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 running 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 a mile 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 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 peculiar 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 discovery 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 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 approach 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 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 afternoon, 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 you seeing the rest of the band. For deer can feed along through brush quite low and thin without your seeing 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 hurrying 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 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 yourself 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, herdsmen, 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 disappear, 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 perfectly still. This is very apt to be a survey for danger 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 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 companion 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 standing 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 substance of it is that when the moon is above the horizon 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 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 will 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 morning. The same may be the case with a band or a single deer that you actually see. If it is too far off or too dark to shoot to bettered by leaving the game undisturbed until daylight.

  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 hundred 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 mountain-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 business 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 concerned; for nothing from light gray to black can be neglected. Red is the summer coat; the others the 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-hanging 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.

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 patient 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 shooting a bullet scarcely larger than a pea could shoot a hundred deer in succession without ten of them running 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 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' distance; 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 tending 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 " 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 period 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 nuisance 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 I 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 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 indisputable principles:

 

    • To hit a running deer in any part of the body at any distance is a first-class shot.

    • 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 anywhere at two hundred yards, is a first-class shot.

    • 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.

    • 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 hundred 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 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 antelope 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 falling snow covers the bloody trail, when it leads into heavy windfalls or brush, and on bare ground when 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 therefore 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 escaping 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 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 making 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 generally 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 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 detailing specifically the various maneuvers of a wounded deer, for those above given include nearly all kinds, and the same general plan of handling must be followed in all cases. And this is:

 

    • No matter how sick the deer may appear to be, no matter how he staggers, bleeds, or looks like dropping 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.

    • 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 followed up at once he will be watching, and unless very much hurt will be too keen and too lively for you.

    • On taking his track to follow him up, proceed just as you would on a well deer, and don't go blundering and thrashing carelessly along because you see blood or signs of stumbling or staggering. If you find the blood increasing on the trail you may expect to find him dead, or very nearly so. But if it is decreasing 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 stumbling, 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 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.

  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 exclaim 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 differ about the same way in vitality. I have seen a big 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 falls, 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 sufficiently well that for brevity I shall omit the most of what I could say about it, and by the time you have killed a few deer you will readily pardon me for spending 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 hunting-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 animal bleeds only a trifle from the throat. If you mean to open him at once you can give him no better bleeding 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.

  The best way to get one home if you cannot reach it with a wagon is on a horse. Lay it behind the saddle 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 forequarters 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.

Chapter XXV
The Rifle On Game At Rest

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  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 successive 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 approximation, 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 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 carelessly 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 animal; 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 certainty 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 gameshots will always do the same: and all this without any "buck-ague" or nervousness entering into the question. 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 generally seen it would be so.

  You have already seen how a deer can be “too close." And now you can understand why overconfidence 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 recur 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.

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    • All cases of the least carelessness in aiming, whether from haste, over confidence, or nervousness. This results from catching with the eye too much of the front sight.

    • Having the rifle sighted to a point beyond what is commonly called its natural point blank, thus carrying the ball above intermediate points.

    • Over-estimating distance of game and purposely shooting higher than is really necessary.

    • Having a dull front sight not easily seen.

    • Shooting toward the sun.

    • 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.

    • Shooting in insufficient light, especially at night.

    • Shooting at a dim mark.

    • Too much reflection of light from the back sight, thus blurring your view of the front sight.

    • The varying play of light and shade upon open sights, making it almost impossible under constantly changing amounts and direction of light to always catch precisely the same amount of the front sight.

    • 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.

    • Shooting downhill. 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, error is very hard to avoid.

    • Up-hill shots when very long and you attempt to allow for distance. When short there is little or no trouble.

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   Besides overshooting there are errors enough that you can make. As soon as you begin to correct that error you will be troubled some with under-shooting.

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   This will be caused by:

    • Fear of overshooting causing you to take too fine a sight at distance you have learned that it is unsafe to attempt to allow for the drop of your bullet, because of the liability to overestimate distance. 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 necessarily cause some misses.

    • 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.

    • Very long shots down a steep hill. This is partly from underestimating the distance of the object aimed at from the foot of a line dropped perpendicularly 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.

    • 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 reaction from overestimating.

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  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 distance 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.

  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 anyone to begin with.

  Many persons who are good off-hand shots scout the idea of resting the rifle on anything when shooting. 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. For a 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:

    • 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.

    • 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 the barrel the less you will be troubled with any reflection of light from its edges and the clearer will be its outlines.

    • 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 important matter when the mark is moving. But when game is standing or you are shooting at a target the advantages 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 holding the arm had better be cultivated.

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   There are two ways of shooting:

    • 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.

    • 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 continuance 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, 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 nervousness is present this liability becomes provokingly frequent, and is often attended by the still more provoking 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:

    • By a slow steady pull. This is the best way when shooting a very hard trigger with a rest. But when shooting offhand a better way is

    • 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 exact instant arrives, the rest of the necessary pressure.

    • 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 for: the rifle except for snap-shots.

 

   There are two ways of pulling a set trigger:

    • Keeping the finger free of it until the exact instant 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

    • Allow the finger to merely touch it until the exact instant comes and then increase the weight of the touch.

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  Both the set and the hard trigger have their advantages 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 shooting, 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 conglomeration 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 unnecessary; 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 trigger 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.

  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

  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.