The Columbia Blacktail 247 



swift and turbulent for floating. And it is also 

 quite certain that the deer of this coast does not 

 have the love for water at night the Virginia deer 

 shows on most of its range. 



Very little can be done by making a salt lick 

 or using a natural one. On much of this coast 

 deer will not lick salt at all, while on other parts 

 they do it very sparingly. Such hunting is too 

 slow for the market-shooter and too tame for the 

 sportsman. But there is still enough open and 

 beautiful territory to make the hunting of this 

 deer one of the most charming amusements the 

 land beyond the pave can offer. And there is no 

 more stirring target for the rifle than this trim 

 little creature leaping the fallen trunks of the 

 great trees that shade its home. Nature presents 

 no fairer sight than the Virginia deer leaping the 

 logs that lie piled here and there in ruinous con- 

 fusion in the windfall. But that deer runs like a 

 horse, and the logs are small compared with those 

 in the home of the blacktail. The blacktail is a 

 bouncing deer — all four feet striking the ground 

 together, and throwing the animal much higher at 

 each stroke than it would rise in a canter. Hence 

 its course is often the wildest ricochet ; and, though 

 it waves aloft no snowy flag as if in mockery of 

 your hopes, the elevation of the head is greater, 

 while you can easily imagine the big bright eyes 

 watching at the top of the spring your vain efforts 



