248 Deer of the Pacific Coast 



to connect with the delusive curve. For one who 

 loves the rifle as much for what cannot be done 

 with it as for what can, there is no finer target 

 than this. When on the ground it is out of sight, 

 and so quick is its twist from side to side that 

 you have no idea where it will again appear above 

 the logs. Nor will it avail you much if you do, 

 for by the time the fur comes into sight at the top 

 of the next lofty curve you have no more than 

 time enough for a snap shot. And should you 

 succeed in getting the sights on the exact centre 

 when you fire, the mark is certain to be above or 

 below that point by the time the lead arrives. 

 Try to avoid this by aiming lower, and the bullet 

 may send the bark flying under the deer's legs 

 with a whiz that switches him on a tangent, and 

 disarranges all the feeble calculations you have so 

 far been able to make. 



If you aim higher as the deer is rising, you then 

 tempt another danger, always too great — over- 

 shooting. There is no royal road out of the diffi- 

 culty, and even when you hit one in the head or 

 back of the neck, although it is quite certain you 

 did not aim there, your pride is quite pardonable, 

 and you will love the windfall only the more. It 

 is just possible, too, that you may be mistaken 

 about the importance of hitting something all the 

 time. It took me eleven days where deer were 

 very plenty, thirty-five years ago, just to get sight 



