The Whiietail Deer 87 



which rendered those who took part in it objects 

 of deserved contempt. The sportsman stood in 

 a boat while his guides put out one or two hounds 

 in the chosen forest side. After a longer or 

 shorter run the deer took to the water ; for white- 

 tail are excellent swimmers, and when pursued by 

 hounds try to shake them off by wading up or 

 down stream, or by swimming across a pond, and, 

 if tired, come to bay in some pool or rapid. Once 

 the unfortunate deer was in the water, the guide 

 rowed the boat after it. If it was yet early in the 

 season, and the deer was still in the red summer 

 coat, he would sink when shot, and therefore the 

 guide would usually take hold of its tail before 

 the would-be Nimrod butchered it. If the deer 

 was in the blue, the carcass would float, so it was 

 not necessary to do anything quite so palpably 

 absurd. But such sport, so far as the man who 

 did the shooting was concerned, had not one re- 

 deeming feature. The use of hounds has now 

 been prohibited by law. 



In regions where there are no lakes, and where 

 the woods are thick, the shooters are stationed at 

 runways by which it is supposed the deer may 

 pass when the hounds are after them. Under 

 such circumstances the man has to show the skill 

 requisite to hit the running quarry, and if he uses 

 the rifle, this means that he must possess a certain 

 amount of address in handling the weapon. But 



