
Some of them become intolerably so and cannot be
eaten. It is a common idea that the removal of the
scrotum and penis prevents this. But this is mainly
an idea. It may do some good; but the fact is that
some bucks, even with thickly swelled necks, are not
at all strong flavored, while others are as rank as a
muskrat all over, in spite of the instant removal of
the genital organs, and this flavor cannot be elimin-
ated in any way so as to make it palatable to any one
but a city snob who eats venison for style.

Still, some of the bucks are good, and the younger
they are the more apt are they to be good. And to
find them you should keep a keen watch around the
heads of big ravines and along their dividing ridges;
also along creek-bottoms, flats, and hollows where
there is some brush, but not too thick. But other
ground must not be neglected, and a good watch
should be kept everywhere; for a buck is apt to get

120 THE STILL-HUNTER.

on the trail of a doe at any point and overtake her
anywhere.

If the ground be very broken, the ridges high, and
the ravines deep, you will be apt to find runways
along the bottoms, up the sides, and around the heads
of ravines, especially crossing the dividing ridge be-
tween the head of one ravine and that of another
running towards it from an opposite direction. You
will also find them along or crossing the "divide" be-
tween ravines running in the same direction. If you
find runways numerous or well traveled, you might
as well spend the day in lounging around such places,
taking a seat from time to time upon some ridge that
commands a good view of both ridges and hollows
and their heads. And even where deer do not form
runways, if you find them plenty it will be worth
while to do the same thing at this time of year. But
do not allow any affinity that may spring up between
you and a comfortable log to become too lasting,
unless there are well-traveled runways and deer are
quite plenty.

When moving on a- runway look frequently behind
you as well as ahead, for a deer is as liable to come
from one direction as from another. When you see
fresh tracks of the size of a doe's hoof it is well to
wait there some time, for a buck may be from five to
thirty minutes behind a doe as well as close to her.
Should you see the doe and shoot her, or should she
escape, remain there fifteen or twenty minutes, keep-
ing a keen watch in the direction from which she
came. It by no means follows, though, that a doe has
a buck behind her, or that there is more than one buck
behind her. Where deer are plenty the chances are
the other way. Should you see a buck coming to-

R UNNING- TIME. 121

•

wards you, be in no haste. If you are on the course
of the doe, there is no probability of his sheering to
either side if you keep still. Let him come directly
towards you. If walking, you can generally halt him
with a bleat. But if you can shoot well enough, and
are cool enough, it is best to halt him with a ball, for
there is some little risk of his getting away if you try
otherwise to halt him. When you have shot one
buck, remove the scrotum and slit him at once in the
chest like a hog — cutting the throat does not half
bleed a deer — and then go back a few paces on his
course and wait for a successor, etc.

It is better in the long-run to keep slowly moving
for the most of the time. And your eye must be as
keen as ever. A deer, even when moving, is often
very hard to see. They are not only low along the
ground, but are very fast and silent walkers. Even
after you see one it can slip out of your sight with
wonderful ease, and this, too, where it suspects noth-
ing, but its disappearance is entirely accidental. You
must remember this in all cases where you once get
your eye upon a moving deer, and either try to get
closer to it or try to get ahead of it upon its course,
so as to wait for it. A very big buck can slip out of
sight, horns and all, in brush so thin and low that you
would never dream of his escape.

As a rule, the following of tracks in " running-time"
is not remunerative. The bucks roam for miles, and
the does travel farther than at other times. Still,
where you find fresh tracks leading to a " slash," tow-
ard the middle of the day it will be well to go there
if you have snow to make the tracking easy. And
yearlings and fawns you may track as at other times.

122 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XL

HUNTING ON SNOW.

THE climax of pleasure and generally of skill is
reached in tracking up your game so as to get a good
shot at it. Many of the best still-hunters will not
hunt at all until snow comes, and in the Eastern and
Northwestern States the season may be said to com-
mence only "when snow flies," as they say in the
woods.

Tracking upon snow and upon bare ground are
generically the same, but specifically so different as to
require separate treatment. And tracking upon snow
being the easiest, we will consider it first.

To follow a deer's track upon snow is so easy a
matter that almost any one of any tact at all can do it
with a trifling bit of practice in judging of the fresh-
ness of the marks and the snow thrown out ahead of
the footprints. As we go on we will notice the
prominent features of a fresh trail.

Two very natural mistakes are, however, apt to be
made by the novice who hunts upon snow:

ist. That a fresh trail is to be followed as a matter
of course.

2d. That he is to follow directly upon it.

The advantage of snow for still-hunting lies not
alone in enabling one to locate a deer and come up
with him. It lies quite as much in softening the
ground and deadening the sound of your steps; in

HUNTING ON SNOW. 123

making a background upon which you may the more
easily discover your game; in enabling you to speedily
ascertain the quantity and quality of the deer about
you, the direction they have taken, what they were
doing, and how long since they passed, etc. etc. To
follow up tracks is often folly. An old buck in " run-
ning-time" will often lead you too long a race. A doe
may then do the same. If tracks consist of jumps or
half-jumps, or half-trot or half-walk and half-jump, it
generally shows that the deer are alarmed, especially
if there are places where they have stopped and
turned around or sideways to look back. It will then
be quite useless to follow them except as hereafter
directed. If the deer are much hunted by still-
hunters, they will be so likely to watch their back
track even when lying down that it will be quite vain
to keep on the track. Where the ground is very
brushy or very level it is rarely advisable to follow a
trail unless the deer are very tame or you can use a
cow-bell or horse. And where deer are plenty and
you are well acquainted with the ground, knowing all
the ridges, passes, feeding-places, and lying-down
ground, it is often better to let tracks entirely alone
and hunt as you have done heretofore — to find them on
foot at feeding-time, or standing in or around thickets
during the day, or lying down. This is the course
pursued by many of the best hunters quite as often
as tracking. They use the tracks only as a general
guide, and depend mainly upon the other advantages
of the snow above mentioned.

But whether you follow tracks or not, there are
some points ever to be remembered:

ist. That while snow enables you to see a deer
much farther as well as more quickly and distinctly

124 THE STILL-HUNTER.

than upon bare ground, it also gives the deer pre-
cisely the same advantage over you, an advantage
which you cannot in heavy timber avoid by all the
white clothes and hats you can invent.

2d. That though snow deadens the sharpness or dis-
tinctness of sounds, yet dull sounds, like the crushing
of dead or rotten sticks beneath the foot, will be con-
veyed along the ground as well as ever, and perhaps
even better if the snow be wet.

3d. That it may make an entirely new noise by
grinding or packing under your foot when deep and
dry, unless you work your foot into it toe first; or
when a little stiff or crusty from thaw or rain, it may
make a noise worse than any it hides. And both
these new noises being conveyed along the ground, and
being unmistakable in their character, will frighten a
wild deer farther and more effectually than any other
kind of noise. And in no respect must any of the
caution to be observed in hunting on bare ground be
relaxed.

Not only is it a great pleasure to work up a trail,
but where deer are scarce it is often essential to suc-
cess. And as hunting on snow without tracking does
not materially differ from what we have already been
over, we will pass at once to tracking.

About all the descriptions of tracking deer that it
has ever been my lot to see were nothing but exag-
gerated rabbit-hunts, such as when a boy I used to
take before breakfast on the first " tracking-snow" of
the season. They all depict a man sneaking along on
the trail until he comes up with the deer, which he
knocks over as a matter of course. The deer is big-
ger than a rabbit; its distance from the hunter is a
few yards greater than the distance the rabbit gener-

HUNTING ON SNOW. 125

ally is; and a rifle is used instead of a shot-gun. In
all else they are par excellence rabbit-hunts. Where
deer are very tame, one may sometimes be tracked
and bagged almost as easily as a rabbit. But even
then it is the rare exception. And where they are
wild, the exception is so very rare that it may be
thrown entirely out of consideration. In no way can
you get so good an idea of what tracking very wild
deer is as by seeing what it is not. And in accord-
ance with our plan we will see first what mistakes you
will naturally fall into, and how to avoid them.

A light feathery snow of about two inches in depth
which fell last evening now covers the ground. And
again we tread the woods by the time it is light
enough to distinguish a deer. For the earlier we get
upon a track the less the distance we shall have to
follow it, and the more likely we shall be to find our
game on feot instead of lying down where we may
have to depend upon a running shot.

Here is a track already. But it will not be best to
follow it, as it was made last night soon after the
snow ceased falling. Compare it with your own
track and see how the snow thrown out ahead of the
hole lacks the sparkle of that thrown from your track.
You see, too, that the edges of the hole made by the
deer's foot do not glisten like the edges of the one
you have made. All this is because the crystals of
snow have lost their keenness of edge by evaporation
— a process that takes place in the very driest snow
and coldest air. Stoop low and examine the deer's
tracks closely, and notice a little fallen snow and a
few faint particles of fine dust from the trees in them.
This dust is always falling even in the very stillest
weather. But you need nothing more reliable than

126 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the mere appearance of the snow around the edge
and in front of the track. With a few days' practice
you can tell a trail five minutes old from one five
hours old, even in dry snow. But we will leave this
trail, for we shall surely find fresher ones.

Here we come to one that is quite fresh. But the
size of the footprints, as well as their distance apart,
shows the trail to be that of a large buck. As it is
the height of running-time we will let him go.

Ah! Here is what we want — a trail of a doe and
two fawns. They are going, too, toward the acorn
ridges— a good place to catch them.

With watchful eye you steal cautiously along the
trails. These lead to the acorn ridges, and here they
begin to separate. The deer evidently have stopped
traveling, and are now straggling about here and
there. Your common-sense now tells you that they
have probably stopped to feed a bit here and may be
very close, perhaps just over the next ridge. There-
fore you redouble your caution about noise, and look
more keenly than ever at every spot that can pos-
sibly be a bit of a deer's coat. All of which is very
well.

In a moment or two you reach the top of the first
ridge, and a good long look at all the ground in sight
shows you no deer. But you find where deer have
pawed up the snow for acorns. The trails, too, cross
and recross each other here, so that you can follow
nothing. And they become mixed, too, with other
deer-tracks until you are quite confused. You con-
sider yourself fully equal, however, to this emergency,
and resolve to cut the knot by the very simple device
of the rabbit- tracker — a circle.

This plan is correct enough in itself. But why do

HUNTING ON SNOW. 127

it now? If the deer are still on these ridges you
need not follow their tracks at all, but look for them
just as you would do if the ridges were bare, as in
your previous hunts. Your chances of seeing them in
that way are quite good enough. And by the amount
and variety of tracks you see there are other deer
about, and some are probably feeding on the ridges
this very minute. Never mind the tracks now, but
slip around to the leeward of the breeze that you see
is just beginning to sift down a little fine snow from
the tree-tops above. Do not lose the advantage of
the wind for the sake of following tracks now. You
can follow those tracks in two hours as well as you
can now; and if the deer have gone away to lie down
or lounge, they will then be little farther away than
they now are. Keep to the leeward and remain on
these ridges at least an hour more.

But your anxiety to follow them is too great, and
you start on a circle to find their trail again. In five
minutes the circle is completed. Yet your stock of
information on the subject of those three deer remains
unchanged. You find only confusion worse con-
founded, a complete network of trails. You should
have made your circle four or five times as large as
you did make it.

You see this mistake, and set out upon a much
larger circle than before. And while doing this, one
of the first things you discover is a series of long
jumps down a ridge to the left. Following these
back as before advised, to find how you lost that
deer, you find that he was feeding just over a ridge
only a hundred yards from where you began your
first circle, and that by the time that circle was half
completed, you with your eyes fixed upon the ground,

128 THE STILL-HUNTER.

— where they had no business to be, — came directly
into his sight.

Two hundred yards more of your second circle
brings you to another object of peculiar, often pain-
ful, interest to anxious hunters — two more sets of
long jumps where two yearlings have scattered the
snow, leaves, and dirt with their plunging hoofs. In
the excitement of your circle business you quite over-
looked the little matter of wind, and they probably
smelt you. Or they may have been stampeded by the
running of the other one, for he must have passed
somewhere near here. And the running of a deer will
nearly always alarm every deer within hearing of the
sound of his hoofs. So generally will they take alarm
from any other animal.

By the time your circle is nearly completed you find
that the doe and two fawns have left the ridges and
gone across a flat creek-bottom. This does not, how-
ever, prove your circle enterprise a profitable one, for
you could easily have discovered this in time without
throwing away the prospects you had for a shot at the
other three deer.

You follow the trail of the doe and fawns across
the creek, where it turns and goes up the creek-bot-
tom some twenty or thirty yards from the creek.
Thus far they have been walking along nearly to-
gether, and at an ordinary pace. But now the trails
are separating and the steps get shorter and more ir-
regular. Here one has wandered off a few rods to
one side ; here another has stopped at a bush and
nibbled a few twigs ; there the old one has been trav-
eling rather aimlessly around and through a patch
of black-haws. All these signs tell you to be very
careful, for they may be within sight at this instant,

HUNTING ON SNOW. 129

though they may also have gone on half a mile or
more. On the way to lie down deer will often stop
an hour or two in such a place to browse and stand
around a while. That is what these have been doing,
and as it is yet early they may yet be here.

Priding yourself upon your caution and acuteness
you move quietly along, with rifle ready and eyes
piercing every bush far into the distance, for some
three hundred yards. There on the other side of a
thin patch of wild-plum bushes you find that refresh-
ing sight with which your eyes are already so familiar,
the long-jumps. There are three sets of. them, and
all beautifully long. At first you are inclined to ejac-
ulate ; but your chagrin yields at once to wonder, for
a glance into the brush shows you that they were all
on foot in it when they started. Yet the brush is so
thin that you can see plainly all through it, and you
recognize the plum-patch as one at which you looked
very keenly some two hundred yards back and thought
then that you could see distinctly through it.

And you naturally wonder how they got starteS.
Well, when your head first arrived in sight of that
brush they were standing in there, two of them brows-
ing, the other looking back in the direction from
which they came. You have already been told of
what an advantage the animal that is at rest has over
the one that is moving. You have also learned that
an anim'al in brush can see out much better than one
outside can see in. And I must again remind you
that a deer standing still in brush is, even with the
aid of snow as a background, one of the hardest
things in the world to detect with the eye.

But you cannot comprehend how they could have
run without your seeing them at all. If they saw

130 THE STILL-HUNTER.

enough, of your head to take the alarm, how could
their whole bodies escape your eyes, especially when
that bit of brush was the first thing on which your
eyes rested when you came in sight of it at all ? It is
rather a puzzle, it is true; but its only solution is this:
a deer's eyes, when watching his back track, are as
keen to detect a motion in the woods as are those of
the wildest antelope on the plain. Some people who
had never hunted very wild deer would doubt this,
but as you have an hour or two now of time that is
not very precious I will show you how extremely true
it is. It will reduce your opinion of yourself consid-
erably below par, but it will reward you well in future,
and also give you a good idea of the general futility
of following upon the track of a deer that you have
started.

Let us follow, then, the trail of these three and see
if we can again get sight of them. Do not try to get
a shot; be content with even a sight. Go right ahead
on the trail and look into the woods as far and as
keenly as you can. Nearly half a mile you follow
them, the long jumps still continuing. Here they
have skipped a high fallen log, and in three places
the snow is switched from it by their descending tails.
Here one has smashed through a bush, scattering snow
and dead branches around, and there another has
struck some boggy ground and splashed mud and
water around in fine style. But suddenly the jumps
slacken to a trot ; in a few yards that stops, and you
find where they have stopped and huddled up, one
standing sideways, the other two turning all the way
around. And then the long jumps begin again, still
longer now than before.

And yet the ground is all quite open. They stopped

HUNTING ON SNOW. 131

behind no brush, no logs, no rising ground, .nothing
to hide them from your sight. Yet it is evident that
they stopped here and looked back, and that they
then started again in sudden alarm. Yet the wind
and the distance are such that they could neither have
heard nor smelt you. They must therefore have seen
you ; yet you saw nothing of them, although they
were under full headway. Do you think this impossi-
ble ? Does it seem that the second run must have
been only a continuance of the first run? Then by
all means follow them to the next place where they
stop to look back and see what they do there.

On, on, on, on, nearly half a mile farther go the
tracks, as if the deer were in a hurdle-race over the
biggest logs to be found. Then they suddenly stop
and huddle up ; and then as suddenly go on again in
jumps as long as ever.

And so you might keep on the livelong day, seeing
perhaps two or three times a faint glimpse of dark
evanescence among the distant trunks, but seeing
nothing long enough to raise the rifle upon, and four
fifths of the time seeing not a trace of game at all.
And yet all the time it is evident that the deer have
each time seen you. And five times out of six such
will be your experience with very wild deer, whether
they be old bucks or young fawns. The sixth time
you may perhaps get a long standing shot or a closer
running one in the course of half a day's chase, but
neither will be good enough to give you much pros-
pect of hitting.

The principal difference between these and deer
that are not very wild is that you will generally get
sight of the latter, but rarely until they are running
away. And when you do see them standing it will

132 THE STILL-HUNTER.

rarely he long enough, nor will they generally be close
enough, for any thing like a certain shot. This applies
to the latter deer only when they have once been
started. Deer that are not very wild seldom or never
have the trick of watching back upon their track be-
fore being started.

, You passed a fresh track of a big buck a few mo-
ments ago that led toward the slash. He has gone
there to rest a bit after his morning travels. You had
better try him, for " anybody can kill a buck in run-
ning-time." At least that is what they say.

You start off upon his track with much more care
than you did upon the trail of the others. But this is
only time wasted. The woods here are quite open for
several hundred yards, and as far as you can see there
are no windfalls, brush-patches, or brushy ridges.
There is no probability that he has stopped anywhere
along such ground as this when, if you remember the
woods as you should do, the old slash is less than half
a mile in the direction the track is leading.

Reaching the slash you find the trail winds over a
ridge and down into a little basin. You look very
long and carefully into the basin, thoroughly inspect-
ing all the brush it contains. Seeing nothing, you
descend and follow the trail across it and up the end
of a ridge that juts into it. On the point of this ridge,
in a clump of low briers, you find a large, fresh, warm
bed, with the well-known long jumps leading away
from it.

Now stoop low in this bed and you can still see
every step of the way you came for a hundred and
fifty or two hundred yards back. While your eyes
were intently fixed upon the track he saw you and
departed.

HUNTING ON SNOW. 133

Now what was the use in keeping your eyes so
much upon the track ? Can you not tell well enough
about where it is going to be able to go at least fifty
yards without looking at it ? And if you must look
at it, can you not do so with an occasional side glance
of the eye that does not take your attention from
anything beyond ? And where the necessity of tread-
ing so constantly in the tracks ? And what was the
use in going into that basin at all ? Could you not
just as well have wound around it out of sight behind
this ridge to the right? And by so doing could you
not have found out whether the buck passed out of
the basin, and just where he left it, quite as surely
as you could have done by having both eyes and feet
half the time in his tracks ? Had you done this he
would not have seen you so soon; and when he did
see you, you would have had a good running shot at
him.

Turn off now to one side and keep down along the
edge of the " slash/' and see if any more deer have
come from the timber to lie down in here.

A few moments' walk brings you to the trail of two
yearlings. These you follow for quarter of a mile
into the "slash," using all your care, skill, eyesight,
and caution about noise, moving not over half a mile
an hour, working each foot toe first through the snow
so as to feel any possible stick or brush that may
crack beneath it, easing off any twig that could possibly
scratch on your clothes, and looking, looking, looking
oh so keenly! You reap at last a common reward of
honest, patient toil — a sight of two sets of long plung-
ing jumps leading away fro ni two fresh warm beds.
The sun smiles sweetly as ever down through the
bracing air ; the lonely pines are as dignified and sol-

134 THE STILL-HUNTER.

emn as usual ; the luxuriant briers embrace your trow-
sers as fraternally as ever ; and the old logs and stumps
loom up around you more smiling and bigger than
before. But sight or sound of venison there is none,
and you are the sole being in a dreary microcosm of
snow, brush, briers, stumps, logs, and dead trees.

HOW TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 135

CHAPTER XII.

THE SUREST WAY TO TRACK DEER WHEN VERY WILD.

YOUR high opinion of the merits of a " tracking-
snow" for deer underwent yesterday a very serious
modification. And if you had continued hunting a
few days as you did yesterday you might have con-
cluded that snow was no better than bare ground for
hunting deer. Your error was a very common and
natural one, yet one that you might hunt a long time
without even suspecting.

You have already seen how deer, when once started,
watch their back track so keenly that you not only
stand no chance of getting a shot, but can rarely get
even sight of them again. And a single deer can do
this just as well as a dozen could. All deer are so
nearly alike in this respect that it will rarely avail
you to follow tracks of those you have started. But
deer that are little hunted, especially when not hunted
by tracking, generally pay no more attention to their
back track than to any other direction ; that is, pre-
vious to being alarmed. But when much hunted by
tracking they finally drift into a state of chronic sus-
picion of their back track. Hence they will learn to
watch it with as much care before being started as
they do after being started; and they will select
places to lie down in from which they can see back
upon quite a portion of their trail. And this instinct

136 THE STILL-HUNTER.

is transmitted by descent until even the fawns will
watch back.

I do not mean that all deer, even very wild ones,
will always do this, but so many of them will that it
is best to hunt on the assumption that all will. The
greater includes the less, and you will lose little or
nothing by dealing with the very tamest deer as if
they were the very wildest. On the contrary, the use
of care and skill even in the highest degree will re-
pay you heavily even when hunting the tamest deer
that are now to be found.

Let us now try another style of tactics. Here is
the trail of a doe and two yearlings that have left the
ridges about half an hour ago. They have done
feeding and have gone off to lie down. As you al-
ready know they may lounge about an hour or two
before they go to lie down. And during this hour or
two they may go a quarter of a mile only or a full
mile, but probably will not go over half a mile.

You are in a part of the woods that is new to
you. But never mind that. Glance over the ground
as far as you can and see if you cannot get a pretty
fair idea of where those deer will go. You know
that somewhere on the north is the " slash," and that
there are windfalls and brushy ridges to the east.
All the better to know this. But let us suppose you
have no idea of the " lay of the land " beyond what
you can see from here.

Far away in the direction the tracks have gone you
can make out the dim outline of a long strip of brush
such as generally lines a little creek. Along that
creek there is likely to be a flat with more or less
brush in it. It was to such ground that your doe
and fawns went yesterday. There is plenty of such

HO W TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 137

ground in nearly all woods, and it is a favorite
place for deer to while away an hour or two at this
time of day.

Such ground, too, is apt to have a ridge on the
farther side of it. There was a ridge on the side of
the creek-bottom where you started the doe and
fawns yesterday, but you never thought of getting
behind it. Now the chances are four to one that
these deer are going to that creek-bottom, and once
there the chances are four to one that they will re-
main there a while, and in leaving it will go either up
or down it for some distance.

Suppose now you let this track entirely alone, strike
the creek-bottom some three hundred yards ' below
where this trail will probably cross it, go across the
bottom and over the ridge beyond. If the deer have
gone down the bottom you will cross their track ; and
if you do not cross any you will have their location
partly determined.

Now travel along behind the ridge, and out of sight,
for some hundred yards or so. Then look carefully
over and examine all the ground in sight. Back off
and go along behind the crest of the ridge another
hundred yards or so and then take another look.
You see at once the advantage of this — an advantage
so great that even the advantage of wind had better
be subordinated to it, especially as scent blowing over
a ridge is not so apt to reach anything in a valley; at
all events, not until you first have a good chance to
see the game.

But how do you keep the track all this time ? Per-
haps they have recrossed the creek.

And suppose they have; is it not probable that they
will still continue up the creek-bottom as before ? And

138 THE STILL-HUNTER.

are not both sides of the creek-bottom in sight of the
ridge where you are ? And even if it is, in places,
quite far, are not your chances of seeing the deer at
least as good as if you were directly on the track
again, and on low ground too ? It is difficult to see
how, next to following the track itself, you can do
anything more certain to find them than what you
are now doing. You know they have not gone below ;
if they cross the ridge you are on you will meet their
track ; if they keep on up the creek-bottom you will
be on a parallel with them; and if they recross the
creek and go in the direction they came from, which
is highly improbable, you will only lose a little time
in finding it out. And such time will not be impor-
tant, for such a movement will generally indicate that
they have gone to lie down, in which case there is
certainly no haste. And no matter what your opinion
may be about where they have gone, until you know
they are off this ground be in no haste. Let your
motto in tracking always be, Positively no haste, except
on such kinds of ground as clear open woods, etc.,
where deer so rarely stop that it does not repay you
to lose time.

For three hundred or four hundred yards more you
keep behind the ridge, which is sometimes low, some-
times high, sometimes near, and sometimes far from
the creek, and sometimes cut with a hollow. Yet you
see nothing, though you stop at every seventy or
eighty yards and take a good look. The creek-bot-
tom goes on some distance yet, and they are proba-
bly still ahead.

Yet wherever it is possible, without too much dan-
ger of being seen, to slip in and see if you are still
parallel with the track, it is better to do so. And

HOW TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 139

here is a good opportunity to do that very thing, for
just ahead of you a little streamlet runs into the creek.
Its bottom is low, and its sides are so fringed with
brush that you can steal down to the main creek with
little danger of being seen.

You reach the main creek and find no tracks. They
must then have crossed it. The ridges on the other
side are now nearly as close to the creek as those you
have just left. Might it not be expedient to get be-
hind them instead of going back to the others ? Un-
doubtedly it would be if you can get behind them
without being seen, and that you can easily do by
going back two hundred or three hundred yards or
so. The loss of that much distance amounts to noth-
ing, and you can there cross the track and find its
course as well as here.

But stop ; not that way. Go back behind your
ridge again and retrace your old track. It looks like
unnecessary particularity, I admit, but then it takes
little time. And take my word for it when I tell you
that a fair percentage of your failures in still-hunting
comes from leaving in your net a few loose knots^
to tighten which would have cost you only a trifle
more of work, care, and time. And mark another
thing. While going back do not neglect to look the
creek-bottom over again because you have once ex-
amined it.

Back you go nearly two hundred yards, looking
over the ridge from time to time as before. Over
across the creek upon -ground you thoroughly scanned
before something catches your eye. It is only a spot
about the size of your hat, but in shape it is marvel-
ously like the haunch of a deer that is almost hidden
by the upturned butt of a huge fallen tree. The tree

140 THE STILL-HUNTER.

has lain there a long time ; brush has grown up
around it; its trunk and branches alone would hide a
dozen deer standing behind it. Therefore be very
careful.

Several questions now crowd and jostle each other
in your mind.

ist. Is it a deer?

2d. If so, is it not too small a mark to hit at such a
distance (at least a hundred and fifty yards) ?

3d. If too far, shall I try to get closer or wait for it
to movt and present a fuller mark ?

4th. Which way shall I go to get closer, directly to-
ward it or go up the creek a way and come down ?

5th. If I wait for it to move, may it not move out of
my sight as well as into it ?

All these are very pertinent, but are easy to answer.

ist. It has the unmistakable outline of a deer's
haunch. The shape of the lower part and leg settles
that sufficiently to make it worth while to risk a shot.
It is very dark in color, but then a deer nearly always
looks dark upon a background of snow.

2d. It is too small a mark for a novice to shoot at
from this distance. If you raise your sights or hold
over it you are very liable to miss it. If you draw a
fine sight on it you are liable to miss it or only break
a leg. It is a shot which none but a skilled marks-
man— skilled in the field on game — can make with
certainty even with a rest.

3d. Even if it moves and shows its full body, it will
still be too fine a shot for a beginner to make, so you
had better get closer.

4th. The farther you can keep from the deers' back
track in approaching them the better. The other
two are undoubtedly there watching, and may be on

HOW TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 141

this side of the log, and standing up, too, although
you do not see them.

5th. It is just as liable to move out of your sight as
in it. But then another one is just as liable to move
into your sight as remain out of it, as at present.

On the whole, your best chance is to go back to
where you came to the creek a while ago, cross it,
and, stooping low, swing around in line with any little
rise of ground, windfall, or heavy clump of brush,
etc., you find between you and the deer, get behind
that and wait patiently. For if you try to get close
enough to the fallen tree to see the deer, you will be
quite apt to see nothing but the flip of their tails as
they make off in line with it. And if you wait a
while they will be quite certain to move and perhaps
come towards you. And if they lie down there, you
will then be able to approach much closer than you
now can, and get a much better running shot — since
you would probably have to take one anyhow — than
you now could.

A very slight change of circumstances would modify
all this advice. If you were a good cool shot it would
be better perhaps to shoot from where you are; and
so it would be better even for a poor shot if he had to
approach that tree from the trail-side, or from open
ground above. And if there were a ridge near by on
the other side it would be better to get behind that.
And all these considerations might be changed again
by the question of wind. It would be impossible
within the limits of a readable book to go through
every case of this sort with its modifications. But
when you are once familiar with the representative
cases or leading conditions, nearly all the modifica-
sions will soon suggest themselves. There are of

THE STILL-HUNTER.

course certain kinds of ground where it is safe to
walk on the trail; but wherever you can keep away
from it without losing it, it is better to do so.

So far we have had no trouble in keeping the course
of the trail. And after you once get well acquainted
with a deer's habits about feeding, lounging, and going
off to lie down, you will have little trouble in this re-
spect. And you will have far less when you once
know the ground well. But sometimes you will have
some trouble with it, especially in brushy timber, in
heavy pine where deer are apt to meander more in
their course. And so during a storm, or in such tim-
ber as it is hard to keep your course in, such as heavy
pine in a cloudy day. In all such cases you will have
to swing in frequently upon the trail, taking advan-
tage of course of any hollows, etc., to do so.

We have also had no trouble this morning to keep
out of sight. We shall often find ground where there
is little shelter from friendly ridges. As I advised
you before, such ground is generally unprofitable to
the still-hunter. But if you happen to be on it you
will find the advantages of side-tracking very great.
The better way there, is to make half-circles, going far
away from the trail, then coming down at right angles
to it and keeping a most careful watch on both sides,
then backing out and swinging around again. You
can sometimes see the track at quite a distance, but
rarely from a distance that is safe. You had better
always depend upon your knowledge of the deer's
course and upon occasional coming into the track.

Sometimes a deer will make a circuit before lying
down, and then lie down on one side of his main trail.
In such case he is almost certain to see you if you are
directly upon the trail, as you travel too much in his

HOW TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 143

sight. Whereas if you circle it you may come in
upon him from the side that he is not watching. Or
if you happen on the other side of the main trail you
will perhaps be so far off that he cannot see you, and
when you finally miss the trail you may swing around
the doubling point and come in upon him from be-
hind. At all events, if a deer does play this trick on
you, you are in no worse condition than if you were
on the trail. And you may be in a much better one.

Where a trail runs toward a heavy windfall into
which you can see no better from one side than from
the other, you may feel an inclination to keep close to
the track because you feel that the deer, if inside the
windfall, cannot see you. This is in a measure true.
But he may have stopped just in the edge of it. If
he has, you will be quite certain to lose him by a
direct approach. Whereas if you circle around and
come along the edge he will be much less apt to see
you. And if he runs he will probably give you a
much better shot by running away from it instead
of plunging directly into it, as he would probably
otherwise do.

A hunter may picket his horse with a "granny-
knot" on his neck and a slip-knot on the stake and
may find him fast there in the morning. If he use a
bowline-knot and a clove-hitch he will find him fast
if nothing breaks. Yet the two latter knots take no
more time or trouble to tie than the other. So there
are many cases where it is as easy to follow the very
tamest deer away off on one side as directly on the
track. On the track may do; but the other way is
vastly surer.

How far this plan of side-tracking or circling will
avail with antelope I cannot say. But they are such

144 THE STILL-HUNTER.

•
rangers that where it will be worth while to follow

their tracks at all too much time would probably be
lost by circling. Their eyes are moreover so keen when
they are much hunted, and they keep such a constant
watch upon every quarter of the horizon, especially
when there are many together, that it may be doubted
whether anything can be gained by the mere direc-
tion of approach.

TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 146

CHAPTER XIII.

TRACKING ON BARE GROUND.

IN tracking deer upon bare ground a difficulty
meets us which is practically unknown in tracking
upon snow; namely, recognizing the footprints. On
snow one can generally watch the trail with an oc-
casional side glance of the most careless kind, keep-
ing all his attention directed toward catching first
sight of the game. But on bare ground not only is
keener sight necessary to detect the game, but a large
part of the attention so necessary for that purpose
has to be diverted toward finding and recognizing
the footprints of the trail.

I have read some very weak stuff about the stupen-
dous difficulties of tracking upon bare ground. I
have read very able articles by eminent sportsmen in
our best magazines in which the tracking of a moose
weighing nearly a thousand pounds was depicted as
a vast 'and wondrous achievement, the ability to do
which was reserved to the gifted Indian and denied
to the poor Paleface. There are indeed some people
who could not track an elephant through a dew-cov-
ered clover-patch; but there is not a backwoods boy
of sixteen who ever has to hunt up a lost yearling calf
in the woods, not a young vaquero in California who
ever followed an animal over the rugged hills, who
would not laugh at those articles and declare the
author a gosling. The authors of such articles are,

H6 THE STILL-HUNTER.

however, no such thing, but simply careless writers
who allow their admiration of the Indian to run away
with their pens. But the effect of all such stuff is
bad. It deters from attempting tracking many a one
who might easily attain, not great skill, but enough
for good sport.

There may be a hereditary tendency in the Indian
which makes it more easy for him to learn tracking;
but he has also vastly more practice. And herein
lies the main secret — perfect sight and practice, prac-
tice, practice. And with practice the average white
man is fully equal to the average Indian. There will
be a difference in individuals just as there is in the
knack or facility of doing anything, and consequently
some Indians will excel some white men. But if the
average Indian excels the average white man, it is in
what he will do and not in what he can do. He will
run all day with nothing to eat, keeping a dog-trot
nearly all the time for a single deer. The white man
has more regard for the day of reckoning, and will
rarely throw away his health or prematurely use up
his strength for such a paltry reward as a deer. And
just so the Indian will cling to a trail and even-
tually secure the game when the white man would
give it up as involving more patience or work than
the game was worth. The Indian hunts for food;
when he sets out for it he is bound to have it, and he
will continue the chase as long as daylight allows him.
Here he undoubtedly excels. And, so far as I am con-
cerned, he is triply welcome to all the glory of this
superiority.

Tracking on bare ground is, however, very often diffi-
cult, and is never any too easy. On some kinds of ground
it is impossible for either white man or Indian to track

TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 147

an animal as light and as small-hoofed as a deer fast
enough to be of any avail; and often where it can be
done it is too tedious even for the Indian. He rarely
tracks a single deer on most kinds of bare ground un-
less it is wounded or deer are very scarce. Where a
single track goes through heavy timber; where the
ground is covered with dry dead leaves or dry dead
grass; where it is very dry and hard, or is stony or
frozen ; where it is thickly covered with brush, dry
weeds, canebrake, etc., — rare is the hunter, either
white or red, who will have patience to follow a track.
And often they could not if they would. More often,
however, they merely skip such places and. depend
upon picking up the trail on better ground; but where
the whole or greater part of the ground is of the
nature above described, nearly all hunters let the
tracks alone, unless they be tracks of a traveling
band.

But, on the other hand, there are some kinds of
ground on which a deer can be followed with almost
as much certainty as on snow, and so fast as to re-
quire little patience on the part of the hunter. Such
are the bare hilly regions where the ground is not too
rocky, and where little or no grass grows and the
brush is not too thick. Such is almost all open ground
when very wet and not too much covered with dead
grass, weeds, etc.; such is most open ground covered
with green grass, especially if the dew is on it; such
is ground on which wild cattle range, and where the
deer often follow the cattle-trails and make runways
of their own from one trail to another. On these and
various other kinds of ground it often is worth while
to work up a trail of even a single deer; but just when
and where this will be worth while depends so entirely

148 THE STILL-HUNTER.

upon the nature of the ground, the size of the deer,
the distance it is likely to travel, the age of the track,
its direction, the time of day, etc., that it is quite im-
possible to lay down any useful rule. It is a thing to
be decided by the circumstances of each particular
case. •

But though it may not be worth while to track a
single deer on bare ground, the case is often quite
different when there are several. A band of five or
six deer is quite easy to follow, and even a doe and
two fawns will keep so close together that where
the track of one is extremely faint that of another
near by it is very plain. So long as they keep near
together, so that one fills up the dim part of the trail
of another, a band is quite easy to track; but when
they begin to straggle out and wander here and there
they get harder to follow, and, as before, in tracking
on snow, it is now best to leave the tracks for a while
and look out for the game from behind some ridge.
Still it will not always be advisable to follow even a
band, if deer are plenty enough without doing so; for
though it is easier for you to see some of them, it is
also much easier for them to see, or hear, or smell
you. So if the ground is very level or brushy, with
no good lookout-places or facilities for circling well,
or if the wind be wrong, it is often best not to bother
even with tracking several deer if others are plenty
enough to give you a fair chance elsewhere.

If you only expect to hunt a little at long intervals
it will not be worth while to study tracking on bare
ground, for to acquire sufficient skill to do it rapidly
enough, and with certainty enough, requires unques-
tionably a large amount of practice. But, on the
other hand, if you intend to do any considerable

TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 149

amount of still-hunting you should by all means
practice it. And to begin this it is not necessary to
wait until the necessity arises. The first steps in the
art can be learned by practicing on your own trail.

To do this go first upon ground that is soft enough
to take the impression of your foot. After walking a
hundred yards or so, circle around backward and
look for your trail. Then follow it, not with your
eyes upon any one track and then shifting to the
next one, but with eyes fixed as far away, as possible,
and with a gaze that takes in at once twenty-five or
thirty feet of the trail. After trying this for a few
days you will discover a marked difference in the
speed with which your eye catches each footprint, in
the distance at which it will catch them, and in the
number it will take in at once. On each day look
also for the tracks of the preceding day and days before
that, until you can no longer find them ; and note care-
fully the difference in the appearance of freshness,
a very important point. When it becomes easy to
find and follow your trail on such ground, change to
more difficult ground. Unless you live in a large city
all this kind of practice may easily be had near home.
A cow or horse track, off the road, is also good to
practice on. But remember to always try and see as
far ahead as possible on the trail. Tracking does not,
as some might suppose, consist in picking out each
step by a separate search, but in a comprehensive
view of the whole ground for several yards ahead.
Sometimes it is necessary to grope one's way from
step to step like a child in its primer, as where the
trail gets very faint or turns much; but generally the
experienced tracker reads several yards of the trail at
a glance, just as the fluent reader does words in a

150 THE STILL-HUNTER.

book. The gaze is fixed quite as much on the sur-
rounding ground, and the trail appears almost to
stand out in relief.

The appearance of a deer's track upon bare ground
varies very much, and a trail may in a quarter of a
mile run through a dozen or more variations. All
appearances may, however, be included under the fol-
lowing heads, and the great majority of tracks you
will see will correspond exactly with the description
of the class :

ist. Distinct impressions of the whole hoof.

2d. Faint impressions of only the points of the
hoof.

3d. A slight rim of dirt or dust thrown up by the
sharp edge of the hoof.

4th. Slight scrapes upon hard ground, recognizable
only by the change of color, being made by a faint
grinding of the finest particles of the surface without
any impression.

5th. Mere touches or spots showing only a faint
change in the shade of the color. There is scarcely
any air so dry that the ground during the night will
not absorb a trace of moisture. The least disturb-
ance of the top particles of such soil, even without
grinding them over each other, will make a difference
in the shade of the color, which will be visible under
some point of view though invisible from others, de-
pending upon the direction of the light.

6th. Crushing or grinding of the surface of friable
rocks, and mere scrapes or scratches on harder rock
or frozen ground.

yth. Depressions in moss, grass, dead leaves, etc.

8th. Dead leaves, sticks, etc., kicked or brushed
aside or overturned, or broken or bent, etc.

TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 151

9th. A plain bending or separating of the spears of
grass or weeds. This is generally caused by the feet
treading down the stalks at the bottom and not as the
next (No. 10) is.

loth. A bending of the spears of grass or weeds,
etc., by the legs of the passing animal. In this case
the bend itself of the spears is hardly noticeable except
by the change in the shade of light cast by them. In
such case a faint streak of differently shaded color
will be found running through the grass or weeds,
visible only from some directions.

nth. Change of color from brushing dew, rain-
drops, or frost from grass, weeds, etc.

1 2th. Upturning of the under surfaces (generally
moist) of stones, leaves, etc.

These twelve classes include about all you will
need to study. There are of course some others,
but generally so accidental and rare that you had
better skip such places and seek the trail farther on,
such as the under surface of dry leaves pressed against
wet ones beneath but not upturned. It will not be
worth while to spend time on a trail in looking for
such signs.

Where the animal has run or bounded it is of
course easy to follow. But this generally shows that
you have alarmed it, or that some one else has. You
already know your prospects in such va case. About
the only tracks worth following are those where the
animal was walking, and these are the very hardest.

I should deem it unnecessary to mention the pecu-
liar shape of a deer's track had I not known the
tracks of both hogs and sheep frequently taken
for those of a deer. Both hogs and sheep have
more round and uneven pointed hoofs than a deer

152 THE STILL-HUNTER.

has. A hog, too, spreads his toes out, and a sheep
generally does more or less. A deer always keeps his
toes tight together except when running, and some-
times when walking on wet and slippery ground.
There is once in a great while a deer with spreading
toes, and once in a great while a sheep with a foot
almost like a deer's foot. But these are too rare to
give you any trouble. The feet of an antelope are
still sharper, if possible, than those of a deer, though
there is often resemblance enough to deceive nearly
any one judging by the mere footprints without re-
gard to the nature of the ground, the number of an-
imals, etc. A calf has also a spreading foot and
much more rounding toes than those of a deer, as
well as a larger hoof. The goat makes a solid track,
very uneven in front. The difference in the distance
of the step will generally settle most cases of doubt,
as a deer has a much longer step than a sheep, hog,
or goat. The feet of these animals also drag more in
snow than do those of a deer.

When the track runs over ground where it becomes
hard to recognize it is best to skip that part and look
for it farther on. And this must also be done where
you can easily follow it but cannot do so without
some danger of alarming the game ; as where the
trail runs down a hill-side in plain view of the valley
or basin in which the game is likely to be, or turns
down wind, etc. etc. And where it is necessary to
circle the trail when deer watch the back trail, etc.
etc., it must be found again in the same way.

In order to do this a knowledge of the deer's hab-
its and movements is indispensable. So is a quick
and comprehensive grasp of the features (or " lay of
the land ") of the country where you do not already

TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 153

know them. You must know the kind of ground to
which a deer is most likely to go at any particular
time of day, the length of time he is likely to remain
there, how far he is likely to travel, etc. etc., and be
quick to see the most advantageous way to approach
such places as the game may probably be in, as well
as the best and easiest place to regain the trail. All
of which will so vary with the locality and the wild-
ness of the deer that little advice can be given about
it except generally, as has been already somewhat
done and will be continued farther on. And even
where the trail is easily followed this kind of knowl-
edge will enable you to make many advantageous
flank movements, etc.

The freshness of a track is generally less easy to
determine upon bare ground than upon snow, though
it can be done with far more certainty than one would
suppose. It is indeed often more difficult than it is
upon snow to distinguish a track five minutes old
from one two or three hours old. And sometimes a
difference of several hours cannot be noticed. But it
is generally very easy to tell with certainty the track
of to-day from that of yesterday. There are places,
however, where sometimes even this can hardly be
done, as in coarse dry sand, dry dead weeds and
grass where the stalk does not straighten again, but
the slant remains and continues to make a different
shade of light, etc. etc.

Where dew, frost, or rain-drops have been brushed
from grass or weeds the freshness is of course unmis-
takable. So where wet leaves, stones, etc., have been
upturned, if the air is dry the freshness is also easy
to determine. The beginner will find little trouble
with anything but dry ground, rocky ground, etc.

154 THE STILL-HUNTER.

And here he must learn to note the shade of color
in case of mere scrapes, and the smoothness and fine-
ness of the outlines in case of distinct impressions.
Where tracks are not deep they are often obliterated
in a few days, and this even without any rain or strong
wind. There is always more or less moving of ants
and birds over them ; there is always more or
less dust falling from the air, the bushes, etc., and
the faintest breeze stirs up more. If they do not
in a few days obliterate a track all these things will
quickly give it an appearance unmistakably old. The
brighter color, too, of any track on dry ground will
generally by one night, however dry the air may ap-
parently be, be restored to the color of the ground
around it, though the outline, if any, may yet remain
distinct. On the dry hills of Southern California I
have time and again noticed that tracks that I had
followed with ease, and where the imprint of the hoof
was perfect, were gone in four or five days, and this
where there were no quails trooping over the trail.
This same obliteration takes place there with the
droppings during the dry season, though this occurs
more slowly. They are not merely bleached out, but
they disappear. This will sometimes happen in a
fortnight or so, though more often it takes months.
Where there is rain they will often go sooner. But
color and gloss will generally determine their age
anywhere.

I have confined myself in this chapter only to very
general hints, as nothing will supply the place of
practice, and practice will supply all I have omitted.
Without practice, and considerable of it, much success
in bare tracking is out of the question. It is not
half as hard as it is generally represented, but it is

TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 155

still no child's play. As long as you have to grope
your way from track to track it will be too slow. You
must study the ground until you can see tracks almost
stick out from it, and see the line of the trail yards
and rods ahead.

The besetting sin of most trackers when upon bare
ground is allowing the trail to take too much of their
attention. And often while they are looking at the
trail the game is looking at them.

Sometimes it may be best to skip the whole of the
trail, using its direction only as a general guide ; as
where you find it leading from a spring toward some
brushy basin upon the mountain-side, which is a fa-
vorite resort for deer during the day. And sometimes
if you find a fresh trail coming down from such a
place to a spring, but can find no trail returning, it
may even be worth while to back-track the incoming
trail, as the deer may have returned to the basin by
a roundabout way, over ground or through brush
where it is too hard to follow them. The size and
character of the basin and the quantity of .other good
lying-down places must determine such questions.

Sometimes you get personally acquainted with a
certain deer or set of deer so that you not only know
them by sight, but know their tracks at once ; know
where they will keep, where they will run if started,
where they will be to-morrow if started to-day, etc.
You come to know them perfectly, but there is always
something the matter when you find them. They
are too far, or jumping too high, or — or — well, in
short you have not yet got them. The tracks of such
deer are a pretty sure guide to their whereabouts
without adhering to the tracks themselves.

156 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XIV.

STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND.

MUCH of the best deer-hunting now to be found in
the western half of -the United States is upon ground
either quite bare or entirely bare of timber. Not
only are many first-rate deer-ranges nearly or totally
destitute of timber, but even where there is plenty of
timber the deer will sometimes leave it and take the
open ground. In summer and early autumn they will
often be found on the prairie miles away from timber
(though they may go to the timber at night), lying
during the day in the long grass of the sloughs and
swales, feeding and standing at evening and in the
morning along the 'slopes, on the knolls, in the hol-
lows, or moving toward the timber or away from it.
The bluffy ground along Western rivers and streams;
the brushy ground that often lies between the timber
and the prairie ; open table-lands cut with ravines;
the brushy foot-hills of heavily timbered mountains;
barren rocky-looking hills studded with boulders;
even bare-looking hills on which you would think at
a distant glance nothing could live, — all these often
afford excellent hunting.

You must not forget that by " open country" I mean
country bare only of timber and not clean or clear
ground. On such clear ground as antelope gene-
rally love the deer will rarely be found. And when

STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 157

the deer does go upon such ground it is generally
for only a portion of the day. Antelope will, how-
ever, sometimes go upon ground containing con-
siderable brush or scrub timber if it is thin enough
to allow them to pass through it without touching
it too much, such as the cactus and sage-brush
covered parts of plains and deserts. And on such
ground the deer may be sometimes found in the
company of his handsome cousin. But the open
country that is generally worth hunting at all for
deer is too brushy for antelope. «It is generally cov-
ered with brush, long grass, or something from knee-
high up to above the height of your head, with plenty
of cover in the sloughs, swales, gulches, basins, pockets,
and valleys. If cover be wanting on the ridges these
sloughs and gulches, etc., must contain it or there
will be few or no deer, as the animal will have cover
somewhere.

Upon all such ground that is worth hunting at all
there is generally far more cover that can completely
conceal the body of a deer than there is in such tim-
ber as is worth still-hunting. So that ground which,
if timbered, would afford very poor still-hunting may,
when open, afford very good; the reason of which we
shall see as we go on. But to insure such result the
open ground should be quite rolling, even more roll-
ing than is necessary to success in timber. Or if it is
of the nature of table-land it should be well cut up
with brushy gulches, valleys, basins, and pockets, etc.
If the ground be too level the deer will have the im-
mense advantage of being in cover that conceals all
but part of his head when it is upraised, while the
whole upper part of your body is often in his plain
view. And his head is often so nearly the color of

158 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the brush that it is hard to see, and it will be gener-
ally too small a mark to hit if you do see it.

The daily life of a deer in such ground varies little
from his life in the woods. He is, however, more apt
to lie in valleys and under an occasional tree along an
open hill-side than when in the woods, and will often
take denser brush to lie down in. But as a rule, deer
will move from their feeding and watering ground to
higher, rougher, and more brushy ground to lie down
on. And much hunting will surely drive them to
higher and rougher ground and thicker brush.

Upon such ground deer are much more apt to
travel in paths. In the Spanish-American States and
Territories there are numerous cattle-trails which
deer are quite -certain to travel; on which tracking is
mere play as long as they keep the trail; and where
there are no cattle they are apt to make trails or run-
ways of their own up the bottom or along the sides of
valleys and across or along the ridge between two
valleys. In open ground one can still-hunt often in
summer and early fall, while in the woods he would
have to await the falling of the leaves for good suc-
cess.

Here, too, water is often much scarcer than in
timber, and often the water-holes are the very best
places to go to first to find the direction deer have
taken. Sometimes this kind of ground will have bush
acorns, but if there are none the deer will find food
enough in the leaves and twigs of the brush; so that
if there is enough green bush in sight you need not
allow the question " What is there for them to live
on ?" to trouble you in the least. But should there be
any groves of oaks or other nut or fruit bearing trees,
the fruit of which deer love, such groves will be quite

STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 159

sure to concentrate the game when the nuts or fruits
are ripe.

Even at the risk of being considered tedious, I have
tried to force upon the learner the extreme importance
of seeing a deer before he sees the hunter, and the
extreme difficulty, in the majority of cases, of doing this.
If the learner thinks me tedious, I know not what he
will think of experience if he waits for that to force
this truth upon him. Now in open ground this im-
portance and this difficulty are not a whit less than in
timber. Where deer are very plenty the wider and
longer range of view may enable one to see something
sooner than in the woods; but where they are only
moderately plenty, or at all scarce, it generally be-
comes, in such open ground as is worth hunting at
all, quite as difficult to see them as it is in the woods.
And often, as in case of the chapparal deer, it is even
more difficult.

To see deer well in open ground involves not only
all the care and acuteness of sight necessary in the
woods, but needs some special care.

Some natural mistakes are often made by the hunter
trained in the woods when he first tries the open
ground.

ist. He does not look far enough away.

2d. He does not look close enough by.

3d. He forgets that the advantage he has of wide
range of vision is enjoyed also by his game.

He is apt to be scanning the ground too much from
one hundred to two hundred yards away, and lets a
little dark or brown spot of life on a hill-side half or
three quarters of a mile away entirely escape his eye.
And many a deer standing in brush within fifty yards
of him may either stand still and let him pass by,

160 THE STILL-HUNTER.

knowing that he does not see him, or he may slip
quietly out of it and, with head and tail both down
low, vanish down some little ravine like a snake glid-
ing over velvet.

A deer, too, on this kind of ground can see a man
almost as far as an antelope can, and often nearly as
quickly. And he can here distinguish a man at rest
or motionless much quicker than he can in the woods.
Hence caution in showing your head over a ridge be-
comes even more important than it does in the woods.

Some of the advantages that the hunter here has
over a deer are very great. Aided by a glass, or even
by his naked eye if he takes proper care and hunts
when the game is on foot, he can discover a deer be-
fore it sees him at a distance so great that there is
little danger of immediately alarming it. He can
then decide what are his prospects for getting closer,
and settle upon the best modes of approach. He can
tell what the game is doing, how long it will be likely
to remain where it is, which way it will be likely to
go, and about where to find it if it shall have moved
while he is approaching it. He can calculate its dis-
tance better, get a better opportunity for a good rest
for a long shot, have a better prospect for several
shots, and can see more of the missing balls strike
ground, and by their aid correct his errors of eleva-
tion, etc. He has also a much better opportunity to
head off game that has been started, or get a shot
at it by a sudden dash, and to put himself in the path
of game that he sees moving anywhere toward him.
His prospects, too, for following up game that has
been started are often so good that it often rewards
his pains, where in the woods certain failure would
be the result. But the great advantage, especially

STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 161

for one who has arrived at that period of life when he
discovers that work is not an indispensable ingredient
of the pleasure of hunting, is in often being able to
hunt a vast number of acres with the eye while the
body is in a state of blissful repose upon some sunny
rock or shady point; the spirits meanwhile being kept
in a state of elegant tranquillity by the reflection that
just at hand is a saddle for which to exchange that
rock when you wish to move on.

On the whole, it may be said that the open ground
is generally the best for the lazy hunter and the bung-
ler, and out of an equal number of deer to the square
mile much the best for success. On the other hand,
the woods give scope to the greater skill and care,
and give a deeper satisfaction to him who values game
more for the skill required to bag it than as a thing to
eat or boast of.

On this kind of ground you will be very apt to be
the victim of a new trick. In the woods you found
that evanescence was the invariable rule of action
with all deer as soon as they discovered you. But
you will now meet a deer that will hide or skulk
silently away in brush quite as often perhaps as he
will try to avoid you by running. All kinds of deer
when inhabiting very dense cover learn, as nearly all
wild animals do, that skulking out of sight is just as
effective as running, and much cheaper. The reason we
have so far seen no skulking deer was that in woods
open enough for successful still-hunting there is not
enough thick cover to hide a deer from a man only
a few yards off. But on such open ground as is
worth hunting there is generally considerable of such
cover, and in many places you cannot get high enough
above it to see down into it. This cover a deer knows

162 THE STILL-HUNTER.

at once. Hence the same deer that in the woods will
start at the faintest crack of a twig two hundred yards
away, when he goes to the dense brush on the edge of
the timber, the long slough grass of the prairies, or the
chapparal of the open hills, may let you walk within
ten yards of him without moving. He may be lying
down and continue lying perfectly still, as a wild-cat,
fox, or coyote often does in cover. He may be feed-
ing and simply drop his head and neck out of sight
and stand still. Or he may be running with high
elastic bounds, then suddenly, on reaching the right
kind of brush, drop into a low sneaking trot, then
come to a walk, and then stand still with head down
and body motionless. In Southern California deer
that will weigh a hundred and fifty pounds can
almost sneak out of sight in a potato-patch. Well as
I know the trick and their capacity for playing it, I am
yet occasionally amazed by seeing them disappear in
brush scarcely waist-high. In following up wounded
ones in brush not over waist-high I have frequently
been unable to catch sight of them, although I could
hear them start and run only a few yards ahead.
And yet the natural gait of these deer is a bound, or
rather bounce, so high that a buck will often throw
his whole body, legs and all, clear of brush five or six
feet high. This is a trick that there seems no good
way of circumventing. Where you know a deer is
hiding from you, you may sometimes get on higher
ground and see a bit of his jacket ; or you may sit
down and wait for him to move. But there seems no
way to make him stir unless you send a dog in after
him. Breaking of brush, slapping of hands, bleating,
stone-throwing, etc. etc., will seldom avail. Some-
times giving them your scent will .move them; but

STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 163

when they once get in good brush with the intention
of hiding they will rarely move for anything but a
dog. Consequently you gain nothing in such ground
by making a noise in walking. For you can move
nothing that has intended to hide, but may move
several deer that would have known nothing of your
approach if you had kept still. It is impossible to
estimate the proportion of deer that will thus hide, as
in most cases we know nothing of them. A deer, too,
may hide to-day and let you pass within five yards of
him that to-morrow, on ground equally good, will
start two hundred yards from you and run a mile
without stopping.

Nor do deer always confine this trick to dense
brush. On tolerably open ground where the only
brush consisted of isolated clumps of sumac and other
bushes fifteen or twenty feet, or even as many yards,
apart I have repeatedly known them lie without
moving in these clumps of bushes while I passed all
around them in their wind, sight, hearing, etc. A
thoroughly trained dog that can be trusted a few
yards from your heels is the best thing for such cases,
as often you cannot rouse the deer without kicking in
the very bush where it happens to be. There is no
reason why a well-bred pointer or setter cannot be
broken to point deer as well as birds. I broke a fox-
hound puppy to do it, and have seen him make as
fair a point as ever a dog made on a woodcock, except
that he sat up instead of straightening out.

While you must always, in hunting such ground,
bear in mind the possibility of deer thus hiding, you
must still govern all your actions and movements by the
presumption that they will act as you have seen them do
in the woods. For this will be the greatest difficulty

164 THE STILL-HUNTER.

you will have to meet. The deer that hide may as
well be counted out. Your bag must be made up from
the number of those that would run away or which
you can catch without giving them an opportunity to
consider what they will do.

It is still more expedient than in case of timber-
deer to hunt these open-country deer during the time
of day when they are on foot. For they are a beast
of exceeding perversity and scorn all the hundred
and one nice places that you select for them to lie in.
Moreover, they will, especially when much hunted,
lie so much in heavy brush that you can rarely get a
good shot if you do start one from his bed. Besides
this they are much more apt to skulk if lying down
when they hear you than if standing. Nevertheless,
when deer are keeping on ground covered only with
isolated clumps of high brush, whether on the ridges
or in valleys, excellent sport may often be had by
jumping them. Especially is this so where one is a
good tracker on bare ground, or there is snow enough
to track by.

Much more advantage can be taken of the running-
time in open ground because a running deer can be
seen at so much greater distance. Good speed must,
however, be made, if you have any distance to go, to
get ahead on the course of a running deer.

On open ground it is quite as essential to distin-
guish the night beds and tracks from those made by
day as it is in timber. For at night a deer is seldom
afraid to go anywhere, and will jump the fence of a
garden that he will be a mile away from at daybreak.

So, too, noise must be avoided as far as possibly
consistent with proper speed. A careless walker will
indeed get shots at deer in Open country where in the

STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 165

woods with the same amount of noise he would not
get even a sight of them. So even the best of hunters
must often make a noise in the brush of open ground.
But though, on account of the greater distances of
game, etc., in open ground, noise is not so fatal to suc-
cess as in the woods, it still does no good and may do
harm. Where a noisy hunter sees one deer, two slip
away without his dreaming of their existence.

The question of wind is sometimes more important
and at other times less important than in the woods.
A canon, valley, or even a hill may alter the course
of the wind that a moment ago you thought you had
in your face. And a cafion carries the wind farther
and faster than any current in the woods. On ridges,
etc., it is of not so much consequence, as the currents of
the intermediate valleys will generally keep the scent
from crossing from ridge to ridge. The distance, too,
at which game may be seen often makes it of less im-
portance than it is in the woods where the distances
are less.

The question of sun is here of more importance
than anywhere else. And where your game must be
seen at very long distances, as on long rolling prairie-
or table-land, or long wavy hills without much ele-
vation, everything else should often be sacrificed to it.

The " lay of the land" is here quite as important to
learn as it is in the woods. And what is known as
" the run of the deer" is even more so, for it is more
variable. You must be careful how you decide that
there is no game until you have searched not only
different kinds of ground, different kinds of brush, but
especially different elevations. I have often found
fine-looking ground bare of deer, and a mile away
found plenty on the same kind of ground. But they

166 THE STILL-HUNTER.

were a thousand feet higher up. In the cold nights
of fall and winter the elevation often is very import-
ant. The belt or stratum of warmest air lies between
five hundred and two thousand feet above sea-level,
the valleys being very cold as well as the very high
land. During the night and during the time deer
stand in the morning sun they will be more apt to
be found along this belt than anywhere else.

DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 167

CHAPTER XV.

DEER ON OPEN GROUND.

PERHAPS the most important question in hunting
open country is where to walk, on high or low ground.
This must not be confounded with the question of
where to hunt, on high or low elevations — a question,
as we have seen, can in general be satisfactorily an-
swered only by an actual inspection of the ground
itself as all ground worth hunting must be examined.
But having selected the elevation of ground which
contains the most game,, then arises the question,
Where shall I walk, on high or low ground ?

Very good authority says, " Always keep on high
ground." As we have seen, this is nearly always the
best plan in the woods. But for open country the
advice is bad, because stated without the exceptions,
which are fully equal to the rule itself. As watch-
towers, as shields behind which to approach your
game without it seeing you, ridges and hills are so
essential that if there are none you may generally
pronounce the ground worthless for still-hunting
game at all wild, especially antelope. But it by no
means follows that one should do most of his walk-
ing on the high ground.

Where the ridges are low and the valleys narrow, it
is generally best to keep upon the ridges nearly all of
the time, certainly during the time the deer are on
foot. And where the ridges are low and the interven-
ing valleys are so narrow that you will not have to

168 THE STILL-HUNTER.

take too long shots at anything running from the val-
ley up the opposite ridge, then it is better to remain
on the ridges even during such time as the deer are
lying down. But when the ridges are high and the
valleys broad between them, then it may be folly to
hunt upon the ridges at all, even during the time
when the deer are on foot.

Two things must determine your choice of eleva-
tion for walking:

ist. Where are the most deer keeping, in the val-
leys or on the ridges ?

2d. From which ground can I the more easily ap-
proach and get a shot at them, the high or low ?

If the valleys are of any breadth at the bottom —
say from forty or fifty yards upward — and contain
good feed or browse, which, as well as water, they will
be quite apt to contain, then the greater number of
deer, if not much disturbed, will often be found in
the valley at all times of the day. Especially will
this be the case where the valley is several hundred
yards and more in width. So also they may often be
found all day in valleys so narrow at the bottom as
to be mere ravines, as is often the case in stormy
weather.

On the other hand, if the hills are well broken into
brushy gulches, basins, and pockets, the deer will be
quite likely to prefer them to the valleys, and if much
hunted will be quite certain to do so. The warm belt
mentioned in the last chapter, and other questions
heretofore discussed, will go far to determine this
matter, although it cannot be definitely decided in
any way; and there will nearly always be some deer
in both places, the only question being as to the
preponderance.

DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 169

Suppose now the deer are in the valleys and the
hills are high ; the deer are on foot and you are on
the hills. You see a deer feeding in the valley, but
he is at least a hundred yards from the foot of the
hill, and the hill is nearly two hundred yards high.
This makes the distance too long for accurate shoot-
ing even on a level, and a down-hill shot of that length
is the very worst you could have.

You will get closer then, will you ? Very good.
But you will rarely do it by going down the hill on the
valley side. Of all ways to approach a deer the worst
is down hill in his sight, unless the hill be such that
you can slide yourself down it sitting or lying down.
And even that is bad enough. Either deer or ante-
lope can see anything above them about as quickly
as they can anything below; at all events, quickly
enough. In sneaking down hill you show more of
your body than in crawling up hill, make quicker
motions, cannot hide behind trees and bushes so well,
and cannot stop yourself so quickly when a deer
raises his head as when you are going up hill. An-
other very important point is that a deer on low
ground can often notice any motion above him quite
as well when his head is down as when it is up. But
if you are below him on a hill-side he can rarely notice
you when his head is down. Deer cannot, indeed,
either smell or hear you so well when you are above
them, but the difference is not enough, in case of high
hills and long slopes, to outweigh the difference in
the advantage they have for seeing you. On the
whole, never try to creep down hill upon deer, and es-
pecially upon antelope, if you can possibly get a shot
in any other way. Your chances are but little better,
even when the hill-side is covered with timber, unless

170 THE Sl^ILL-HUNTER.

there are very thick trunks behind which to move.
Going down hill one is apt to think himself unseen
because he does not- see the deer. But the deer,
meanwhile, sees his legs.

So you conclude, then, that you will go down the
back side of the hill and get into the valley in that
way. This is well enough ; but stop a moment.
That valley is some three hundred yards in width at
the bottom. It is covered more or less with bushes
higher than your head. There are indeed plenty of
openings in all directions, the bushes being only scat-
tered clumps. But when you get down there all will
look alike. Before you can find your deer he may
move or get into cover, and while looking for him
you may start another one or two that you have not
seen from the hill. So you see that, everything else
being right — such as the wind, quiet walking, etc.—
you might about as well have been in the valley at
first as to have taken all the trouble to climb this
high hill. And such you will find to be the general
rule where deer are at all plenty and the low ground
is suitable for walking. Of course if the low ground
is brushy, and especially if noisy, or if it is too bare
of cover to protect you from a deer's eyes, or if
you cannot get the wind in your face, you should
keep the high ground. And where deer are very
scarce the high ground is best, as your chances of
seeing one at all are so slender that you need every
advantage to see it. In hunting among isolated
clumps of thick bushes with good openings between
for easy walking and a view of a hundred or a hun-
dred and fifty yards in most directions, one has, even
on level ground, a fair chance to catch deer on foot
feeding before they see him, This is in fact about

DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 171

the only level ground worth still-hunting at all. And
even there the clumps of brush must be thick, and
there should be a good breeze in your face. Then
the valley will generally be the best place to walk.

So far we have considered deer on foot in the low
ground. Its advantages for walking when deer are
lying down are often much greater. Unless you
have the aid of snow as a background it is almost
impossible to see deer lying down in a valley; for if
the day be warm the deer will certainly lie in the
shade either of a bush or trees, in either of which
cases' you will have a task to see them if you are
on the hills. Moreover, if the hills are high they
probably will not start from their beds even if
they see you. And if they do start you are at a
great disadvantage. You probably will not jump
them close enough for any sort of a shot, and they will
be almost certain to run across the valley or up or
down it — all bad shots for one on the hill. On the
other hand, if you are in the valley you will be quite
certain to start them, and they will be quite apt to
give you a fair shot ; for a deer running from some-
thing in a valley is quite apt to run up hill, and when
running up hill a deer is quite apt to stop two or
three times in going up, and is almost sure to stop at
the top for a final look. If you are on a hill and start
a deer, it is because he sees you and knows exactly
what you are. He has no more curiosity, and is con-
cerned only about effecting his disappearance. But if
you are in the valley and he starts, it is nearly always
because he hears you. In such case he does not know
certainly what made the noise and has a strong de-
sire to know, to which desire, if not too much hunted,
he will be apt to yield.

172 THE STILL-HUNTER.

In a valley, however, the wind is quite certain to be
moving one way or the other, and you may have to
go around to the head of it and come down it — a pro-
ceeding that may not be profitable unless you are cer-
tain that deer are in there. If a deer escapes you in a
valley, you have no chance to get another shot with a
quick dash as you often have in the hills; and you
are also often deprived of that wide range of vision
so essential when deer are scarce. But then you
have a full view of the hill-sides, which, even when
very bare, steep, or rocky, are often fine places for
deer to stand and sun themselves.

But suppose the valley to have broad sloping sid«es,
furrowed with little ravines, sprinkled perhaps with
occasional bushes or trees. It may now be best to
take the hill-side part of the way up, where you can
get a good downward view, and a good forward
and upward view along the slope. This will gener-
ally be far the best place to walk, for then the deer
will be as apt to be on the slopes as in the valley.
Especially is this the best place when the main val-
ley splits up into little side-valleys, and these again
into smaller ravines and pockets, or when there are
little plateaus along the slopes. And even when the
hills are quite steep, if the walking be good it is
often best to wind into all these small valleys about
half-way up the hill. For the wind almost invariably
draws into such places from the main valley.

If the deer are in a table-land where the ravines
and basins are not too deep and wide^then the edges
of these will be the best places to walk, and one need
rarely go into them unless when the deer are lying
down, in which case (unless the ravines are narrow
and shallow) your best chance is in them. Not only

DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 173

is bare tracking generally easier on open ground, but
much more use can be made of tracks. You can see
at a much greater distance the particular kinds of
ground which deer are apt to frequent at different
times of day. You can see far away the "divides"
over or along which trails will be apt to pass, and can
take short-cuts to them. When you reach that part
of the trail that shows the deer are near at hand, you
can sit down and wait for them to show themselves.
When you find tracks leading to a certain basin of
any size, and see no other ground near it better
adapted for lying-down ground, you may feel a cer-
tainty that they are there. Not only are the tracks
themselves apt to be much more plainly visible than
they are in the woods, but you have an immense in-
crease in the ease of following tracks by direction.
When deer start on a general course, as from a
spring, you can tell very nearly where they will pass
half a mile away although the trail itself may mean-
der considerably. And where trails are hard to fol-
low, or it becomes necessary to leave the trail often to
avoid noise or being seen, or because the deer watch
back, or because the trail has reached a place where
they may have stopped and you want to get on the
highest ground to look, such advantages are immense.
A person of quick comprehensive mind for topog-
raphy will soon use most of these advantages in
timber, and in fact they must be used by the success-
ful tracker. But even such a person will find the ad-
vantages of the open ground immense.

In hunting open ground you must, quite as much
as in the woods, avoid looking for a deer. But spend
all your time in looking at spots, patches, shades in
brush, dark shadowy spots by the side of bushes,

174 THE STILL-HUNTER.

everything gray, yellowish, reddish, brownish, or
blackish. Even white spots must not be overlooked,
for some varieties of deer show considerable white
behind, and all show a little even with tail down.
Nothing must be passed by with a careless glance
because its shape is not that of a deer. If it has the
color of a deer, give it a second and third look no
matter what the shape. If it has the shape of the
game, give it a second and third look without regard
to its color. If you are in any doubt whether a thing
be a deer or not and have no glass, either get closer
without its seeing you or wait a while and see if it
moves. But beware always how you decide that any
dubious thing is not a deer. The chances are hun-
dreds to one against any particular spot or shape
being a deer. Yet all the danger of error lies in de-
ciding in the negative. The novice is quick to say,
"Oh, that's no deer," and pass along. It takes the
experienced hunter to say, " I really believe that's a
deer." Once in a while a shot may be thrown away
upon a rock or stump or shade, but such is a far bet-
ter course than to be always too prompt with a nega-
tive decision. This presupposes due care to see that
the object be not a person — a mistake no good hunter
ever makes unless some one is fool enough to be out
hunting with a deer's hide or head, etc.

When the sun is out nothing that shines or glistens
should escape your notice. When you are between
the sun and the deer, as you should be if possible,
there will seldom be any sheen from his coat or horns,
though you can see him then much more plainly.
But if he is between you and the sun, especially when
the sun is near the horizon, a shiny spot where the
sun strikes his back may be seen half a mile or more
away when the body itself would not be noticed.

DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 175

So where a buck is standing in brush you may see
nothing but two or more glistening points where
the sunlight tips his horns, or you may see a faint line
of light where it strikes the side of a tine. But do
not forget that you may not be in position to see this
sheen or glistening appearance, and consequently must
not assume that where nothing shines toward the sun
there is therefore no deer.

In hunting antelope not only should every white
and cinnamon spot as far away as it can be seen be
investigated either with a glass or by waiting for its
motion or going closer, but even gray and dark spots
should receive attention. The head and neck of an
antelope lying down are quite hard to see at a dis-
tance, none of the white of the body may show at all,
and the cinnamon part may cast a far darker shade
than you would expect to see.

The habits of deer in open country will be found
more variable than the habits of the timber-deer;
mainly because the nature and face of the country
varies more, as well as the nature, quantity, and ac-
cessibility of food, etc. Their habits will generally
be varied more by hunting, there being generally a
greater variety of cover, etc., in which to spend the
day. In some places their daily range will be far
greater than in others. Such things must be learned
by inquiry from hunters or from careful observation
in hunting, and often cannot be learned at aD until it
is too late to profit by them. But all such things I
must pass by, even where I know them, as the gen-
eral information necessary to be known will demand
too much space to allow anything special or local to
be stated to any extent.

176 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XVI.

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS.

HAVING examined in the abstract still-hunting in
open country, let us now consider it in the concrete.
We will select for our hunt to-day the mesa, or table-
land, that lies along the coast and covers much of the
interior of Southern California. I select this because
the deer that live on this are essentially open-country
deer and not timber-deer happening in the open coun-
try. There are various theories here about deer shift-
ing from the lowlands to the mountains and vice versa.
But although this is true as to some deer, it is not as
to the majority of the deer of the mesas, or table-lands,
especially near the coast. Most of these deer remain
there the year round, although they are of the same
variety as the deer of the mountains. Like all deer
they are, however, subject at times to a migratory
mania without any apparent cause; but as to the ma-
jority of deer it is only at long intervals and without
any regularity. This is a variety of the mule-deer,
but somewhat smaller and shorter-legged than the
mule-deer of the Rocky Mountains. This deer is often
called the "black-tail," but Judge Caton, of the Illi-
nois Supreme Court, a naturalist whose opinion is of
more value than that of all the hunters in California,
says it is a 'variety of the mule-deer, although having
a black tail. Its usual gait when alarmed is a perfect
ricochet, or bounce, all four feet being grouped close up

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 177

as it rises and all striking the ground, not one after the
other, but all at once, not with a touch as do the feet
of the white-tailed or Virginia deer, but with a violent
blow that sends the animal three or four feet in air in
a twinkling. Though this is a tiresome gait, this deer
will hold it with surprising speed for half a mile or
even a mile or more. All ground is about alike to
these deer, and either up or down hill, across gullies,
over rocks, among boulders, through brush, or along
steep hill-sides, they can accomplish a hundred per
cent more of disappearance per second than any other
animal that lives.

Owing to the entire absence of persecution in the
past and the comparatively small amount to which
they are subjected now, these deer are mere block-
heads compared with those of the Eastern woods,
whose ancestors have been harried until wildness be-
comes a second nature transmissible to progeny, and
whose natural wildness thus acquired has, from the
spotted baby-jacket upward, been kept at the finest
point of cultivation by the incessant crack of the still-
hunter's rifle. Nevertheless they are wild enough by
nature to make some care necessary; they become
wild surprisingly quick when hunted a little, and even
with the tamest of them the most scientific hunting is
the most profitable. I shall therefore adhere to my
general plan and consider them as if all very wild.

The table-land we shall try to-day is quite bare in
places; in other places it is covered with a dark cedar-
like brush from waist-high to as high as your head.
Here and there run valleys from fifty to four hundred
feet deep. Some are narrow at the bottom; others are
two hundred yards or more in width. Some are half
a mile long; others are several miles long. All of

178 THE STILL-HUNTER.

them have plenty of arms and branches. And the top
of the table-land contains numerous little ravines
and swales leading into these valleys, and numerous
brushy basins and plateaus along their edges caused
by washes and slides in years of excessive rain.

The first question is, Where shall we walk, upon the
high ground or in the valleys ?

We shall have little trouble to decide this question
to-day. For the table-land is in many places too bare
to contain any deer. -And this brush that you see is
just dense enough to stop all the breeze yet admit most
of the sun, so that at this time of year — August, a
month as good as any for still-hunting here — the deer
will not remain in it during the day. The deer are
now in the valleys and the brushy basins and ravines
leading into them. But the greater number are
doubtless in the main valleys or their large branches,
as they are very little disturbed here. Moreover, this
brush is so high and level that we could not see a
deer in it unless it were jumping, and we should prob-
ably see few in this way, as the greater number would
simply skulk.

Then how shall we hunt the valleys ? By walking
in them or along the edge of the table-land ?

If it were no later than eight o'clock I should say
keep the edge of the mesa here. For this valley be-
fore us is neither wide nor deep, and a hundred and
fifty yards will be about the longest shot you would
have to make. You can see everything in the valley
so much better from the high ground that your chances
there would have been best two hours ago. But we
have come out too late to-day; the deer are now lying
down in the valleys, and you cannot see them as they
are in the shade. You might walk along the edge of

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 179

the high ground and pass half a dozen lying close in
the dark green shade of the sumacs and fusicas in the
valley, watching you all the time and knowing that
you do not see them. Now if you go down the valley
you will be far more apt to start them; for though
they will occasionally lie concealed in scattered brush
and let you pass near them, the prevailing rule is
quite the other way, — provided you come close, say
fifty or sixty yards. Though they will often lie in a
bush and look at you at a hundred or a hundred and
fifty yards away, they will seldom let you get as close
• as they often do in very thick brush.

But even in this wild country there is such a vast
number of acres to the deer and such exceedingly
liberal measure given for an acre that it will not do
to go rambling aimlessly about, trusting to fortune to
start a deer. We will therefore go to a water-hole
about half a mile down that valley and see if any deer
watered there this morning, and, if so, which way they
went when they left it. But as there is a chance of
some deer being in this end of the valley, and as the
wind blows up it from the sea, we will go down it just
as carefully as if we knew some deer were in it.

Winding down an old cattle-trail at its upper end
we find ourselves in a little valley about a hundred
yards wide at the widest points, about half filled with
green bushes from four to eight or ten feet high, but
containing plenty of open places, and a cattle-trail
down the center that allows, quiet and easy walking.

Here, you see, are deer-tracks and "sign" already,
but they are yesterday's. Here have been a big buck,
a doe, two fawns, and a smaller buck yesterday. Now
be careful, for they may be here again to-day. Here,
you see, are signs of two or three days ago, showing

180 THE STILL-HUNTER.

that they have spent several days here. But that very
fact shows that it is just as likely they are not here
to-day, for deer seldom spend over two or three days
in exactly the same place. If they have been here
that long they are more apt to be in some other part
of the valley, half a mile or a mile away, or perhaps
in some adjoining valley.

A few minutes' walk brings us to a branch of the
main valley which winds out of sight among the hills,
and like the main valley is well filled with bright green
brush. And here in the main trail we find two tracks
of this morning.

They are either does or young bucks, by the track.
As we did not see their tracks above here, it is very
likely they turned off into this branch. Examination
of the ground shows that they have gone into the side
valley, and no tracks are visible coming out.

Now, although it involves more work, we had better
swing around to the head of the side valley and come
down it; for the wind, you see, blows up it, and the
most certain way is to go around.

We soon climb the hill, and taking the table-land
follow the course of the little valley, keeping out of
sight, however, of the bottom of it; for there is no
prospect of the game being on foot now, and it has
twenty times the chance of seeing us that we have of
seeing it, and if it does see us we should probably not
get a fair shot. But here and there the highland that
forms the edge breaks into a little short gulch or
pocket, filled more or less with brush, and into these
we cautiously peep as we wind around their heads.
Here's one now that is more brushy than usual, and
a deer might lie in it without seeing you. Generally
it is not necessary to do more than merely show

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 181

yourself over the edge, or give a snort or bleat like a
deer, or even a low whistle. A middling loud " Phew !"
or " Mah !" is the best, as it is more apt to make a deer
get up and look instead of running at once.

Five or six of these side gulches are passed without
seeing anything, and we reach the head of the main
valley. Now let us wind carefully round the head of
it and see if they have gone out, for they may have
been going to another valley. A careful inspection
shows no tracks. The ground is hard and dry, but
in most places a track could be seen. Moreover, they
would have been almost sure to travel this well-beaten
cattle-trail that leads directly out of the head of the
valley. They are probably in the valley; and now look
out sharp for tracks when we get into it, but keep a
good watch ahead. Make an inspection of the ground
at the mouth of every side gulch or valley on the side
opposite the one we came up.

About two hundred yards below the head of the
valley your eye catches a slight scrape on the dry
ground. You notice it only by its shade of color,
but it is an unmistakable scrape. Just beyond it are
two or three more, and in one of them the points of a
hoof have raised a faint rim of dry dirt. And, see,
they lead, too, right toward a side gulch of consider-
able length which terminates some two hundred yards
up in a pocket. Follow them a little further, so as to
be sure they lead in there, and then back out and swing
around over the hill to the head of it; for you see the
wind draws in there too. The valley here is not over
a hundred and fifty feet deep, so that climbing the
hill is soon over, and in a few minutes you are peering
over into the pocket. But all is still. You show a little
more of your head and shoulders, but nothing moves.

182 THE STILL-HUNTER.

Do you see that thick clump of dark green sumac
in the bottom ? Give a good " Phew !"

Your " Phew!" is followed by an instant smash-crash,
bump, bumpy bump, and straight up the opposite side of
the pocket go two airy creatures of yellowish brown,
not running or even jumping, but me rely glancing from
the ground like sunbeams from a mirror. You made
your "-Phew !" too loud entirely, and you should have
kept out of sight while you did it.

Bang ! goes your repeater, and the dirt flies from
the ground that one's feet have just left. Bang —
wang — bang — slang — whang! it goes; the dirt flies in
every direction around the glossy pelt, as with a reg-
ular bump, bump, bump, and all four feet grouped close
together, they seem to merely skim the. ground like
birds. But faster than you can send the hissing lead
they clear the hill-side, and with a faint bump, bump,
bump, and a dissolving view of shining white but-
tocks, they fade over its crest into the brush beyond.

It is not quite so easy as it would appear to be to
hit such vibratory beauty as that. They are a differ-
ent institution from the deer you have heretofore
seen, and are the hardest animal of their size to hit
with the rifle when running.

At the water-hole we find a few old-looking cattle-
tracks in the edge and a few faint symptoms of old
deer-tracks. But be not too hasty. Do you not see
that all the ground for yards around has been run
over by myriads of quails ? A dozen deer could have
watered at that spring this morning, yet the ground
might now show no sign of them. Let us circle
around it fifty or a hundred yards or more away, ex-
amining carefully the sides and bottom of this branch
valley that leads in here from one side. This branch

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 183

runs toward another valley nearly parallel with this.
That one contains no water, and even if it did deer
would be quite likely to travel from one to the
other. In so traveling they are quite certain to go
up a gulch or cafion like this branch if it leads in that
direction.

There is a bright-looking spot of pretty fresh dirt
along the water-course at the bottom of the gulch
where something has broken down the dirt along its
edge. It seems to have been done by a hoof, and
done, too, this morning. A few yards farther on,
plain as the stamp of a die upon lead, appears the
track of a three-year-old buck, the smaller track of a
two-year-old or a doe — we cannot tell which — and the
track of a yearling or two. They are marching in
Indian file right up the center of the gulch on one side
of the dry sandy water-course in the center, occasion-
ally crossing it, but generally keeping pretty close to it.

Now you will notice there is little of the heavy
bright green sumac or other shady bushes in this
gulch. It is also narrow at the bottom, is exceed-
ingly warm, and does not look very inviting as a
place for deer to lie down in during the heat of the
day. Moreover, deer when at all wild are not apt to
lie down very near water, but go half a mile or a
mile away. Therefore it is highly probable that they
are not in this gulch at all. We can therefore climb
up to the top and walk along the level ground to the
head of this gulch feeling an almost positive assurance
that we shall find the tracks of our deer emerging upon
the table-land at the head of it. But on the way let
us not forget that the deer delights in abusing the
confidence of the hunter. Therefore, since it will
be just as easy to take on our way an occasional

184 THE STILL-HUNTER.

peep over into the gulch, let us do so. If the deer
are still on foot, as they may be, lounging slowly
along, it being not yet very warm, we shall be quite
apt to see them. And if we find no tracks coming
out of the head of the gulch, we shall then know that
they have been perverse enough to lie down in there.
And we can then go down it with the wind in our
faces, and start them in such a way as to get a pretty
fair shot.

We reach the head of the gulch, having seen nothing
on the way, and there find no tracks. But wait. Do
not start into the gulch too soon, on the assumption
that the deer are lying in there. I did not tell you
that the deer would emerge at the extreme point of it.
There are three or four little ravines on each side, and
some nice little ridges too, by which they could have
walked out. Examine the ground for a hundred yards
on each side, going back several yards into the brush;
and look with great care, for all may not now be
traveling together.

On the other side, some fifty yards below the ex-
treme point of the gulch, you find quite a trail lead-
ing out of a little ravine. "Just like a sheep-trail "
you will probably report it when you go home, giving
an ignorant person to believe there were forty or fifty
deer using it. But the whole has been done by these
four deer.

And now another question arises. Here are tracks
running both ways and both look equally fresh. Have
the deer come this way and returned, or have they
gone that way first and returned this way?

If there were no water in the question this might per-
plex you a moment. But as the tracks are evidently
made by the same deer whose tracks we saw at the

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 185

mouth of the gulch, and as one set of tracks leads to-
ward the water and the other set leads away from it,
there can be little doubt which course is the most
likely to be the one they last went. But to be sure
follow the trail until you find where one has stepped
in one of the earlier tracks.

This last way is of course sure where you find such
a place. But deer may return by the side of their told
tracks. And several may even walk some distance in
a trail without stepping on an old track at all, or, at
all events, in a place where the dirt is soft enough to
plainly show which is the upper track. In such case,
if you think it wor*th while to follow the trail and
know nothing about the watering or feeding places or
anything else likely to determine the matter, observe
the following rules:

ist. The tracks leading toward the highest ground
are likely to be the freshest.

2d. So are the tracks that wander and straggle the
most from the main trail.

3d. So are the tracks leading toward the most brushy
ground if the others lead toward pretty open ground.

4th. So are the tracks leading away from where
there is the most travel, noise, or disturbance to a
place more quiet and retired.

In nearly all such cases the first set of tracks is
made in the night or early in the morning, and the
other is the returning track. If you can apply none
of these rules, then take the track that gives you the
wind in your face. And if there is no wind, take the
sun on your back.

At all events, we will follow here the trail that goes
away from water. And we may follow it quite fast
for some distance; for yonder in its direction are the

186 THE STILL-HUNTER.

headlands of another valley; in this dark thin brush
through which the trail now leads there is little pros-
pect of the deer stopping at this time of day; besides,
it is plain they are making for yonder valley, and if so
they will not be apt to stop at all in this stuff.

A quarter of a mile or more the trail leads over the
hard dry ground of the table-land, winding through
the most open places of the brush, showing that the
deer loves good open walking for traveling purposes
as well as he does the thickest brush for hiding; and
this although the thickest brush is no obstacle to him
when he is a hurry. The trail is in places almost
invisible, but you can still keep its general course.
The bare hard pavement-like stony concrete shows a
broad line, of a trifle more bareness, if possible; the
little fine hard mossy substance that covers much of
the ground shows a broad line a trifle grayer than the
rest; and where streaks of softer ground are occasion-
ally wet a light scrape or rim of fine dust raised by a
sharp-edged hoof meets the eye.

The head of the other valley is reached, and the
trail descends into that. This valley is at least three
hundred yards wide from edge to edge; the deer are
doubtless lying down; the wind blows up the valley;
there is no room for doubt as to the best place to
walk.

Down into the valley you go, and find the trail wind-
ing into another old cattle-trail that leads down the
valley. For a quarter of a mile the deer have kept the
cattle-trail; the tracking has been easy; your nerves
have been on a constant strain. But now comes the tug
of war. The deer are leaving the cattle-trail. First
one of them wanders off to one side. Then another
leaves it; a few yards more one straggles off on the

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 187

other side. Then that one crosses over the trail, and
the last one also leaves it. And now you realize that
the decisive hour has arrived.

Probably it has arrived. Possibly it has not.
Those deer may in that way wander on for quarter
of a mile yet. But still you must prepare to see them
at any moment.

And now what is the most important thing to
attend to? Obviously to be in the best position to
shoot. Out then from behind those thick bushes where
you can see nothing. Get on the side toward the sun,
so that you will be more likely to get a shot the other
way instead of having it flash into your eyes and
along your rifle-sight as the deer run up hill per-
haps directly toward it. Get on the rising ground
along the edge of the hill where you can see some-
thing.

Not an instant too soon are you. For as you reach
the rising ground and show your head and shoulders
a yard or two higher there is a sudden hollow-toned
"Phew!" a smash and crash of brush,a' k-bump-bump-
bump-bump of hoofs on the hard ground, and about
fifty yards ahead you see two shining curves of brown
capped by white undulating through the brush.

Bang! goes your rifle, and the bullet hisses clear
over one of the curves and, glancing from the ground
beyond, goes whizzing away on high. Almost as
quickly the curves disappear behind some bush; you
catch sight at the same time of two other deer with
heads down disappearing on a trot in a brushy gulch
on the other side of the valley; the first two reap-
pear with an occasional whirl of glossy brown above
the brush down the valley, while your bullets whiz
spitefully far above them.

188 THE STILL-HUNTER.

You have already learned the folly of going after a
deer when once started. This rule generally, though
not always, holds good with these deer. But that
place where those two disappeared on a trot looks
like a pocket or basin containing thick brush. Those
two that went in there acted as if they would skulk if
they had a good opportunity. Just for curiosity fol-
low them in there; and do so as fast as you can go.

Arriving there you find it a sort of deep pocket
with steep brushy sides about seventy-five yards across,
well filled in the bottom with brush five or six feet
high such as we saw on the level ground above, but
much denser.

You see no motion or anything that looks like a
deer, and hear no sound. You snort like a deer, bleat
like a deer, whistle, clap your hands, and finally yell.
But nothing moves. A liberal shower of stones into
different parts of the bush is equally futile. But from
the way these two ran off and the fact that you got
here so quickly without seeing them go out it is pro-
bable that they are standing hidden within fifty yards
of you, or else are sneaking out through the heaviest
brush that runs through the centre. Take that old
trail that winds up one side of the basin and go up
until you can see down into the brush.

You follow the trail all the way to the top of the
basin, and then walk all the way around it on the edge
of the high ground. And still you see and hear
nothing. But be not too hasty to decide that there is
nothing there. If they went out so quickly that you
could not see them after running here so fast, then it
is certain that they went out on a fast gait, either a
run or a trot. In either case the tracks will show
plainly anywhere along the edge of the level ground.

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 189

Go then around the edge and look for tracks. If you
find none, then you know the deer are hiding in that
brush. In such case you have an excellent opportunity
to try one of the surest ways to outgeneral the skulk-
ing deer — to get on a commanding point of view and
sit him out. He cannot stand it a great while. When
all is quiet for half an hour or so — often a much less time
will suffice — the skulking deer gets uneasy. He must
move a little. And when you are well above him you
can then hardly fail to see him.

But I did not tell you to lose sight of thebrush while
looking for those tracks. Can you not watch both at
once? You must have more ubiquitous eyes than you
now exhibit if you expect much success as a still-
hunter. Look down there where that little cut at the
bottom of the basin branches off from the main gully
at the bottom. Do you not see there a yellowish
tinge of something in the brush? Explore it at once
with a bullet. Why do you hesitate? It cannot be a
man or any domestic animal. The loss of a bullet is
nothing. The noise will probably not start the skulk-
ers; and even if it should, what could you wish that
would be better?

And now it is gone. So it was a deer after all.
And the fear of losing a bullet has cost you a deer.

But run quickly to that point that juts out into the
basin near its mouth and shoot at the first brown,
yellow, white, or gray spot that moves in the brush.

You get there and look long and keenly, but see
nothing. Despair begins to settle upon you, when
suddenly you catch sight of a small white spot with a
small point of black in the center just disappearing in
the bush over the other edge of the basin where you
were a few moments ago. It must have slipped up

190 THE STILL-HUNTER.

that ravine yonder where the brush appears scarce four
feet high. And yet you saw it not. A second or two
more and you would not have seen it at all. And
even now you see no head, no legs, no body; only a
small target, and that fast fading in the brush upon
the level ground.

How brightly gleams the sun upon the front sight
of your rifle as it comes up! And what a thrill of
satisfaction you feel as you see it glimmer in bright
relief full upon the center of the fading white! You
pull the trigger, but no sound of striking bullet comes
back. • You go and look, but there is no sign of stum-
bling, plunging, or jumping. The deer has evidently
walked on quite unconcerned.

You shot toward the sun; that is all. You must be
careful how you see your front sight too plainly when
the sun is directly in your eyes; a point we will con-
sider again.

But what about the other one ? Did it go off with
this one ?

Perhaps it did. Examine the track and see.

You follow the track a few yards in the course it
has taken, bu1*observe no sign of more than one deer.
Turning backward toward the basin, you catch sight
of a deer some two hundred yards away gayly bound-
ing up the main valley near where you first started
the four.

You naturally wonder if that could not possibly be
the other deer that was hiding. But you might better
wonder if it could possibly be any other one, so close
to where you first started them, and in full bound too.
I did not tell you to lose sight of the basin while look-
ing for the other one's track. You could have found
it just as well by looking down the side of the basin

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 191

as by following it away into the brush where you
could not see what was going on in the basin. There
is no use of sitting down now. There is no proba-
bility that there is anything left to sit out. But as it
lies in your way back and will cost you neither time
nor trouble, you may look at the mouth of the pocket.
Ten to one, you will now find the tracks of a deer run-
ning out of it. In the future be careful how you trifle
with the skulking deer.

192 THE STILL-HUNTER,

CHAPTER XVII.

ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND.

THE ground now breaks into a range of hills which
in the Eastern States would be called " mountains."
There are three or four peaks twelve hundred to fif-
teen hundred feet high from which the land descends
in smaller hills and slopes for three quarters of a mile
or so, forming numerous gulche^, little ravines, basins,
and a few small plateaus. Scarcely a single tree is in
sight, but all the side of the hills is more or less cov-
ered with brush. This brush is in most places not
over waist-high, and is quite thin enough for com-
fortable walking. But in some places, as in and
around the heads of ravines, the brush is denser and
often higher than one's head. Many of the basins
and plateaus, as well as some of the lower ridges,
are more or less covered with large clumps of scat-
tered bushes, luxuriant and green. On the whole, it
is excellent-looking ground for deer to live on, for
the hunter to get sight of them and to get a shot at
them.

There appears, however, one difficulty; and as it is
one we shali frequently meet on open ground, espe-
cially in all those States and Territories where there
is no rain during a large part of the summer or
autumn, we will consider it now.

Although the brush is in most places thin enough

ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 193

for comfortable walking, yet it is too thick to walk
through without touching it. Much of it is dry and
brittle, and cracks and snaps at the least touch. The
ground, too, is more or less carpeted with sun-
dried grass and flowers of various kinds that crackle
under the lightest tread of the softest moccasins.
With the utmost care you can use you still make such
a noise that in the woods where we began hunting
you would see not a tail the live-long day.

It would indeed be useless to hunt such noisy
ground as this in the woods. The best still-hunters
of the Eastern woods will almost invariably refuse to
hunt when, as they say, " the woods are too noisy."
We have already seen one reason why your noise is
not so apt tD alarm deer on open ground — the greater
distances, more wind, and the absence of trees. But
beyond all these it is evident that these deer do not
start from noise as quickly as timber-deer do. That
is, all do not. If they did, it would be impossible to
get many close shots on such open ground as is
brushy enough to contain many deer. The hunter
soon finds this out, and hence is apt to conclude that
since he cannot go quietly anyhow, and as the deer
do not mind noise, there is no use in trying to walk
quietly. Once in a while we meet a man foolish
enough to think that the more noise he makes the
better, as if the deer needed flushing like quail.

All this proceeds from hasty reasoning from care-
lessly gathered premises. While it is true that many
of the deer do not run from a noise that would send a
timber-deer flying before you got sight of him at all
— and here I refer not to the skulkers, but to those
that intend .to run but wait a while to see what makes
the noise — it is equally true that many others do run

194 THE STILL-HUNTER.

at the slightest snap of a twig, just as the timber-deer
does.

The proper way to hunt here is to avoid noise as
much as you can by selecting trails, easing off brush
with your hands, going around it, crawling through it,
etc., but never to assume that there is nothing just
ahead of you because you have just had to make a
noise in tearing through some brush that you could
not get around. In short, make no noise; but if you
must make some, do not be concerned about it, but
go on the same as if you had made none at all.

And now another question perplexes you; viz., how
high up the side of this range of hills to walk?

A common mistake in hunting such ground is going
too high up. Although you will find some tracks and
droppings nearly up to the top of those peaks, yet the
deer are rarely there in the daytime. Most of those
tracks are made by deer crossing the top to the other
side, but in no particular haste about getting over.
It will rarely be worth while to hunt there, and it is
also too far away to command a view of the lower
slopes and foot-hills. This applies, however, only to
such ranges as are narrow at the top. If they are
broad-topped and contain plateaus, basins, etc., on
the top, then the top may be the best place.

If deer are not at all disturbed, the lowest foot-hills
and ravines of such hills as these will contain about
as many deer as any part of them. But if disturbed
by hunters, herdsmen, or sheep, etc., they will go
higher. As a rule, the middle tier of the hills is the
best to hunt; as it is not only apt to contain as many
deer as any part, but commands a good view of the
upper and lower slopes and ravines.

But what means that motion in yonder bush, in

ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 195

that little basin about three hundred yards away and
a hundred feet or so lower than we are? There is yet
no wind to cause it so to move, and a bird could
hardly give it such a jerking motion. A deer nipping
twigs from it could, however, give it just such a mo-
tion. Move gently over to this side of that next
ridge and follow it out to its point. From there you
can almost see the other side of the bush. Take an
occasional look over the ridge as you go, but be very
careful how you do it.

Reaching the point, you discover on the farther
side of the bush a little spot of white set in a slight
framework of brown, with something like the taper
of a brownish-gray leg just below it. In the cen-
ter of the white is a stubby little black and white
tail that gives a highly complacent wiggle. Very
much the same kind of a target as that you shot at
on our last hunt.

Sit down and keep cool a moment. Then take an
inspection of the ground and decide upon the best
means to get nearer to the deer. It suspects nothing
as yet, and is not going to run. At this time of day
— about sunrise — it will probably stay there several
minutes. At all events, your chances of getting within
a hundred yards of it are greater than your chances
of making a killing shot from here ; for both the
ground and wind are favorable for a close approach.
On such ground as this you must make a mortal shot
and not break a leg or lightly cripple such game.
Once wounded, a few seconds will carry it into that
dense dark chapparal you see beyond there so heavily
robing the mountain's breast and shoulders. And once
there it is forever lost to you unless you have a very

196 THE STILL-HUNTER.

good dog; and even if you have a dog you may still
lose the deer or have a heavy task to get it out.

Do you not see a cattle-trail winding up the side of
the next ravine? It leads directly to that little basin
in which the deer is. Go down this point out of
sight, take that trail, on which you can walk quietly,
and follow it to the edge of the basin.

You soon reach the trail, and behold! there are
tracks in it of four or five deer going both ways.
Lose no time, though, in examining them. They are
all about equally fresh; there is undoubtedly water in
that deep gulch far below; the deer you just saw is
undoubtedly one of those that made these tracks;
that is the up-hill direction, too; you know the rest.

You speedily conclude that they have been going to
water, and that the return trail is the freshest. So
going swiftly and silently along the trail you reach
the edge of the basin. Peering cautiously over the
edge you see nothing.. You take a step or two forward,
and suddenly from half a dozen different directions
comes a medley of crashing brush and bump, bump,
bump, bump of hoofs. A few brown hides glimmer for
a moment above the brush in glossy curves sur-
mounted by white rumps, and vanish amid a storm
of random shots from your repeater.

The same old mistake you made so often in the
woods. How often must I warn you about showing
yourself too quickly; about thinking you can see
everything because the brush is not very heavy;
against deciding too hastily that there is nothing in
sight. There were five deer there; you saw only one
of them at first; yet all the rest were there browsing
also; and yet you see the brush is neither thick nor
high. Suppose now you had stood back for a few

ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 197

moments with none of your head in sight lower than
your eyes, You could not only have seen anything if
it should try to leave the basin, but would undoubt-
edly have seen in a minute or two more the deer that
you saw first. It had only turned a little so as to
conceal the white of its buttocks and cast a different
shade of color from its side. And you might easily
have seen that big buck that stood by a bush a few
yards farther on. Remember now that deer are just
about as hard to see in such a place as they are in the
woods, and do not throw away another such oppor-
tunity just by a trifle too much haste to get a better
view.

And now we must seek another deer or set of deer.
For it would be quite useless to follow these into that
chapparal whither they have gone so rapidly bound-
ing. Remember that even here, where there is neither
house nor ranch in sight, though you can see many a
mile around, deer are not found in every bush. In this
whole range of hills, some three miles long, there are
probably not over twenty. But that is enough to
make fair sport if you are careful and know how to
manage them. Move along, but keep as near this
elevation as you can. Stop at every good point of
observation and after making a thorough search with
the naked eye, especially of the ground near to you,
take your glass and sweep carefully the lower, higher,
and farther ground.

Nearly half a mile beyond where we saw the last
deer is a comfortable rock on a high point command-
ing an extensive view of slopes, ridges, ravines, etc.
Let us take a seat and spend ten or fifteen minutes.
Yes; call it laziness if you choose, we will not dispute
about terms; but we will nevertheless sit. Now search

198 THE STILL-HUNTER.

all the hill-sides, slopes, etc., in sight. Give first a
general look over the whole with your naked eye;
then run over it in detail with the glass. Look espe-
cially in the brush of sunny hill-sides; look around all
scattering bushes; look in the bottoms of all ravines,
etc.; look on the tops of all ridges. Look as if you
were looking not for deer but for hares, for rabbits, for
rats, even for mice.

Five hundred yards away, and some three hundred
feet lower than where you are, you notice a small spot
of shiny gray in some bushes. Watch it closely. It
may be the sun on a deer's coat, for some of the deer
are already laying aside the yellowish-brown coat of
summer and putting on the gray of autumn.

Ah ha! It moves a little. And now ahead comes up
from behind a bush and takes a long and careful look:
and the sun glistens on some polished horns upon the
head of a four-year old buck.

Now remember, there is positively no haste, for he
does not suspect anything. Show nothing below your
head; keep that still; and wait long enough to find out
what he intends doing.

He takes a few steps; nibbles a few leaves from 3,
bush; then stands a minute or two and wiggles his
tail. He then scratches his head with one hind foot;
takes another nibble from a bush; and then stands
still a moment.

Wait just a moment more before deciding what to
do. If he is going to remain there, there is no im-
mediate haste. You may be quite certain he will
not descend any lower at this time of day, for it is
nearly eight o'clock. And it is highly probable that
he intends coming higher up, for there is hardly cover

ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 199

enough where he is to make a good lying-place for as
warm a day as to-day will be.

And now he starts. Slowly indeed, but, do you see?
upon a long stride, a sort of a stalk of extreme digni-
ty. And now he takes the side of the ravine upon
something looking like a trail.

Now is your time for expedition. Out of here by
the back way in a twinkling. For do you not see that
that ravine runs up to yonder little brushy plateau?
He is undoubtedly going there, and will keep the side
of the ravine he is on or go up and take the ridge.
You must get to the head of the ravine before he does;
and keep out of sight while doing it.

Backing out of your present position, you slip along
the rear side of the ridge you are on and run along it
to where it joins the main body of the mountain. And
there, thanks to the old Spanish cattle, is a good trail
winding directly toward the plateau toward which
the buck is going. With head low down and body
bent so as to keep below the brush, you reach the pla-
teau with a short run. Then slowly raising your head
you take a look for your game, and in a moment you
see it moving deliberately up the side of the ridge
some two hundred yards away.

No, no. Do not shoot. A deer walking at that dis-
tance, especially on a course both rising and slanting,
is entirely too hard a shot for even an old hand to
take unless compelled to. Do not even move until
you see whether he crosses the ridge, takes the top of
it, or keeps on the side he still is on. In any of these
events your prospects of a pretty fair shot are far
stronger than the probabilities of hitting the deer
where it now is.

And now see! the deer is going over the ridge.

200 THE STILL-HUNTER.

But stop! Do not move an inch until he is out of
sight. There he disappears. Now be quick but quiet
and get on the neck of that ridge he went over just
where it joins the main body of the hills.

You reach the neck of the ridge, and dropping be-
hind a large rock take off your hat and peep cautious-
ly over the rock. And soon you see on your side of
the ravine a long low bit of yellowish brown moving
through the brush some seventy yards away, with the
tips of a pair of horns occasionally surging through
the brush in front of it. The brown is moving toward
you too, and will pass you some thirty yards down
your side of the ridge and near the bottom of the
ravine. And you softly ejaculate " Mine."

But beware, dear friend, how you too quickly say
" Mine," You know not whether a deer is yours un-
til you stand astride of it with your knife. And —
and — be a — little — cautious even then; for sometimes
when the point of the knife has pricked the skin of a
fallen deer, hunter, rifle, knife, and deer have radiated
to the four points of the compass almost as suddenly
as if a keg of powder had exploded in their midst.

And now where is your bit of brown? You took
your eyes from it to look at the place where you in-
tended to bag it, and when your eyes would return to
it, behold! it is gone. Yet none of that brush is over
four feet high and not at all thick.

Now do not get excited, worried, or anxious; for if
you do you will yield to hurry and flurry, and then it
will be a running shot or none. The buck is still
there; he probably suspects not your presence; he
cannot get out of the ravine without your seeing him;
and if you have patience you may still get a good
standing shot.

ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 201

You wait a few seconds and they seem a few min-
utes; a few minutes and they seem long hours.
Surely he has slipped away unseen, you think; that
rock would give a so much better view; he may be
getting away; no time is to be lost. So Haste reasons
with you; and though Patience commands you in
thunder-tones to keep still, you will listen to Haste.
You put your foot upon the rock and are just raising
yourself upon it, when a sudden crash of brush comes
from near the place where you last saw the bit of
brown. It is followed at once by the well-known
bump, bump, bump, and from the bottom of the ravine
away goes the buck bouncing on steely legs up the
opposite side. He looks now as large as a yearling
calf, as with high bounding springs he surges above
the brush, with the morning sun glinting on every
tine and shining from nearly every hair. Little he
cares for the rapid fire of your repeater. He surges
away as if it were only play, leaving your bullets all
above him as he goes curving downward from the
climax of his lofty bound.

He reaches the top of the ridge, stops, wheels half
around, and turns his great mulish ears and dark blue
eyes full upon you. There again is your artist-deer
at last, standing full broadside, bulging with fatness,
looming now as large and lustrous as he was before
small and dim, as graceful and majestic as he was be-
fore ugly and insignificant — and only fifty yards away!

Aim at the very lowest point where the shoulder,
joins the body; and take a fine sight at that or you
will still overshoot him. A tremor runs through all
your nerves; the front sight of the rifle wavers all
over the target; with a convulsive jerk you pull the
trigger. The rifle cracks, and as the smoke clears

202 THE STILL-HUNTER.

away, the top of the ridge reveals no trace of your
buck.

Did he fall in his tracks? you naturally wonder.

Suppose he did. Will he not stay there a few min-
utes? Suppose he did not. May you not get another
shot before he can cross or get out of the next ravine?
Do you not see that with a quick run you can reach
the neck of the ridge he was on and may see him if
he runs up or across the next ravine, as he probably
will do? Why stand here an instant speculating upon
the probable result of your shot ?

You reach the neck of the next ridge quite out of
breath and just in time to discover — nothing. But
be not too hasty to utilize your discovery. For he
may be hiding in the brush. Walk on down to where
he stood when you fired and see what has happened.
But be not too hasty to get there, and keep a good
watch in the brush below while going.

And now hark! a faint crack of brush; then a crash;
then another smash of brush, and the old bit of brown
is plunging through the brush below. But it is a la-
boring, stumbling gait, without any of the bump, bump
of hoofs plied by elastic legs.

Bang ! bang ! bang ! goes your rifle again, and still
the brown goes on. Stop. Save your cartridges.
He is wounded, and if you empty your rifle-magazine
he may get out of this ravine before you can load
again. It is evident that you are now too excited to
hit anything; and therefore you had better take a few
moments' time to cool down. And in the meanwhile
fill up the magazine of your rifle, for you may need all
the shots it will hold.

Now make a quick run and get on that large rock
that juts out some twenty yards below you. And

ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 203

don't you leave that rock until you see that deer again,
even if you have to sit there some time. If he slips out
of the ravine unseen — which he cannot do if you keep
a good watch from that rock — you can track him just
as well in four hours as you can now, and you
would then have much better chances of finding him
dead or lying down and so very sick that he would
not rise until you got almost upon him.

As you jump upon the rock there is, however, an-
other crash of brush only twenty yards below; the
brown again shows itself for a moment; and it sinks
at the first crack of your rifle.

On going down to your deer your satisfaction is
somewhat marred by finding that your first ball
struck the deer high up in the haunch, some two and
a half feet from where you aimed.

204 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE.
•

SPACE forbids the much further continuance of this
realistic style of teaching the ways of the woods and
hills, as it involves the repetition of too much that is
already become familiar from former chapters. There
is still another kind of open ground that must be con-
sidered, and I shall use it mainly as a text for a ser-
mon upon the greatest of all virtues in still-hunting,
viz. Patience.

The frequent necessity of Patience you have already
seen. But you have not yet had an opportunity to
fully realize its indispensable character in very many
cases. There arise many perplexing questions in still-
hunting the only key to the solution of which is Pa-
tience. It is true that these arise mainly in open
ground, more especially open ground of the kind we
are about to consider. But there are times in the
woods and on all kinds of ground when it is quite
as essential.

We are now in a broad open country with few or no
hills beyond mere swells. In general appearance it is
very much like heavily rolling prairie. But instead of
the sloughs filled with long grass so abundant on
some rolling prairies, you see here and there long
strips of a deep dark green from quarter of a mile to
several miles in length, running generally through
the lower portions, but sometimes seaming with a

THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 205

verdant scar the very topmost face of quite level
ground. These are gullies or barrancas, generally so
steep-sided and deep that it is often no trifle to cross
one on foot. The greater part of them have numer-
ous arms or side gullies running in on each side every
hundred or two hundred yards, varying in length
from fifty yards upward. And some of these termi-
nate in pockets or basins, but are generally both deep
and steep-sided. These gullies are mostly filled with
evergreen brush from six to twelve feet high. Some-
times one of these gullies rises to the dignity of a
small canon or valley with water in it, perhaps, and a
small line of timber at the lower end. An occasional
small tree appears at long intervals scattered over the
whole, but from anything that can be called woods or
timber we are miles and miles away. The ridges and
slopes between these barrancas ^re more or less cov-
ered with grass, weeds, some variety of sage or
chemisal or low light brush, the body of which is
little over knee-high, though, as in prairie, the flower-
stalks may rise much higher. Occasional green bushes
are scattered over the whole. This kind of ground
in types more or less varied is found in Southern
California, Lower California, and the Spanish- Ameri-
can States and Territories generally. Often the gul-
lies are so sloping at the sides that they are more
properly swales than gullies, and sometimes they all
contain a few trees or occasional groves of trees.
Though it generally goes under the general term of
mesa, or table-land, it is often the nearest approach to
prairie to be found West of the Rocky Mountains, the
gullies having been so deeply cut by cloud-bursts and
heavy rains.

Though few would suspect it at first glance, such

206 THE STILL-HUNTER.

ground is almost certain to contain game: antelope
if not too brushy and if wide enough in extent; deer
if the gullies are plenty enough and brushy enough.
Such ground is often easily traversed with a wagon,
and can always be hunted on horseback, there being
always some places where a horse can cross the gul-
lies. There is little ground more pleasant or easy to
hunt on foot for one who can endure a long walk, and
still less ground upon which success may be so easily
had from so small an average of deer to the square
mile. The general principles requisite for success on
such ground are about the same as those to be ap-
plied in hunting prairie of any kind; about the only
difference being in the jumping of deer from the gul-
lies.

The high ground is here the best to keep on during
the times when the deer are on foot. We will there-
fore take this long ridge that commands a view of
two gullies with their adjacent slopes of several hun-
dred yards each. But while inspecting these slopes
do not neglect the top of the ridge ahead of you, and
pay strict attention to the edges of every gully and
every clump of brush. For while the deer generally lie
in the gullies by day and get a large part of their food
from the bushes they contain, yet in the morning and
at evening they are more apt to be a few yards from
the edge, or up the slopes around some bush, or on
the tops of the long ridges. And sometimes in hot
weather, and generally in cold weather, they will lie
during the day in the occasional bushes found over
the slopes or on the ridges. And in very cold weather
they will generally lie out in the low open brush in
the sun.

This morning we will take this particular ridge be-

THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 207

cause it leads on a course of good walking and hunt-
ing for two miles or so, with the rising sun on our
backs instead of in our faces as we should be obliged
to have it if we took advantage of the wind. But
the prospects of a deer's being ahead of us on the
ridge at all, or, if so, of being near enough to smell us
before we could see him on ground so open and with
the sun shining on him, are so slight that we will let
the wind go and take the advantage of the sun instead.

The extreme care necessary to get first sight of
a deer in general is here even more important, if
possible, than elsewhere. For upon such ground
the deer has every advantage of a wide sweep of
vision that you have. Moreover, even in this low
open brush that does not reach your waist, and
through which the walking is so easy, deer standing
still will be almost impossible for you to see at any
considerable distance, especially when in the gray
coat — as we will suppose them now to be — unless you
can get well above them or have a sky-background,
as when a deer is standing on a ridge, or unless the
sun makes his back shine. And when you recollect
that deer are rarely so numerous upon such ground
as in timber, you will see that the importance of
seeing one before he sees you is here far greater;
especially as on this kind of ground you can rarely
get a shot by a sudden dash to some point or ridge,
the distances to be run being entirely too long.

On such ground you can scarcely look too far;
though the ground for fifty yards around you must
not be neglected. You can scarcely have too strong
a glass or use it too thoroughly; though you should
not use it until you have first given a careful and ex-
tensive sweep with the naked eye.

208 THE STILL-HUNTER.

There is scarcely a shade of color from light brown
to almost black, not a bit of sheen or a glistening
point of any kind on such ground that may not be
part of a deer. White spots must also be examined,
as the buttocks and legs inside have some white.
And if there are antelope .on the range, everything
from pure white to brown and dark gray must be in-
spected; as the head of an antelope lying down will
often be a dark spot on the landscape.

We will suppose that you see a deer at last. It is
nearly a third of a mile away, but you discover it with
your glass browsing from a little bush near the top of
another ridge. You decide at once that it is a hope-
lessly long shot, and that your only hope of a close
shot is a detour of half a mile or so to the other side
of the crest of the ridge above the deer.

This detour you quickly make; but on peeping
carefully over you see no deer. But you do see about
two dozen small bushes, and each one of them maybe
the bush by which you saw the deer, and it may be
behind any one of them. Here arises your first
trouble from want of patience. You were so anxious
to get a shot that you did not have patience to mark
the exact bush at which you saw the deer. You did
not even notice that there were any other bushes
there. You merely saw a hill-side and a deer and
started off.

You look at every bush; they all look small and
low; you see no deer at any of them; and you con-
clude that the deer moved off while you were coming
around. You take a few steps and come up on the
ridge for a better view. And you get it at once. But
it is a rapidly dissolving view of a low-scudding spike-
buck, so low that he does not even appear above the

THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 209

low stalks of the white sage. In a moment he dis-
appears without regarding the noise of your rifle.

The buck started from behind the very bush at
which you first saw him. Five or ten minutes' pa-
tient waiting would have given him time to move
around the bush, to shake its top leaves by browsing
or to move to another bush. And if you had had pa-
tience to back out and go along the ridge some three
hundred yards either way, you might have located
him precisely, and might then have returned and
waited behind the ridge for him to move out in sight.

In this way a large number of shots are lost even
by hunters who kill a great deal of game. Too hasty
marking of a deer's location, too hasty assumption
that the deer has moved away because it cannot at
once be seen when the detour is completed, are two
of the most irretrievable mistakes that any one but an
excellent shot at running game can make in hunting
open ground. And even in the woods it is often
made, though of course not so often as in open
ground, as deer are never seen so far away in the
woods as they generally are in the open.

Well, there is another one, and you raise your rifle at
once.

Beware! beware! It is indeed only two hundred
yards away. But that is a long, long shot for even
the best of shots to make at a deer standing breast
toward you with more than half his body hidden in
that gray sage. You will find that mark extremely
dim when seen through the sights of a rifle. Let me
tell you right here to beware always how you shoot
with the rifle at a mark when bedim med or nearly ob-
scured by brush. Never do it far off if you have any
fair prospects of getting closer. Never do it even

210 THE STILL-HUNTER.

tolerably close by unless necessary. If you doubt me,
try a few shots at the heads of rabbits at only fifteen
paces when they are in grass or brush where you can
see only the tips of the ears and fancy you see the
dim outline of the head below them.

Consider, too, that this deer is headed this way;
that it shows no sign of alarm; that there is no gully
between in which it may go and get out of sight; that
it is headed up hill too; and that there is probably
water in that deep ravine beyond where the trees are
so green. Reading these facts in the light of your
already acquired knowledge, do you not see a strong
probability that that deer is lounging away from
water to high ground and will come your way ? But
suppose he does not come your way. Suppose he
moves away. Can you not see where he goes, follow
him up, and see him again and get as good a shot as
you now have? For, remember, he is not alarmed; and
whether he goes into a gully, into a bush, or over a
ridge, he will go slowly and not be looking much be-
hind; for these deer know nothing of watching back
until after being started.

The deer stands and stands and stands. And you
stand a few minutes and get impatient. The deer's
persistence in standing, instead of teaching you that
there is little danger of his going far in any direction
now, — it being nearly time for deer to lie down, — only
destroys the little patience you have. You fire, and
when the smoke clears there is nothing in sight.

Let us suppose it is now the middle of the after-
noon. At a distance you see an enormous buck rise
up beside a bush, stand a few minutes, nibble a few
leaves and lie down again on the shady side of the
bush, only changing his bed to get out of the sun as

THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 211

it moves around the bush. You make a detour and
get behind a little rise of ground some eighty or
a hundred yards away. Looking cautiously over you
see just the tip of a horn shining through the weeds.
You draw up your rifle-sight about eighteen inches
below the horn and fire.

A combination of pirouette, hornpipe, and double
shuffle takes place for an instant by the bush, and
then just as you think the deer is about to fall he
straightens himself out and scuds away in line with
the bush. Your ball glanced the base of his horn
and stunned him — a much better shot than there was
any prospect of your making. And if you had crept
up behind the bush he would probably have run
straight away from it and have left it directly in your
line of vision.

And now let us see what patience could have ac-
complished. The wind was blowing from him to you
and he could not smell you. He had not seen or
heard you, and you could have remained both quiet
and unseen behind that little rise until he rose again.
As it is the middle of the afternoon and the day is
not very hot, he would probably have risen in less
than an hour. And he would then have been in no
hurry to go, and would have been as likely to come
your way as to go any other. And suppose you had
waited until sundown. Would not the game be worth
so cheap a candle ?

But we must hasten along and suppose our cases
fast. You have been tracking some deer and track
them to a huddle of gullies, basins, etc., all filled with
brush. You fail to see one or jump any of them out
of it. You make a circle around and find no tracks
leading out. Failing to start anything from the edge

THE STILL-HUNTER.

you go in and thrash around inside for a few minutes.
When tired and perspiring you come out, and about
the first thing you find is a series of long jumps on
ground you passed directly over when you made your
circuit. They were skulking and slipped out of one
side while you were tearing around in brush so high
and thick that you could not have hit one if you had
seen a dozen deer running.

Now only a hundred yards away is a knoll that com-
mands a view of the whole of this place. And after you
felt quite certain they were there, and when you know
the trick of skulking as well as you do, why in the
world could you not go there and sit them out? Want
of patience. That is all.

This sitting out a deer and other forms of patience
will suggest themselves in many other cases, such as
where a fresh trail of several deer divides up and the
individual trails begin to wander and straggle on
ground suitable for lying down and there is a good
point to sit on; especially when it is near evening and
the ground is bad for getting a shot at a deer when
started.

On such open ground as this it is often necessary
to traverse a great deal of ground; and as deer in such
open places will not remain on foot so long when the
sun is hot as they will in the woods, it may, in warm
weather especially, be necessary to move fast. As
noise is here of less consequence than elsewhere one
may walk quite fast. But the keenness of sight must
be doubled in consequence. In cold weather deer will
remain on foot a longtime on such ground; longer in
the morning than in the afternoon, and will be found
mainly along the sunny slopes and hollows.

To jump deer upon such ground is often easy. It

THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 213

is of little use to hunt the ridges or the scattered
bushes during the time deer are lying down, as the
acreage of such stuff is uncomfortably disproportion-
ate to the number of deer. The only way to do is to
hunt along the edges of the gullies and around the
heads of little side gullies and pockets, etc., and de-
pend upon jumping those that lie down in such stuff.
If it be very thick they may skulk or slip away down
the bottom of the gully, leaving you amused only with
the gay gallopade of their retiring hoofs. But, as a rule,
they will spring out on one side and roll away over
the open slope to the next ridge, or run down the op-
posite outside edge of the gully, thus presenting a
fine chance for a running shot.

Whether deer are plenty enough on such ground to
hunt may be soon determined by inspection of the
ground along the edges and around the heads of
gullies, also the ground lying between the heads of
opposite running gullies and the ridges, points, and
gullies leading to springs, if water be scarce. Tracks
and droppings will be found on all such ground if
deer are plenty enough to bother with.

Patience is no less essential in antelope-stalking
than in deer-stalking. A little impatience to know
whether antelope are coming to the red flag will often
spoil a shot. So when they are feeding along on a
certain course and you get around and get ahead of
them it will be nearly impossible to resist raising your
head too often to see how near they are. And when
they come slowly it will be very hard to wait instead of
trying to get closer.

214 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XIX.

HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER COMBINED.

THERE is still another kind of ground, quite com-
mon in those countries where the greater number of
deer are now to be found. It is a combination of
open ground and timber, and when deer and acorns
are plenty often affords shooting so easy and abun-
dant that any tyro who has strength enough to stroll a
mile or two on gently rolling ground and can hit any-
thing at all can often have success enough to make
him think he is a wonderful hunter. But, on the other
hand, when deer are scarce and wild on such ground,
it is in some respects more difficult to hunt than any
we have yet seen except the heavy timber. We will,
however, consider deer tolerably wild and not so
abundant as to make care needless.

It is autumn now, and the acorns are pattering to the
ground. Between rugged mountains robed in chap-
paral of dark, velvet green runs a long low valley
which breaks on every side in smaller valleys and
gulches into the adjacent mountains, and forms along
the sides benches, basins, and pockets of various sizes.
These are partly open and partly filled with a low
chapparal of brush live-oaks, to the acorns of which
the deer are very partial. The bottom and lower sides of
the valley are well covered with vast live-oaks that have
stood shoulder to shoulder through centuries of time.
With their ever-living leaves of dark shining green

HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER. 215

and broad rugged limbs festooned with hoary moss,
they form an almost continuous shade. Along the side
valleys, knolls, and benches stand in silent majesty
vast old evergreen white-oaks, the acorns of which the
deer prefer even to those of the common live-oak.

Is this a hunt or only an evening stroll through a
grand old English park ? Before us the ground
stretches away like a gently undulating carpet ; here
are soft foot-paths running here and there ; on all
hands are the massive old trees ; here is the cool, de-
lightful shade, and the softest of breezes playing
through. And there, too, are the deer, the only thing
needed to make the park complete ; three standing
under yonder tree, and two lying down like cattle be-
neath it.

Those deer are gone, so we will saunter along farther.
Take a look into these little side pockets as you go
along, and even up on those benches. Take good long
looks down the vistas that open through the timber
in various directions, and stoop down occasionally for
a longer view. We may not see anything ahead for
some time, for those deer have probably stampeded
everything on their route. But perhaps they soon
turned off into the hills. Go slowly now, and keep a
sharp watch on each side, for there are plenty of deer
here somewhere, as you can see by the numerous
tracks, and —

Bump- crash-bump-bump-crash comes suddenly from
the head of a little side ravine ; and just as the rifle
comes to your shoulder the heavy green chapparal
closes over a fat, glossy rump.

You see it is just as necessary to be careful about
showing your head around a corner as about showing
it over a ridge. There is absolutely no way in which

216 THE STILL-HUNTER.

you can bring head and shoulders in sight of a deer
with safety except by being so extremely slow that no
motion is apparent. Of course a deer will not always
run or even always see you if you bring yourself too
quickly in his eye-range. But the greater number of
deer will both see you and run. And even where they
are exceedingly tame you will be constantly losing
shot by it. That last deer was tame enough. He
stood on the outer edge of the chapparal in plain view
until you walked out several feet in his field of vision.

But let us stroll along. It is all easy walking enough,
but if you keep this trail of the wild cattle it will be
still more easy and quiet.

A stroll of half a mile or so along the smooth, easy
path brings us to a sudden halt. Something far ahead
under a tree looks like an inverted V, long, tapering,
and dark. Watch it carefully for a minute or two.
It suddenly begins to grow gradually wider at the
bottom and splits at the top until in a moment there
are two V's both inverted and about two feet above
the ground. Most marvelous resemblance to a pair
of ears.

No. Don't raise your head another inch. What
but an animal turning its head a little could have
made that motion ? The shape alone without any
motion should satisfy you.

And now how to get a nearer interview with the
owner of those ears ? It will not be safe to approach
over such level ground as that which lies between you.
Nor are the trees plenty enough to stalk behind. And
if they were, it would be an unsafe way to approach a
deer having his head up. But there is a-point project-
ing into the valley about eighty yards from them.
Back out of where you are, slip into this little gulch

HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER.

to the left, cross the neck of the ridge at the head of
it, and cross the next little gulch. That will put you
on this side of the ridge that terminates in the point
you wish to reach.

By the aid of the cattle-trails you reach at last the
point quietly and with ease. Peering cautiously over
it you see three slim sleek bodies, gray and glossy,
lying side by side in domestic peace. There are two
fawns lying with their heads over on their sides. The
mother lies beside them with head upraised, chewing
her cud and watching.

It is a pity to mar such peaceful happiness. But you
may not feel so bad about it afterward; so try it.

Bang ! goes your rifle; and like steel springs released
from pressure the three deer bound in three differ-
ent directions. There is no rising or getting up.
There is only one simultaneous bump of hoofs and all
three stand twenty feet apart, all like statues and all
looking in different directions.

Bang ! goes another shot. Bump go twelve hoofs
again, almost at once. And there they all stand again,
a little farther apart than before, and all looking.

Bang ! goes another shot, and the ball with a chug
splinters the bark from a live-oak just above the doe's
back. The three deer give a start, trot a few steps,
then huddle up all together, and look again.

At the bang ! of another shot the three dart from the
common center a single bound, stop and look a minute,
then run a few yards in an inquiring way here and
there, then huddle up again. And so they go on, get-
ing farther and farther away, until the magazine of
your rifle is empty. And by the time you can put in
another cartridge they are vanishing softly in different
directions, each on a soft springy trot,

218 THE STILL-HUNTER.

A few minutes' walk, and your eye catches the bil-
lowy roll of a heavy body vanishing among the dis-
tant trees. The same old story, you see. You will
forget that a deer in timber — even when that timber
is open like a park without a particle of underbrush —
is still very hard to see. You were not looking sharp
enough or far enough ahead. Keep a keen eye on
the edge of the chapparal; for deer, though feeding
on acorns, still love to browse, and there are bush-
acorns there, too.

Sh! stop! Don't you see those two glistening
points in the brush there on the left, some hundred
yards ahead? Never let such things escape your eye.
Look sharp there where the lower edge of the sun-
light breaking through that gorge on the east strikes
the chapparal. Do you see two shining points about
three inches long and fifteen or eighteen inches apart,
just above the brush? Now watch them closely.

See! they move and two or three more points just
below them appear in sight for an instant, and then
do down. It's a big buck browsing.

Keep down that rifle! Do you want to throw away
your only chance? You must make a dead shot on
him; for a few yards in that chapparal will put him
beyond your reach.

Your only chance now is to possess your soul in
perfect patience for five minutes, ten minutes, even
twenty or thirty minutes perhaps, until he comes out
or shows some spot to shoot at. There is every proba-
bility that he will do so as 'he is right in the edge of
the brush; it is yet early and cool, and as there is no
hunting or other disturbance here, it is much more
likely that he will come down here to spend the day
in breezy shade than remain in that brush. You can

HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER. 219

go to that little rise or bench there about fifty yards
closer to him; but stay there and wait.

You reach the bench, and the glistening points are
still there, surging up and down, and shining more
brightly than ever.

You found out yesterday that you were not yet
over the buck ague, and you are now getting another
lesson in it. You begin to get terribly restless, and
fancy you know just where his body is. I might as
well tell a drowning man to have patience until I can
build a boat to rescue him. Your desire to shoot is
worse than the murderer's secret, and kicks and ham-
mers against your perspiring ribs, until you can no
longer resist the temptation.

The rifle cracks, and all is still. The glistening
points are gone, but there was no crash of brush or
bump of bounding hoofs. Killed, of course, you think,
as you hasten to the spot. After a long search you
find a few fresh tracks, and see where he has bitten
the leaves from the brush. A close inspection shows
tracks leading away through the brush, but there is
no' blood, no hair, no plunging jumps. Of course you
wonder if you hit him. But you will never know.
Possibly you did; but probably you did not. Never
take such a shot as that but wait patiently for a bet-
ter one. The chances of a better one are greater than
of hitting by guesswork. He just dropped his head
and skulked quietly off.

Sadly pondering the lesson you have just learned,
you lounge along for a quarter of a mile or so, when
suddenly you see a low dark object some distance
ahead. Something peculiar about its shape and color
arrests your attention; directly a head with branching
antlers rises from the ground in front of it; and in a

220 THE STILL-HUNTER.

twinkling the thing is changed into a majestic old
buck, — the genuine powder-flask buck. Proudly erect
he stands for a second, a picture of massive grace
and strength, and takes a look around; and then down
goes the head again to the ground; the beauty is
all gone and he looks as angular and ugly as an old
cow. But for an instant only. Again comes up the
head, the neck is proudly erect as before, and all the
outlines are again those of grace. He is feeding on
acorns; and now you can try a task always difficult
and often impossible — to approach a deer directly
within his sight, The ground is too level to allow
you to get behind knolls, and he is too far from the
hills on either side for a good shot, so your best
chance is to crawl directly toward him. Half-cock
your rifle and push it ahead of you, leave your hat
here, and work ahead with your elbows and toes.
The instant you see him raise his head, stop and lie
perfectly still until he puts it down again for another
acorn. Don't be impatient, and never mind if he
does seem to be working away from you. Should he
go behind a tree, with head away from you, you may
get on your hands and knees and crawl faster; but
the instant he raises his head stop at once and remain
fixed in whatever position you happen to be. Don't
move at all as long as he can see you. And don't try
to rise up to shoot.

Fifteen minutes' work brings you within a hun-
dred and fifty yards of him, when all at once he
throws his head suddenly up and looks directly at
you. Be not at all alarmed; for a deer often looks as
if he saw something when he really suspects nothing.

But now he looks longer than usual, while you are in
a very uncomfortable position, with a very active fire

HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER. 221

of impatience fast blazing up in your vitals. The
only remedy is patience. He surely cannot smell you
on account of the wind, and he cannot possibly make
out what you are if you only keep still.

Suddenly he turns half around and scratches his
neck with his hoof. Now throw your rifle into posi-
tion for a shot; for he acts as though he were done
feeding, and if he starts on a walk he may go some
distance before he stops. Again he straightens up
and looks around, and through an opening the morn-
ing sun shines on his beamy coat and polished horns.
And now I guess you had better try him, though it is
a long shot for unsteady nerves.

The rifle cracks, and the buck gives a convulsive
start, and as a distinct spat of the ball comes back on
the air he breaks for the chapparal, no longer on the
beautiful ricochet gait we have seen before, but on a
regular race-horse gallop. The hissing lead flies be-
hind him fast as you can send it from your repeater,
and you begin to reflect on the fleeting nature of
earthly pleasures, when his gait begins to change to
the lumbering gallop of a cow, and in a second he
wavers, staggers, and then goes plunging down head
first to the ground, shot through the heart.

Such is the hunting in the oak cafions of Southern
California, and probably on all similar ground in any
part of the Union. If not disturbed, the deer prefer
these valleys and shady groves with the side cafions
and gulches to the hills on either side. But if hunted
or disturbed much they soon go back into the chap-
paral by day, where it is quite useless to follow them.
And sometimes, as in spring and early summer, the
majority will keep pretty close in the chapparal all
the time, and make few tracks outside.

222 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XX

SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES.

I HAVE now gone over all the varieties of ground
upon which still-hunting proper can be followed to
advantage. There are of course many other kinds
of ground which abound in deer. But every piece
worth still-hunting at all will be included under the
heads so far considered.

So, also, I have brought into view all the general
principles that lie at the foundation of all still-hunting
or stalking of any kind of large game. And all the
modifications of those principles that are likely to
often arise have been seen. But there still remain
some subordinate or special principles to be examined,
and some that we have alreacty had a glimpse of must
be looked at more closely.

A deer when started may generally be halted by
any sudden, new, or strange noise in a direction dif-
ferent from that of the noise or thing that alarmed
him. But to have this effect he must not see anything
to alarm him. Hence if a deer be coming toward
you and be not too closely pursued by anything, a
bleat like that of a sheep, a sharp whistle, yell, or
other noise will be very apt to cause him to stop.

But, as a rule, a deer will not stop for any noise in
the direction of the cause of his alarm, especially if
he has smelt a person. The report of your gun is
quite likely to make him stop, if anything will; though

SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 223

I believe that where such is the case there is generally
an echo that perplexes the deer so that he knows not
whence the sound comes.

Sometimes a strange noise like that of a shot from
a rifle will so perplex a deer that he will not run at
all until he not only knows what it is but knows its
direction. We saw an instance of this in the last
chapter. To some this may have appeared a trifle
overdrawn. But I know numerous cases of a deer
standing while a dozen bullets whizzed around him,
at short range too; and have one well-attested case of
a gentleman shooting out five cartridges he had in
his Winchester, and then refilling and emptying it
twice, making thirty-five shots at a single deer only a
hundred yards away. He told me this himself; and
two of his companions counted the shots.

Such a fool. does mere curiosity sometimes make
of deer that they will stay to investigate the noise
even when they see the shooter plainly. Once, while
returning from a hunt that I had to give up because
of an attack of sick headache, I saw three deer run up
a range of low hills quarter of a mile from the wagon.
I made a detour and got above and nearly ahead of
them; but was so weak and exhausted by running
and climbing with the headache that I could scarcely
stand. While waiting to catch my breath and let my
hand get a little steadiness, they came directly in
plain sight of me. Seeing that they would pass out
of sight in a minute if I did not shoot, I commenced
operations. I had a Sharp's rifle and eighteen car-
tridges in my belt and one in my rifle. Those deer
stopped within sixty yards at the first shot, and one
stood there until I fired away the last shot. I tried
my very best to miss them entirely; but about the

THE STILL-HUNTER.

tenth shot one got hit in the kidneys with a ball in-
tended for the shoulder, and about the seventeenth
shot a ball intended for the nearest of the two remain-
ing ones hit the other one standing a few steps beyond.
After the last cartridge was gone the last one still
stood looking, and stayed until I moved several steps
toward him with the empty rifle. During nearly all
this time I stood in plain sight, making plenty of
motion with loading and firing, and after shooting a
few times I had to move a few steps to a stone to sit
down upon. Yet all the while the deer seemed deter-
mined to know what sort of a noise that was, though
they saw me plainly.

All such cases are, however, rare exceptions, and
generally happen only with deer that have seldom or
never seen a man or heard a gun. There is but one
sound principle to be drawn from them. And that is
this: whenever you see a deer moving, whether merely
traveling, or alarmed either by you or some one else,
get ahead of him and above him if you can do so.

For this reason it is often advisable to open fire at
once upon a running deer, where you have a rifle that
can be rapidly loaded. But if you have a single-load-
ing gun or muzzle-loader, and are not a good shot at
running game, the chances of the deer stopping any-
how may be greater than your chances of hitting
him; and in case he does stop he is almost certain to
stop just long enough to let you load and raise the
rifle about half way to a level and then he is canter-
ing gayly away. A deer running up hill is very apt to
stop once or twice to look back, and even when very
wild he is apt to stop at the top of the hill for an
instant. Hence it may be best to reserve your fire
unless you have a repeater or double breech-loader.

SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 225

But running down hill a deer is not apt to stop. And
running on a level he is less likely to stop than when
running up hill, but more likely to stop than when
running down hill. All these principles will, however,
be modified by the question whether the deer knows
what he is running from. If he has smelt you or seen
you plainly he is far less apt to stop on any kind of
ground ; but if he has run only from the noise you
make he is more likely to stop.

In the last chapter we saw how a deer may be ap-
proached in the open field of his vision. In that case,
however, he did not see you, or at least noticed noth-
ing suspicious; as, if he saw you at all, he did not know
you from a stump.

There is one case, however, in which a deer may be
approached while looking directly at you and perhaps
suspecting what you are. There are some deer so
tame that you may do this even on open ground for a
short distance; but I do not refer to such, and no con-
clusions should be drawn from such cases. I refer to
deer pretty wild; though, as a rule, it can be done only
with tame ones.

Here, for instance, is a big buck a hundred and fifty
yards or more away. He is standing in brush nearly
shoulder-high; you can see only his horns and ears,
and they are turned directly toward you. It is plain
that he has seen you first and is ready to go at any
instant.

You know the difficulty of hitting the head at that
distance; you know the folly of trying to hit his body
by guesswork; and you also know he will not tarry
long. Now the same brush that conceals his body
also conceals the greater part of yours — this being
supposed to be brushy open ground, the only place

226 THE STILL-HUNTER.

where this kind of approaching can be done with any
fair chance of success — and by taking advantage of
that fact you may with quickness cut down the dis-
tance to seventy-five yards before he starts. Down,
then, with your head if you can, and run directly
toward him. If you cannot hide your head drop
your hat, or you might as well drop it in either case.
But run, run, run as fast as you can, and never mind
necessary noise, but make none needlessly. You will
often lose a shot this way, but you will more often get
a better one than you could have had from where you
first saw the head. In the same way you may charge
on deer with a horse.

You have already seen that if you walk too fast you
will make too much noise, will not have time to look
as closely and carefully as you should do, and that
your quick motions will catch a deer's sight more
quickly than if moving slowly. But there are other
cases besides that above given where it may be ex-
pedient to walk very fast. Suppose, for instance, the
ground is in such condition from crusty snow or dry
leaves or other cause that you must make a noise in
walking, or when it is in good condition generally you
come to a place that you cannot get through without
making enough noise to alarm every deer within it.
Then, as a rule, the faster you go the better. For a
deer does not always start the instant he hears a
noise, and even very wild ones will often wait a mo-
ment to see what it is, to see if it is coming closer, etc.
Moreover, they may on a windy day or on ground of
peculiar formation be deceived in the distance or di-
rection of it — though this is rare — and wait a minute or
two to hide or look. In such case every yard that can
be gained upon a deer is important. And as a deer

SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 227

cares little for the mere amount of noise, the quality and
nearness being the main things that determine his
action, you lose much less by your extra noise than
you gain by the extra speed. So, too, when you must
go down wind, the faster you can go the greater your
chances of getting close enough for a running shot
before your scent reaches a deer's nose. In all such
cases it is not advisable to run as you did on the deer
in the brush; though you had better do so in eyery
case in which you attempt to approach a deer that is
alarmed and looking at you, as he will only stand
about so long anyhow, and the mere rapidity of your
motion will not hurry him much.

But, in general, you cannot commit a worse error
than walking too fast. And if deer are moderately
plenty, the wind favorable, the walking soft and still,
you can scarcely go too slowly in all those places where
you are likely to see a deer at any moment.

Many good hunters say, " Never follow a deer that
has run away, but look for another." This advice is
substantially sound, but like nearly all good hunter's
advice is so carelessly stated that it is bad advice. To
follow directly on the track of a started deer is gener-
ally useless unless the deer are exceedingly tame and
the ground very rolling; and even then it is often use-
less except upon snow. Yet there are times when you
had better follow a deer.

A deer when started will go from a quarter of a
mile to two or three miles. This will depend upon
his wildness, the nature of the ground over which he
has to run, and the cause of his alarm. During this
run he will stop from one to a dozen times and look
back a few minutes or seconds only. He will then
walk a few hundred yards, stopping several times to

228 THE STILL-HUNTER.

look back. Then he will feed or browse a little and
do plenty of looking back. Then he will wander about
and stand-around for a while, still looking back. And
finally he will lie down and think nothing more of the
back track unless he be one of the learned ones that
always watch the back track. But some deer — such
as a very fat buck on a warm day — are decidedly lazy.
I have known such a one run only out of sight over a
ridge, stop in the, comfortable shade of a big bush,
watch there a few minutes, and then lie down. So I
have known a band of deer run over two or three ridges
and there stop and begin feeding in five minutes,
keeping then no more watch in the direction from
which they came than in any other. These and many
others I have known were cases in which the deer
ran only from noise and did not know what caused
it. But deer when very tame will often do it when
they have seen or smelled you. But even in such cases
do not follow directly upon the trail if you can possibly
avoid it. And be twenty times more careful than
ever before how you peep over a ridge.

Although this will generally fail with deer at all
wild, yet it by no means follows that it is necessary to
follow them at once. Suppose you start a handsome
buck or a band of deer this morning. It may be
worth while to take the trail in the afternoon and fol-
low it up as you would the trail of any deer. And
though it might not reward you to keep directly on
the trail all the time, it may be best to follow it up to
the point where the deer begin to straggle and browse;
then back out and make a detour; and then either sit
them out if it be open ground and you can get a
commanding view, or else hunt as you would for any
deer.

SUBORDINATE PRINCI1>LES. 229

But deer of any kind either wild or tame may often
be followed and overhauled by a dashing runner.
And a very ordinary runner can often get ahead of a
started deer or flank him so as to get a good shot.
This will generally fail. But success attends the effort
so often that I do not hesitate to say, always follow a
deer under these circumstances:

ist. Where the deer runs around a hill and you can
cut across it or run around the other way, or where
he runs over it and you can run around it quickly.

2d. Where the deer runs into a basin, pocket, or
valley and you can make a short-cut to one side or
the head of it. If such basin or pocket be up a hill
some distance the deer will be quite apt to stop awhile
in it.

3d. Where the deer runs into a long valley with a
broad bottom or a narrow one with a good trail at the
bottom. In such case run parallel with the ravine,
but on the dividing ridge, and keep out of sight except
when you peep over. A deer is apt to be in little
haste in traversing such valleys.

4th. In all cases where the ground will allow you to,
make a circuit and get ahead of the deer or even
abreast with him, but on one side.

While doing this you must never forget that the
deer even when walking moves quite fast, and when
he is running you have not a second to spare. Your
only hope lies in cutting off distance, and that in the
shortest possible time. Hence there are kinds of
ground, such as across a wide valley or up a long hill,
where you will see at a glance that running would be
folly.

Deer will sometimes stand and let a man at a dis-
tance pass by, especially along a road where they know

230 THE STILL-HUNTER.

people travel; for a deer knows about as well as a man
what a road means. But even when there is no road
deer will sometimes stand. And then they will be apt
to trot off and walk, trot or run for a mile or two, and
look back just as if pursued. Therefore, when some
one comes rushing in and tells you about an "awful
big buck" he just saw along the road or near a spring,
instead of rushing frantically out on a wild-goose
chase, just coolly inquire what the deer was doing,
whether he saw your informant or not, and whether
he moved away, and whether he went off on a walk,
trot, or run. And remember tha4? a deer started by
some one else is no better to follow than one you have
started yourself.

When you start a deer that you cannot see, but only
hear or get a glimpse of, spring at once to the highest
bit of ground at hand. And if you do not see the game
at once do not get uneasy, for it may have stopped a
moment in brush or somewhere where you cannot at
once see it. You will generally lose nothing by such
patience, for if your deer has passed on out of sight
you will be too late to head him off. And if you are
going to track him there is no haste. But if you see
him again at all shoot at once, for it is likely to be
your last chance for that time.

Antelope rarely stop to look back much until at a
pretty safe distance. They are generally sufficiently
amused with the first crack of a rifle,and have little more
curiosity about its nature or direction. And though they
may stop and take a long look at you, and look very
large and close as they loom up against the sky, yet
that stopping-point is far away, and the moment you
move they are apt to move also. There is little or no
chance for you to head off or flank these slippery

SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 231

beauties, though a companion may sometimes get be-
hind them by a long detour if you keep still and let
them watch you.

Antelope are also such wide travelers that unless
exceedingly tame or upon very advantageous ground
it will rarely be worth while to follow up any that you
have once started. But there are kinds of ground upon
which with a good horse it will be worth while. And
in such case — and in fact with deer also — it is always
best to give them plenty of time to get quieted down.
And even then approach them from behind or one
side if possible, and not on the back trail.

232 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XXI.

TWO OR MORE PERSONS HUNTING IN COMPANY. HUNT-
ING ON HORSEBACK.

THUS far the beginner has been supposed to be
entirely alone; for the most necessary knowledge is
how to manage a deer when alone. But two or more
good hunters may often assist one another very much;
on some kinds of ground it is quite essential to have
a companion; in some places it may be unpleasant or
unsafe to hunt alone.

After what you have already seen of the habits of
deer very little information is needed about hunting
with a companion. By your side, ahead of you, or
behind you he should seldom be. Two persons are
much more apt to be heard than one; each one is in
haste to get the first look over a ridge; each one
hurries and flurries the other, just as two pointers or
setters working together on a warm trail of birds are
apt to excite and more or less demoralize each other
even beneath the very whip of the trainer. Conse-
quently there is four or five times the danger of
alarming a deer, and of missing one if shot at. Two
persons unless very steady shots should never try to
shoot at once at the same deer, or even into a band.
Let one have the first shot even though a second
chance be lost. And it is poor policy for two to try
and creep together even on a band of deer or ante-
lope. If one cannot get around and lie in the course

TWO OR MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 233

the game is likely to take when it runs, he had better
stay back and leave all the fun to his comrade.
Men who have hunted for market or for skins for a
long time may of course acquire the stolidity of
butchers and not excite each other. But the mere
amateur had better heed the above advice.

In moving over pretty level ground two persons
should keep abreast: in the woods just far enough
apart to keep in sight of each other; in open ground
still farther apart. Then if either start a deer it may
run across the course of the other one. On rolling
ground you may generally keep closer together than
on level ground. In going up a valley take opposite
sides of the bottom, if the bottom be a hundred or
two hundred yards or so in width. But if narrow at
the bottom, with high sides, it may be better for
one to take the bottom and the other the high ground
above or walk pretty well up along the side. Should
the bottom of a valley narrow and deep contain
trees or brush in which deer are apt to be lying
this should always be done, as they will not be
apt to start unless some one be in the bottom,
and then the one in the bottom may either get no
shot at all or a very poor one. Should the valley be
both narrow and shallow so as to be a mere gully
from which deer will start at sight of a person along
the edge, then you should take opposite edges. In
going around a hill take opposite sides, whether you
go around at the base or at the top. When going
along a ridge toward the point each person should
take one side of the top just below the level of the
top, so that he can see anything running along the
sides or top either. In traversing a ridge the other
way one had better make a circuit and get upon the

234 THE STILL-HUNTER.

back of the ridge far away from the point, and then
let the other ascend the point. The same plan is
often advisable in traversing a short gulch or ravine,
instead of each one taking one edge. But it is not
always worth while to take this trouble unless you
have reason to believe you will start something. You
will of course divide at all windfalls, brush-patches,
etc., where there is any probability of a deer, and
either keep abreast in going around or let one take a
wide circuit first and get on the opposite side while
you go through. Movements of this sort become
quite obvious after you once thoroughly know the
habits of deer. It is scarcely necessary now to tell
you where to post a third or fourth companion if you
should have one with you.

Good deer-driving may often be done by a single
person. One man can generally start a deer from a
piece of ground, especially if he goes down wind, quite
as effectually as a dozen dogs. There is a partial
exception to this in the case of the skulking deer;
but, if they are at all plenty, enough of them will
run to give your companions a shot. This is often the
only way that a piece of noisy or very brushy ground
can be hunted without dogs.

This driving may be done by letting one or more
persons go through the ground where the deer are
likely to be, cracking plenty of brush on the way,
while the rest are posted at probable points of escape
for the game. But this is not worth while unless you
already know about where the game is, or you are
driving a basin or gulch or hill almost certain to
contain something. A better way when you are un-
certain of the game and are skirmishing about at
random to find it is to form a line, and move abreast

TWO OR MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 235

about a hundred yards apart in the woods and two
hundred to three hundred or even more in open
ground. But if the open*be very rolling or brushy,
keep the same distance as in the woods. This line
should be curved by the ends going forward and the
center lagging a little when approaching a likely
looking place. This, however, requires good know-
ledge of the ground and a previous understanding
among the party. I have seen Indians do it to great
advantage in very dense woods, making a perfect
drag-net of the line.

A large number of persons may be used in such a
way. But first-rate work can be often done by four
or five and without bending the line. It requires only
a general knowledge of the places where deer are
likely to be, and of the directions they are likely to
take when started. Here, for instance, is a set of
short ravines running into a main valley. These little
ravines lie nearly parallel with each other, are quite
numerous, brushy, and good places for deer. Now in-
stead of going down one and up another, etc., as a
single person should often do if he is to hunt them at
all, the line should sweep across them all; one person
being at the head, another at the mouth, the rest be-
tween. This is because it can be done in one quarter
of the time the other way would require, and because
the deer are more apt to run up or down the ravines
than across them.

When hunting with companions always shoot when
a deer runs toward any of them, even if you have no
good shot. For if a person be not expecting it, a
deer may be out of shot before he knows it, or may
slip past him quite unseen and unheard. A shot is
the surest warning that can be given.

236 THE STILL-HUNTER.

When you hear a comrade shoot, run at once to
a rock, piece of high ground, or other command-
ing position. Remain there some time keeping
a sharp outlook, for a deer may not be running away
from your friend fast. Or he may be wounded and
only walking away. And if the ground be brushy it
will take both patient and keen watching to keep a
slowly traveling deer from passing you unseen and
unheard. But never go at once to your companion
unless he calls you, for he may not be done shooting,
or may have wounded, one and be trying to get
another shot at it, etc. etc.

In hunting antelope with companions in the ways
above shown, the distances you should be from one
another must generally be vastly greater than when
hunting deer. They should be at least doubled for
the very tamest antelope, unless upon very rolling
ground. And for wild ones on ground that is but a
little rolling the distances should be five or six and
sometimes nearly ten times as great. When antelope
get once started upon a certain course they are often
hard to turn from it by anything approaching from
the side; especially if the leading buck get ahead be-
fore he sees the danger. Hence a horseman can dash
in quite close to a long-strung-out band of antelope
by running in well behind the leader. They can be
turned, however, and driven back and forth by being
headed off by outposts placed far enough out ahead
of them. Deer could probably be managed the same
way upon the same kind of ground, though they are
ready enough to swerve from their chosen course
when they see danger on either side of it. And they
care but little for leaders.

TWO OR MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 237

All such hunting on the plains must, however be
done upon horseback.

The use of a horse in general still-hunting is a
point upon which hunters differ. The truth of the
matter I take to be this: Wherever a saddle-horse
can be used to carry you to and from your hunting-
ground, to carry you from one point of it to another
and at the same time carry your game out, by all
means use one. For even then you will have all the
walking necessary for exercise, etc. And in general,
the more you can ride the more you can walk.

But whether it will be worth while to remain in
the saddle while hunting is a vastly different matter.
In hunting antelope so much ground has often to be
traversed that a horse is almost a necessity. So some-
times with deer upon prairie and other open ground
of that nature. In such cases most hunters remain
in the saddle until they catch first sight of the game.
Then they dismount and proceed as is usual when
hunting upon foot.

But others remain on horseback all the time and
shoot from the saddle or jump off and shoot quickly.
And this is what is really meant by hunting on horse-
back. Whether it is e\er expedient to hunt antelope
in this way may be doubted. The shots are generally
so long that a horse would have to actually hold his
breath to allow you to take a fine enough aim. And
even by jumping off to shoot you would gain but
little if antelope were very wild, as a long running
shot would be about all you would get.

It is now as hard to find antelope that do not know
exactly what a man on horseback means as it is to
find wild-geese that do not know what a man in a
boat means. Consequently the main reliance must be

238 THE STILL-HUNTER.

in approaching them without their knowing it, or by
true still-hunting or stalking. But this can hardly
ever be done with a horse, which they are very sure
to see or hear. All the success with a horse depends
upon the assumption that the game is not so afraid of
a mounted man as of one afoot. And this is now
rarely the case with antelope.

There are, however, many places where deer are
not so afraid of a mounted man as of one on foot.
This may result from two causes, both directly oppo-
site. First, because they rarely or never see a mounted
man. Secondly, because they never see a man in any
other way and are not disturbed by horsemen.

And first : Where deer seldom see a man on horse-
- back there are many that will have little fear of one,
and will let one ride up within easy shot, either stand-
ing up or lying down, and looking at the combination
with some curiosity, but with little concern. Conse-
quently if the ground be noisy from any cause, "or the
ground be too level or brushy for still-hunting, you
may do far better to both hunt and shoot on horse-
back. So where a country is quite open and level
enough, like prairie, you may often do better with a
horse, wagon, or sleigh than yoti can on foot. Deer
know the tread of heavy animals perfectly, and will
often stand quite unconcerned about the tramp of
hoofs when they would fly from a light crack of a
twig.

Secondly: Where deer are used to mounted men,
but are not much disturbed by them (as in Lower
California, where no one hunts, and only once in a
long while a dash is made with the lasso at a deer on
open ground, but where scarcely any one is ever seen
on foot), this may be the best way to hunt, as you

TWO OA> MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 239

may not only get closer to deer than you could do on
foot, but can traverse far more ground in a day. Deer
vary, however, about this, and I have seen plenty
that, though used to horsemen and not disturbed by
them, were easier to approach on foot. And where
they are hunted much on horseback they learn per-
fectly what a horse means, and will often run at the
sound of hoofs without stopping to see whether there
be a man on the horse or not, and this, too, when
wild mustangs and cattle are ranging the hills and
the deer feed among them without fear. They seem
to know the different sound of the hoofs of a horse
with a man on him just as well as a man can generally
tell it. The only sure way to test the question whether
hunting on a horse is better than on foot is to try it.
And often the advantage of traversing more ground
overbalances all else. If one is to go stumbling with
heavy boots over noisy ground he had much better
be on a horse and go as fast as he can. But if he
will wear moccasins and use thorough care he can
approach almost any deer or antelope much closer
than he can on a horse, provided the deer has not
seen him at a distance. If you cannot keep them
from seeing you, as when you are on level ground, etc.,
then your chances will be better on a horse, unless the
deer are too much hunted on horseback. When a
deer sees you, you can often get closer by a dash on
horseback than if on foot.

A good hunting-horse is not the easiest thing in
the world to get. It is commonly supposed that some
phlegmatic old hack whose sensibilities have been
blunted by a thorough course of work, starvation,
and thrashing is best for this purpose. But such a
horse is rarely sure of foot and is sure to be slow.

240 THE STILL-HUNTER.

When you start out hunting you naturally desire to
get somewhere before dark. Such a horse is also
quite as apt to be a fool as any horse is. There are
plenty of old horses that never exhibit any symptoms
of sensibility until you come around them with a
gun.

Far better than any such stock is a good active
young horse. But he must have " horse sense;" and
so must his rider. The hunting-horse needs kind and
rational treatment, and above all quiet, cool, easy
handling. He must not be jerked or kicked for being
uneasy under fire. By such treatment, as well as by
firing over his head, you can completely ruin a horse
that is already quite well trained. And whipping and
scolding will never make him allow a dead deer to be
put on his back. He may allow it that time, but an-
other time he is liable to object most seriously about
the time you get it on and begin to tie it fast. He
should be allowed to smell of the deer as long as he
wishes, being patted meanwhile instead of scolded.
Then if he does not yield, quietly blindfold him until
it is firmly lashed on. If you put it on so carelessly
at first that it slips and hangs on his side or under
his belly, especially if he succeeds in kicking or
" bucking" himself free from it, you will be apt to
have trouble with him in the future.

Sometimes a very good horse cannot resist a trifling
nervousness when you raise the rifle ; a nervousness
not born of fear, but only of expectation. In such
case you will have to dismount to make any sort of
a fine shot. And you will have to do so nearly al-
ways to make a very good long shot. If your horse
will not stay where you leave him, have a rope thirty
or forty feet long knotted into several large loops at

TWO OR MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 241

one end, with the other end tied around his neck and
then looped around his nose with a noose that cannot
slip off. Carry over the horn of the saddle the set of
loops, which should be so arranged as to take up
nearly all the rope and come under the horse's feet
when cast off. Cast them off when you jump, and
you may leave your horse a long time with the cer-
tainty of finding him firmly anchored somewhere
very near by, no matter how well he may understand
getting away with a picket-rope. This is much bet-
ter than a bayonet or other sharp picket-pin, as it
takes no time to cast off the rope, is not so liable to
come loose, especially in soft ground, and needs no
pounding on hard ground. Holding the rope while
you shoot is very unreliable as well as a little unsafe
if your horse be too fearful.

242 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XXII.

SPECIAL MODES OF HUNTING. THE COW-BELL AND
TIRING DOWN DEER.

As before stated, the art of still-hunting consists
not in the use of tricks or artifices, but in the ready
and skillful application of sound common-sense prin-
ciples.

There are, however, a few modes in which deer and
antelope may be hunted that are special and approach *
the nature of tricks. Some of these, such as luring
antelope within shot by a red flag or kicking up the
foot behind one occasionally when stretched upon the
ground, thus taking advantage of their curiosity, etc.,
have already been so fully and frequently described
by other writers that for the sake of brevity I will omit
them and confine myself to two modes which, so far as
I can remember, have never been written about be-
fore. Though both are in fact noisy hunting, yet, be-
ing the outgeneraling of a deer by a single person,
properly belong to still-hunting. The first is the use
of the cow-bell.

In many parts of our country the deer are used to
the sound of the cow-bell during the spring, summer,
and autumn, and wherever belled cattle run those
deer that have been accustomed to seeing the cattle
and hearing the bell at the same time, so as to associ-
ate the two, will be little afraid of the \)t\\, provided
they are not hunted in this way, Therefore, when the

SPECIAL MODES OF HUNTING. 243

autumn leaves are dry and crackly, or the snow is
stiff and noisy, or the brush is thick and high, it is well
to try the cow-bell.

Hang the bell over your shoulder so that it will
sound as if on a cow, and walk along fast, never
minding the noise of your feet, but keeping a very
keen eye ahead. Two companions, one on each side,
about one hundred to three hundred yards from you
and forty to a hundred and fifty yards ahead, may often
work well in brush or on snow, but on snow they must
be farther out from you than on bare ground, unless
it is very brushy. It is well to have a set of signals
with the bell so as to tell them if you see a deer, or,
if on a trail, which way it turns, etc. Deer act very
differently before the bell, and it is always liable to
fail, though it will often give you great success. In
thick brush deer that are accustomed to belled cattle
will be apt to play along before the bell about a
hundred yards or so ahead, stopping to look back at
it, and watching its direction so closely that they do
not notice your companions on the sides. Sometimes
they will stand quite unconcerned, looking at you un-
til you get in plain open sight, so that you can get a
good shot. And sometimes they will run at the first
sound of it, and not let you even get sight of them. I
have seen an old buck so bothered by the bell that it
seemed impossible to make him run, although for five
minutes I did my very best to miss him; and my fin-
gers were so numb with cold that I could hardly load
the rifle, while he stood looking at me in the utmost
amazement, at only fifty yards. Every time he start-
ed to run a single jingle of the bell would make him
halt and look all around. This buck was celebrated
for his wildness, but no one had thought of trying a

244 THE STILL-HUNTER.

bell on him, although belled cattle had been ranging
with him all summer. But with some deer this will
not work at all. I was staying once at a logging-
camp when a light sleet suddenly made the hunting
very bad for a few days. Having noticed that many
of the logging-teams wore small bells, and that deer
stood around, browsed, and even lay down within
sound of these, I got a bell and went after the deer.
Deer were quite plenty, and the first day I jumped
over a dozen single ones whose tracks I saw, and
doubtless more whose tracks I did not see. But
every one of these jumped out of sight. The next day
I muffled the clapper of the bell so that it would sound
as if very far off, and the result was the same as the
day before. I afterward tried it on soft snow with no
better success. The reason probably was because I
went away from the road. Had I kept in it at early
morning and late in the evening I might have done
better, though the main trouble undoubtedly was
that the moment they heard it they got up and
looked, and the difference between me and a logging-
team was too striking. The difference in the tread
had also something to do with it. They had not been
hunted with a bell before, but were exceedingly wild
from being still-hunted by Indians and market-shoot-
ers. I never tried the bell on California deer, but
should think it would be of little use, except where
cattle wear bells; though if the ground is such that
you must make a noise anyhow, it would be well to
try it anywhere. And it is sometimes a good plan
to put it on a horse in hunting very bushy or very
rough ground,- where deer cannot see far. Some deer
know the step of a man so perfectly, however, that
they cannot be deceived by anything, and nothing but

SPECIAL MODES OF HUNTING. 245

the utmost strategy and caution will avail. And
whenever the ground will allow still walking you had
better depend only upon strategy and caution in hunt-
ing all deer, and let horses, cow-bells, etc., alone.

The other mode is tiring down a deer so that he
loses his wildness so far as to allow you to get close
enough for a shot. This can generally be done only
upon snow so light as not to impede your walking,
while it enables you to follow the trail without delay
in looking for tracks. It may, however, with a very
fat deer be done on some kinds of bare ground where
rapid tracking is easy. I am aware that deer may be
run down on a deep crusty snow by a man on snow-
shoes. But this is mere brutal butchery. Whenever
the snow is deep enough and hard enough to do that
the deer are so poor as to be almost worthless either
for venison or for their hides. I refer only to tiring a
deer when in good condition and when he has some
chance for his life.

Probably every one who has been much among old
hunters has heard of that illustrious individual who
can "run down a deer and whip him into camp with
his ramrod." Like the man who "shoots from the hip
as well as anybody else can from the shoulder," he is
a little hard to find. You can find his cousin, his
nephew, or his uncle without much difficulty, and you
can find plenty of men who have seen him; but you
cannot find him yourself. This admixture of what is
probably sheer nonsense with what is real truth has
caused many persons to disbelieve the real facts of
the case.

If a deer be chased all day by a man upon a dog-
trot, or even upon a rapid walk, the deer toward even-
ing will tire down, not so that the man can catch or

246 THE STILL-HUNTER.

strike him, or even get within a stone's throw of him;
but the deer will get more and more careless, and
stand longer and longer at each stopping-place, and
even begin to feed, until finally the pursuer gets a
pretty fair shot at him.

I am here compelled to go outside of my own ex-
perience. I never would pay so high a price for a
deer as such hunting involves, and consequently never
tried it. But I have time and again met Indians in
the woods following a trail on a dog-trot, and talked
with them about it. And I have known friends of
mine stopping at the same camp at which I was stop-
ping try the same thing. There was always a pretty
general agreement about two things:

ist. That a deer may often be shot in this way, but
that in general it will take nearly an all-day tramp of
at least three miles an hour, and for anything like cer-
tainty it should be at least five miles.

2d. That some deer cannot be overtaken in this
way in one day; but the pursuer must camp on the
track and take it again in the morning, or must re-
turn to it if he goes off to camp. The second day, it
is said, is quite sure to end the chase; but often the
first day will not. I once knew two men who were
most tireless trampers try it for three successive
days on only an inch of snow that had been stiffened
by a thaw, and give it up. They had to take differ-
ent deer every day, as they left the trail each night so
far from camp that they thought their chances better
with a new one.

On the whole, this is a mode of hunting suitable
only for a man of great endurance who cares not how
soon he works out the mine of youth and health ; and
even such a one had better let it alone unless the

SPECIAL MODES OF HUNTING. 247

ground be too noisy to still-hunt and he must have
a deer.

How far this plan would work with antelope if fol-
lowed on horseback I cannot say. All the antelope it
has been my lot to meet were very wild, made nearly
half a day's journey at the first run, and would prob-
ably have completed the day with another run if I had
been foolish enough to follow them. They have far
more endurance than a deer.

All such modes of hunting as watching water-
holes, salt-licks, turnip-patches, pine-choppings, etc.,
although literally ^////-hunting, I pass over as involving
neither knowledge nor skill, except to keep still, hide
in a tree or in a hole in the ground, or lie flat on the
leeward side to see the deer when it comes, and avoid
overshooting it; a thing we will consider under the
head of shooting.

248 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XXIII.

DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC.

AT all times of the year and in all countries deer
are found often in companies. Two yearlings run-
ning together, a doe and fawns, two or three does
and a buck, or sometimes two or three bucks together
are quite as often met with as is a single deer. At
certain times of the year, however, deer often gather
into bands of from six to fifteen or twenty-five, and
in some parts of the country into much larger bands.
When this occurs and where it is most apt to occur
is of no consequence even if it were possible to give
any general rule upon the subject. You will know
a band quickly enough by the tracks, and one or two
days' hunting will tell you far better than any rule
could do it whether they are in bands or not.

Hunting a band of deer requires, however, some
special care. When banded, deer range farther than
when single or in small companies, and shift oftener
from place to place. They will have perhaps eight or
ten points of radiation from the general center of
their range, a basin here, a valley there, in another
place a meadow, surrounded with brush perhaps, here
another basin, there a rocky ridge, etc. Each one of
these may be half armile or even much more from the
next one, and from half a mile to two or three miles
from the general center. All are certain to contain
food and probably water. Each one of these places

DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 249

will be connected with the others by trails, upon
which the deer will be almost sure to travel in passing
from one to another. In any one of these places they
may pass several days, and may also pass only one
day even when undisturbed. The general center may
be some unusually choice feeding-ground, or the only
spring for many miles, or may be one of those pecu-
liar spots that deer often take a special fancy to with-
out any apparent reason. A band of antelope act
about the same way, but upon a vastly larger scale.

To this general center a band of deer may come
every night for several nights, or may come for two
or three successive nights; and then stay away for
several nights, especially if scared away from it.

Deer acting thus are in many respects harder to
hunt than when single or in small companies. The
prospects of making a good bag when you do find
them are much better than when they are scattered,
especially when on ground where you can get above
them or ahead of them. But the prospects of any
one day being a blank day are also much stronger
than when hunting scattered deer. Unless you take
a whole day to it and find out just where they are in
time to get " the evening hunt" on them, you will
often discover only where they are not. And this dis-
covery you may make just too late to go where they
are. For unless you find fresh tracks at the general
center which you can follow back, it will often use up
the best hunting-hours of the whole morning to find
where they were last night. And this will sometimes
be the case when you find the tracks at once in the
morning. For you cannot safely follow such tracks
back rapidly, but must be keeping a constant watch
for the game. And if you once start the band it is

250 THE STILL-HUNTER.

quite apt to make a long run; and it will be several
days before it returns to that part of its beat. There
are also so many more ears to hear you, so many
more eyes to see you and noses to smell you, and
some are always watching. They may be scattered
about over one acre, or over ten or more^ and if one
starts he generally carries the rest along in a general
stampede. To stalk a band requires in fact more
caution than to stalk a single deer, although your
chances of catching sight of game are much greater in
case of a band.

A troublesome question often arises what to do when
in tracking a band you see a deer. It may be only a
single deer not belonging to the band. It may be one
of the band, and the nearest one to you. Or it may
be the farthest one off, and a dozen more may be
standing around in brush or lying down between you
and it. If it is within fair shot you should make sure
of it unless it is too small or poor, etc. For nowhere
is the maxim " A bird in the hand is worth two in
the bush" more true than in hunting deer or antelope.
There may be more near by, and the attempt to see
them may alarm the whole. Even antelope can lie on
quite level ground between you and one standing up
without your suspecting it, and if you raise your head
an inch more to look for them you may alarm the one
you can easily make sure of. But if the one you see
is too far off for a certain shot it may be bad policy
to shoot at it at once without waiting to see what is
closer by. What to do then must depend upon many
considerations. If the ground will allow closer ap-
proach without getting in sight or wind of game or
making too much noise, it is better to get nearer. If
it is at the time of day when the game is moving

DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 251

about and the nearer ones will be likely to move in
sight it may be best to lie still for a while and watch.
If at a time when they are likely to be lying down it
may be better to shoot at the one you see, as the
others may not move again for hours; the one you
see may be the only one on foot ; and even that one
may lie down at any minute. If early in the after-
noon, the ground bad for a running shot, and the one
you see too far away, it may be best to sit down and
wait for them to rise toward evening. And all this
may be changed by the fact that they are moving
from place to place and the brush prevents your see-
ing the rest of the band. For deer can feed along
through brush quite low and thin without your see-
ing them unless you are well above them.

Banded deer may deceive you very much in your
estimate of the number of deer about. They then do
so much more moving than when single that they will
track up an immense amount of ground in such a
way that you would fully believe there were at least
twenty deer where there were not over six or eight.
And even two miles square of ground may be so
tracked up by a restless band that one would declare
deer very plenty, when in fact they may be scarce, the
next band being two or three miles away and the
whole average being only two to the square mile. A
band will occasionally keep quite still for several days
or weeks. But the rule is the other way.

In shooting into a band in rough or brushy ground
you are very apt to get demoralized. You should
shoot just as deliberately as at any time, not hurry-
ing in the least because you see other deer than the
one you are shooting at. And, above all, you should
keep account of every deer struck, whether it fell or

THE STILL-HUNTER.

ran off and which way it ran, etc. Otherwise you
will be very apt to lose them. Do not show yourself
until through shooting, and do not allow yourself to
be tempted to do so by seeing them move off. Even
if they go off running you had better not show your-
self unless you can make a cut-off.

There are some general hints that apply equally to
single deer and banded ones which may as well be
considered here.

In going after a particular deer or band of deer
you need not listen to any gabble of settlers, herds-
men, teamsters, and others who tell you they always
see them at such a place, see them there every day,
etc. etc. etc. The fact generally is that they see them
about once in four or five days or a week, which is
probably as often as the man goes there, and which
he calls "every day." This is just about the time it
takes them to return to that part of the range when
once driven away. A man going to that place once
in five or six days will generally stand the same
chance of seeing the deer that a man does who goes
there every day. You should generally go to the
place toward which they ran if you go within two or
three days after they were seen.

When deer run into a high brushy hill-side and dis-
appear, wait and watch for several minutes. Even a
single deer is liable to come to an opening and stand
a minute for a look, and some one of a band is very
apt to do so.

If you are near a water-hole or bit of choice feeding-
ground and see a deer's head and neck come peering
over an adjacent ridge, unless you are sure he sees
you or he is close enough for a sure shot, keep per-
fectly still. This is very apt to be a survey for danger

DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 253

before coming in to water or feed. And if he backs
off instead of coming ahead don't be in too much
haste to go after him, for he may be coming around
by a trail or down the next ravine.

Though deer can go without water, especially when
the browse is wet with dews or fogs or rain, yet in hot
weather, especially in the dry countries, they are very
fond of it. Hence if you can find the only water-hole for
a long distance, and camp so close to it as to keep the
deer away from it for a night or two, you will be very
apt to find them hanging about in the close vicinity
in the morning waiting for a chance to come in. This
is vastly better than watching the water all night and
crippling one or two with an uncertain shot, or pot-
shooting them with a shot-gun. I have never tried
it, but a friend of mine, who is otherwise an excellent
hunter, does it with great success, and considers it
almost sure.

Antelope generally, if not always, water by day, and
cannot, when on dry feed or sun-cured grass, go with-
out water as long as deer can. But much more care
must be used in watching for them. You must be
better hid and be in such position that no motion is
necessary before shooting. If you cannot hide, the
best way to wait for either deer or antelope to come
close enough after they once come in sight is to lie
flat on your face or back and not move a muscle until
you are ready to shoot. Then if they are certain to
see you anyhow, jump as quickly as you can. But
otherwise move slowly and make no noise, as you may
in this way get standing shots instead of only running
ones, as may be the case where they see you or you
have to move quickly.

When game has once seen you it is of little use to

254 THE STILL-HUNTER.

drop or back out of sight and try to sneak around
after it. It is quite apt to leave as soon as you get
out of sight. Even the little cotton-tail rabbit, when
at all wild, has an idea that this proceeding means
mischief, and both deer and antelope are generally so
deeply impressed with that idea that in such case you
should risk a much longer shot than when the game
does not see you. If too far off and you have a com-
panion at hand, leave him for the game to watch while
you go around.

When you see game at a long distance, before you
start off to make a detour for it wait long enough to
find out what it is doing. It may see you and leave
as above shown, and if it is to leave it had better leave
while you can see it and know where it is going, etc.
Or it may be feeding on a course, in which case it may
be best to first learn its course. Or it may be stand-
ing around preliminary to lying down, in which case
you have plenty of time and will be quite certain of a
shot. Or it may be merely stopping an instant on a
long walk, in which case you do not want to sneak on
the vacant place, but want to know where it is going.

Of the many idle theories among hunters about
deer there is one that demands some attention because
there is really some truth in it, or, rather, it is truth
wrongly stated. This is what is called the "moon
theory." It is stated in various ways, but the sub-
stance of it is that when the moon is above the hori-
zon during the day and when it is directly opposite
the zenith deer are on foot feeding, etc. When the
moon is above the horizon during most of the day it
is not much above it during the night. If in the last
quarter or in the first quarter, it is above the horizon
more during the day than at night. Consequently so

DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 255

much of the night is dark that the deer do much less
roaming then than about the full moon, when it is
light all night. The more roaming they do at night
the less they do by day or, rather, in the first half of
the day. But deer are generally on foot about as
early in the afternoon during full moon as at any
other time, and often earlier, because they lie down so
much earlier in the morning. Now if the moon is in
the first or second quarter it will be above the horizon
only in the early part of the night. The latter half of
the night being dark the deer will feed more after
daylight, at which time the moon will generally be
somewhere about our antipodes or opposite the zenith.
So when the moon is in the last quarter it will be still
above the western horizon about the time the deer,
having lain down early in the morning, rise again to
feed in the afternoon. The whole of which amounts
to this, that the lighter the night the longer the deer
wilf roam at night, and the more they move at night
the less they will move in the first half of the day.

Beware of selling out future chances too cheap.
Suppose you are camped at a certain place and
toward evening find fresh tracks leading into a nice
little brushy basin or valley or some place that you
cannot hunt to advantage before dark or on account
of the wind or other cause. Should you go after the
game and start it the chances may be all against your
getting even a running shot. And it may run a mile
or more, so that it would take you all next day to find
it. It may in such case be better to leave the game
alone that night and be there at daylight in the morn-
ing. The same may be the case with a band or a sin-
gle deer that you actually see. If it is too far off or
too dark to shoot to advantage your chances may be

256 THE STILL-HUNTER.

bettered by leaving the game undisturbed until day-
light.

When hunting you may often be puzzled in high
mountains by finding on top of the ridges plenty of
tracks and trails running in all directions, with plenty
of beds, droppings, etc. Yet with your utmost care
you will not discover a deer. This is quite apt to be
the case where the ridge is much less than five hun-
dred yards or so in width, and often so when it is even
wider than that. The reason is that the deer are on
the ridge only at night, using it mainly to cross from
side to side, spending nearly all the daylight down the
slopes and ravines far below the top. Where these
slopes and the sides of the ravines are very steep such
ground is hardly worth hunting, as it is too much
work to get a dead deer out of them. The best moun-
tain-hunting is in the valleys or basins or along gentle
slopes and ridges.

The noises made by a deer are of little importance.
The bleat is much like that of a sheep, but generally
shorter. The snort is a hollow whistling " phew"
often long drawn. You will quickly enough know
either one the first time you hear it. The cry of the
fawns and their mothers' call the hunter has no busi-
ness to know anything about.

Of slight importance are the distinctive colors of
the deer's coat, " the red coat," "the blue," "the
gray," etc. You must watch all colors at all times,
for a deer may show any one of these shades at almost
any time according to the part you see of him and the
way the light strikes it, etc. etc. The blue and gray
coat are always the same as far as hunting is con-
cerned; for nothing from light gray to black can be
neglected. Red is the summer coat; the others the

DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 257

fall and winter coats. In the mule-deer of California
the red is often a dirty yellow or ocher color.

When in timber, especially timber with low-hang-
ing branches, do not forget that a deer can see your
legs and leave before you can see anything of him.
You must stoop frequently in such ground. The
same is the case in descending a tree-covered hill into
a valley or basin. If you have any reason to believe
there is game in it, enter it if possible from the lowest
point you can find. And in general, when hunting a
valley with sloping sides clad with timber, keep in the
lowest part of it (a creek-bed or other depression if
possible) that will give you the best view beneath the
trees.

It may sometimes be best to purposely give deer
your wind; as where they are lying in a basin or
windfall and will have to run up hill, and it would be
too long a shot for you if you should keep on one
hill-side and try to start them by sight of you or by
noise, in which case they would be certain to run up
the opposite side. And even when deer are on foot
the formation of the ground may be such that your
chances of hitting one running up the side while you
are in the center would be better than the chances of
getting a good standing shot from either side.

Should you see cattle or horses on your hunting-
ground be careful not to alarm them, as they will be
apt to stampede all game within hearing of their
hoofs. No other animals, nor even birds, should be
unnecessarily alarmed when game is near. Both deer
and antelope know what alarm of other animals
means.

258 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XXIV.

TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT.

THE popular idea of the effect of a bullet upon a
deer or antelope is about like a woman's idea of the
effect of shooting in general; viz., instantaneous death
of the thing shot at. Few persons who have not
tried it would ever dream that after hours of pa-
tient toil, and a shot fired with perfect coolness and
accuracy, the glossy prize that you just now so fondly
imagined yours beyond a doubt may be suddenly
resolved into the most slippery intangibility on earth,
and that the hunt instead of ending has in reality only
commenced. Yet such with wild deer is the case
about one third of the time, and on open ground,
where longer shots must be taken than in the woods,
it may be so quite as often even with pretty tame
deer.

This provoking feature is, moreover, becoming more
and more common. Time was in all the States of the
Union when a good cool shot armed with a rifle shoot-
ing a bullet scarcely larger than a pea could shoot a
hundred deer in succession without ten of them run-
ning over two hundred yards before falling dead.
And these ten would not go over four hundred or
five hundred yards. And the greater number would
fall either in their tracks or in sight of the hunter.
The reason of this is as simple as anything in the
world. Deer were then so tame that the great majority

TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 259

would either stand and look at the hunter without
running at all, or if they did run would go only a few
yards and stop. The greater number would stand
broadside to the hunter inside of seventy yards' dis-
tance; the hunter was a cool deliberate shot; the rifle
was perfect in its accuracy to that distance; and
therefore the ball was always, like the stock of the
Credit Mobilier, " placed where it would do the most
good." And deer were then so plenty that the hunter
was sure of one or more such shots in a very short
time. So easy was it then to pick such shots that the
old-time hunter rarely thought of such a thing as
shooting at a deer much beyond a hundred yards, or
at one running, or at one that showed only the rear
half of his body. He nearly always waited for a sure
shot at the point of the shoulder or just behind it,
reaching the heart almost invariably; though he
often shot deer in the head.

But it is scarcely necessary to say that that day is
past. There are yet a few places where deer are still
tame. But the deer of the period is not an animal in
which a ball can be placed where you wish to place it.
And the antelope of the period is still less so, as he
must be shot at longer distances, and on more or less
windy plains that affect the aim of the hunter and the
flight of the ball. Not only are the wildest regions of
our country now penetrated by hunters, but since the
general use of breech-loading rifles — many of them
poor ones, many of the best ones being kept so dirty
and rusty that they will hit nothing, all of them tend-
ing by their rapidity of fire to make careless shooting
the rule — there is five times the amount of shooting at
and scaring game that there used to be from an equal
number of hunters carrying rifles that never threw

260 THE STILL-HUNTER,

" a wild ball," and that were so slow to load that every
shot was fired as if it were the last ball within fifty
miles.

For these reasons the deer and antelope of the pe-
riod are vastly different animals from those that used
to pose in sculpturesque attitudes about fifty yards
away from Daniel Boone, David Crockett, and others.
One third of them must be shot at, at distances that
the old-time hunter would have considered too far.
And here I refer not to what are considered long-range
distances, such as three hundred to six hundred
yards, but to one hundred and fifty to two hundred
yards; distances at which the old-time hunter passed
scornfully by the biggest old buck with the feeling of
full confidence of soon seeing another at less than half
that distance. Another third of them must be now
shot while running; a shot that the old-time hunter
with his long heavy rifle, with its long-horned nui-
sance of a crescent-shaped scoop in the butt, with its
hammer invariably upon the cap, and its trigger — th'at
could not be pulled without setting it — unset, rarely
thought of even attempting. The other third still
present good shots and may be nearly always killed in
their tracks or within a hundred yards of the place
where struck.

When we come to analyze rifle-shooting you will
conclude that I tell the exact truth when 1 assert, as I
do most positively, that the man who talks of placing
a ball where he wishes to place it in a running deer or
antelope at any distance, or at one standing beyond a
hundred and fifty yards, is either an ignoramus or a
braggart who takes his listener for a bigger fool than
he is himself. I draw the following principles not
from my own experience only, but from that of the

TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 261

very best shots I have ever seen, men whom I believe
it almost impossible to excel; and when we come to
analyze shooting I will try to prove them from indis-
putable principles:

ist. To hit a running deer in any part of the body at
any distance is a first-class shot.

2d. To hit at a hundred and fifty yards anywhere
within ten inches of the center of the shoulder of a
standing deer or antelope, or strike the body any-
where at two hundred yards, is a first-class shot.

3d. To hit a deer at all at a hundred yards when
you can see only part of it in brush or among trees
is a first-class shot.

4th. To hit one in the vitals at only sixty yards
when it shows only a small spot of dull color in dark
heavy timber is a first-class shot.

It being now impossible to hit the majority of deer
or antelope where you wish, let us consider the effect
of bullets upon different parts of the body, and the
vitality of the animals after being .struck. I speak
now only of the ball in common use, a solid ball of
about forty-five hundredths of an inch in diameter,
quite long and generally hardened with tin.

A shot in the head or spinal column will drop a
deer in his tracks. A shot through the kidneys or in
the rectum will nearly always do the same. A shot
anywhere in a circle of six inches around the point of
the shoulder will often drop a deer at once, but is
much more likely to let him run from fifty to two hun-
dred yards, and sometimes half a mile or more. Shot
above the center of the shoulders or in the brisket only
a deer may run for miles. Shot anywhere between
five inches back of the shoulder and the hams a deer
may run all day if kept going. Shot in the haunch

262 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the deer may run all day, depending upon the veins,
bones, etc., that are touched by the ball. A deer with
a hind-leg broken can with ease keep clear of a man
all day, and with only a fore-leg broken can often run
away from a dog, unless the dog be a pretty good one.
The worst of all shots and the most common one in all
shooting at long standing shots and at game running
crosswise is what is called the "paunch-shot." Every
shot from the fifth rib to the hip-joint — nearly half
the body of the animal — may be practically regarded
as a " paunch-shot." A deer or antelope can run for
miles when thus shot, and I have seen a yearling buck
shot through the center with an ounce round ball
(solid) run away from a common dog, and escape on a
fair race of over half a mile. And this, too, on quite
open ground where the dog had a full view of the
deer and lost no time in hunting the scent. An ante-
lope is quite as tough as, if not often tougher than, a
deer, and the expedition of either animal in getting
away when half shot to pieces is often amazing.

It is common to hear people talk as if it were only
necessary to let a wounded deer alone and it will lie
down and either die or get sick. This is true enough
if it be badly wounded and time enough be allowed
it. But when will it be so sick that it will cease to
watch upon its back track and either run away before
you get within shot at all or go plunging through
brush at your approach and give you a poor running
shot ? Of course " it is only a question of time;" but
you will find that sweetly delusive formula very poor
consolation when night closes in upon you and you
wish to go somewhere else in the morning, when fall-
ing snow covers the bloody trail, when it leads into
heavy windfalls or brush, and on bare ground when

TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 263

the blood ceases to flow and the cripple settles to a
walk on ground where tracking is hard. For the
tracking of a wounded deer is very different from that
of a well one. You can tell very nearly where a well
one will go, and without this knowledge tracking on
bare ground is often impracticable. But you cannot
count upon the movements of a wounded deer, except
that generally he will run to the roughest and most
brushy ground there is within reach. The number of
deer lost on bare ground by the best of trackers and
good shots is almost incredible to those who have not
hunted and associated much with them. And even
on snow many are lost.

One means of remedying this loss of game — the
use of a rifle-ball that will effectually stop anything
struck anywhere in the body — I shall point out in a
subsequent chapter. But no rifle will kill a deer at
once by hitting a leg unless very high up; and there-
fore every hunter who can should have a good dog at
his heels.

A really good dog to overtake and stop a wounded
deer is hard to get, and harder still to keep. There are
enough that can do it, but they will spoil more shots
for you than they save deer. Little or no training is
required, as a dog that is at all fit for the purpose will
take to it naturally. But he should be trained and
kept in absolute obedience about remaining behind
until sent out, even though a wounded deer be escap-
ing before his eyes. As such dogs have generally
more or less of some headstrong and intractable blood
in their composition this is no easy matter to do; and
as the average hunter is always in agony when he
sees anything toothsome escaping, and is always blind
to the fact that a dog can follow a trail in one or two

264 THE STILL-HUNTER.

minutes just as well as instantly, the average deer-dog
of the period, like the retriever of the average hunter
with the shot-gun, always starts like a rocket at the
report of the gun. And having learned this, the next
step in his education quite naturally follows; namely,
running in without waiting for you to shoot.

The first thing to do when a deer is wounded is
generally to do nothing. If he runs in a direction
where you can head him off and get another shot, it
is generally advisable to do so; but if he has not seen
you, and you have to run so that he will see you, you
had better not show yourself at all unless he is mak-
ing for thick brush and you can get another shot at
him before he reaches it. It is generally far better to
drop quietly out of sight and watch him.

The action of a deer when wounded depends largely
upon where he is hit, but mainly upon whether he has
seen you or not, and also upon his wildness. If not
very wild, and he has not yet seen you, he will gener-
ally take a few jumps, perhaps not more than one or
two, then walk a few yards, stand still a while and look
around, and then lie down. If he has seen you, or
knows pretty well what the crack of a gun means, he
may run several hundred yards before stopping, and
then, after taking several backward looks and walking
a little, will lie down. If jumped and shot on the
run, he will probably run much farther than if shot
when standing and suspecting no danger. If near
brush or rough ground, a deer will be quite apt to
make for it if he sees you, and so certain to if pursued
that if you cannot make a good cut-off your only
chance of keeping him from the brush is to let him
entirely alone ; he may then lie down before he
reaches it. A deer only leg-broken will travel much

TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 265

farther before lying down than if hit in the body, and
will generally stand up longer under a paunch-shot
than under any other shot in the body, though, if let
alone, will soon lie down with this. Sometimes deer
will start off on a walk and go a mile or so to brush
without stopping, and sometimes will plunge ahead
on a full run until they fall either stone dead or from
sheer exhaustion.

It would be of no use to waste further space in de-
tailing specifically the various maneuvers of a wound-
ed deer, for those above given include nearly all kinds,
and the same general plan of handling must be fol-
lowed in all cases. And this is —

ist. No matter how sick the deer may appear to be,
no matter how he staggers, bleeds, or looks like drop-
ping immediately, shoot at him just as long as he
stands up. Do not be afraid of spoiling meat or hide,
for as long as he can keep afoot you are in danger of
losing both, or having a troublesome time to get them.
Do the same when he is down, if he can hold up his
head or his eyes are bright, unless his back is broken.

2d. If he goes off, let him go (unless, as before
stated, you can head off or flank him), and for several
hours do nothing to disturb him. If it is near night
you had better let him go until next morning. If he
is badly hurt he will probably never rise after lying
down a while, and at all events is likely to get so sick
and stiff as to be quite easy of approach. But if fol-
lowed up at once he will be watching, and unless very
much hurt will be too keen and too lively for you.

3d. On taking his track to follow him up, proceed
just as you would on a well deer, and don't go blun-
dering and thrashing carelessly along because you see
blood or signs of stumbling or staggering. If you

THE STILL-HUNTER.

find the blood increasing on the trail you may expect
to find him dead, or very nearly so. But if it is de-
creasing it may need all your care to secure him.

Most of this caution is often needless, especially on
snow and with a rifle of large caliber. But I have
given it on the plan I have, followed throughout —
giving best and surest methods. You will rarely lose
one by following too closely these rules, though they
may of course sometimes cause you unnecessary delay.
Where falling snow will hide the track, your only
chance is often to follow at once.

Excited by the sight of blood and signs of stumb-
ling, burning with anxiety to retrieve the game, and
impatient of any delay, one is almost certain at first
to rush ahead after a crippled deer. But you must
remember that (except heading, etc.) all means of
pursuit, the trail, the blood, etc., if any, will generally
be just as available in four or six hours, perhaps even
the next day, as they are right after shooting. By
waiting you generally lose nothing. By not waiting
you may lose all.

Nor is it always advisable to slip a dog at once, if
you have one by you. For the sake of keeping him
in good habits, he should never be allowed to start
from your side for a moment or two, or until you give
the word. And even then it is not always best to let
him go until you get some idea of how the deer is
wounded, and how far he will run. If he is likely to
lie down soon it may be folly to slip your dog; for a
deer that would lie down in two minutes and never
get up if left alone may run for miles if kept going,
and even if your dog be swift and sure he may run
the deer into thick brush or some bad ground where
it will bother you to get him out. Moreover, the

TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 267

flesh may be badly bloodshot or the contents of the
intestines worked all through the interior by a chase.
But if a deer is only leg-broken, as a rule the sooner
you let out your dog the better, for it is likely to be a
long chase, and the deer should have as little start as
possible.

On falling snow when you have no dog, and there
is danger of the track getting covered or confused
with other tracks, you may perhaps overtake and get
another shot at a deer by a stern-chase yourself. This
is a job, however, which I would recommend you to
sublet before you commence, as it is very exhausting
and vexatious. A wounded deer, if not too badly
hurt, will watch back, and will be quite sure to see
you first, and if kept going can run well.

It is far better, even in falling snow, to wait a
little while, and when you get in sight of a place
where the cripple is likely to stop go around and
come in from one side or behind, as in tracking a
wild well one.

I once saw a big strong man who was hunting
quails beside me drop like a sledge-struck ox at the
report of a comrade's gun some ninety yards behind
us in the brush, clap his hand to his head, and ex-
claim in agony, " O my God!" He still lives, in
Monmouth County, New Jersey; for the only wound
we could find on him was a grain of No. 8 shot in
the lobe of one ear, which our comrade who did the
mischief, now a prominent lawyer in Jersey City,
picked out with the point of his pen-knife. Other
men shot half to pieces have fought like tigers or run
like deer a long while before they fairly knew they
were hit. Individuals among deer and antelope dif-
fer about the same way in vitality. I have seen a big

268 THE STILL-HUNTER.

buck drop in his tracks and lie there with the same
bullet-hole in the same place that another and smaller
deer has carried for miles without falling. And I
have seen an old buck antelope run ninety yards on
as beautiful and almost as swift a trot as St. Julien
ever made on the race-track, with both heart and lungs
cut into perfect pulp by a .65 expansive ball with two
hundred grains of powder behind it, and which would
probably make the next one wilt like a wet rag in its
tracks. Therefore if you happen to kill your first half-
dozen or even dozen deer in their tracks or in your
sight, do not delude yourself with the idea that there
is no danger of deer escaping your rifle, but always
use the same care above advised.

If a deer runs any distance and then falls he is
pretty sure to be dead. But be sure that he /#//.$•, for
if he runs and lies down it may need all your care to
get him. If he falls at the report of the gun and
then gets up and runs it generally means hard work
and care to bag him. Therefore it is best always
when a deer drops at once to run directly to him if
there are no other deer at hand. Especially do you
need to run if he struggles to get up, even though he
fails ; for a deer often recovers himself for a while,
even when mortally wounded, being badly stunned at
first, then getting over that and getting away to die
afterward. But do not let a deer see you running to
him if you can help it, and if near enough always give
a struggling one another shot without going up to it,
as the sight of you often revives one wonderfully.

How to manage a deer when killed is a matter in
which your natural tact, as well as information from
any woodsman, hunter, or settler, will serve you suf-
ficiently well that for brevity I shall omit the most of

TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 269

what I could say about it, and by the time you have
killed a few deer you v/ill readily pardon me for spend-
ing most of my time in telling you how to shoot one
instead of what to do with it after being shot.

Nevertheless there are just a few points that I will
mention by way of saving you needless work.

It is considered style to charge on a fallen deer with
a " hunting-knife" and " cut its throat." All the hunt-
ing-knife you need is a common round-pointed jack-
knife. Everything else is a nuisance except as a
butcher-knife or cleaver at camp. If the deer is not
dead, finish him with a ball in the head, and let his
throat alone or you may get in sudden trouble. If
he is dead his throat needs no cutting, as a dead ani-
mal bleeds only a trifle from the throat. If you mean
to open him at once you can give him no better bleed-
ing than opening. If you wish to run on for another
deer, stick the dead one in the chest and turn him
with head down hill.

Covering up a deer with brush, snow, etc., especially
if you leave some article of clothing upon it, will
protect it from all animals and birds about as well as
hanging up, unless you hang it very high. And this
latter is no easy thing for one person to do, unless he
packs a hatchet to cut forked sticks with large enough
to prop up a good sapling. But with two such sticks,
one being longer than the other, a bent sapling with
a deer fastened to it can, by working them alternately,
be run up quite high. Hanging by the head protects
from birds but exposes the hams to animals, and vice
versa. The inner bark of the basswood makes good
rope, but the skin of the lower part of the deer's legs
cut in strips is better and easier to get. This is also
good to tie a deer to the rings of the saddle-girth.

270 THE STILL-HUNTER.

The best way to get one home if you cannot reach
it with a wagon is on a horse. Lay it behind the sad-
dle and lash firmly to the girth rings or buckles; or it
may be tied to his tail and dragged. A deer may be
dragged very easily on snow, dead leaves, or dry grass
by being pulled head first; and by throwing away
neck and head, skinning and cutting up the fore-
quarters and packing them in their skin, fastening
the edges of the skin together by running a string
through holes in each, the whole thing may be made
into quite a nice sledge. But in very bad ground the
best way to get a deer out is to let him take himself
out. I have let many a one go unshot at in such
places. It is a far greater thing to boast of than to
bring out the saddles or a hind-quarter, leaving the
rest to waste.

THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 271

CHAPTER XXV.

THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST.

THE great difficulty in killing any sort of game with
a single ball is that a miss is as good as a mile. To
remedy this the scattering principle of the shot-gun
was introduced. And the success of this depends
upon a principle directly opposite to the fundamental
principle of the rifle; to wit, that a miss is as good as a
hit. That is, the true center of the charge never need
exactly cover the game. And as a matter of fact it
probably does not once in a hundred times, even when
the gun is the hands of the very best shots. .

The consequence of this is that the same aim that
with a shot-gun would suffice to kill a thousand suc-
cessive pigeons at twenty yards would not suffice to
even touch one out of a thousand at twenty yards
with a rifle-ball.

This fact is soon learned by a little target-practice
with the rifle. The beginner finds that mere ap-
proximation, however near, will not do. Absolute
accuracy only will suffice. But the beginner when he
becomes a skilled target-shot finds when he first tries
his rifle on game that the difference between shooting at
game and at a target is as antipodal as the poles of the
universe. The confidence with which he sets out to
hunt is soon engulfed in amazement at the almost
unappeasable appetite that lead exhibits for empty
space. And this is the case upon any game. I have

272 THE STILL-HUNTER.

seen a friend who could cut the spots of a playing-
card at twenty yards almost without fail for a long
series of shots miss almost every shot at the heads of
squirrels in trees not twenty yards high. And this was
not because of excitement, but from causes I shall
hereafter mention, such as overshooting, varying
play of light on sights, dimness of marks, etc.

The insatiable appetite of lead for circumambient
space becomes still more marvelous when it is fired
at large game. Fire twenty shots at a target as care-
lessly as you please with a shot-gun, and you will
find about every load scattered quite evenly around
the bull's-eye. You may of course notice that the
bull's-eye is not exactly in the center; but it is so nearly
so that if the charge of shot had been a solid mass it
would have hit every time within two or three inches
of the center. This is, however, more apparent than
real. Now what could be more reasonable than to
suppose that the same aim with a rifle at a deer at
fifty or sixty yards would surely hit him somewhere?
The rifle is far more accurately sighted than a shot-
gun; it shoots far more accurately; you look at the
sights and see them plainly on the body of the ani-
mal; there is a margin of ten or twelve inches for
possible error; a clear miss seems impossible. Yet a
person shooting a rifle as he would a shot-gun can
miss twenty successive deer standing broadside at
only forty yards with about the same ease and cer-
tainty that he could hit them with a shot-gun. For a
whole year the very best target-shots will at seventy-
five yards probably miss more deer than they hit;
and at a hundred and fifty yards the very best game-
shots will always do the same: and all this without any
"buck-ague" or nervousness entering into the ques-

THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 273

tion. This of course would not be so if the game
were always in the same position, light, etc., and
always standing full broadside. But as deer are gene-
rally seen it would be so.

You have already seen how a deer can be " too
close." And now you can understand why overcon-
fidence producing a little lack of care in aiming can
make you miss a deer within a stone's throw. And
beware that you do not forget this, for even old and
good shots are often deceived by a deer being " too
close." Think it over and sing it over every time
you start for the woods. And I recommend as a very
suitable line for this purpose,

" Thou art so near and yet so far."

In almost every miss you make for the first season
or so, and in nearly all cases where the game is missed
because of being " too close," your bullet goes above
the game. This tendency to overshoot is the most
universal and ineradicable error that exists in the
whole range of hunting with the rifle. As I shall re-
cur to it again, I will now merely sum up the cases in
which it is likely to be done, discussing only a few of
them in detail. And most of them will suggest their
own remedy.

i st. All cases of the least carelessness in aiming,
whether from haste, overconfidence, or nervousness.
This results from catching with the eye too much of
the front sight.

2d. Having the rifle sighted to a point beyond what
is commonly called its natural point blank, thus
carrying the ball above intermediate points.

3d. Over-estimating distance of game and pur-
posely shooting higher than is really necessary.

274 THE STILL-HUNTER.

4th. Having a dull front sight not easily seen.

5th. Shooting toward the sun.

6th. The sun lighting up the base of the front sight
instead of the tip, so that you take too coarse a sight
by mistaking the base for the tip.

yth. Shooting in insufficient light, especially at
night.

8th. Shooting at a dim mark.

9th. Too much reflection of light from the back
sight, thus blurring your view of- the front sight.

loth. The varying play of light and shade upon
open sights, making it almost impossible under con-
stantly changing amounts and direction of light to
always catch precisely the same amount of the front
sight.

nth. Ocular aberration upon the front sight, or
the impossibility of measuring with the eye always
the same exact amount of the front sight, even where
the light, etc., is always the same.

1 2th. Shooting down hill. This may be partly
from having the light strike more directly upon the
back of the front sight so that the base is mistaken for
the tip. But it is more because the apparent center-
line of the animal's body is thus raised above the real
center-line by the line of sight striking obliquely. In
this way a shot four inches too high, that if fired on a
level may still hit a deer, when fired from an angle of
forty degrees or more above him may just clear his
back. This error is very hard to avoid.

i3th. Up-hill shots when very long and you attempt
to allow for distance. When short there is little or
no trouble.

Besides overshooting there are errors enough that
you can make. As soon as you begin to correct

THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 275

that error you will be troubled some with under-
shooting.

This will be caused by —

ist. Fear of overshooting causing you to take too
fine a sight at distances where you have learned that
it is unsafe to attempt to allow for the drop of your
bullet, because of the liability to overestimate dis-
tance. This you can never entirely overcome. There
is a certain point at which the ball if fired on a level
will certainly drop below the game. And yet the
only safe rule for shooting at that point in cases of
doubt whether to shoot higher or not is to resolve
the doubt always and instantly in favor of the level
sights. This will insure the most hits, but will neces-
sarily cause some misses.

2d. Not understanding how far your rifle shoots on
a line practically level, and holding a fine level sight
on game that is plainly too far beyond the point blank.

3d. Very long shots down a steep hill. This is
partly from underestimating the distance of the ob-
ject aimed at from the foot of a line dropped per-
pendicularly from the rifle to center of earth, a thing
we are very apt to do on a long steep hill. It may
also be that the coincidence of gravitation with the
downward motion of the ball increases the ratio of
its fall.

4th. Underestimating distance over water, over clear
snow, and across a deep valley with a broad bottom.
These three with the long down-hill shot — which is
analogous to the shot across the deep broad-bottomed
valley — are about the only cases in which you will
underestimate distance. And you will be troubled
little with them until after the beginning of a re-
action from overestimating.

276 THE STILL-HUNTER.

You will also be apt at first to shoot at the middle
of your game. Should you hit it there you will then
have a long and perhaps futile hunt for it unless shot
with a very large or expansive ball. You should aim
either directly at the shoulder or just behind it; and
in either case low down. About one third of the dis-
tance up the body is the right point. In the shoulder
is the better place to shoot your game with a small
ball, provided it has enough penetration. Just behind
the shoulder is the better place for a ball that lacks
penetration. Behind the shoulder a ball damages
less meat by settling of blood. On the other hand,
a trifling error in placing a small ball too far back or
too high may allow your game to run a mile or more
and even escape you entirely. The same might be
the case with a shoulder-shot, but the same amount of
variation would not be so apt to let the game escape
as in case of a shot back of the shoulder.

Beware how you shoot unnecessarily through thick
brush and twigs at any considerable distance. A
pointed ball is especially bad for such shooting, as a
small twig may set it wabbling and thus deflect it,
whereas a round or flat-headed ball would cut it off
without turning. This often spoils long shots in the
woods.

But after all, the most important point is never to
be in a hurry. Fire as you would at a target; that is,
as coolly and deliberately. Never hasten a second
because the game shows signs of starting or because
you think it is going to move, or because there is more
than one deer or antelope waiting for your bullet.
Place no dependence upon speed of fire. No matter
how many shots you can fire or how fast you can fire
them, shoot every ball just as if it were your last one.

THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 277

After you acquire some experience in shooting at game
you will learn to shoot quicker and in a way that to a
bystander would appear as if you took a careless aim.
But the carelessness is apparent only and not real. It
is quick carefulness. But it will not do for any one
to begin with.

Many persons who are good off-hand shots scout
the idea of resting the rifle on anything when shoot-
ing. This is partly right and partly wrong. On a
long shot there is no one whose shooting cannot be
improved by a dead rest; especially if there be any
considerable cross-wind blowing. Fora short distance
a rest is entirely unnecessary for one of any experience
in shooting game, unless his nerves be unsettled by
climbing, running, etc. But the beginner had better
take a rest even for close shots whenever he can get
it without making any movement that may alarm the
game.

There are different ways of holding the rifle in target-
shooting. But I think there is but one true way of
holding it in shooting at game.

ist. The butt should be against the shoulder and
not against the muscle of the arm. And where there
is much recoil it should be firmly pressed to the
shoulder.

2d. The head should be held well back and not with
the nose against the right thumb. If there is much
recoil to your rifle you will be apt to flinch under fire
if your nose comes in the way of your thumb. Many
rifles are, however, so artistically made in the stock
that the eye can be brought down to the level of the
sights only by crowding the nose against the thumb.
Another advantage of holding the head back is that
the farther the eye is removed from the back sight on

278 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the barrel the less you will be troubled with any re-
flection of light from its edges and the clearer will be
its outlines.

3d. The left arm should be well extended along the
barrel so that the elbow makes a very obtuse angle.
The advantage of this is that the rifle may be thus
turned more quickly upon the mark; quite an impor-
tant matter when the mark is moving. But when game
is standing or you are shooting at a target the ad-
vantages of this position are not apparent. But as it
is quicker and better for some kinds of shooting, and
just as good as any for all kinds, the habit of so hold-
ing the arm had better be cultivated.

There are two ways of shooting.

i st. Shooting with a steady arm. Here the rifle lies
in the hands almost like a log in mud. It is held fairly
on the mark and kept there until fired.

2d. Shooting with an unsteady arm. Here the rifle
cannot be held still. The front sight will wander
around, over, under, and across the mark. All the
shooter can do is to fire when the front sight touches
the mark in crossing it; generally when coming up from
below.

The first way, or shooting with a steady hand, is the
only way in which first-class shooting can be done;
for no other mode can be relied upon for a long con-
tinuance or series of good shots. This is the method
of all the best, or rather most reliable, shots at game.
But it must not be supposed that this implies any
slowness. The rifle need not lie at rest for over half
a second, and generally does not do so. A good shot
using this method will appear to shoot even quicker
than one using the second method. Yet there is a
short time when the rifle does lie, practically at least,

THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 279

at perfect rest. And during that time, short though
it be, the trigger is pulled.

The second way is about the only method available
to nervous persons. Since being broken down by ill-
_ health several years ago I am unable to shoot in any
other way. It is utterly impossible for me to hold the
sight at rest on the mark as I once could. By this
method many shots can be made as well as by the
first way. But one is liable at any time to send a
ball flying wild when firing at the easiest kind of a
mark. And on days when an unusual degree of nerv-
ousness is present this liability becomes provokingly
frequent, and is often attended by the still more pro-
voking trick, also the result of nervousness, of balking
or flinching at the trigger, giving it a nervous twitch
either without firing at all or else firing it a yard or
two off the mark. But whenever the hand of the
hunter is made unsteady from any cause this is the
only way to shoot, as it is generally useless to wait for
the hand to reach its complete natural steadiness.

A hard trigger may be drawn in three ways.

ist. By a slow steady pull. This is the best way
when shooting a very hard trigger with a rest. But
when shooting off-hand a better way is —

2d. Resting the finger upon the trigger with about
two thirds or three quarters of the pressure needed
for release and then suddenly applying, when the ex-
act instant arrives, the rest of the necessary pressure.

3d. Pulling trigger with a jerk, the finger being kept
off of the trigger until the instant of pulling. This is
the same as is done with the shot-gun at flying game,
and is worthless fo:: the rifle except for snap-shots.

There are two ways of pulling a set trigger.

ist. Keeping the finger free of it until the exact in-

280 THE STILL-HUNTER.

stant arrives and then just touching it. This is the
only way a very light set can be fired. But a better
way is to have the set so that it can be just touched
without releasing it and then —

2d. Allow the finger to merely touch it until the ex-
act instant comes and then increase the weight of the
touch.

Both the set and the hard trigger have their advan-
tages and disadvantages for a hunting-rifle. Finer
off-hand shooting can undoubtedly be done with a set
trigger. But it is too easy for good running shoot-
ing, especially when there is little time to spare. And
it is too unsafe with a trigger set to carry the rifle
cocked even when expecting game to jump.

The real truth is that hard triggers are generally
made absurdly hard. For such a promiscuous con-
glomeration of numbskulls as generally constitutes
an army a six-pound pull is well enough. With an
easy pull soldiers would decimate their own ranks more
than those of the enemy. But for hunting, a pull of
two pounds or even a pound and a half at the outside is
safe enough. And in hunting, whatever is unnecessary
is a nuisance.

For target-shooting, where the trigger is not set
until the rifle is raised, a trigger that will not bear
touching is well enough. Even there I think it unneces-
sary; but it can do no harm. But for hunting it should
bear a touch of at least three ounces in weight.

The best of all is a combination of both; the hard trig-
ger being not over one and a half or two pounds' pull,
and the set bearing a touch of three ounces before going
off. Then use the hard trigger for all close shots, quick
shots, and running shots, and the set for all fine shots
and long shots.

THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 281

There are different ways of bringing the sight on
the mark. But for hunting there is but one true way
— to raise the rifle from underneath. The experienced
shot will often apparently fire as it comes to a level.
And often he will actually do so. But this is because
long practice has made him automatic in regard to
care and precision. The beginner must never be be-
guiled into doing this because it looks smart and
dashing. The heroes you read of in novels, etc., did
not. begin in that way. Nor do they ever shoot so
when a very fine shot is to be made.

On all close shots it is better not to raise the sights
upon the spot you wish to hit. It is better to see the
whole above the front sight. Or aim so that you will
hit the lower edge of the bull's-eye on a target. This
plan is best because of the danger of overshooting,
already so great, being increased if the front sight
should cover the bull's-eye. On a long shot you may
cover the bull's-eye with the front sight. But on long
shots as well as short ones the beginner had better
hold the sight both fine and low, not trusting himself
to decide what is a long shot until he has seen a good
many balls fall short of his game.

THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME.

So vast is the difference between hitting even with
the shot-gun an object at rest and an object in'motion
that it was many a year after the introduction of
the shot-scattering system before any one attempted
much to kill game when in motion. Many men are
still living who can plainly remember when wing-
shooting was almost an unknown art, practiced only
by a few city sportsmen, while the country sportsman
always waited for the rabbit or quail to stop. Even
now this art is confined to those who can afford to
waste plenty of ammunition and have the time and
opportunity to practice. Even now it is conceded
that even a moderate proficiency is no easy thing for
any one to acquire, and for a large number of people
is a hard thing to acquire.

If such be the case with a gun that covers with its
missiles a space of thirty inches, how much greater
must be the difficulty of doing the same thing with
a gun whose missile covers only half an inch or even
less! We have already seen the immense difference
between the shot-gun and rifle on game at rest. And
at least the same degree of difference must exist be-
tween shooting with them game in motion. Such has
always been believed to be the case, almost all rifle-
men conceding the difficulties of using the rifle upon
anything in motion; only a very few of them being

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 283

able to hit even so large an object as a deer or ante-
lope when running; and all who talked of shooting
on the wing with the rifle being classed as braggarts
who knew nothing at all of shooting.

The world turned out to be wrong in its opinion of
what could not be done with the shot-gun. Is it
wrong in the opinion it has so long held about the
capabilities of the rifle? Some advanced people think
that it is.

In the winter of 1877-78 there appeared a gentle-
man whose sudden bound from obscurity to world-
wide fame, from comparative poverty to comparative
wealth, merits attention. Probably no man ever be-
fore won such applause, such notoriety, and so much
money in so short a time from any exhibition of skill.
It is safe to say that with either rifle or shot-gun no
man ever again will do it.

This gentleman sprang upon the stage with a chal-
lenge that was at first received with a universal laugh
of sneering contempt. Those who knew him knew,
however, what he could do, and he lacked no backers
in San Francisco. He at once began giving exhibitions
in California, and demolished glass balls and even ten-
cent pieces and bits of lead-pencil tossed in the air, and
did it with an approach to certainty that silenced the
laugher and turned the scoffer into an admirer.

He made his way East and from thence to England,
France, and Germany, amid a storm of applause and
" gate-money," winning the hearts even of princes and
dignified old emperors by the rapidity and accuracy
of his shooting.

It is not impossible that his success was partly due
to the romantic story of his life as an Indian captive
from childhood. This there seems no reason to doubt;

284 THE STILL-HUNTER.

and, aided by a fine physique and the tremendous
power of long hair, flop-hat, buckskins, and badges,
it possibly went far toward storming the susceptibili-
ties of our foreign friends as well as the softer sex
and softer members of the harder sex at home. But
he certainly did such shooting as would before have
been by many deemed impossible.

From his first appearance upon the stage Dr. Car-
ver has had an enormous amount of practice with the
rifle. And this he still keeps up. Like all other
" professional " shots he plays with ammunition by
the barrelful where an amateur or ordinary hunter
uses less than a handful. He has all the advantages
of powerful strength and perfect health, is in the
prime of life with perfect sight, and was undoubtedly
one of the best of field-shots before he appeared in
public; nearly all his life having been passed in the
field. The rifle has now reached about as high a
state of perfection as can be expected from it, so far
as its accuracy at short range and convenience of aim-
ing are concerned. We are therefore justified in as-
suming that Dr. Carver can now do with the rifle at
short range about all that can ever be done with it;
certainly all that can ever be done with it by any ordi-
nary amount of practice.

In 1878, about the time the loudest thunders of ap-
plause were rolling heavenward; when the words
"marvelous," "miraculous," " wonderful," "astonish-
ing," "witchcraft," " sorcery," "jugglery," "sleight of
hand," etc. etc., echoed from half a million tongues;
when Eastern editors were vying with each other in
the effort to determine whether Carver's shooting
were " instinctive," " intuitive," " innate," or " natural;"
when Eastern reporters were filling columns with his

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 285

romantic history, and telling how he could kill more
birds on the wing with a bullet than most sportsmen
could with shot, and then winding up with the affecting
tale of how he "accidentally discovered" his wondrous
God-given power in trying to bag a bluejay's tail for
the pretty daughter of an Indian chief, — an obscure in-
dividual in the mountains of San Diego County, Cali-
fornia, who had never seen a glass ball, had the
audacity to think that the crowd was a little too en-
thusiastic.

In the columns of the Chicago Field he then took
the ground that Carver's shooting was neither marvel-
ous nor extraordinary, but simply new, and hazarded
the prediction that if there were any profit in it there
would in a very few months be plenty of successful
imitators. Carver honored the rural impertinence
with his most crushing challenge, to which the rustic
succumbed at once. His prediction was, however,
quickly verified. Imitators by the score arose, most
of whom have excelled the best records made by
Carver during his first six months of glory. And
before long we began to hear of wonderful boys and
even wonderful girls that hit glass balls and pennies
in the air with a rifle. These prodigies are on the in-
crease. The other day 1 read of two new cases in one
paper, neither over ten years of age.

During all this time it seems not to have occurred to
the editorial or " scissoring" world that these wonder-
ful boys' and girls may prove two things instead of
only one thing. According to them the hitting of
glass balls in air by a child of ten years old proves
only that the child is a wonderful performer. Is it
not just possible that it may also prove that the per-
formance is child's play?

286 THE STILL-HUNTER.

The almost universal opinion of Carver's shooting
was that it settled the long insoluble problem of
shooting on the wing with the rifle. The majority
thought that the ability to do this was restricted to
Carver himself. Others thought that it could be ac-
quired by imitating his methods, especially that of
keeping both eyes open while aiming.

A few now think that the whole thing was a delu-
sion; that the performance is a very easy one, and
instead of being marvelous was simply novel; that, the
novelty being now worn off, the shooting amounts to
nothing for any practical purpose. But the opinion
of the great majority is the other way. Thousands,
even, of men who use the rifle still believe and long
will believe that Carver solved the question and discov-
ered or invented the art of wing-shooting with the rifle.
Already we have the "champion wing-shot with the
rifle" by dozens. Already "wing-shooting with the
rifle" is talked of as a thing of course. And it may
be safely said that the world in general now believes
and long will believe that the ability to break glass
balls in air and blow nickels skyward with the rifle as
Carver did carries with it of course the ability to
shoot game on the wing with the rifle. And if such
small things may be hit, the tripping of the heels of
such a large object as a deer or antelope follows as a
mere matter of course.

It will therefore be worth while to analyze this
shooting and see just what can and what cannot be
done by it. We shall then be in a position to under-
stand the question of shooting running deer.

At the outset one very significant fact stares us in
the face, a fact that no one yet seems to have taken
the slightest notice of. That fact is this: Dr. Carver

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 287

and all the imitators who have followed him have in
all their public exhibitions been careful to shoot at no
pigeons or other birds on the wing, to shoot at no balls
tossed across the line of fire or at any angle to it, and to
shoot at nothing in motion when at any distance
where it would require the most ordinary amount of
skill to hit the same object if at rest.

In order to understand clearly let us consider skill
as of three degrees:

ist. That skill necessary to hit a three-inch ball at
rest at ten paces, offhand with open sights.

2d. That skill necessary to hit at forty paces.

3d. That skill necessary to hit at seventy paces.

The first is the very lowest skill necessary for rifle-
shooting. This may be cultivated in a single day by
any person male or female of over ten years old, and
many a boy of eight or nine can hit balls at rest all
day at that distance upon the first trial. With a little
practice the ball may be hit at ten paces by almost
any one without any sights upon the rifle, and with a
little more practice without even raising the rifle to
the shoulder. But every one who has ever shot at game
with the rifle will readily admit that this degree of
skill is absolutely worthless in the field. This degree
of skill is attainable by mere sense of direction aided
by practice. A baseball pitcher with his ball, a team-
ster with his whip, a boy with the " nigger-shooter"
or blow-gun can soon learn to hit such a mark nearly
every time.

The second degreee of skill, or hitting a three-inch
mark at forty paces, used to be very ordinary in the
days of muzzle-loaders. Since the breech-loader has
so generally come into fashion it has, for reasons
we shall point out hereafter, become a very respect-

288 THE STILL-HUNTER.

able degree of skill. This degree is absolutely neces-
sary for anything like successful shooting on any
kind of game however large or close. But it is far
from being sufficient, and he who can do no better
will miss in the long-run fully one half of the game he
shoots at unless he confines himself to very close
shots.

The third degree, or hitting a three-inch mark at
seventy yards, is about the highest skill attainable
with the average breech-loader with hunting-sights
and offhand. There has long been an idea that much
better shooting was possible. Of course better shots
may be made. But he who takes the same pains to
count his misses that he does to count his hits, and
takes the average of a long series of shots, will speed-
ily conclude that to hit a three-inch mark four times
out of five at seventy yards is about as well as there
is any hope of doing without very fine sights.

The first of these degrees of skill is that used in all
the shooting at glass balls that Carver and his imita-
tors do. A ball is occasionally shot at at twenty
yards, but the experiment is rarely repeated and is
not half the time successful at the first shot. All the
shooting is done inside of ten paces, generally at eight
paces, and where mere sense of direction will almost
suffice to hit it every time.

The ball is therefore at a distance where almost no
skill at all would be required to hit it if it were at rest.
Now is it not practically at rest?

The ball may be taken just as it hangs in air, just
after it turns to descend, or even some time after begin-
ning to fall. Any one who has ever practiced any with
a shot-gun at such marks knows that it makes little
difference which way it is done so long as you con-

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 289

tinue to catch it always at that point. Just after it
turns is, however, the best, the sight being taken at
the lower edge. The ball, too, is always tossed to
about the same height, is always at the same distance
and in the same direction, and is always descending
at the same rate of speed. No one who has ever han-
dled a gun needs to be told how quickly the gun be-
gins to return to the same place when often tossed up
to it. And in the same way the rifle-sights soon be-
gin to align themselves almost automatically with
anything always in the same position. How easy
this becomes with a little practice is shown by the
fact that with a month's practice men who Jiad never
before handled a rifle almost equaled Carver's best
scores on balls. How easy it is to do naturally is well
shown by the feat of Mr. Maurice Thompson, the
well-known archer. At the very first trial he broke
with bow and arrow thirty-five out of fifty balls tossed
in air at ten paces, shooting, too, as fast as the arrows
could be placed on the string. This was indeed a
feat, since it takes considerable skill to hit with an ar-
row a ball at ten paces even at rest. This would be
fully equal to the same with the rifle at twenty-five
yards; a little feat that neither Carver nor his followers
have ever cared to attempt in public.

The whole secret of the matter is this: that a body
descending inside of ten paces, descending straight
and always at the same speed, becomes with a little
practice practically in a state of rest at any point along
the line at which one accustoms one's self to shoot at it.
It is practically a body always in the same position
and at the same distance, and the most careless aim if
only low enough will hit it. A grazing ball that would
not count on a bull's-eye will also break a glass ball.

290 THE STILL-HUNTER.

The case is not very much altered where pennies are
substituted. It is far easier to hit a one-inch mark at
ten yards than to hit a three-inch mark at thirty yards.
This is owing to the greater clearness of the mark and
other causes we shall see hereafter, such as trajectory
motion of object, etc. Still, pennies are harder to hit
than balls, and with remarkable unanimity the " cham-
pion rifle wing-shots" always prefer balls to pennies,
though more than twice as expensive and far more
troublesome to handle. They also take care to have the
pitcher a little closer, shoot at a very few of the pennies,
and never attempt a long score. And the full score
of those they do shoot at is generally suppressed.

The man who first tossed up two pennies and hit
both with a double shot-gun before they touched
ground was considered at first a very wonderful shot.
Such a one will even now raise a stare of wonder
among folks who know nothing of shooting. But
every one who has ever tried it a few times will admit
that it is quite an easy matter, requiring only a little
practice, and that it by no means implies the ability to
send two woodcock whirling right and left to earth.
The ball and penny shooting with the rifle stands
upon the same footing. The performance was some-
thing new. To those who knew nothing of rifle-
shooting it was naturally surprising. The only real
wonder is that any one knowing anything about
shooting should have been deceived by it or thought
there was any sleight-of-hand about it. And it no
more implies the ability to kill game in motion than
hitting pennies with the shot-gun does. To waste no
further time on this point, let us see what Carver has
done in the field with the rifle.

He is credited with having killed at Logansport,

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 291

Ind., four woodpeckers out of six at about fifty yards;
all crossing shots. This would be indeed marvelous
shooting. But as Carver never alluded to it himself,
and never has ventured to shoot at birds in his exhibi-
tions, we may well consider it, what it really was, pure
good fortune. Success of that sort runs in streaks. I
have made runs of shots with the rifle on running rab-
bits that I know I could not repeat in fifty trials.
When Dr. Carver was getting a thousand dollars a
week for pulverizing balls at the Minnesota State
Fair he was invited out to shoot grouse. It was
early in September, when grouse lie well to the dog,
are full grown, and generally rise at less than six
paces. There flies no bird that presents a fairer or
much larger target. The Doctor had shot thou-
sands before; he was not out for meat, but only for
sport. He knew that killing grouse at that season
with a gun is child's play. He shot sixty-five in all;
and he took precious good care to do it with the shot-
gun. Why did he not take a rifle? Perhaps he can
tell us better himself. Here is an extract from a letter
of his describing a chamois-hunt in Austria on the pre-
serves of Count Wilzek. It is from the Chicago Field
of Nov. 20, 1880. Here is a record of three days'
shooting, in his own language too, by the man who
was being wined and dined by princes and potentates
for his "marvelous," "natural," "instinctive," "in-
tuitive" shooting. Yet the reader must not suppose
this is bad shooting. It is first-class work under the
circumstances. I cite it only to show the enormous
difference between ball-shooting and game-shooting.
Probably no living shot could excel it. But just
count the misses and the shots let go for want of time
to shoot. Remember, too, that Carver is the quickest

292 THE STILL-HUNTER.

of living shots with the rifle, and that if anything can
be done by snap-shooting with it he can do it.

" Monday morning found me up bright and early,
dressed as a mighty hunter, armed with a Winchester
rifle, model 1876, and a six-foot pole with a spike in it.
All eyes turned toward me, the Yankee hunter; as I
stepped forth, dressed in an English hunting-costume,
my long hair carefully combed, many an expression
either of contempt or admiration went up from the
crowd of beaters, but all in German, so I could not
understand. I learned afterward that I was looked
upon as a good subject for many purposes, but ' nix
good' for chamois. We started at the foot of an im-
mense mountain and climbed toward the summit for
three hours. At last we reached an impassable bar-
rier; the Count motioned me to sit down by a little
tree. I took my seat, and for the first time looked
down the mountain. I came very near falling; turn-
ing my eyes toward the summit — I dare not look
again; everything was still as death, and thus it re-
mained for perhaps twenty minutes, when bang ! went
a rifle on our right. The next instant there was a
rush of stones down the sides of the mountain. The
Count sang out, ' Here he comes,' and sure enough
he came rushing down the side of the mountain like
lightning. He made a great bound and stopped on
the side of the mountain, but only for an instant; he
cast one wild look in our direction, and jumped out of
sight. He ran on our right and soon disappeared,
and the next we saw of him he crossed the mountain
far out of reach below us. How sorry I was not to get
him; it was the first one I ever saw. We sat still for
a few minutes, when directly under us, not more than
ten yards, stood another chamois. I raised my gun.

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 293

The Count says, 'Nix, das 1st eine frau;' and so it
proved, for in another instant out stepped a little kid.
They stood still for nearly a minute, then ran along
the side of the mountain without observing us. In
chamois-shooting none but the bucks are shot; there
is but slight difference in the horns, but a hunter can
tell a buck at a long distance. At first I could not see
the slightest difference. The sound of the beaters
now reached our ears, the rattle of stones above us.
I looked just in time to see three young chamois
bound away. Soon comes another with a kid, dread-
fully frightened at the beaters. She ran within ten
feet of us and stopped. She was looking behind her
and did not discover us until I laughed. She was so
frightened she turned around and knocked her little
one over, and away she went down the mountain.
We sat still for a long time until beaters reached us,
without seeing any more; then we prepared to go
down.

" Bread and horfey, how is that for breakfast, to
climb mountains on ? But once more I shouldered
that old Winchester, and followed, all smiles, far in
the rear. A distance of five miles, then we commenced
to climb another mountain. At last I reached my
position, the lowest one of all, thanks to the kindness of
the Count. I watched the other shooters until out of
sight, then sitting down with a beater left to look
after me, the Count taking a chance himself.- He
excused himself from me by saying he never had
any luck; and so it proved, the females all paying him
their respects, much to his disgust. I had not sat
long in my position when I saw the horns of a stag
through the trees directly on my right. The beater
said, 'Shoot.' I was not in any hurry, I felt so sure

294 THE STILL-HUNTER.

of him; he stepped out exposing his shoulder to me.
I said to myself, 'I have got you, old man,' and
took a careful aim; bang! went the Winchester, away
went the stag up the side of the mountain. I shot
three hundred feet too high and ruined a top of a big
pine; it did not take me long to get the old Win-
chester leveled once more. I shut my eyes, pulled
and jerked until it went off; good shot, just back of
the shoulder, but a downright fluke. The stag gave
one bound and then came end over end down the
mountain for more than two hundred yards, a grand
sight for a hunter. All was still for more than half
an hour, when bang! went the guns all along the line
above me, and down the mountain came a fine buck
chamois. He stopped two hundred yards; bang! went
my gun, but still he came on; bang! bang! went the
Winchester, but still he came on until he was within
fifty yards. I still kept shooting; seven shots had
missed. He tried to run along on the side of the moun-
tains; this was the last chance, ami I stood up and
fired. Now or never; hit, by Jove ! He clung to the
side of the mountain for one minute, then rolled down
to the bottom. He, my first chamois, was killed.
Hurrah for Carver ! We did not have long to .wait
until down the mountain came another; bang! went
the old gun. Hit, but where ? Through the haunch,
by that great Yankee too. One stag and two chamois,
when down came another. I turned my battery loose
as soon as he hove in sight, and the chamois was so
frightened that he ran within ten feet of where I was
sitting. I still pumped away at him. He never
stopped, although we could see four holes in him, he
came so near. He followed a little path for a short
distance, and quietly laid down and ' passed in his

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 295

chips.' What fun I was having, to be sure! when
down came another. This fellow was undoubtedly
engaged on some newspaper, and was going to press;
he went. The shooting for the day was over — three
chamois and one stag; one chamois had five bullets
in him. The Count gave me the skin, and I will
always keep it in remembrance of my astounding luck.
To say I was proud is just what I mean. We went
home, my lameness all gone.

"The next morning, bright and early, away we went
again. This time we did not have so far to climb,
and were soon in position. The first objects I saw
after taking my seat were seven deer; but before I
could think they were gone. I had just time to get
my gun in readiness when three chamois crossed in
front of me, going undoubtedly on pressing business.
They went. My banging at them did not even attract
their attention. Dear reader, if you are ever asked
the question, 'Can chamois run?' say 'yes,' for my
sake; but with all their speed, they are sometimes fool-
ish, and will stop everyfew jumps, and give the hun-
ter a good opportunity to shoot. All was quiet for a
few minutes, when bang ! went Dr. Cup's gun. A
fine young buck stopped far up the mountain-side. I
took deliberate aim, the bullet crashing through his
shoulder. Almost at the same instant I heard a noise
on my right; I looked, and within fifty yards was the
finest stag I ever saw. Bang ! bang ! went the gun
in quick successive shots, and the noble stag com-
menced rolling, end over end, down the mountain, the
chamois coming down the other. This I will say is
the best shot I ever made. With four shots I killed
two chamois and one stag, two bullets in the stag's
neck within two inches of each other. The shooting

296 THE STILL-HUNTER.

over, Dr. Cup came down, and said I ought to thank
him for the stag, as he missed him twice.'*

I consider it safe to say that no improvement or
discovery has been made in the art of rifle-shooting
on moving game; that snap-shooting with it will
always be worthless beyond the very shortest dis-
tances; that no way of making a rifle can obviate the
natural difficulties of shooting with it; and that the
use of two eyes, though just as good as the use of only
one, will not help us a particle.

Practice at balls is, however, by no means to be
despised. Practice at anything is better than no
practice at all. But do not deceive yourself with the
idea that hitting balls implies hitting game.

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME 297

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME (CONTINUED).

THE great hindrances to successful shooting with
the rifle at running deer and antelope are precisely
the same that prevent successful wing-shooting with
it. Shooting at the two first is the more easy only
because of the greater size of the mark. But this
size, great though it be, does not even at quite short
distances permit the least carelessness in aiming. For,
as we have seen, such carelessness is bad enough even
when the game is at rest. The hindrances are:

ist. The limited amount of time causes one to
raise the rifle too hastily and run his eye too hastily
along the sights. By which means one is almost certain
to take too full a front sight and thereby overshoot,
unless the rifle be held very low.

2d. The fact that in three shots out of four the
game is moving at some angle to the line of fire,
thus requiring the aim to be taken ahead of the
mark. From this flows —

3d. The difficulty of determining how much to
allow for the motion of the game; and —

4th. To measure off that amount of space even if
you do know how much is needed; and —

5th. While doing all this and firing at the point of
blank space in which the game will be when the ball
reaches it, to preserve the proper elevation; a matter
difficult enough where there is no allowance to be

298 THE STILL-HUNTER.

made for motion. All the conditions, too, are constantly
varying.

The best way to obviate the first difficulty is to raise
the rifle slowly, or rather deliberately, running your eye
along it and catching a full clear view of the sights
as it comes up, concentrating your attention upon the
sights instead of upon the game. When shooting a
shot-gun the game is the principal object of vision.
One scarcely sees even the gun-barrel, and almost never
sees the sight upon it. The tendency to do the same
with the rifle is very strong, and in one who is a
good wing-shot with the shot-gun is at first almost
irresistible. But nothing is more certain to cause
a miss at any considerable distance. Suppose a man
with a shot-gun can average nine rabbits out of ten
shots, all running, and all pure snap-shots. Suppose
the same man can fire a Winchester at the rate of
two shots a second at a standing mark, shooting
close enough to place nine balls out of ten in an
eight-inch ring at twenty yards — pure snap-shooting
with the rifle. How many times would the same
man hit rabbits inside of twenty yards, the rabbits
all running and the rifle being fired in the same man-
ner as at the eight-inch ring, or fired in the same
manner as the shot-gun was fired to hit nine rabbits
out of ten ? The answer to this problem as given by
actual experiment is amazing even to one who knows
the vast difference between shot and a bullet at a sitting
mark. I believe I understate rather than overstate it
when I say he would not touch one rabbit in ten, on
an average of one hundred shots or more. When at
a hundred yards or over, or when at only fifty yards and
running fast, the same aim that with a shot-gun would
kill fifty successive quail on the wing will not suffice

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 299

to even scratch one running deer out of fifty except
by accident.

The sights must therefore be seen as plainly and
taken with the same degree of fineness as in a fine
shot at game standing. A certain amount of time
must be lost in doing this. It might better be lost
while raising the rifle than at any other time. For it
must be lost anyhow, and during that time the game
is getting farther away. Now if you jerk the rifle
hastily to the mark you will find the temptation to
fire when the sight first glimmers on the mark almost
irresistible; and if you do fire it will almost certainly
be with too coarse or vague a sight. But if you raise
the rifle deliberately, looking for the sights as it comes
up and holding your eye firmly upon them, this danger
will not be half so great. You will have no trouble in
keeping sight of the game all this time, whereas if
you make the game the first object of vision you will
find it very hard to catch a clear sight. And if you
toss up the rifle as you would a shot-gun, it will
actually take longer to find the sight afterward than
when raising it slowly and running your eye along it
as it comes up. Moreover, when raising it slowly you
are much more apt to raise it directly into the spot at
which it is to be fired, so as to require no adjustment
or shifting afterward; a thing which is the very
essence of all good shooting with either shot-gun or
rifle.

In the next place, if the game is running across the
line of fire even at a very acute angle the rifle should
be raised ahead of the point you wish to hit. In ac-
cordance with the principle above stated (if the ball is
to be fired ahead of the mark at all) it is much better
to raise the rifle at once to the point at which it is to

300 THE STILL-HUNTER.

be discharged than to raise it upon some other point
and then shift it. For if you raise it upon the game
the temptation to fire then will be too strong; and if
you raise it behind the game and attempt to shift it
forward you will be tempted to fire when the sight
first touches the animal's outline. In both cases you
will be liable to shoot too high because you will be
quite certain to be too hasty.

The necessity of firing ahead of moving game has
been so strongly disputed by some who are unquestion-
ably good field-shots, and the principle is so essential
in shooting moving game with the rifle, that it merits'
some attention. The question is one susceptible of
positive proof by the plainest principles of philosophy;
so I will omit all boasting of " experience," etc., and
call upon an impartial arbiter.

If two railroad trains were running parallel at a hun-
dred yards apart and at the rate of thirty miles an hour,
a ball fired from one at a mark upon the other would
Strike the mark the same as if both trains were at rest.
(We are supposing, of course, that the wind will make no
difference.) But if one were moving at only one mile an
hour, a ball fired from that would strike the other
train at a point distant from the mark aimed at just
twenty-nine thirtieths of the distance the train fired at
moved while the ball was passing a hundred yards.
In other words, the ball moves sidewise with the
lateral motion of the train from which it is fired at
only one thirtieth of the speed it had when the train
moved thirty miles an hour instead of one mile. The
ball in both cases takes the diagonal of a parallelogram
built upon the line of fire a hundred yards, and the
line of space the train from which it was fired moved
while the ball was moving from train to train. The

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 301

parallelogram in the second case is only one thirtieth
of the width of the one in the first case.

Suppose now the train containing the rifle were at
rest, but the rifle were a hundred yards long, or long
enough to follow the mark and keep its muzzle against
it while the ball was passing up the barrel. The ball
would in such case hit the mark although the breech
of the rifle were at rest. Because in such case the ball
is carried along sidewise by the constantly increasing
motion of the long extended barrel. And now sup-
pose the barrel to be only three feet long instead of
three hundred feet, but following the mark with the
line of sights. What will then become of the ball ? If
those be correct who insist that the lateral motion of
the gun in following game is sufficient, the ball will
follow the same sidewise course as if it were still acted
upon by the constantly increasing lateral swing of the
three-hundred-foot barrel. In other words, if one half
of the long barrel were slit off for two hundred and
ninety-seven feet on the side opposite the direction
the mark is moving, so that the ball can escape from
the side of the barrel at any point beyond three feet
from the breech, the ball will nevertheless decline to
escape and hug the other half of the barrel as closely
as it did when the barrel was whole. There is no
possible escape from this conclusion. The ball must
take the same course in the half-open barrel that it
does in the whole one, or it cannot get far enough to
one side to reach the mark. Whether the ball will
leave the opening or not is an experiment any one
can easily try by whirling a ball up a tin tube slit off
in the same way as the barrel.

For those who like more imposing philosophy I add

302 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the following principles, which are as firmly established
as the law of gravity:

ist. No body can describe a curve unless constantly
acted upon by two forces one of which must be a con-
stantly increasing force.

2d. Whenever a ball is released from the increasing
force which curves its course, its path will at once
change to a straight line.

3d. This line will be a tangent to the curve that con-
stituted the path of the ball before its release from
the force that curved its course.

4th. No tangent to a curve can reach the same
place that the curve itself would arrive at.

When a gun-barrel is held at the shoulder and moved
sidewise in following crossing game the muzzle
moves much faster than the breech. And the ball is
therefore subjected to a constantly increasing force
from one side. This increasing force combining with
the forward motion imparted by the powder must pro-
duce a curve, although it is apparently a straight line.
If any one doubts this let him take a string, double it
and loop it over a nail on a board, then holding the
two ends together and moving them sidewise like the
pendulum of a clock run a lead-pencil down between
the strings. He will find that, though the strings
be straight and the path of the pencil apparently a
straight line, it is actually a curve. Now how can
this curve continue after the sidewise action of
the barrel ceases ? And how can the ball reach the
game unless that curve does continue ? There is no
escape from it; the lateral-motion advocates have
solved the problem of shooting around the corner
without even bending the gun-barrel; we have only to
whirl the gun fast enough and around goes the ball;

7 HE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 303

a little faster and it will turn the next corner; faster
yet and it will almost return to " plague the inventor"
in the rear.

You can now calculate for yourself about how far a
deer running at a hundred yards will leave behind
him a ball fired at a certain speed. The swing of the
barrel does of course carry the ball sidewise, but it is
like the motion of the train going at one mile an hour.
It is only about one thirtieth or one twentieth of what
is necessary. All calculations by figures of the amount
of margin to be allowed are, however, of little use in
the field. A wheel rolled down a hill where you can
see the balls strike, and swallows skimming along
water, etc., make good targets from which to get some
idea of the distance necessary to hold ahead of moving
game. Those who deny the necessity of holding ahead
are pleased to stigmatize as theorists those who prefer
an appeal to philosophy instead of talking about their
own experience and sneering at the experience of all
others. To those " practical men" who feel hard
toward " theorists" the rolling-wheel target and the
swallows on waterare most respectfully recommended.

There is, however, another element that prevents
the ball's reaching the mark in time. From the in-
stant your brain decides to pull the trigger until the
ball escapes the rifle some time is lost. The passage
of nerve-force from the brain to the finger, over four
feet; the fall of the hammer; the explosion of cap;
the evolution of the gas from the powder, — all these
take time. It is indeed but a short time, but it is
time nevertheless. Take a muzzle-loading rifle with
globe-sights and set trigger, load with a round ball
and so small a charge that you can see every ball
strike. Then let some one with a long string pull a

304 THE STILL-HUNTER.

small mark across in front of you at different distances
and rates of speed. You will be surprised to find at
how short a distance you will shoot behind it if you
hold the sights directly on it.

The effect of these two causes combined is much
greater than one would suppose who has never shot at
running game on ground where missing balls can be
seen to strike. It is so great that there seems to be
no point, however close, at which holding ahead of
crossing game can be entirely neglected if the game is
moving fast. And there seems to be no motion, how-
ever slow, which will permit such neglect if the animal
be at any considerable distance. I do not mean that
holding ahead is always necessary to insure hitting the
animal, but it is almost always necessary if you wish
to hit the animal in the best place. Nor is it always
necessary to hold the sights clear of the animal's out-
line, but only ahead of the point you wish to strike. But
when the game is at any distance or speed even the
whole body will be missed, and this even when the
course of the animal is only quartering, unless the
aim be taken ahead. Hence holding ahead is always
safe; is generally expedient; is often indispensable to
success.

There is, however, another way by which the same
result may be attained. If the rifle be raised behind
the game, whirled rapidly past it, and fired as it is
passing, the muzzle of the rifle may move sidewise as
much as an inch or two from the time your brain
gives the order to pull the trigger — which to you ap-
pears to be the actual time of firing, though it is not
— until the escape of the ball. If one fifteenth of a
second — a space imperceptible to the senses — were
lost in this way and the motion of your gun-barrel

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 305

were at the rate of thirty inches a second, it would
move two inches sidewise without your knowing it
at all. Now an inch at the gun-muzzle may equal
three or four feet where the game is. Consequently
at the time the ball gets its final direction from the
muzzle the line of the sights may be several feet
ahead of the game without your suspecting it and
while you firmly believe you held on the body.

This is a very effective way of using the shot-gun,
especially on birds curling backward on either side of
you. This, with the fact that the scattering of shot
often renders holding ahead unnecessary at short dis-
tances, accounts for the reasoning of many who insist
that holding on moving game is sufficient " if the gun
be kept moving."

But this is a bad method for shooting running
deer, because —

ist. It is just as necessary to regulate the speed
with which the line of sight overtakes the animal and
to fire at the right time as it is to select the proper
distance to hold ahead; and it is quite as hard to
do so.

2d. In doing so you cannot retain so well as by the
other method that clear and perfect view of the sights
that is indispensable to avoid overshooting.

3d. And, worst of all, you cannot in this way allow
so well for the rise and fall of the deer and the inter-
vention of trees, etc., in the path of your bullet.

A running antelope is a gently gliding movement,
soft', swift, and spirituelle. But little allowance need
ever be made for its up-and-down motion, and often
none at all is needful. But a running deer is gener-
ally a bounding deer, often a bouncing deer. The
mule-deer when running generally throws himself

306 THE STILL-HUNTER.

aloft at least two feet, and often three feet or more,
at every blow of his springy legs upon the ground.
The Virginia or white-tailed deer runs indeed with
a graceful canter, but still rises fully the width of his
body at every spring. And here arises the great
source of misses on deer running straight away. If
the deer is at any distance over thirty or forty yards,
allowance must be made for this motion. But the
tendency is to hold the sights upon the body and fire
when it shows the most conspicuously; to wit, when
it is in the air. The consequence is that the ball
whizzes through the space the deer has just left in its
descent. Sometimes, however, one will fire when the
deer is on the ground, in which case the ball gets
there as the deer is rising, and either misses it en-
tirely or hits a leg.

The ball should be fired at the point of space the
deer will occupy when the ball reaches him. This
will always involve some guesswork, because it is im-
possible always to calculate the right distance to fire
ahead, and it is also impossible to hit with certainty
a blank point of space, even if you do know its exact
distance from the mark. Try shooting a yard to one
side of a bull's-eye at a hundred yards on clean snow,
and see what kind of a score you will make as com-
pared with what you could make at the mark, and
you will at once see another reason why wing-shoot-
ing with the rifle will always be quite a puzzle.

The best point at which to fire is the point at which
the deer will reach the ground in his descent. And
this can be calculated with much more precision than
would at first be supposed possible, although it cer-
tainly involves much guesswork. The way it can be
done most successfully I believe to be the following:

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 307

ist. Raise the rifle ahead of the game, remembering
it is a rifle and not a shot-gun.

2d. Raise it deliberately, getting the same fine clear
view of the sights that you would take at a deer stand-
ing at a hundred yards; or if you cannot do that, then
hold low.

3d. Keeping your eye on the sights, carry the rifle
along ahead of the deer until you catch the motion of
the body enough to see where it will be when the
hoofs touch ground.

4th. Fire at that point, but fire when the deer is in the
air.

The great point is not to be in haste. Be not at all
alarmed by the fact that the deer is getting farther off.
Your chances of hitting at a hundred yards with a
well calculated and directed shot are better than the
chances of hitting with three or four careless ones at
fifty yards. Place no dependence on speed of fire.
Even from a repeater, fire every shot as though it were
a single muzzle-loader. Speed of fire is a splendid
servant but a wretched master.

Of course there will be times when a pure snap-shot
is necessary. At very short distances snap-shots will
of course often hit. But never take one even at a
short distance unless another bound or two will take
the deer out of sight.

When in timber you may be edified by the whack of
your bullet into a tree-trunk. Watching for an open
place in timber is quite as essential as any other part
of the operation of shooting running deer. And this
can be done better if the rifle be raised ahead in the
first instance.

It seems to be supposed by some that shooting mov-
ing game is much easier if both eyes be kept open.

THE STILL-HUNTER.

If you will experiment with your finger raised in line
with some object you will find, by opening and shut-
ting each eye alternately, that only one eye is used
in thus aligning your finger. This will generally be
the right one. But you will find by further experi-
ment that you can soon train the left one to do the
same thing. And you will find the proof conclusive
that the brain can attend to the report or nerve of
one eye as well as the report of both. It can
concentrate its attention upon the picture produced
upon the retina of one eye alone and be quite blind
to the picture upon the retina of the other. This it
will readily do in case of the eye we are most accus-
tomed to use, but it can be trained to do the same
thing with the other. The consequence may be that
when the gun is raised the eye that is in line with the
sights may receive the most attention from the brain,
and the other one may be pretty much ignored. If
you will fire a rifle alternately from each shoulder a
few times, sighting always with both eyes open, you
will be apt to conclude that such is the case, and that
binocular or two-eyed shooting is a delusion. Such,
I think, is the case after a thorough trial of it. It is
just as good as one-eyed shooting, but no better, and
nothing can be accomplished by it with the rifle that
cannot be done with one eye. For shot-gun shooting
it has a few slight advantages, but for the rifle it has
none; and Icannot, on crossing shots, estimate so well
the distance to hold ahead of game as when using
one eye. Sufficient practice would probably make
two eyes just as good for this purpose as one eye.

There are some other rules given by many good
hunters for shooting a running deer, two of which are
maintained by so respectable a number of good shots

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 309

as to be worthy of notice. They are in fact the same
as I have given, but owing to bad observation and
carelessness of language are so mangled in sense and
distorted in expression as to be misleading.

The first is, "Hold the rifle ahead of the deer, and,
when you see him through the sights, pull."

This would of course do fora short distance, though
even there it would probably place the ball back of
the center of the body; but for any considerable dis-
tance it will not do. A swinging target with a blind
so arranged that you can only see the bull's-eye when
it passes an opening in the blind will soon dispel this
illusion. But the best refutation lies in the rule itself.
This is holding on the mark and not ahead of it. Why,
then, resort to such a bungling way when it is so much
easier to raise the sights directly upon the deer ? Who
would think of shooting at a bird in such a way?
The fact is that those who shoot in this way pull the
trigger before the animal comes into the line of the
sights. A little practice at the swinging target and
blind will show you that you must shoot before. But
you will at once see how it can easily appear other-
wise to a careless observer.

The other rule is, " Hold on the shoulder low down."
This will of course do if the deer is close and is de-
scending. This rule undoubtedly originated, as did
the last one, among hunters in the woods only.
No one who 'ever shot much in the open would so ex-
press it. But the fact here probably is that, as in
the other case, the trigger is pulled a trifle quicker
than the shooter thinks it is.

If a deer is trotting or running very low you may
disregard the up-and-down motion, though it is bet-
ter to allow for it when you can. A deer even on a

310 THE STILL-HUNTER.

trot often rises considerably. A deer at full speed gen-
erally hugs the ground like a hare. In such case the
up-and-down motion must be disregarded. After we
have examined the question of the flight of bullets,
long-range shooting, etc., you will understand the
monstrous nonsense of talking about shooting deer
on the run at two hundred and fifty and three hun-
dred yards as a matter of course. It is of very little
use to shoot beyond a hundred and fifty yards; and
there is no man who, taking all shots, can hit a deer
running at that distance more than once in three
shots, and it is doubtful if any one can do that. All
the talk to the contrary is based upon guessed instead
of measured distance.

LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 311

CHAPTER XXVIII.

LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME.

THERE is probably no subject connected with shoot-
ing about which so much nonsense has been written
and spoken as the distance at which game can be
killed with the rifle. This was bad enough in the
days of muzzle-loaders. It has become doubly bad
in these days of long-range and mid-range breech-
loaders. We now know that such shooting as Cooper
and a host of novelists have ascribed to their heroes,
such shooting as we have all in our early days read
about as being common among the backwoods hun-
ters, was impossible with any rifle, and especially with
the small-bored rifle and round ball then almost uni-
versally in use among hunters in the woods. But
now that rifles are found in every shop that will shoot
into a two-foot ring at five hundred yards (under
target-shooting conditions and care), it is quite natural
to suppose that game can be killed as a matter of course
at three or four times the distance at which it could
once be done.

More game is now killed at two hundred yards and
over than was formerly killed at that point. But this
is not because of any improvement or discovery in
distant shooting, but because game is scarcer and
wilder, and more chances must be taken, and because
the ease of loading the breech-loader and procuring
its ammunition makes people more liberal in expend-

312 THE STILL-HUNTER.

ing ammunition. I do not hesitate to assert that no
advance whatever has been made in the art of killing
game at long ranges, except in so far as the breech-
loader allows one to fire more shots before the game
gets too far away. I say this notwithstanding the
fact that the popular opinion is quite the other way.

The old muzzle-loader by the use of a lengthened
ball and more powder could with globe-sights be given
a great accuracy at quite long ranges. This was per-
fectly understood by most of the old-time hunters,
who often went to the annual " turkey-shoot" equipped
with a weapon that at two hundred and three hundred
yards can hardly be beaten to-day by any of the
boasted breech-loaders. Many of those who hunted
on open ground used the " slug" or long ball, and
some used it even in the woods. Many long shots
were made with it, and probably more game was killed
at long range out of the same number of shots than
is now killed with the best of modern rifles at the
same distance. They all did plenty of boasting of
their long shooting. But from long-range shooting
proper, such as we are now considering, they nearly
always abstained. This was not because they could
not do it, but because they soon learned that, what-
ever their skill at the target or turkey, at measured
distances, it was far easier to get closer to game than
to hit it at long unmeasured distances.

There are several reasons for the extravagant ideas
afloat about the distance at which game may now be
killed.

ist. The incurable mania for gilding the gold of
simple truth. This afflicts hunters as badly as it does
fishermen.

2d. The love of " scissorers" on a newspaper for

LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 313

copying everything that savors of a good fat " whop-
per," such as the stuff that has gone the rounds of the
United States this year about the Boers of South
Africa knocking over spring-bocks at eight hundred
and nine hundred yards as a matter of course.

3d. Sincere and natural mistake in overestimating
distance, a thing that scarcely any of us can learn to
avoid, and that causes the oldest hunter many a miss.
The beginner sees a deer at a long distance, looking
more like a small fawn than a full-grown deer. He
shoots, and perhaps the deer falls at the first shot.

" Ge — ra — shus ! What a shot ! Four hundred
yards !" exclaims the delighted novice. He hastens
to his game without stopping to measure the ground.
He pants and puffs in getting over it as I have seen
older hunters do in lifting a hundred-and-twenty-
pound buck on a horse, trying to make themselves
believe it weighs two hundred and fifty pounds
When he reaches home the ground, still plainly seen
by Fancy's eye, has expanded to four hundred and fifty
yards. When he comes to tell of his wonderful shot
he very naturally wants to do himself full justice, and
so he leaves himself a little margin of fifty yards more
for possible error. And to the day of his death he
will sincerely believe that he killed that deer at almost
five hundred yards. And to the day of his death this
idea will be a mental whirlpool that will suck in and
whirl out of sight all the driftwood of contradictory
facts that years of later experience can throw in his
way.

Now the novice was perfectly right in one point —
that he made a very long and very fine shot. The deer
was only two hundred yards away, but he was still
right in calling it a long shot; for notwithstanding

314 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the popular impression to the contrary, two hundred
yards is a long distance to hit a deer even in the most
favorable position.

The very swiftest ball or the most speed-sustaining
ball you can fire from a rifle falls fast enough in two
hundred and fifty yards to miss every deer or ante-
lope at which it is fired with the sights set for a dis-
tance twenty-five yards on either side the animal;
either undershooting or overshooting it. You will
find that at three hundred yards a mistake of twenty
yards in your estimate of distance will cause a miss,
at four hundred yards a mistake of fifteen yards,
etc. These figures are of course not exact, and will
vary with the rifle. But they are not over three or
four yards out of the way for the best long-range rifles.

If you doubt figures or anything that savors of
" theory," put up a target at two hundred yards with
your rifle sighted to that point. Fire a few shots, re-
ceding from the target twenty-five yards each time
and firing with the same sight. But do not try to hit
the bull's-eye, but only to discover the fall of the
bullet.

Having satisfied yourself what the rifle will do,
find out what you can do in estimating distance.
Try it first in timber, making an estimate of the
longest distances and then pacing them. Then try it
on quite open and level ground, estimating and pacing
up to four hundred yards only. There will be a start-
ling shrinkage of conceit somewhere.

But perhaps you think the faculty of judging dis-
tance can be cultivated. Of course it can be im-
proved. By doing nothing else it might even be
cultivated to a high enough state of perfection to make
five bull's-eyes out of six up to four hundred yards

LONG-RANGE SHOOTING A 7' GAME. 315

with the target shifted at every shot. But with such
time as one can generally devote to that business he
will be more apt to miss the bull's-eye five times out
of six.

But suppose you are quite an accurate judge of
distance under the above conditions. Recollect there
is no antelope there just ready to leave; no rifle in
your hand, with your finger itching for the trigger.
The difference that this alone makes is almost in-
conceivable. There is also another tremendous dif-
ficulty, the ever-shifting conditions of ground, light,
etc., which occur in hunting. Now up hill, now down
hill, here through timber, there over timber, through
brush or over brush, up cafions and across canons,
over ridges and over flats, often with scarce a second
to spare, judging distance in hunting is a vastly dif-
ferent matter from what it is on always the 'same
kind of ground with plenty of time and no game in
sight.

Moreover, whatever your skill may be, your gauge
unconsciously shifts with the ground. The standard
you use on the plains to-day will not do for the foot-
hills to-morrow; the one you use in the foot-hills is
too small when you get upon the mountain's breast;
this fails you again when you get among the higher
peaks; and when you return to the lowlands you are
again " all at sea" for a few days.

Speaking of the inside of St. Peter's at Rome, Byron
says:

" Its grandeur overwhelms thee not;
And why ? It is not lessened, but thy mind,
Expanded by the genius of the spot,
Has grown colossal."

316 THE STILL-HUNTER.

Who has not felt this when among the mountains,
and wondered at the ever-changing deceptiveness of
heights and distances?

Traveling once with a friend who was boasting of
his ability to roll deer right and left at five hundred
yards running or standing, and whom this poetry
failed to touch (as it will the reader, being the only
poetry in the book), I asked an old surveyor at whose
camp wre stopped how he could estimate distance.

"Well," said he, "when I stay several days on one
kind of ground I can make a tolerably fair guess on
short distances. But as soon as I get on a different
kind of ground I don't know anything."

Considerable practical skill may, however, be culti-
vated up to two hundred and fifty or even three hun-
dred yards on the plains, and there are hunters who
can judge distance well enough to hit an antelope at
two hundred yards three times out of five at the first
shot, all other conditions being of course complied
with. It is doubtful, however, if any one can do this
anywhere but on such open ground as antelope fre-
quent.

If you think I underestimate what is good shooting
at two hundred yards, look over the two-hundred-yard
scores made at matches by our best target-shots.
Recollect, too, that these scores are generally better
than can be made by any mere hunter, the difference
being that the hunter can generally shoot as well at
game as he can at a target, which the mere target-
shot cannot do. Remember, too that the bull's-eye is
clear white or black on a black or white ground, is
eight inches in diameter, is always in the same light,
position, etc., and that its distance is known to a foot

LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 317

and the sights set exactly to it. The target-shot has
every advantage, the hunter every disadvantage.
These scores are nearly all made, too, with globe-
sights. Take the best of these scores, and bear in
mind that it takes a five shot to hit an antelope with
certainty, and even that when near the edge may rep-
resent only a crippling shot; that a. four shot will hit
only about half the time, and then probably cripple
him; and that all the rest will be quite sure to miss
the animal entirely or only break a leg.

" Shall I shoot from where I am or try to get
closer?" is therefore a very important question. Ex-
cept upon quite level plains the chances of getting
within two hundred yards are always greater than the
chances of hitting beyond that. The chances of get-
ting within a hundred and fifty yards are generally
greater than the chances of hitting beyond that. The
chances of getting within a hundred yards are often
greater than the chances of hitting beyond it. I have
had a pretty high degree of skill in guessing distances,
adjusting sights, and hitting natural marks up to four
hundred yards or more. But I am perfectly satisfied
that if I had never seen a long-range or mid-range
rifle, if I had hunted always with a rifle that would
not shoot an inch beyond a hundred and twenty-five
yards, I should have killed much more game than I
have. For that very skill has beguiled me too often
into opening a cannonade when I could easily have
gotten closer. And this even with wild antelope on
quite open ground.

For the last three years my rule has been to shoot
at nothing beyond a hundred and fifty yards if there
is an even chance of getting closer to it, and not to

318 THE STILL-HUNTER.

shoot even that far if there is a fair prospect of shorten-
ing the distance. I fully believe I have gotten more
deer by it. I certainly know that there have been fewer
broken-legged cripples. For deer and antelope on
the plains fifty yards might be added to this distance,
for elk another fifty yards, and for buffalo another
fifty. Beyond this point you had better make it a
rule to get closer.

All this is of course on the assumption that the
game does not see you. If it sees you, longer shots
must often be taken. But I have seen deer so tame
that your chances of running or even walking sixty or
seventy-five yards closer were much greater than the
chance of hitting at two hundred yards. And this,
too, when they were looking directly at one. But
where the game is not alarmed it is a safer rule to
treat the best long-range gun as if it were a short-
range muzzle-loader, and turn every point to make a
sure shot.

I know that some will disagree with this. I know
all the stories about how So-and-so killed an antelope
at eight hundred yards, and how What's-his-name hit
a goose at half a mile, and how the other man hit a
deer in the heart running at five hundred yards, etc.
etc. etc., ad infinitiim. I know, too, how it all is done.
Nearly every one who has played much with a long-
range rifle has made remarkable shots at long dis-
tances. I have made my full share of them. So long
as these are classed where they belong, as accidental
shots, it is well enough to tell of them. But when any
one attempts to draw conclusions from them, then, in
the name of philosophy, I protest. Until one can
make them at least once in ten trials at unmeasured

LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 319

distances they are utterly worthless to reason from,
even though considerable skill entered into them.

One way in which game is often killed at long dis-
tances is by it standing for "sighting shots" until you
finally get its range. But it is quite as apt to jump at
every shot or two just enough to derange your calcu-
lations. And in either case the shooter is very apt to
forget all about the number of shots that did not hit.
Still, where it is evident that game cannot be more
closely approached, this is sometimes an effective way
of getting it; though the chances of hitting it at all
are always largely against you.

The delusion of long-range shooting is fostered by
the ease with which with a long-range rifle the dirt
can be made to fly just over or under a distant object.
We shall see in another place the worthlessness for
hunting of what is generally known as the " line-shot,"
by which is meant a shot on a line running up and down
through the mark, and that the only " line-shot" worth
anything for hunting is on the horizontal line, the
hardest of all to make. But it takes bull's-eyes in-
stead of line-shots to kill game. Moreover, what
appears to be only a few inches' deviation from the
distant mark is really a few feet. And to reduce those
feet to inches without measuring the distance will be
found a little problem the solution of which will gen-
erally puzzle you until the game gets weary of await-
ing the answer.

The main difficulty of accurate long-range shooting
cannot be obviated by telescopic or any other kind of
sights or arrangement of sights. f The estimate of
distance remains the same whatever sight be used.

Whenever it is necessary to shoot beyond the point

320 THE STILL-HUNTER.

blank of your rifle, discount your estimate of distance
about twenty per cent on two hundred yards, twenty-
five on three hundred, thirty on four hundred yards,
etc. And whenever in doubt between two estimates
of -distance, decide at once in favor of the shorter one.
By letting long shots go where there is a prospect of
getting closer you will of course lose some game.
But you will get more in the end.

THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING. 321

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING.

IN the days of heavy long barrels with light bullets
and moderate charges of powder, the days of muzzle-
loaders, the recoil, or " kick," of the rifle was so slight
as to have little or no effect upon the direction of the
ball. But in these days of short light barrels with
long heavy balls and often heavy charges of powder,
the effect of recoil upon the direction of the ball is so
decided that scarcely any point about shooting is
more important than this sometimes is.

The true theory of the recoil of a gun I believe to
be this: The backward pressure of the gas upon the
breech of the gun begins at the same instant with the
forward pressure upon the ball. In each case the
powder is acting against inertia or weight. But the
inertia or weight of the gun, being one hundred or
more times the inertia of the bullet, will resist the
pressure much longer before yielding to it than the
vastly lighter bullet can resist. So that the inertia of
the ball is overcome and changed into motion in a
trifling fraction of the time in which the inertia or
weight of the gun is overcome and changed into
motion. And this great difference in the time of
yielding, or in the conversion of force into motion,
makes an immense difference in the relative speed of
the two motions.

322 THE STILL-HUNTER.

Suppose a fifty-pound anvil hung in air by a cord
with a hole bored in one side that will admit a bolt of
lead of the same weight as the anvil itself. If the bolt
were fired from that hole with a fuse, the anvil and bolt
would both move in opposite directions at the same
rate of speed. This would be the case whatever
amount of powder were used, the increase in charge
only increasing the speed of both. If now the hole
and bolt were both gradually reduced in size, the
motion of the bolt would increase and the motion of
the anvil decrease in the same ratio, until with a small
enough buckshot and a few grains of powder fired
from a short hole there would be no motion in the
anvil perceptible to the eye without instruments.
And even this small amount of motion would not
begin until after the escape of the ball.

Recoil, therefore, depends —

i st. Upon the relative weights of gun and projec-
tile. This is the most important condition.

2d. Upon the time allowed for continuance of the
backward pressure. Length of barrel may, however,
by its additional weight cancel this effect.

3d. Upon the quantity of gas evolved and quick-
ness of evolution.

Many brains have been badly racked over the effect
of " air-pack" in the barrel, the " backward rush of air
into the barrel," etc. etc. Even if there be anything
in these ideas, they are of no use for us to consider,
for they cannot be obviated or allowed for; and we
therefore might as well confine ourselves to consider-
ing those conditions that we can control or make
allowance for.

It is probable that in every case where a respectable
load is fired the gun yields slightly while the bullet is

THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING. 323

passing along the barrel, and actually moves back-
ward before it escapes. But unless the charge of
powder be excessive, or the ball be very heavy in pro-
portion to its caliber, this backward motion will be so
directly in line with the axis of the bore of the rifle
that the ball will go as true to the line of the axis as
if the rifle had been solid as the eternal hills. On the
other hand, if the charge is excessive, or the ball very
heavy in proportion to the gun, and especially if both
these causes conjoin, two very different effects may
result.

ist. The barrel may be thrown up or down, or to
one side, before the ball leaves it, so that the ball
starts into the air on a different line from that in which
the axis of the bore was held when the trigger was
pulled; but still always so exactly in the same direc-
tion, and so exactly to the same extent, that the effect
is precisely the same as if the gun had not moved a
particle, it being only necessary to arrange the sights
so that the axis of the bore will point the proper dis-
tance away from the mark.

2d. The recoil may be so violent that the barrel is
thrown off irregularly, or not to exactly the same
place every time, so that the rifle will shoot wildly.

The first of these effects is seen in many of our very
best rifles, and does not seem to interfere in the least
with their accuracy. The second is seen in many light
rifles that are overloaded, and especially in many of
the light pocket-pistols made with large caliber, heavy
ball, and heavy-charged cartridge. With some of
these last-mentioned rifles you cannot hit a deer at a
hundred yards more than once in five or six shots, and
with the pistols cannot hit a mule, much less a man,
at fifty yards in half a day. At the same time, either

324 THE STILL-HUNTER.

of these may shoot perfectly true if loaded with small
charges and lighter balls.

The first kind, or the regular jump of the barrel to
the same position, may be either downward, upward,
or to one side, but in most all cases is apparently up-
ward. In a nine-and-a-half-pound Maynard, seventy
grains powder, thirty-two-inch barrel, .44 caliber,
ounce long ball, that I once owned, the recoil invari-
ably threw the barrel downward. A Sharps .44
caliber, seventy-seven grains, eight and one half
pounds, round barrel, twenty-eight inches long, did
precisely the same thing. Both these rifles at twenty-
five yards threw the ball four inches lower with the
full charge than they would with half a charge,
or than they would throw a round ball even with
full charge. On sighting the empty barrel with the
level sight, and then looking through it, the axis of
the bore was plainly seen to point four inches above
the center, and on the exact spot where the balls fired
with half a charge were massed.

So interesting was this question that I once spent a
long time in trying to make these rifles kick in some
other direction, or to vary in some manner the per-
fect regularity of their downward motion. I tried
hanging the muzzle in a scale, hanging breech in a
scale, strapping them to heavy cross-pieces under the
muzzle and breech, hanging very heavy weights on
the breech while the muzzle rested on a solid beam,
and having the weight just touch the surface of a pan
of water, with an attendant to watch it; in short, every-
thing I could think of except a vise. In no case, how-
ever, could I make them vary a particle. The full
charges sent the bullets invariably into the same hole
— both these, especially the Maynard, were very ac-

THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING. 325

curate rifles — just about four inches below the bullets
with the half charge and the round balls with full
charge, all of which also cut the same hole. And the
strangest part of it all was that both to me and my
attendant the rifles in every case appeared to jump
upward; and certainly did so, though they must have
first jumped downward before the ball escaped the
muzzle, for of course the barrel could not bend.
These results were always the same whether the
rifles were fired offhand or from rest, no matter in
what direction or whether solidly backed or fired
from a suspended sling. Yet this Maynard was so
accurate that I once fired with it five successive balls
into a four-inch circle at two hundred yards.

On the other hand, a light barrel when overloaded
is more likely to jump up than down. A very light
carbine generally does; so does a shot-gun, especially
a double one, if both barrels be fired simultaneously
when heavily loaded. So do most all pistols. A
Russian model .45 navy at only seven paces with
its common cartridge shot two and one half inches
higher than it did with the heavy ball and some of the
powder taken out and a round bullet put in the car-
tridge; yet this pistol was very accurate. Most all
pistol-cartridges are overloaded, it being necessary
with most of them to aim at a man's toes at twenty
yards to touch him at all; and it is no wonder that
when "the finest police in the world" shoot at a man
across the street, the servant-girl looking out of
the attic of the house behind him is more apt to suffer
than the bifurcated target. So much do some of these
pistols jump up that even after building an extra
story on the front sight and cutting down the back
one it is almost impossible to prevent overshooting

326 THE STILL-HUNTER.

with them. Sometimes a pistol will also spring to
one side as well as up. A Wesson's .32 short-
barrel pistol springs to the side where there is the
least pressure of the hand on the stock — shooting to
the left when fired from the right hand, and to the
right when fired from the left hand, and also jump-
ing upward in each case.

A double gun will throw outward with each barrel,
or away from the direction of the other barrel. I have
a double rifle of which the axes of the barrels
converge at about twenty yards, and on looking
through them they can be plainly seen to cross.
With a moderate load a rifle so built will throw out
just about enough to carry the two balls on parallel
lines, so that only one sight is needed. But where a
heavy charge is used this convergence is not always
enough, and the rifle will require double sights. With
one sight my rifle will throw each ball outward six
inches at thirty yards, and the two sets of sights
diverge so as to converge the axes of the barrels still
more than they are set. When one barrel is sighted
it points across the line of the bore of the other at
about only five paces. And yet each barrel is per-
fectly accurate with its own sight. This gun also
throws down a little as well as outward. It shoots
a round ball with great accuracy, but it will go
higher and inside of the other ball, which is about
one third heavier. It will shoot round balls with a
single sight, and also the heavy ones with a small
charge. It is probable that any double rifle would,
for perfect accuracy, require double sights when large
charges were used with heavy balls, though the bar-
rels may be set sufficiently converging for light balls

THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING. 327

or heavy ones with light charges of powder. Double
sights are not such a nuisance as one would suppose,
for after a little practice the eye shifts at the same
time the finger does, and with as little danger of
mistake, so that the quickest kind of running shots
may be made with them.

From all these facts important consequences flow.

ist. A rifle or pistol may kick so as to be worthless
unless lightly loaded.

2d. It may be perfectly accurate and yet require
different sighting for different balls or charges.

3d. Bullets and charges should not be changed in
any rifle without testing carefully to see the effect.

4th. A double gun may need double sights for heavy
charges.

5th. The force of a ball may be affected by the
yielding of the gun. The heavier the ball, in propor-
tion to the caliber, the longer it will take it to pass
along the barrel, and consequently the longer the time
the gas will have to overcome the gun's inertia, and
the greater will be the loss of force in recoil if the gun
yields. This becomes of some importance in long
shooting, especially with a long heavy ball; and if the
gun be loosely or carelessly held, instead of well
backed by a solid shoulder, the ball may drop enough
below where it should go to miss a deer at three hun-
dred yards and even less.

6th. A gun may also throw irregularly, to one side
or other, by being carelessly held or not always held
alike, such as the pistol above mentioned. I have not
noticed this, however, in any rifle I have owned, and
should pronounce one that would do it as either over-
loaded or worthless.

In buying a rifle this should always be looked after.

328 THE STILL-HUNTER.

and before going into the field with any rifle it should
be well tested. If its recoil is irregular, do not take
it; if regular, it is just as good as if it did not recoil,
but the extent and effect of its recoil must still be
perfectly understood.

BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 329

CHAPTER XXX.

THE KILLING POWER OF BULLETS. EXPLOSIVE, EXPAN-
SIVE, AND OTHER BULLETS. SLIT BULLETS. BUCK-
SHOT, ETC.

YOUR success in bagging your game without much
exertion and labor, and often in bagging it at all, will
depend largely upon the mere shape of the bullet you
use.

The effect of a bullet depends of course upon the
derangement of some of the vital organs of the body
or upon loss of blood. But this is the ultimate effect
— the one that too often benefits only the wolf and the
raven. The immediate effect, or that which most
benefits the hunter, is often as much the result of the
accompanying shock to the nervous system as of the
mere derangement of vital organs. In the brain or
spinal cord one ball is about as good as another. But
not so in any other part of the body; not even in the
heart.

The first requisite of a killing ball is of course pene-
tration. But after a certain amount of that is at-
tained excess is superfluous. All rifles of .40 cali-
ber or over, even the small Winchester, have sufficient
penetration with a solid ball to kill a deer or antelope
stone dead in nine tenths of the positions in which
they are generally found. And even a much smaller
rifle has penetration enough for nearly all broadside
shots. Nearly every one who has tried increasing the

330 THE STILL-HUNTER.

quantity of powder to increase the killing effect of a
solid ball has been disappointed, especially if the ball
be very hard or sharp-pointed. And many a one has
yet to learn that a hundred grains of powder behind
a long, tapering, hardened ball is no better than
seventy or sixty unless for raking shots on bears or
buffalo. And already many a man who has laid aside
the Winchester '73 model (forty grains of powder and
two hundred of lead to .44 caliber) and bought
a new " Centennial " model or the model of '79 (both
with longer ball and more powder) has discovered
that, except for raking shots or where the ball strikes
bones and turns or flattens, he has gained little by the
change; the hundredth part of an increase of caliber
amounting to about nothing. And if he should buy
a .44 rifle, shooting a rod of lead a foot long with half
a pound of powder behind it, he would still find no
difference upon alt the soft parts of an animal, espe-
cially just behind the shoulder. It is often said that
a small ball penetrates better than a big one, "cuts
sharper," etc. This seems unworthy of notice. It
overlooks entirely the question of momentum or
crushing force. But, like the idea that " fine shot has
better penetration," it is believed by many.

Essential as is penetration, something more is need-
ed. And that is striking surface.

Striking surface is given of course by diameter of
the bullet. And this diameter may be given in two
ways.

ist. Normal diameter given by the molds. .

2d. Abnormal diameter given by the ball expanding
upon striking.

Either of these is sufficient. But the first requires
a rifle of very large caliber. The second gives the

BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 331

same killing power to rifles of smaller caliber. Thus
a flat-headed .44 bullet will have as much killing
power where excessive penetration is not required as
a sharp-pointed ball of .50 caliber. Ttte sharp ball
will not spread at all upon mere flesh, while the flat-
headed one on striking will spread at once to more
than the diameter of the other. Flat-headed balls
cannot, however, be shot accurately for any distance.
The head must be only half flat or rounded or merely
blunt, and this is rarely made blunt enough to flatten
a ball traveling at the low velocity of nearly all the
long balls, especially when hardened as they generally
are. For a very little tin makes a great difference in
preventing the flattening of a ball.

Of all solid balls none flattens like the round ball
When made of soft lead and driven at a high velocity
this is the most killing solid form in which any given
amount of lead can be cast, unless great penetration,
is needed. And when large enough its penetration is
sufficient for all game. And this can be much in-
creased by hardening it.

The flattening power of any ball may be vastly in-
creased by making a hole in the front. This is com-
monly called the " express ball." An express ball is,
however, more properly a short swift ball fired with
an enormous charge of powder, and may be hollow
or not.

The killing effect of a ball is largely influenced by
its velocity. And this entirely aside from the question
of penetration. Velocity increases the flattening and
also the rotation of the ball; which latter has a
decided tearing effecL A .44 round ball with ten
grains of powder will make in a rabbit a hole but a
trifle larger than itself, and if through the "paunch"

332 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the rabbit can often run away with the wound. But
seventy grains behind the same ball will cut the rabbit
half in two. A Winchester '73 model will decapitate
a rabbit with its two hundred grains of lead and forty
grains of powder almost as completely as an ax would
do it. Open a cartridge and take out five sixths of
the powder and the ball will barely get through the
rabbit's head, leaving it almost uninjured outside of
a hole of its own diameter. This difference is prob-
ably due to the difference in the spinning motion of
the ball as much as to the difference in flattening.

It is said that at too high a velocity a ball will not
flatten as much as at a low one, as a tallow candle at
a high velocity will pass through a board without
flattening. This is true only where the ball is fired
through a thin resisting medium. At a high velocity
the candle will cut a smaller hole through a half-inch
board than when at a low velocity. But if fired at
high velocity through something thick, like a beam or
several boards, the hole will be not only deeper but
larger at the bottom than when the velocity is low.
It is the same with the bullet. A ball grazing a deer
an inch or two deep will perhaps, aside from the cut-
ting power of increased rotation of ball, cut a smaller
hole at a high velocity than it would at a moderate
speed. But where the body has any considerable
thickness, so that the ball has more time to expand,
the higher velocity will tell.

I have heard good hunters maintain just the reverse
of this; to wit, that too much powder would make the
ball flatten so as to stop its penetration. There is
nothing in this. The penetration of a ball that will
flatten at all to any useful extent depends upon its
momentum; that is, its weight and velocity. Its pen-

BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC 333

etration is more of a crushing force than a piercing
force like that of the sharp-pointed balls. And the
higher its velocity the farther in it gets; provided it
be solid or have' not too large an expansion-hole in
front.

It is thought by many that a ball that lodges in an
animal is more effective than if it passes through; as
the nervous system then receives the whole shock of
the ball. This is often a mistake of effect for cause.
The ball does not kill better because it stops. It
stops generally because it has greater killing power;
to wit, its expansive power. A ball having enough
extra force to tear its way entirely through an animal
and continue its flight must leave about the same
amount of force in the animal as if it had only force
enough to get just through.

As a rule, it is best to have balls pass through,
especially solid balls. From the entrance-hole of a
small bullet the animal bleeds little or none, and the
flesh on the side where the ball stops will be badly
bloodshot. If it goes through you will be more apt
to have the aid of blood to help you track the animal
if wounded; it will also bleed out much quicker and
be much less injured by settling of blood.

Where great penetration is needed it had better be
given by hardening a ball with tin than by sharpening
its point. As much as twenty-five or thirty per cent
of tin may be used without injuring the rifle-grooves
by an ordinary amount of use. A ball of terrific pen-
etrating power may, however, be made as follows:
Take a long bullet and cut it in two just below the
point where it rides the grooves by rolling it under a
sharp knife-blade. Then drill or bore a large hole
through the butt-piece, replace it in the molds, and

334 THE STILL-HUNTER.

pour through the hole a hot mixture of equal parts of
Babbitt-metal and tin. A mold for casting points like
this may be easily made by half-filling the upper part
of common molds with two pieces of brass or iron
brazed in. The points may then be put in another
mold and lead poured around them. But you can
easily make all you need by the other method. From
a .4o-caliber rifle with sixty grains of powder I once
shot one of these through two cast-iron stove-griddles
and two jawbones of an ox all wedged together in a
box, and the ball got through the other side of the
box. Such balls are, however, of no use for ordinary
hunting.

It is not many years since the English sportsmen in
India commenced using a short cylindrical ball with a
hole or well in the front, instead of the ponderous
round balls and solid bolts they had before used for
tigers and other dangerous game. These were some-
times made explosive by the insertion of a cartridge
of some kind in the hole. Others were fired without
any explosive filling, leaving the ball to fly open with
its own force upon striking.

Some of the British sportsmen brought their rifles
to this country on hunting-trips, and it was not
long before some of our own countrymen tried these
bullets.

As about every other great improvement, extrava-
gant nonsense was soon told about them. u Blowing
open the head of a grizzly-bear" with a .22-caliber
pistol-cartridge inserted in the ball, as if the head
were a snuff-box, " pulverizing" heads as if they were
puff-balls, were among the least marvelous of the ef-
fects attributed to them. Some discoursed of " ex-
press shock" as if the ball were a condensed thun-

BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 335

derbolt suddenly released in an animal's body;
others talked of the velocity being so terrific as to
"drive the ball into perfect dust." Still others, with
that marvelous love the human mind has for paradox,
discovered that the smaller these bullets were the
more terrific and killing was "the express shock."

This improvement soon suffered the fate of every
good thing that is overrated, and detractors arose.
Many old hunters on the plains and in the moun-
tains denounced them as worthless for game of any
considerable size. Even foreigners gave the same
verdict; one Scotch gentleman, returning from a
Rocky Mountain tour, comparing in the Forest and
Stream their effect on a grizzly-bear's shoulder to " so
many humblebees." Men like Col. Judson and J. H.
Batty, who had seen them tried and tried them them-
selves, men who certainly cannot be accused of igno-
rance, pronounced them inferior for general use to the
solid ball.

For years a voice within which I took for the voice
of humanity, but which, judging from the fashion of
the day, must have been the voice of folly, had said in
thunder-tones: " If you are going to kill an animal at
all, kill it. Don't torture it." No sooner did I hear
of this improvement than I adopted it. I have shot
about three hundred deer with balls so made, have ex-
perimented with it in various ways, and must say most
decidedly that while it is absurdly overrated it is still
the most valuable improvement, next to the breech-
loading principle, that has been made in rifles within
the century.

I first made them explosive by inserting in the hole
a .22 long pistol-cartridge with the bullet either cut
off or taken out and replaced with more powder.

336 THE STILL-HUNTER.

The same thing may be done by dropping a very
small nail into the hole head first, filling it around
with powder, and putting a tight-fitting cap on the
nail and covering with wax, etc. These will explode
on the softest flesh and even on water. An eight-
pound jack-rabbit standing on his hind-legs and
struck in the middle was distributed in a hundred
pieces for thirty feet around, not a piece big enough
to fry being left. Firing into the water just below a
mud-hen a .22 cartridge in the ball raised it five feet
out of water and broke its back, one wing, and one leg,
though none of the ball touched it. From such a ball
I very naturally expected tremendous results.

One of the first things I observed was that upon
deer, coyotes, wildcats, and foxes the explosion pro-
duced no such effect as it did upon hares. Though
the balls could be distinctly heard to explode and the
flesh found blackened with the powder, there was no
blowing or rending effect whatever. The hole was
precisely the same as that made by the same ball
left with the hole unfilled by anything. The killing
effect appeared upon deer to be even a trifle less, and
the penetration of the non -explosive ones was percep-
tibly the best. Determined to thoroughly probe the
subject, I bored out some long-range .44 balls so as
to admit a .32 long cartridge. Two of these I tried
on an ancient Thomas-cat that had outlived his use-
fulness. Neither upon the shoulders nor upon the
head could I discover any blowing or rending what-
ever, though the hole was blackened by powder. The
hole was large and constantly expanding; but was
merely cut the same as the empty balls would do it.
Blocks of dry cottonwood, straight-grained, one foot
long and about eight inches in diameter, that one blow

BULLETS; EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 337

of an ax would split in two, I utterly failed to split or
even crack- With eighty grains of powder the balls
penetrated only some four inches and were torn in
splinters, while the hole was blackened with powder.

The reason of this will be readily seen. A Win-
chester '73 ball — two hundred grains of lead and forty
of powder, caliber .44 — ball quite flat-headed, will split
a rabbit completely in two with a raking shot, or cut
it half in two with a broadside shot. But through a
deer, a wildcat, coyote, or other tough animal it will
make a hole but a trifle larger than itself. A fire-
cracker fired in a glass vial left uncorked will split
the vial in a hundred pieces if it be very thin, but
will not even crack it if it be tolerably thick like a
small ink-bottle. The difference in the first case is of
course in the toughness of the flesh, in the second in
the toughness of the glass. The tough bottle resists
the gas long enough to allow its excess of pressure
to escape at the mouth. In the same manner tough
flesh resists the pressure long enough to allow
the gas to escape around and behind the bullet. And
in the case of the bullet the pressure of gas is also re-
lieved by the ball cutting a large and increasing hole
in front about as fast as the gas can fill it. Continued
experiment and observation convinced me at last that,
unless filled with some violently detonating powder
that would be too dangerous to use, a ball is actually
better to be left merely hollow.

The reason of this is the lack of penetration of explo-
sive balls. In an average of over fifty shots at game,
as shots must now be taken, penetration is about as
essential as anything. To contain enough of any ex-
plosive that could be safely used the hole in the front
of the ball must be both large and deep. In any ball

338 THE STILL-HUNTER.

of moderate caliber this would leave the rest of the
ball so thin that when it explodes there is nothing but
splinters from the sides and a light butt. If fired
empty it will fly into flinders upon striking, and upon
such solid parts as the haunch of a deer will tear a
bad flesh-wound and often let the deer get away on
three legs. When made explosive, the explosion, which
begins at the depth of about half an inch, retards
it much more, not only by backward pressure, but by
opening the ball faster than it otherwise would open.
By exploding around the feet, explosive balls are also
much more certain to alarm game that might stand
until you get its range by seeing the balls strike.

Much better in the long-run is the ball made sim-
ply expansive by a hole in front. It is common to
place in this hole a hollow copper tube, filled with
tallow or wax. All of which is idle toil. The effect
is precisely the same with nothing in them. The
accuracy is the same up to all ranges at which it is
worth while to shoot at game at all. Beyond those
ranges they will all turn over butt foremost. No
difference is perceptible between the accuracy of balls
cast hollow and solid ones, except of course at long
range. The extent to which a ball shall expand is a
very important question. A ball may be made to
fly into pieces so small that you can scarcely find one
in an animal. Or it may be made to break up into
six or eight or ten pieces. Or it may be made to sim-
ply spread out like a mushroom without breaking.
Or it maybe cast so as to merely increase its diameter
about one half, etc.

By many the expansion of a ball is supposed to de-
pend upon its velocity. Up to a certain point this is
of course true. But beyond that point it depends

BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 339

almost entirely upon the diameter, depth, and shape of
the hole in its front. If a ball be made with a wide deep
hole as wide at the bottom as at the top, so that the
wall of lead around the hole is thin, stands only on a
thin butt and has only a thin attachment to that butt,
it will fly into flinders the instant it strikes the softest
flesh, even if the velocity be quite moderate. On the
other hand, if the hole be small, shallow, and tapering
to a point at the bottom, the ball cannot be driven
into splinters by any velocity that can be given it. It
will merely fold back over its base like a mushroom.
Bone of course would splinter it somewhat, as it would
a solid ball. But upon soft flesh it would not splinter.

The effect of these different balls can be almost pre-
dicted. Suppose you have a fair shot at an animal,
and hit it behind the shoulder, in the chest, or in the
kidneys with the ^first bullet. The effect of a ball
thus dashed into a hundred splinters upon the most
vital organs must be terrific. We can readily see how
persons can talk of the terrific effect of " express
shock" upon even such an animal as the tiger. It is
practically a charge of small shot fired directly into
the seat of life.

But suppose you do not have a fair shot, and you
strike your animal where penetration is necessary.
Suppose your little hollow ball hits a bone heavy
enough to tear a solid ball in two. What then ? As
there is a limit to the penetration of fine shot beyond
which no powder can drive it, so is there a limit to
the penetration of ball-splinters to pass which no
"express" power will avail. If the ball is to pene-
trate or crush very far, it must have momentum. To
have momentum it must have weight. To have
weight it must hold together.

340 THE STILL-HUNTER.

Here is, I think, the whole ground of disagreement
about these bullets: A thing once highly praised is
soon fancied good for everything. Found not good
for everything, the natural conclusion often is that it
is good for nothing.

I very soon found that the killing power of such
balls upon an animal struck in or very near the
right place was immensely greater than that of solid
balls, that they were but a trifle better upon "paunch-
shots" and not as good upon " haunch" and " stern
shots" as the same ball solid. I lost deer struck
in both places, and even a half-grown fawn I fol-
lowed for over two miles, though a ball had exploded
exactly in the center of its body. As one may shoot
twenty successive deer with a .35-caliber solid ball and
drop them all inside of a hundred yards, so one may
shoot as many with one of these balls and see most all
of them wilt like wet rags almost in their tracks.
From such data the reflective hunter reasons not. He
well knows that two hundred shots might tell a very
different tale, and that, year in and year out, pene-
tration is just as essential as striking surface.

The ball made with a small tapering hole will not
produce such instantaneous death upon striking the
vitals as does the ball that flies to pieces. But as it
nearly doubles its diameter, its effect is about four
times what it would otherwise be. And this is quick
enough upon all the vitals of ordinary animals. Such
a ball can also be given all the penetration that is
necessary for ordinary animals. For unusually large
animals they must be vastly superior to the more
hollow ones.

Making a ball expansive does not, however, com-
pletely compensate for smallness of caliber. For

•BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 341

penetration and crushing force it must positively
have actual weight. A pound of powder could not
drive a ten-dollar gold piece much over two or three
inches into solid flesh, striking of course with its flat
surface. And lead is only about half the weight of
gold. There must be weight behind to force the
widening front of an expansive ball through solid
flesh, or even through the contents of the stomach.
Now if the ball be made long so as to give this weight
to a small-calibered rifle, you lose much of the velocity
which is so essential to a good trajectory as well as to
the rotatory and cutting power of the ball, etc.

The killing power of all long bullets is, however,
vastly improved by making a hole in them. But the
quantity of powder must be increased where it is
small, as expansion checks the penetration immensely.
To increase much the efficiency of such a bullet as
the Winchester '73 model, the hole should be small
and tapering and hardly half way through the ball;
but then it should shoot at least a hundred grains of
powder instead of forty grains. The Winchester
" Centennial" would be improved in the same way
without any increase of powder, because it has a much
longer ball. All the rifles on the market shooting
long- or mid-range balls with seventy or eighty grains
or more of powder can be much improved in this way,
though all would be much better to have more powder
and a shorter ball with smaller hole.

The hole in the ball is generally made by a plug in-
serted in the molds. A hole equally good can, how-
ever, be made with a gimlet or awl, unless you want a
large deep hole. The ball can be replaced in the mold
and bored through a hole at the front end. Or it can
be bored more true by having a guide-hole bored in

342 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the " loader," into which you can run a gimlet and
bore into the ball after it is loaded in the shell.

A round ball, if large enough, makes a splendid ex-
pansive ball, being most truly " express" up to a hun-
dred and fifty or two hundred yards. For the reasons
before given it must, however, be large so as to have
penetration enough. The hole must also be made
more flaring at the entrance than in the other balls, or
it may slip through without expanding at all.

I have tried very large and very small holes in both
long and round balls, and am satisfied that there is no
way in which a ball can be made to first penetrate
well and then fly to pieces. Its flying into splinters
depends so entirely upon its shape that it will fly at
an inch or two of depth no matter what its velocity.
And if it be made with a very small hole it cannot be
driven into " splash" upon mere flesh.

I have tried and am still trying to so shape a ball
that it will expand upon the stomach and soft parts of
an animal, yet penetrate the solid muscle, etc., without
expansion. The results are not wholly satisfactory.
Hollow balls can be so made as to penetrate wood
without expansion, yet expand upon water. But they
all tend to expand upon flesh if the hole be of any
size; and if too small, to slip through without spread-
ing.

A ball well hardened with tin is much less likely to
break up than one of soft lead. But if the hole be too
large the very hardest ones will splinter at once.

Deer are occasionally still-hunted with buckshot in
shot-guns. It is a wretched apology for the rifle, and
the distance at which deer can be killed with buckshot
is vastly overrated. Even at forty yards, with ordinary
guns, two are crippled to one that is killed. Neither

BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 343

Ely's wire cartridges nor any mode of loading buck-
shot can remedy this very much. Of the cartridges
over one half will either go like a solid ball and miss
generally entirely, or they will go like loose buckshot.
Not one half will go as they are intended to go; and
when they do, they do not add much over twenty-five
yards to the range of the gun. The killing effect
of a single buckshot is not to be compared to the
effect of a rifle-ball of the same size. It lacks both
the velocity and flattening quality and the cutting
power of the rotation. Buckshot kill only by their
number or by the accidental striking of a vital part;
generally both conditions are necessary. The temp-
tation to shoot with them at deer too far off is almost
irresistible. And the certainty of crippling is about
in inverse proportion to the probability of killing with
them. Before a pack of hounds or for close night-
shooting the gun may be tolerated. For still-hunting
its use is an outrage and a sin.

I have never tried bullets slit or sawed into pieces
half way to the center. Where great penetration was
not needed they would doubtless be better than the
solid ball. But they would be hard to make well, and
could not give the same striking surface as if made
with the proper-shaped hole in front. Neither could
one made with an expansion-hole in the rear. Such a
one would doubtless expand upon bone or a solid mass
of muscle like the haunch. But almost any ball will
expand enough on such parts. And they are pre-
cisely the parts where much expansion is rather un-
desirable.

344 THE STILL-HUNTER.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE HUNTING-RIFLE, AND FLIGHT OF BALLS.

So much space has already been and still must be
devoted to more important matters — matters, too,
upon which you will find little or no information else-
where— that the subject of the best hunting-rifle must,
like the care and management of the rifle, in next
chapter, be passed by with the briefest mention of a
few important points. To properly discuss such sub-
jects requires almost a volume of itself; and as they
are already somewhat discussed in works now extant,
we must subordinate them to the principles of field-
hunting and field-shooting.

In the first place, then, the action of your rifle, as is
also the question of repeater, single-loader, or double
barrel, is largely a matter of taste. All actions are
strong enough and durable enough. The quickness
and ease of the action you can yourself decide as well
as any one. All hunters have their preferences, and
all have a peculiar weakness for their favorites that
makes their opinions as to the best rifle nearly worth-
less. Different rifles are " all the rage" in different
sections of country, and scarcely anything else is
worth having. And this according to the opinion of
the ablest shots and hunters.

All American " sporting" rifles now shoot accurately
enough, ar\d all about equally well. That is, if prop-
erly loaded and handled they will shoot as well as any

HUNTING-RIFLE, AND FLIGHT OF BALLS. 345

rifle in the world in which the ball is seated in the
shell and started below the grooves. The finest shoot-
ing can be done only by detaching the two and start-
ing the ball in the grooves, either by pushing it irl
ahead of the shell or loading from the muzzle. One
or the other of these modes is now followed by all
long-range experts.

The question of twist, depth, and number of grooves,
etc., you can quite safely leave to the rifle-maker. The
slower the twist up to a certain point, however, the
better for all high-velocity rifles. One turn in fifty
inches is enough for rifles shooting heavy charges of
powder and very short bullets.

For accuracy, range, and penetration .44 caliber is
sufficient, and with an expansive ball properly made
is amply killing for nearly all shots on the soft parts
of an animal. For the solid parts a large round ball
of soft lead is the more effective, and taken for an
average of a hundred shots is the most effective form
in which the same weight of lead can be cast. It is
objected to large calibers that they tear and spoil the
animal too much, But they bleed an animal so much
more, and kill so much more quickly and certainly,
that in the long-run there is not a tenth of the waste
with them that there is with solid balls in the small-
bores; and owing to the comparative lightness of the
ball, it being generally round or very near the weight
of the round ball, the recoil is not at all unpleasant.
Popular opinion, however, favors the smaller bores
with solid balls, in spite of the amount of game crip-
pled and lost by them.

No rifle need be over thirty inches long, and even
twenty-eight is enough for quite high velocities even
with quite coarse powder. It should be as handy and

346 THE STILL-HUNTER.

as well fitted to you as a shot-gun. For the ill-bal-
anced, clumsy, straight-Stocked, long-stocked, awk-
ward things often seen on the market there is abso-
lutely no excuse. Neither is a crescent-shaped scoop
in the stock that requires adjustment to the shoulder
anything but a nuisance, especially for running shoot-
ing. It is a stupid relic of the age that thought six-
teen pounds of iron four feet long necessary to shoot
a pea-bullet with accuracy.

A hunting-rifle of caliber as large as .55 need not
weigh over ten pounds, and eight pounds is plenty for
one of .44 caliber.

The only other point important enough to mention
now is the trajectory of the rifle for a hundred and
fifty yards or so. The trajectory is the path of the
bullet through the air, and is always a curve, although
for some distance no curve can be detected either by
shooting at targets or at game.

The greater the initial velocity or the speed with
which the bullet is driven from the gun, and the
greater the bullet's power of retaining that speed,
either by increase of caliber, elongation, or sharpening
of the bullet's front, the greater the distance over
which the bullet will be driven without making curve
enough to overshoot or undershoot your mark.

When you have once had some experience of the
marvelous tendency to overshoot game under most
conditions of light and ground, of the extreme diffi-
culty of calculating and allowing for distance, of the
great danger of missing by raising sights, holding
over game, taking " coarse bead " on the front sight,
etc. etc., you will see that it is of the utmost import-
ance to extend as far as possible this distance over
which the path of the bullet appears to be level. And

HUNTING-RIFLE, AND FLIGHT OF BALLS. 347

when you find that a hundred yards for the woods,
a hundred and fifty yards for open hills, and two hun-
dred yards for the plain (plain rolling enough to be
worth hunting antelope on by stalking) are the dis-
tances within which five sixths of your opportunities
to kill game will occur, you will- be still more con-
vinced that the higher the velocity the better the rifle
for hunting — all else of course being equal, as it may
easily be, except very long-range power.

For high velocity slow twist is best; but two things
are indispensable; viz., plenty of powder and a light
load for it to drive.

Nearly all American sporting-rifles, as now manufac-
tured, are low in velocity. They are chambered for
too little powder, nearly all the makers furnish molds,
loading-tools, etc., for too long a bullet, and the bullets
in the factory ammunition are all too long. A long-
bodied bullet is indispensable for a long and steady
flight, and hence is essential for long-range accuracy.
But making a ball three or four times the weight of
the round ball of the same caliber acts precisely like
doubling or tripling the charge of shot in a shot-gun.
It cuts down immensely the speed with which it passes
up the barrel, and decreases immensely the amount of
powder that can be endured by the shoulder. It gains
only in momentum or continuing power. And though
by virtue of this it will make a thousand yards in about
half the time that a round ball from the same gun could
make it with any amount of powder, the round ball
will, on the other hand, make seventy or eighty yards
or more in half the time the other does, and therefore
make much less of a curve. And jf the weight of the
round ball be increased one half by making a longer
ball, and the charge of powder be doubled behind it,

348 THE STILL-HUNTER.

it may make a hundred and fifty yards in the same
time the long-range ball makes a hundred, and thus
add fifty or sixty yards to the point at which you will
be able to hit your mark without in any way allowing
for or thinking about its distance; in other words, in-
crease what is unphilosophically but popularly called
"the natural point blank" of the rifle.

This is what is now called the " express" system;
although it is commonly confounded with the expan-
sive principle, owing to the fact that the bullets for
the " express rifle" are generally made expansive also.
The "express" or high-speed system concentrates all
the power of the gun on the first hundred and fifty or
two hundred yards, a thing you will in time deem
eminently wise if you take the trouble to measure
your distances instead of guessing them, and practice
target-shooting at a mark between seventy-five and a
hundred and fifty yards, with the mark changed from
twenty to forty yards in distance between each shot.
This high-speed idea is supposed by many to be an
English notion. But it is in fact nearly as old as
American rifle-shooting; although there were few of
the old hunters who ever put powder enough behind
the light sharp-pointed cones — short, sugar-loaf-shaped
balls — that they used for the purpose.

For measuring the velocity of balls an instrument
called the chronograph is used. But there is much
reason to suspect its accuracy in registering high
velocities. At all events, it is expensive and difficult
to use. It is far easier, and better for your purpose,
to measure it by the fall of the bullet below the mark
at certain points. This gives you the mean velocity
for the distance at which you shoot; a mean com-
pounded of the ball's initial velocity and its sustain-

HUNTING-RIFLE, AND FLIGHT OF BALLS. 349

ing power; its starting speed and bottom. Moreover,
the velocity in feet per second is of no consequence to
the mere hunter. The velocity compared with the
velocity of other rifles is all he need consider. This
method shows not only the comparative mean velocity
in a way easily measured, but gives also a view of the
bullet's path that no chronograph can ever give. The
method I use is as follows:

Twisting a wire into a hoop, I fasten it on the end
of a stake about shoulder-high. Two of these are set
in the ground about fifteen yards apart, the first one
about eight or ten yards from the firing-point. Over
these thin paper is pinned. In line with them, but at
a hundred yards, or a hundred and fifty yards, or
whatever the distance for which you wish to measure
the drop of the ball, is something to catch the balls;
a smooth tree-trunk or old door, etc., will do. The
rifle is then fired through the screens so as to strike
the tree or other object.

As the fall of the bullet up to twenty-five yards is
imperceptible to ordinary observation, and is a con-
stant factor in all the experiments anyhow, the two
holes made by the bullet through the two papers may
be considered the line on which the bullet leaves the
muzzle. The distances of the screens may of course
be reduced to the nearest point at which the powder
will not spoil the first hole, if greater accuracy be
desired.

A heavy pencil- mark is then made on the side of
each screen on a level with the bullet-hole. By the
aid of a glass these are then " ranged in" by an assis-
tant with a horizontal line on the tree. The distance
from that line to the bullet-hole will give the fall of
the bullet within at least an inch if care be used in
making the lines.

350 THE STILL-HUNTER.

Greater accuracy may be obtained by setting a sur-
veyor's " transit" — telescope-bearing instrument — at
the first hole, centering the two holes with the cross-
hairs of the telescope, and having some one to "line
in " the point on the tree as in " centering" a corner-
post. This test may be made almost perfect.

By putting another screen a trifle over half way be-
tween the gun and the last target (say at fifty-five
yards from the rifle for a hundred-yard shot), then
stepping aside and looking down the line of the
screens, you will see how much the bullet has to rise
to strike a bull's-eye at the farther target. This may
also be nearly obtained in inches by " lining" the hole
in the first screen and the bullet-hole in the tree on
the side of the half-way screen, and measuring from
that line to the hole in the same screen. It will be
between a third and a fourth of the fall at the tree.

Such experiments may be simplified or made still
more accurate by a little care and ingenuity, and will
give you an idea of the most important thing con-
nected with the rifle — an idea, too, that you will never
get in any other way. The ignorance upon this point
among even good practical hunters is positively ap-
palling. The vast majority even of the best shots
think a good rifle "shoots level" up to two hundred
or three hundred yards ; and he who should have the
audacity to assert that a rifle that will make twenty
successive bull's-eyes at a thousand yards may at a
hundred and twenty yards drop its ball many inches
below that of another rifle that probably could not hit
the same bull's-eye at all at five hundred yards, would
be considered a fool by fully three fourths of the best
rifle-shots in the country.

THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 351

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES.

THE more I experiment with sights and shoot with
other people's rifles the more I become convinced
that bad sights are nearly as fruitful a source of
misses as anything so far considered. Though more
accurate shooting can be done with globe-sights,
there is no question of the superiority of open-sights
for all quick shooting or shooting in dim lights or
in the woods. And they are accurate enough to two
hundred yards at least.

The open sight usually put upon rifles by manufac-
turers can scarcely be considered " the pink of per-
fection." The very essence of a front sight is that it
appear always the same, and be visible in every light.
The huge piece of dull metal, shaped like a slice of
watermelon, that adorns the muzzle-end of most
factory rifles can hardly be seen at all in some lights.
And when it can be seen it is often nearly as bad as
if it could not. Stand out in the sun with a rifle hav-
ing one of these, and holding it at arm's length, with
your eye upon the front sight, turn completely
around. You will probably see the center of bright-
ness shift all over it from base to tip and from side to
side. This center of brightness is what you will take
for the true center in nearly every case where there is
the slightest need of expedition in shooting. And
upon running game you will be quite certain to

352 THE STILL-HUNTER.

always do so. You can see for yourself what the re-
sult of so doing must often be, especially when a fine
shot is necessary.

No metal shows in so many lights as ivory or white
agate does. And they hardly ever fail to show the
true center at a glance. For running shooting on
snow or flying shots against the sky, gold or brass or
even iron is better, but for bare ground the whiter
the sight the better. The liability of ivory or agate
to break seems the only objection. This can be
readily obviated by having an extra sight. But ivory
can be so set that there is little or no danger. It
should be screwed into a screw-hole in an iron block
having a guard of iron on the muzzle-side. When
filed away on the sides and top this guard and the
ivory will be of the same width and height. The
guard will be invisible, but will be quite sure to pro-
tect the ivory; will, at all events, preserve a part of it;
can itself be used as a temporary sight if the ivory
should go; and is a ready guide to the adjustment of
another piece of ivory, or bone if you have no ivory or
agate at hand. Ivory must be kept free of grease,
though grease can soon be taken out of it by boiling
in alcohol, alkali, etc., or by rubbing it well with ether.

The beginner with the rifle lays to his soul no unc-
tion so flattering as the idea that a shot a few inches
above or below the mark is a good shot because it is
what the world is pleased to term "a line-shot." In
dueling, " a line-shot" means something. In shooting
at game where there is seldom six inches to spare
above or below the center, and much less if you in-
tend to hit the vitals, and where the mark is from
five to twenty times the distance of the mark in
dueling, "a line-shot" also means something; to

THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 353

wit, a clear miss three times out of four. It is on
the horizontal and not on the vertical line that " a
line-shot" that is worth anything for game must gen-
erally be made. And this is just the hardest of all to
make. Except in a cross-wind the veriest tyro can
with ease hit above or below the mark at quite long
distances. But to reach the horizontal line requires
the very best of work. And it is on this line that all
defective work in the rifle, all bad loading, all bad
shooting, etc., shows itself three times out of four.
And in the long-run, a horizontal line-shot a foot
from the center on either side will miss less game
than a line-shot six inches above or four inches below
the center.

The top of the front sight should therefore be so
flat and broad as to insure the best horizontal shoot-
ing without too much sacrifice of accuracy on the up-
right line. But it can be made quite flat and broad
upon the top without any such sacrifice of vertical ac-
curacy as would be supposed necessary. If sharp it
cannot be depended on for quick work or in every
light; though when there is plenty of time the best of
shooting can be done with a sight as sharp as a knife-
blade. A front sight about as broad at the top as
a common pin-head and perfectly flat will be accurate
enough for all hunting purposes when your eye gets
used to it. And even if a sacrifice must be made, it
had much better be made on the vertical line. It will
do no harm to have the top of the back edge slightly
sloped off. With a metal sight this had better be
done so that a little spot shines there like a star; all
below it being kept dull in color, and the star portion
being kept polished by a few rubs with a bit of wood
as often as it gets tarnished.

354 THE STILL-HUNTER.

The front sight is generally made too high. It
need be just high enough to enable you to see when
'you catch too much of it with the eye. High sights
are harder to catch with the eye and easier to catch
in anything else than low ones. In falling snow they
are better, but then even high ones are bad enough,
and the rifle should be carried upside down, and oc-
casionally wiped, with any sights. With low sights
you cannot so well raise the trajectory by what is
called a "coarse bead" — taking a coarse view of front
sight. But this in the long-run will be the greatest
blessing that could happen you.

It is often convenient to have a quickly adjustable
globe-sight on the rifle. The principle of Beach's
combination-sight is a good one, but the open part of
it is entirely too dull, besides the objection of vary-
ing play of light upon it. Cut it down one half and
solder a little strip of. gold on it. Or, which is better
yet, cut it off entirely and set a low ivory sight in
front of it that can be seen over the ring when flat,
and above which the globe can be seen when the ring
is raised.

But here is one, in my humble opinion, better yet
for one who needs a globe-sight at all; and with it the
best of horizontal shooting can be done. I have
never known any one else use it, but I found it very
good.

Take a common long-barreled globe-sight and cut
away with a file or drill all of the top half of the bar-
rel or cylinder except just enough to protect the
thread and ball — making a perfect cage of it and ad-
mitting all the light possibe. Then put a golden ball
upon the thread and whiten all the inside of the
cylinder with paint so as to cast as much light as pos-

THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 355

sible on the under side of the ball. Shape this ball
somewhat like a pin-head flattened a little on top.
Or make it round if you choose. Adapt the size to
your convenience. You can now use this as an open
sight with the open back sight, or can use it with a
peep-sight on the stock. It works well either way.
If you wish it shaded you need only a little slide of
bent tin to slip over the cylinder. By cutting out the
top a little more you can insert two threads or arms
with different-sized balls, or one of silver and the
other of gold. These arms should be set at right
angles and work on a pivot in the center. It is easy
to set them so as to come exactly to the same place,
one lying flat when the other is up. They can be
easily changed with the finger or a stick. After they
are set in, a strip of wire may be soldered over the
top where it was cut away to admit them.

Beyond the importance of some flatness at the top
of a plain open sight to insure good horizontal shoot-
ing, the fineness or coarseness of sights is very much
a matter of what the eye is accustomed to. Except
at long distances, one can with practice soon do ex-
cellent shooting with a tolerably coarse sight, and ex-
cellent quick shooting with a fine sight. But it must
be remembered that much of your shooting must be
done in a dim light.

Bold indeed must one be to say a word in deroga-
tion of the venerable and fashionable buckhorn sight.
But, even at the risk of being considered too iconoclas-
tic, I must mildly insinuate that very good shooting
can be done without the aid of this long-revered idol.

One who has never tried it would be surprised to
see how well he can shoot over the open barrel with

356 THE STILL-HUNTER.

only a small front sight. The eye takes the center of
the barrel as naturally as a duck to water. The main
use of a back sight is to cut off the amount of the
front sight necessary to give the right horizontal
range. Getting the vertical range is mere child's
play compared with this. For doing this the high
sides or horns of the buckhorn or back sight are of
no use whatever. Their only use is to prevent reflec-
tion of light which would glimmer from the corners
of a notch in a flat-topped bar of iron.

There is, however, one thing that these horns or
sides do most fully accomplish. They cut off and
partly destroy that clear and comprehensive view of
everything ahead that is so important for running
shots. They also actually delay one in " finding the
sights," instead of aiding one as many suppose who
have never tried anything else. The notch at the
bottom, by pinching out the view of the front sight,
prevents the eye from taking always the same exact
amount of front sight, especially when the sunlight
pours into the notch from in front or from behind.
Almost the entire trouble that old-sighted persons
have in shooting a rifle is with this notch, it being
almost impossible for them to see the. exact bottom
and shape of it so as to align the front sight with it.
Or as they express it, they "can't get the front sight
down into the notch." When one has good sight and
plenty of time first-class shooting can be done with
the buckhorn sight. Possibly for very fine target-
work it is a trifle better than any other open back
sight.

But for quick shooting, and especially for good
horizontal-line shooting — quickly cutting off the right
amount of front sight — I long ago discovered that a

THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 357

straight short bar, without horns, scoops, or notches
of any kind, was far superior, especially for quickness.
And on the vertical-line shooting there is no such dif-
ference as would be supposed. The eye finds the
center of it so instinctively that you do not have to
look for it at all. You merely raise the rifle and look
for the proper amount of front sight, or " the right
bead." Then the eye finds the center so exactly that
except possibly for the very finest kind of target-
shooting, you can detect no difference. I say possibly,
for I have never tried it on anything finer than an
inch bull's-eye at twenty yards — that being about my
outside limit with any rifle. But a dozen or more of
my acquaintances have at the first trial with my rifle
so sighted shot exactly the same as with their own.
Many of my friends have adopted it; all of them are
pleased with it; none desire any other. One friend
made the best shooting with it at bullet-holes and
rabbits running that he has ever made with anything.
This may be used as well with the globe-sight above
described as the buckhorn may be.

The back sight I use is a straight bar of hard black
rubber about thirty-five hundredths of an inch wide,
perfectly level on top. Iron or bone soaked with ink
will do as well; but iron should be kept corroded with
tincture of iodine and then blackened with ink. With
such a sight and ivory on the ball in front you can
swing your rifle around the horizon in the sun and see
no change of light-center and not a glimmer from the
bar. And you can shoot ten degrees closer to the
sun's eye with them than with any other set of open
sights. The Tery best of all is a piece of hard sole-
leather, made still harder by boiling and hammering
and drying in an oven. Soaked with ink, not a ray

358 THE STILL-HUNTER.

of light will this cast. It can be screwed in through
a hole.

If, however, you prefer a notch, you need no horns
around it. Cut a notch with a knife only a line or
two deep in the center of the bar, keep well rusted
with iodine and ink, and you have all the advantages
of the buckhorn, with its disadvantages greatly modi-
fied. Iodine and ink are in fact indispensable for
keeping any back sight of iron in proper order, and
should be frequently applied; the iodine a day or two
before the ink. But give the straight bar a fair trial
and you will not want notches.

Elevating-sights upon a rifle are very prone to tempt
one into using them where the level sight only should
be used. For this reason many hunters will not have
them upon a rifle at all. This, however, is unwise.
The remedy is not to discard them, but learn to use
them properly. Just so surely as .the game is beyond
the natural point blank of your rifle, so surely must
the rifle-ball rise in its flight to reach it. There are
four ways of making it do this:

ist. Sighting rifle to " artificial point blank."

2d. Taking a fuller view of front sight, or, as it is
called, "a coarse bead."

3d. Holding high on game.

4th. Elevating the back sight.

The great trouble with all these methods is that of
all long-range shooting — the calculation of distance.
The artificial point-blank is no better than any
elevated sight except in requiring no adjustment.
Unless the game happens to be at the right distance
it has no advantages. And inside of that distance it
is as much a nuisance as level sights are beyond their
proper distance.

THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 359

Holding high on game is well enough-tip to a cer-
tain point; but as soon as the game is so far off that
you have to hold entirely above the body, then arises
the same trouble that makes the "coarse bead" unre-
liable beyond the same point; to wit, it involves a
double guess where a single guess is bad enough.
It involves not only a guess at the distance, but a
guess at the distance you are holding above the
game, or a guess at the amount of front sight you are
taking. The eye cannot every time accurately mea-
sure off the same amount of front sight even when
you know just how much you want. And at a hun-
dred and fifty or two hundred yards the eye, in mea-
suring off a yard or so above a deer's back, will be ex-
tremely apt to be a foot or so out of the way.

A good elevating-sight, when tested and marked
entirely avoids the second trouble. It involves only
the estimate of distance. And this difficulty is no
worse than in the other cases. But the sight should
be thoroughly tried at a target and marked for dif-
ferent distances. The factory markings are not at all
reliable.

The common elevation on the open back sight — a
small set of steps — is of very little use beyond the
second or third step. The best way to use it is to
have the first step for the level sight or natural point
blank of your rifle. Then file the second step so as
to make an artificial point blank of a hundred yards.
File the third step so as to raise the point blank to a
hundred and fifty yards, and cut away the front edge
of this step so that it can be pushed into place in a
second with the thumb instead of requiring both
hands and a minute's time to adjust it. This is about
the best adjustment for the woods. Carry the rifle

360 THE STILL-HUNTER.

with back sights set on the middle step. This is
better than having it firmly fixed at the lowest point
blank you wish to use. For all close shots where
there is much danger of overshooting, as in bad light,
against the sun, down hill, etc., slip out the elevator
to the first step, — provided you have time. Use the
second step for all else up to a hundred and fifty
yards; that is, what appears to be a hundred and
fifty yards. Use the third step for all beyond that up
to what you consider two hundred yards. This dis-
count of fifty yards on your estimate of distance is
intended only for cases where you have no time to
make any careful estimate. But you had better dis-
count twenty-five at least, even where you have time.
Especially is this the case in the woods. This arrange-
ment of open back sights is better than leaf-sights, etc.

Beyond two hundred yards open sights, even when
very fine, begin to get unreliable. And coarse sights
begin to be so at a hundred and fifty yards. For dis-
tances beyond two hundred yards there is nothing
like an elevating peep-sight on the rifle-stock. This
may be used with a globe-sight at the muzzle-end or
with a plain open front sight, ranging the top of it
with the center of the hole.

The elevating principle of Lyman's back sight is
very good — the best perhaps up to ordinary ranges
for game. It also gives two holes, a fine and a coarse
hole.

There is, however, no need of any such fine hole as
is generally used in peep-sights. It is too hard to find
the game through it, especially in the woods. The
eye finds the center of a large hole just about as ac-
curately as it does the center of a small one.

The common sliding elevation of the rear peep-

7'HE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 361

sight as now placed upon many rifles can be much
improved by the following plan; and taken for all
distances is perhaps the best elevating-sight there is:
Ream out the peep-hole to the size of a large pin-head
and rust it with iodine. Find the lowest point at
which you wish to use it; say a hundred and fifty
yards if your open sights be coarse, two hundred
if very fine. Put a drop of solder on the track there
so that it will stop at that exact point when suddenly
pushed down. Next find the two-hundred- or two-
hundred-and-fifty-yard point, or fifty yards above sol-
der, and cut a deep mark there that, if necessary, can
be found with the thumb-nail while you are watch-
ing game. Put similar marks at the three-hundred-
yard and three-hundred-and-fifty-yard point, etc.
Then carry the slide on the lowest mark above the
solder. To push it from there to the solder is no
trouble whatever. You will rarely need to raise it
above where it is. If you do, it can be quite easily
done. It is best not to shift the sights for a slight
variance above or below the game; but when you see
a ball strike above or below, hold a little lower or
higher the next time. This will be better than at-
tempting to use twenty-five-yard intervals. The
quickness of finding this sight with the eye can be
increased by cutting away the upper part of the plate
containing the peep-hole, so that the upper half of
the hole is like a half-ring.

A telescopic sight will do finer work than any sight
that can be put on a rifle. But of course the same
trouble of estimating distance remains. Up to three
hundred yards globe and peep sights are accurate
enough if you know your distance. A telescopic
sight is troublesome and bungling; is in the way of

362 THE STILL-HUNTER.

open sights on the barrel; the open sight upon top of
it is too troublesome to find for quick shooting; and
all quick work through it is nearly impossible.

The back open sight is generally set farther back
than it should be. Theoretically it will in this way
do better shooting, any variation being more appar-
ent. Practically it will do no such thing. Set six
inches farther up the barrel, the difference can hardly
be detected at the target. Whatever is lost by the
difference in appearance of variation is gained by the
greater clearness of the outlines of the back sight.
This is important even to young eyes, and especially
to aged ones. So set, a sight is also more quickly
taken by the eye, its center is more easily held, and it
will cut off the proper amount of front sight more
distinctly.

Having chosen the kind and shape of sights, the
very important- question of how to adjust them still
remains.

All rifles shoot for a short distance on a line prac-
tically level. That is, if the line of the sights be ad-
justed perfectly parallel with the axes of jthe bore,
there will still be a distance at which the fall of the
bullet will be almost inappreciable. And even after
the fall becomes appreciable there still remains a dis-
tance beyond that point where the fall may be disre-
garded in shooting at game. Both of these points
are called indiscriminately and carelessly the " natural
point-blank." This is a very unphilosophical term,
but it is so common and expresses a practical truth
so well that it may as well be retained. For practical
purposes it may best be defined as that distance at
which the ball will strike the regulation bull's-eye for
that distance without rising in its flight. This will

THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 363

cover nearly all game that is ever shot at. For in-
stance, the bull's-eye for twenty-five yards is one inch,
for fifty yards is two inches, for seventy-five yards is
three inches, for a hundred yards is four inches, cor-
responding to a grouse's head at ten yards, a squir-
rel's head at twenty-five yards, a duck's or hare's body
at a hundred yards, a turkey at a hundred and fifty
yards, a deer or antelope at two hundred, an elk at
two hundred and fifty, a buffalo at three hundred, etc.,
all on the same scale.

This " natural point-blank" is much less for all rifles
than is commonly supposed. In many it is not fifty
yards. It probably cannot be made to exceed a hun-
dred and thirty yards in any rifle. Conceding that
outside of the plains three fourths of the chances to
kill game fall inside of a hundred and forty yards,
the vast importance of this point-blank is at once ap-
parent. Every rod that can be added to it is more
than equal to a yard added to the killing range of a
shot-gun. It is often said in answer to this that more
deer are killed inside of seventy-five yards than be-
yond it. . Admitted; but where are the most missed ?
Between seventy-five and a hundred and fifty yards.
And why are the most of them missed there ? By
undershooting, and overshooting in attempting to
avoid undershooting. Every one should try his
rifle and find out just what its " natural point-blank"
is.

By so adjusting the sights as to make the ball rise
in its flight and sink into the mark another point
blank may be given to it. This is the point where
the ball descends into and cuts the line of sights after
rising above it. Thus when a Winchester rifle of
'73 model is sighted to hit the bull's-eye at two

364 THE STILL-HUNTER.

hundred yards, the ball at ten or fifteen yards from
the muzzle rises into and cuts the level line of sights,
keeps above the line of sights, rising all the way
to about a hundred and ten yards, then descends
toward the line of sights, and touches it again at two
hundred yards — the bull's-eye. This is called the
" artificial point-blank," and may be varied to any
distance to which the rifle may shoot. It is contended
by good authority, and on very strong grounds too,
that this is the only point-blank, that no such thing
as a natural point-blank exists, and that the distinc-
tion should be abolished as absurd. My answer is,
that though according to strict philosophy there may
be no natural point-blank, yet that practically there is;
that the idea is firmly lodged in the heads of the great
majority and never can be dislodged; and, above all,
that there is no sounder philosophy than that which
recognizes a useful, practical truth, although it may
be in fact an error.

By the artificial point-blank all the practical advan-
tages of the natural point-blank may not only be re-
tained but much extended. Suppose a rifle to have
a natural point-blank of seventy-five yards, the ball
at that point being about an inch and a half below the
center. Now if the ball had been made to just cross
the line of sights at forty yards, it would be in the
center of the mark at eighty yards and not over
an inch below it at a hundred yards. And yet it
would not have missed a squirrel's head anywhere
along the line. In this way a rifle throwing a very
swift large ball may be made to shoot to a hundred
and thirty or a hundred and forty yards, so that one
can shoot all along the line at small marks and yet
notice neither rise nor fall so long as he shoots off-

THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 365

hand and with open sights. And a very swift and
velocity-sustaining ball may be thus sent for a hun-
dred and seventy yards without missing a turkey any-
where along the line.

But if the rise at the middle of the course be too
great there is, as we have seen, a loss. And this may
be so great as to overbalance the advantage. A rifle
sighted to a point blank too far off, or having so slow
a ball that it has to rise high to reach a short point-
blank, will miss far more game inside of a hundred
and fifty yards than it will catch beyond that point.
Such is the case with many rifles as they come from
the factory; and attempting to hold low enough
with them is one of the most delusive things in the
world.

Keeping, then, clearly in mind that the less rise
there is to the ball the better, the adjustments of the
sights for large game will depend entirely upon the
kind of ground upon which you are to hunt. Remem-
ber, however, that, on account of the strong tendency
to overshoot, an inch of rise above is in the long-run
as bad as two inches of fall below or three inches of
deviation to either side the mark. And remember the
natural tendency to overestimate the distance at which
most game is killed, and that the most advantageous
point at which to shoot at game is much closer than is
commonly supposed.

The following rises of bullets at the middle point
will, I think, be fully enough, supposing you use a
swift ball:

For the woods, one inch.

For the open hilly ground, two and a half inches.

For the plains, four inches.

No rise of ball higher than the above should be

366 THE STILL-HUNTER.

made with the open s?.ghts if you are to do any shoot-
ing at running game. If you are to take only stand-
ing shots you may set them as much higher, being
very careful to shoot low at the midway point, and
also down hill, or in dim light, against the sun, etc.

LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 367

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE LOADING, CARE, AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES.

ALTHOUGH upon principle the rotation of a rifle-
ball balances inequalities in it as rotation does in a
spinning top, yet the fact is that the effect of inequal-
ities is simply reduced and not annulled. Though
defectively cast balls may appear to shoot quite well,
yet they will not average such accurate work as well-
made ones; and however true some of them may go,
any one of them is liable to stray at the very time
when you most depend upon it. Lead for casting
balls should be melted in a large ladle; or a small
pot is better. It should be stirred to a uniform den-
sity, kept clear of dross, kept at a uniform heat, and
not allowed to get too hot. It should be dipped
out with a clay pipe or iron spoon, which should also
be kept at the same temperature by being kept i-m-
mersed in the molten lead.

It used to be thought that the softest lead is the
'best. This is true enough for solid balls as far as
killing effect is concerned. The softest lead is not
only the heaviest, but will expand the most upon
striking. For a muzzle-loader with round ball or
short cylindrical or conical ball it is probably the
best metal. But whether softness is necessary for
accuracy in any rifle, however light the ball, may well
be doubted. It is, however, in such cases accurate
enough.

368 THE STILL-HUNTER.

But where the ball is very long and heavy relatively
to its diameter it starts so much more slowly that if
soft it may be mashed out of shape before fairly
under way. This is the case with the breech-loader,
especially with a heavy charge of powder. This has
already been fully considered. The best remedy for
this is the admixture of tin with the lead. Five per
cent of tin or ten per cent of common solder will
improve the shooting of any ball from a breech-
loader, whether long or short, round or cylindrical,
and whether shot naked or patched. Double this
quantity is sometimes necessary for very long balls.
And even double that may be used. I once tried
some balls that were about forty per cent tin, so hard
I could hardly hammer them into the shell with the
loading-tools. I shot these naked from a Maynard
rifle, and they did the best work I have ever seen from
a breech-loader. Five of them in succession I placed
in a four-inch ring at two hundred yards, with globe-
sights and rest of course. Several more fired at
short distances cut into the same hole with almost
the regularity of a muzzle-loader. The same is the
case with round balls, which generally must be hard-
ened to work well in a breech-loader. It is possible
that a little tin in the ball might improve its accuracy
even when fired from a muzzle-loader, though I have
never tried it.

The molds should be kept hot during the casting.
Wrap the handles well with buckskin and let the
molds get as hot as they please. Pour in only enough
for one bullet at a time, putting the dipper back into
the pot to keep hot. Pour in enough to fully fill the
entrance-hole, and jar the molds a bit so as to have
the metal well settled. In shaking balls out of the

LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 369

molds have a mat of cloth or paper to drop them on,
and do not let them strike each other hard, as when
hot they are very easily indented.

Reject every defective ball. If the molds are new
and make wrinkled balls, smoke them in a candle,
burn grease in them, wipe thoroughly, resmoke and
rewipe, etc. If you have many defective balls, keep
them to melt over together with some more soft
lead, as they may be too hard to load easily if re-
melted ; and if put in the pot with the others they
may affect the uniformity of the hardness of the rest.
Where balls are to be patched they should be smoothed
off and made even with a swedge. And even when
to be shot naked this will improve them.

These matters look like needless niceties. Of course
good shooting may be done with carelessly made balls.
But to observe this care will not make fifteen minutes'
difference in the whole time of casting, and may some
time save you a deer or an antelope. All through
your dealings with the rifle observe this rule: when-
ever care costs little or nothing, use it.

It used to be a maxim of the old hunters that " too
much powder makes a ball fly wild." There is some
truth in this if the ball be soft and the twist of the
rifle swift, and plenty of truth in it if the ball be both
soft and long. But if the ball be short or round and
well hardened with tin and the twist slow, the amount
of powder that may be used without affecting accu-
racy seems to be unlimited.

It may be said that a small rifle cannot burn a large
charge. Literally that is true. However small an
amount of powder be put in a gun, some of it will
probably be thrown out unburned unless in a very
long barrel. But the greater the charge the greater

370 THE STILL-HUNTER.

the amount actually burned, although the proportion-
ate amount burned will of course be less; just as two
thirds of six drams is actually more than three fourths
of four drams, etc.

More powder can be used with effect behind round
or short balls than behind very long ones. The effect
of an increase of charge is noticeable at once in the
straighter trajectory of the ball at short range, while
the increase of recoil amounts to little. The increase
of the charge of powder behind a long heavy ball is
noticeable at once at the shoulder, but is hardly no-
ticeable upon the ball's trajectory until it passes five
hundred or six hundred yards, when extra force be-
gins to show itself. The reason is that the increase
of velocity has been too slight to materially straighten
the curve of first two hundred yards or so. But this
very slight velocity, uniting with the great weight of
the long ball, has made a very material difference in
momentum, upon which a long flight depends. It
may, however, affect the trajectory by recoil, as we
have seen under that head. As the killing effect of
light balls depends materially upon velocity, one can
hardly use too much powder behind them.

For shot-guns both coarse and fine-grained powders
have their champions. There is, however, now no
dispute as to the best for a rifle. Fine powder used
to be thought the best, and in a short barrel with a
round ball doubtless will give a higher velocity. But
coarse powder is generally quick enough, and for all
long bullets is far the best. But where the bullet is
not very long and you wish excessive force, as in an
express rifle, it is well to put half a charge of coarse
powder in the shell first with half a charge of fine
upon the top of it. This will give a steady start and

LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 371

a swift send-off. But fine powder being quicker than
coarse is more liable to jam or " upset" a ball, unless
used upon this compensating principle.

At short range, especially with round or short bul-
let, a trifling difference in the quantity of powder or
in its dryness is not very material. But, where pos-
sible, care should be used even in this respect. And
the longer the ball and the farther you wish to shoot
the more essential becomes this care, and the more
essential becomes the even setting of the powder in
the shell ; and take care not to break the grains by
hard pounding, etc. More powder may be put in a
shell, and it will be more evenly packed, by pouring it
into the shell through a tube a yard or so in length.

The mouth of the shell should be kept clean with
diluted vinegar and a rag. The balls, if shot naked,
should be thoroughly greased with tallow, which in
hot weather may be mixed with a little beeswax, but
in winter should be used pure. Beeswax dirties a
rifle fast and should be used only when necessary, as
in hot weather. A wad or two of heavy leather be-
neath the ball will do no harm, and will be apt to
improve the shooting by preventing the flashing of
fire around the ball as it passes into the grooves.

But no rifle will shoot a long series of naked balls
as well as one of patched ones. And if you get any
rifle besides a repeater you should have it chambered
and the shells fixed for shooting patched balls. I
say "besides a repeater," because they are now all
made for shooting naked balls. But I see no reason
why such a fine rifle as the Winchester express should
not be made to shoot patched balls, and see no reason
why it could not.

Long balls are patched with bank-note paper, gold-

372 THE STILL-HUNTER.

beater's skin, bladder, or parchment. Fair patching
for deep-seated balls may be made of good strong
linen smeared until stiff with hot tallow. This makes
good patching for a muzzle-loader. Parchment is the
best, and under the head of 'dressing buckskin I will
show how to make some very easily that will be far
superior in toughness to any you can buy. The
material is cut into strips that will roll once and a half
times or twice or two and a half times around the
ball, according to thickness of material. It is wet
with a little gum-arabic water, then rolled around
the ball so as to cover about two thirds of its base, and
the whole should then be dropped into a hole in a
block to dry in that shape. You will, however, do
well to buy a cartridge already patched and examine
it before following directions from any one.

To load round balls so as to shoot accurately in a
breech-loader is no trifling matter and has puzzled
many a one. To be shot naked they must be made
very hard. They must fit very tight. Plently of
grease must be put around them and a heavy leather
wad below them. Then they may work fairly well.

But for good work they also must be patched. They
cannot, however, be patched and pushed into the
shell as into the muzzle of a muzzle-loader. The
shoulder of the rifle will strip off the patch half the
time. The following plan I find the most certain, and
have picked up scores of patches in front of the rifle
without finding any sign of stripping, tearing, or burn-
ing. Putting on a thick leather wad — wads are even
more essential under a round ball than under the
cylindrical, as the fire leaks around them more — I cut
a strip of strong parchment well greased and about
three quarters of an inch wide and just long enough

LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 373

to go once around inside the shell. Into this I push
the ball, and turning over the edges of the patch put
half a split wad upon the top to keep out dirt, etc. If
round balls loaded in this way are not as accurate (at
short range, of course) as the long ones, the fault is in
the shoulder of the rifle-chamber. It is either too
sharp or too far from the end of the cartridge, or some-
thing of the kind. Buckskin makes even better patch-
ing than parchment, but is harder to use with full
shells. The best patching varies, however, with rifles,
and must be ascertained by experiment. This is true
even of the muzzle-loader, and even more so of the
breech-loader.

Patched balls like naked ones should fit very tight
in the shell. And in order to get them in straight
and prevent swelling the shell so as to cause it to
stick, it is better where the balls are deep-seated in
the shell, as round ones generally are, to put the shell
into a solid tube of metal such as is used as a " loader"
to retain the shell when the ball is driven home. The
more lightly the ball sits in the shell the nearer it
comes to being in the grooves when receiving the first
blow of the powder, and therefore the better it will
shoot, all else being equal. In such case you may not
be able to drive the ball in with the loader without
damaging the patch, unless you use much care. But
with the loader you can get it in tighter and generally
much more true than by hand. If you use a double
rifle, the balls must fit tight enough to prevent recoil
throwing them in the next barrel out of the shell into
the chamber.

The shoulders of some rifles, especially of those
made several years ago, may need some beveling off or
other fixing before they will shoot patched balls well,

374 THE STILL-HUNTER.

as the shoulder- may strip or cut the patch. Care
must also be taken in carrying patched balls; for if
the patch runs outside of the shell, as it should do for
all long bullets or very accurate shooting, it will get
torn or frayed in carrying. It should be carried in a
belt that will protect it perfectly. A leather belt is
the surest for this purpose. But every few days the
cartridges should be taken out and wiped free from
the verdigris that accumulates on shells in a leather
belt. For other shells canvas makes a better belt.

The cleaning of the rifle is a matter of much more
importance than is generally supposed. Because a
rifle may often shoot quite well when it is dirty many
suppose that it either needs no cleaning or else cleans
itself. All rifles need cleaning after every shot; that
is, to do their best work. No rifle cleans itself except
a muzzle-loader, and wiping will improve the shoot-
ing even of that. When shooting in damp air, clean-
ing is of less importance than in dry air, though its
neglect may at any moment cause even the best breech-
loader to throw a "wild " ball. But when shooting in
dry air, especially on a hot day, the dirt burns so dry
and hard that the bullet cannot push it out or slide
over it without being affected by the roughness. A
barrel containing such dirt is liable at any time to cut
or even strip a patch, and is quite sure to wipe off
lead from a naked ball. I have seen a Winchester of
1873 model shoot all over a two-foot candle-box at
thirty yards after firing six or seven shots from it;
and then after two or three good wipes shoot into a
two-inch ring on the same box. The more powder
you shoot, and the longer the barrel of the rifle, the
greater the necessity of cleaning.

Of course no one can stop to clean when shooting

LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 375

at game. But when no more game is in sight there is
generally no reason for not cleaning except laziness.
The power of that I must myself admit. The more
unnecessary work invention removes, the more we shirk
what necessary work remains.

Cleaning in the field is so easy a matter that it is
astonishing how we neglect it. A pocket wiper can
be made and carried by every one. Every rifle should
have a wiping-rod in the stock as does the Winchester.

Wet dirt can nearly always be taken out with a dry
rag. Dry dirt will generally yield to it after the bar-
rel has been breathed into a few minutes. When in
haste you may pour water or any other convenient
substitute.

Perfect cleaning may not be always convenient in
the field, but there is no excuse for neglect of it, or
for makeshifts of any kind when at home or in camp.
The rifle should always be cleaned and oiled at night
if it has been used during the day. Cleaning has
been so thoroughly tested at the target that it is quite
useless for any " practical man" to jump up and tell
us how much game, etc., he kills with a dirty rifle,
etc. We know all that. Of course it can be neglected
as well as a dozen other points may be. The only
question is, is such neglect profitable when all you
gain by it is such a trifling bit of personal comfort ?

Some say, " never pour water in a fine gun." Water
hurts a gun just as it does a razor — when it is left on
the metal. But a razor may be wet every day for a
hundred years without injury from rust. So may a
gun. There is absolutely nothing that takes hold of
powder-dirt like water. Half the substitutes for it,
such as kerosene, benzine, alcohol, etc., are heartless
hoaxes and make thrice the labor that water does. If

376 THE STILL-HUNTER.

new strong cloth be used for wiping there will be no
danger from water. It is a common idea that any old
rag will do to clean a gun with. On the contrary, to
clean a gun well requires good, strong, new, and
rough cloth. Nothing lighter than heavy unbleached
muslin can be relied on to bring all the dirt, lead, and
dampness from a rifle.

For cleaning, a strong rod of the best hickory
should be used, notched and jagged instead of hav-
ing a miserable eye or hook at the end, so that a
heavy wad of cloth may be used without jamming.
And this wad of cloth should occasionally be made so
tight that the rod has to be driven against something
solid to force it through. Only in this way can you
be sure that your rifle is not leaded. The cloth thus
driven through will either bring out the lead or show
that it has passed lead.

For greasing, .almost any animal or /^-vegetable
oil is good. Rattlesnake-oil has more body than al-
most any other oil and is often easy to make. An
excellent oil is made by cooking the marrow of a
deer's legs. Vaseline and cosmoline are also good.
But for a rust preventive scarcely anything excels
mercurial ointment. Too much grease, however,
may overshoot the mark. Enough is enough, and a
tight and well-greased rag or bit of buckskin forced
through the barrel once or twice is best.

Should your rifle happen to get rusty inside it
should be attended to at once. This had better be
intrusted to a reliable gunsmith. But if none is at
hand you had better do it yourself than leave it so.
Very fine emery is safe enough for any one to use
who is careful, but the rag should be well oiled and
run back and forth through the barrel several times

LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 377

before the emery is applied to it. Apply it as evenly
as possible, make the stroke long and steady, use
plenty of oil, and keep up the polishing no longer
than is necessary. Emery may, however, be as hard
to get as a gunsmith. In such case use fine wood-
ashes and plenty of muscle, and in either case have
the barrel firmly lashed or fastened to something
solid.

But no amount of care with a rifle will obviate the
necessity of practice with it in order to do good
shooting. And this practice should be in the field,
at natural marks, at varying distances, and in vary-
ing play of light and shade. It should be up hill and
down hill, across valleys, etc. etc. Beyond the ordi-
nary and obvious reasons for this I will mention an-
other which affects me very much and must affect
every one somewhat; viz., ocular aberration, or the
impossibility of always measuring off with the eye
the same exact amount of front sight necessary for
good shooting on the horizontal line. The difference
on the front sight of the thickness of two sheets of
paper may cause a miss at one hundred yards. Who
without much practice can tell the edge of six sheets
of paper pressed together at the edge and held four
feet from his eye from eight sheets held the same
way? It would be hard enough even if both were
seen side by side. Get a good carpenter to make you
a foot-rule from memory, or ask a good draughtsman
to mark you out by his eye a dozen or so separate
one-eighth parts of an inch. Then get him to meas-
ure them and you will see one great cause of bad
shooting.

All through the subject of rifles I have for brevity
omitted much that is generally known, such as how

378 THE STILL-HUNTER.

to load a muzzle-loader, etc., and much that can be
left to the reader's common-sense, such as which way
to move a rifle-sight to make it shoot high or low, or
to right or left, etc.

MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 379

CHAPTER XXXIV.

MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. ADVICE. CONCLUSION.

THERE is a large amount of useful lore about wood-
craft, camping, fitting out, etc. etc. etc., which must
necessarily be omitted from such a work as this, espe-
cially as it can be found elsewhere. I therefore con-
fine myself entirely to such few points as are either
not considered in other works that I have seen or else
are so generally treated as to be of little use.

White clothes are of little use for hunting wild
deer except upon open ground with snow, and even
then the face and rifle should be concealed as much
as possible. In timber your motion across tree-trunks
is caught by the deer's eye so quickly that you can
relax no caution even with the whitest outfit you can
get. Gray or brown, according to- the color of your
general background, is better for general use.

Clothes should not be stiff or harsh so as to make a
noise against brush, and the coat should have no
skirts or tail. Jackets made by cutting off the lower
six inches of woolen shirts, slitting up the front and
adding two or three buttons, are very good things to
wear. Two or three may be put on for cold weather
and fastened at the bottom with the cartridge-belt.
An extra one may be tucked into the belt behind. A
linen jacket over two or three of these will shed rain
about as long as anything and stop considerable
wind.

380 THE STILL-HUNTER.

For durability buckskin is as important as it is to
the hero of a sporting romance. It is also very
good for dry cold weather. For warm or wet weather
it is a nuisance. Still it is soft against brush, and pants
will be much better if faced in front with it to half way
above the knee and two thirds the way around on
each side. For this purpose it should always be well
smoked so as to dry soft when wet.

The simpler and lighter your dress the better. An
immense butcher-knife, hatchet, pistol, watch, whisky-
flask, etc. etc. etc., may, like the fifth wheel of a wagon,
come handy once in a year or two. But it hardly pays
to pack a fifth wheel around with one. Everything
unnecessary, all leggings, fancy clothes, and " toggery"
of every sort, are nuisances. The most valuable know-
ledge in the world is to know what we can dispense
with. And nowhere is this more valuable than in
getting up a still-hunting outfit.

Every kind of sole-leather add to your litany. Go
not astray on " deer-stalker's shoes," " English walking-
shoes," or "hunting-boots" of any kind. If you can-
not wear moccasins, get a pair of shoes made with
soft heels and soles; the latter projecting at the edge
so that a new piece of soft leather may be added in a
few moments with an awl and buckskin thong when
the first is worn through. India-rubber overshoes are
very good worn loose without boots, but are uncom-
fortable on the feet.

Every one who hunts much should get his feet
accustomed to moccasins. When the foot is once
toughened to them, which, with care in beginning
gradually, will occur in two weeks and often less,
nothing can equal them for quiet and rapid traveling.
On some kinds of ground it is almost impossible to

MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 381

approach wild deer without them. One can walk
farther in them with less fatigue, with less slipping on
rocks, hill-sides, dry grass, etc., and less danger of
spraining an ankle, tripping, or falling, than with any-
thing else that can be worn. In dry cold snow, when
worn with two or three pairs of woolen socks or a
doubled piece of heavy woolen blanket wrapped out-
side of one pair, they are absolutely unapproachable
for ease and comfort. And even in wet snow or wet
grass, mud, etc., they are as good as 'anything that
can be worn without making too much noise, except
india-rubber shoes. They will hold you on any slope
where anything but spiked shoes can hold you, and
are far better than those for running along rocks,
logs, etc. The uppers, if of good material, will last
as long as those of a good pair of boots. New soles
can be speedily cut out of old boot-legs, and put on
with an awl and buckskin thong.

The best of all moccasins are those of buckskin.
As buying cannot always be depended upon — except
buying poor ones — one who expects to hunt much
should learn to make his own moccasins. This is a
very trifling matter for anyone of any ingenuity; and
with a little practice such a one can soon make them
as shapely as any he can buy.

The easiest pattern to make is that of the Sioux
Indians. A piece of buckskin the exact length of the
foot and about seven and a half inches wide (for a No. 7
foot) is first cut out. This should be cut from the
rump or along the back of the hide. To insure even
cutting it should be laid on a board, the piece marked
out with a square and lead-pencil, perfectly square-
cornered, and then cut with a sharp knife so that
there is no pulling it out of shape. It is then folded

382 THE STILL-HUNTER.

once lengthwise, and about a quarter of an inch of
the lower corner of one end rounded off, so as to keep
the toe from being too sharp-pointed. The two ends
are then sewed up. But when you get within four
fifths of an inch of the end of the heel press it down
upon a board and cut off the lower part, so that when
sewed up it will look like a narrow ~\ inverted, thus:
J_, You may, however, sew it straight down, as it is
mainly a matter of " looks." The thing now looks a
little like a birch canoe with a pretty straight bow.
This bow is then gathered to a tongue rounded to an
oval end in front and fastened across the center of
the canoe. The whole thing must be sewed inside
out, and every seam should be sewed with a strip of
heavy buckskin in it to protect the stitches. A buck-
'skin needle — a cutting needle — should be used with
heavy waxed linen thread, and the seams run over
twice for durability. But an awl and shoemaker's
" waxed end," or a buckskin thong with the end
waxed and twisted, is better yet. A person of any in-
genuity cannot fail to make at the first trial a pair
that will answer all demands but those of beauty.
Tops three' or four inches high should then be added,
and both buttoned to a button in the center of the
tongue, and one buttoned to the other on one side of
the ankle at the top. For snow these tops should be
of cloth, as they wet too quickly if of buckskin. If the
pantaloons be tied tightly around these at the ankle
one may walk all day in dry cold snow and have his
feet perfectly dry and warm. For keeping out dead
grass and other tickling things a shield of leather may
be placed inside under the tongue and reaching half
way down the sid.es and half way to the tongue. This
with heavy buckskin facing on your pantaloons hang-

MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 383

ing loose and low will also be about as good a guard
against snake-bites as you can conveniently have. An
inner sole of sheep-skin with the wool half sheared
off may be necessary at first if the feet are tender.

The most important part of every recipe for making
buckskin is never given, and the* rest is so generally
stated as to be of little use. The important part is
that the undertaking should always be sublet when-
ever possible. It is tedious, tiresome, and disagree-
able, the best way it can be done. Still there may
be times in every hunter's life when he may have to
make it himself. And every one should know how
to do it. The operation requires no skill and may,
moreover, be done by any common hand under your
supervision.

There is no tanning process about it. Leather is
a chemical compound. Buckskin is simply the raw
fiber broken up, loosened, and retained from stiffening
again when wet.

The hair, the fine little outer skin in which it is em-
bedded, called " the grain," and the fleshy and mem-
branous parts adhering to the inside must first be re-
moved. To do this is no trifling matter unless one
knows just how, and then it is simple enough though
it takes work. The, hide is first soaked in water from
two to five 01 six days, according to temperature of
water. In warm water a dry hide will soften in two
days, and soon after that will begin to spoil. In cold
water it may, and often must, be left longer. A hide
will be soft enough when first stripped from the deer,
but will be better if left a day or two in water. If
stripped off from the neck downward a hide will be
more easy to clean on the inside.

A graining-log and knife are now necessary. A

384 THE STILL-HUNTER.

log of hard wood eight or nine feet long and six or
eight inches thick, having about two or three feet of
smooth hard surface on one side of one end, is fast-
ened in the ground (under a root or something)
so that the smooth end is about waist-high. Two
auger-holes may be bored in it near this end and
legs inserted. The hide thrown over that and held
fast by pressing it with the waist against the end of
the log, is in condition to clean.

The knife must have a scraping edge and not a cut-
ting edge. A rib of a horse or cow, back of a draw-
knife, etc., may be used. But the best is the back of
the blade of a common table-knife. Drive the blade
lengthwise and half its depth into a piece of stick
about eighteen inches long so as to leave two good
handles on the stick. With a few minutes' trial you
will get the proper stroke with this.

A hide will generally " grain" better the way the
hair runs. But the "grain" will stick in spots, and
sometimes you must run over it in different direc-
tions. Each side should be run over twice, so as to
insure good cleaning. Clean them alternately.

When cleaned, a hide may be softened at once. But
if in no haste, let it dry and resoak it for a day. Then
pull, haul, and stretch it in every part until it all be-
comes white. Continue this until it is dry, rubbing
out between the knuckles all places that show signs
of stiffening. Should it be too hard to work soft the
first time, resoak it and rub dry again. Sometimes
this must be repeated two or. three times. Stiff spots
can, however, be moistened separately afterward by
laying a damp cloth on them and rubbing them dry
separately. The stretching of the fiber on a large
hide is often no trifling matter. Pressing and saw-

MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 385

ing over the edge of a sharpened board a little over
waist-high, turning the hide around each time, is
about as effective a way as any. Two men standing
in the sun and turning it around constantly can soon
pull a common-sized hide soft. Stretching firmly in a
strong frame and dancing on it until dry will stretch
and loosen the toughest hide.

A hide may be rubbed soft much quicker if brains
be rubbed into it. When the fiber is loosened up so
that the hide looks white, rub the brains of a deer or
other animal into it. Or the brains may be dissolved
in water and the hide soaked in it. Mashing in with
the hand is, however, the quicker way. If one ap-
plication is not enough, rub in more. Grease answers
this purpose somewhat. But it is much inferior to
brains and requires warm water and soap, with con-
siderable work also to wash it out. Some may be
left in, but the most of it must come out unless you
wish an " oil-tanned " hide, which you do not, how-
ever, for any purpose but strings.

The oftener a hide is wet and rubbed soft the better
it is for clothes etc. But where toughness is the main
point, as for strings, etc., it should be softened no
more than is necessary. Some hides are very ob-
stinate, and cannot be worked soft the first time ex-
cept by a person very strong in the hands, — and in
patience.

Without smoking, buckskin cannot be depended
upon to dry soft when wet. Nothing will take its
place. Smoked to lemon-color or light buff will gener-
ally do. To get an even color a smoke-house and slow
smoking is best. It may, however, be done in one day
by setting a tight barrel or big box over a deep hole
in the ground and forcing the smoke. Or it may be

386 THE STILL-HUNTER.

wrapped around poles over a hole so as to make a
wigwam of it.

I have tried sulphuric acid, lye, and the whole list
of agents contained in all the recipes, and find them
all useless nuisances. Some, such as the acid and lye,
will soon ruin a hide if used too strong or too long.
There is absolutely no chemical agent that will
enable you to dispense with stretching and rubbing
the hide hard and rapidly while it is drying. By
chemical agents you may make leather. But buck-
skin can be made only by mechanical means. Apply
the work and the other things are needless. With-
out the work they are unavailing. Excellent parch-
ment for patching may be made from a fawn-skin by
soaking it well with grease in the heat of the sun or
fire, washing out about a third of it in blood-warm
water, pulling the skin till white, then stretching it on
a board tight and allowing it to dry hard. Dress it
down with sand-paper and a knife-edge.

It is but a few years since I would as soon have been
seen hunting with kid gloves, a " biled shirt," and
" plug" hat as with anything to eat about me. Most
hunters, I think, have the same stupid pride about being
" tough." But no man, no matter who he may be, can,
in hunting with the rifle, afford to despise the advan-
tage of being well fed. He may not feel weak or
faint, he may flatter himself that he is not hungry. But
want of food will be apt to affect his shooting never-
theless; especially if he has a hill to climb, a run to
make, or a very fine shot to make. Venison, cut in
strips half an inch thick, soaked a day in strong
brine, and dried in the camp-fire smoke or in the
chimney-corner at home, makes a very portable and

MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 387

substantial lunch, conduces more to that desirable
solidity of muscle and nerve essential to good shoot-
ing than anything else you can carry except beef, and,
to say the least, is quite as palatable as doughnuts and
similar " baby-feed," and takes up far less room.

You may find your first half-dozen deer all standing
broadside in plain open sight and close by; may hit
every one at the first shot with a dirty rifle carelessly
loaded, and shoot every one dead in its tracks. I
have myself seen deer so plenty and tame that a
novice could do this. But beware how you conclude
from such success that I have been unnecessarily
particular in the advice I have given, or that deer-
hunting is a thing to which you were specially born.
Many of the most important principles of stalking
deer and antelope are obtainable only by a consider-
able amount of careful observation. You might hunt
a week by the side of a careless and bad hunter and
a week by the side of a careful and good one, and yet
notice no difference in their work if judged by its suc-
cess. The trouble is that neither one week nor two
weeks will suffice to test any important point in hunt-
ing of this kind. Follow sound principle whether you
see its immediate results or not. Especially should it
be followed where it costs nothing, such as raising
your head slowly over ridges and taking your gun
from your shoulder, etc.

In no other branch of field-sports is there such an
array of exceptions to nearly every rule. Sometimes
these are so numerous as to require long observation
to determine which is the rule and which the excep-
tion. Often the exceptions are as important as the
rule itself. In such case I have given them. But

388 THE STILL-HUNTER.

*

there are many others which have been necessarily
omitted for want of space. On the whole, you cannot
be too careful how you draw conclusions from a few
instances.

Sound principle often requires the entire disregard
of a rule. Five times out of six it is useless to follow
up a deer once started. Yet if deer are extremely
scarce or you wish to go on the course the deer has
gone, you had better follow him by all means. So
when a single deer plunges into a very brushy hill-
side the chances are very strong that you will see him
no more. But it will cost you nothing to stand two
or three minutes and watch for his appearance at
some open place. And once in five or six times you
may see him again and get a good shot.

Other things must.be decided solely upon common-
sense. A man with hobnailed boots, bright-colored
clothes, and big flop-hat gets as much game as one
who wears moccasins, clothes of neutral color, and a
small cap. Judging solely by visible results the one
outfit is as good as the other. Yet your common-
sense alone is enough to tell you that the latter outfit
must be the best, and that the want of difference in
results must be due to other causes.

In scarcely any branch of life is one more apt to
draw wrong conclusions from hasty observation than
in hunting deer and antelope and shooting with the
rifle. Passing over the whole host of absurd and
contradictory theories held by good hunters and good
shots, who either do not follow them in practice, or,
if they do, succeed in spite of them by virtue of their
other qualifications, I will mention a remarkable case
of two gross errors resulting in success.

A friend of mine had a rifle which he fully believed

MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 389

had a natural point blank of two hundred yards.
He supposed the ball would drop about two feet in
the next hundred yards, or have a total drop of two
feet for three hundred yards. These ideas he had got-
ten as most hunters get their notions — from his im-
agination and careless observation; never having tried
his rifle. He saw a deer at three hundred yards as he
supposed, sighted about two feet above its back, and
down came the deer shot through the heart. He
had never shot many deer, and of course was highly
delighted with such a shot. He looked the ground
over and felt satisfied he had not done himself justice.
So he took the trouble to do what few ever do on long
shots: he paced the distance. Rash man ! such a
thing is even worse than weighing a trout. By the
shortest strides that would satisfy his conscience it
was only a hundred and eighty yards. The ball had
fallen about three feet, about its natural drop for that
distance. Had he been right in his estimate of dis-
tance it would have fallen about sixteen feet.

It is rare that you can thus utilize errors, making
them counteract each other. But you can make a
far better use of them. That is, study them. Study
them —

ist. To see whether they really be errors or not.

2d. To learn how to avoid them.

In no way will you learn as much as by doing this.
If there be anything that makes this book of any
value, if there be any soundness of principle in it, any
thoroughness and carefulness of analysis, any clear ex-
position of mistakes that will be likely to entrap the
beginner, anything new or unwritten about before, it
is due solely to two facts:

390 THE STILL-HUNTER.

ist. That I have stumbled over nearly every error
that it is possible for one to encounter.

2d. That I have studied those errors in a way that
not one in a thousand has either the humility of soul
or the patience to do.

THE END.

FIELD, FOREST, AND STREAM/

The Rifle, Rod and Gun in California.

A SPORTING ROMANCE.

By THEODORE S. VAN DYKE.

12mo, Extra Cloth, beveled, - - - - $1.5O.

Published by FORDS, HOWARD, & HULBERT, N.Y.

" That prince of sportsmen, T. S. Van Dyke." — Sacramento
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A very successful attempt to combine the interest of a novel
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CHOICE FICTION. .

AMERICAN LIFE BY AMERICAN AUTHORS.

WILLIAM A. WILKINS.

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u The hidden things of very ' practical ' politics." — N. Y. Tribune. "The revela-
tions of v machine ' methods are remarkable.' —Philadelphia Bulletin. " Will enjoy his
characterizations, witty sayings, and skillful hits at ' folly as it flies.' "—Hartford Times.
" The reader's interest is held from first to last by the author's absolute fidelity to things
as they are." — N. Y. Herald. "Wholesome, attractive, and readable." — Toledo Blade.

MRS. A. G. PADDOCK.

THE FATE OF MADAME LA TOUR. A Story of Great Salt
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HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

MY WIFE AND I : Or, Harry Henderson's History. A Novel.

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Street. Illustrated. 480 pp., cloth, $1.50.
PINK AND WHITE TYRANNY. Illustrated. 375 pp., cloth,

$1.50. \A Society Novel.]
POGANUC PEOPLE: Their Loves and Lives. Illustrated. 331 pp.,

cloth, $1.50. [Early New England Scene and Character.]

N.B. — Issued in uniform style, in a box, at $5 the set.

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

NORWpOD ; Or, Village Life in New England. A Novel. (New
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INSHTA THEAMBA (BRIGHT EYES).

PLOUGHED UNDER: The Story of an Indian Chief. Told
by himself. With an Introduction by INSHTA THEAMBA ("Bright
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CHOICE FICTION.

AMERICAN LIFE BY AMERICAN AUTHORS.

ALBION W. TOURGEE.

A ROYAL GENTLEMAN. (Originally published as " Toinette ") -.
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A FOOL'S ERRAND. By one of the Fools. 321 pp. i6mo. Cloth,
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41 The book will rank among the famous novels that, once written, must be read by
everybody. " — Portland A dvertiser.

A FOOL'S ERRAND, and THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE. 521

pp. Royal 8vo. Illustrated. Cloth, $2. [The famous Novel, with
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BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW. 521 pp. Frontispiece. Cloth,
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%i Of absorbing interest to those satiated with the artificial atmosphere of the modern
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HOT PLOWSHARES. {Rise and Growth of the Anti-Slavery Senti-
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* 27 Park Place, New York.

OVfc
ONTINEHT

ILLUSTRATED ft5EEI^LY fflAGAZINE,

Conducted by ALBION W. TOURGEE.
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This Magazine, unique among American Periodicals, offers the fol-
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1. It is Issued Every "Week, a fact which multiplies the pleasure

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tation of the Highest Style of Wood Engraving.

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FORDS, HOWARD, & HULBERT, NEW YORK.

OVK
CONTINENT

LIBRARY.

Recent arrangements made by FORDS, HOWARD, & HULBERT will
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1. UNDER GREEN APPLE BOUGHS. A Novel. By HELEN
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2. THE HOUSE THAT JILL BUILT, After Jack's Had
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; A Summer Pilgrimage.

AUTHOR, SAUL WRIGHT.

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THE MOUNTAINS.

CAMP AND CABIN:

LIFE AND LUCK IN THE SIERRAS.
By R. W. RAYMOND.

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traveller."— Providence Press.

" Overflowing with humor and pathos, and set off against a background of the
grand, weird scenery of the mining regions." — Boston Traveller.

THE BACKWOODS.

PATTY PEARSON'S BOY:

A TALE OF TWO GENERATIONS.
By HELEN CAMPBELL.

" A powerful tale, handling with rare dexterity and good sense the much-be-
fogged notion of inherited traits, under the most exciting and passion-breeding
circumstances. " — Rochester Express.

" It is cool in tone, showing much reserved power ; with not many characters,
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humor as they well could be. It will undoubtedly make a mark." — Indianapolis
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THE PLAINS.

PL o UGHED UNDER •

THE STORY OF A PRAIRIE FLOWER.

"An entertaining light romance, suitable for Summer reading. . . . Possesses
what, in pur estimation, is the sine qua non of a really good novel." — The Ameri-
can Register.

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Uniform in Price: Paper, 5Oc.; Cloth, $1,

FORDS, HOWARD, & HULBERT, Publishers,
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GENERAL LIBRARY
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