114 Mr Audubon on Hunting the Cougar or 



mind you do not shoot me ! The deer is fast approaching ; I 

 will to my own stand, and he who shoots him dead wins the 

 prize. 



The deer is heard coming. It has inadvertently cracked a 

 dead stick with its hoof, and the dogs are now so near it that it 

 will pass in a moment. There it comes ! How beautifully it 

 bounds over the ground ! What a splendid head of horns ! How 

 easy its attitudes, depending, as it seems to do, on its own swift- 

 ness for safety ! All is in vain, however, a gun is fired, the ani- 

 mal plunges and doubles with incomparable speed. There he 

 goes ! He passes another stand, from which a second shot, better 

 directed than the first, brings him to the ground. The dogs, 

 the servants, the sportsmen, are now rushing forward to the 

 spot. The hunter who has shot it is congratulated on his skill 

 or good luck, and the chase begins again in some other part of 

 the woods. 



A few lines of explanation may be required to convey a clear 

 idea of this mode of hunting. Deer are fond of following and 

 retracing the paths which they have formerly pursued, and con- 

 tinue to do so even after they have been shot at more than once. 

 These tracts are discovered by persons on horseback in the woods, 

 or a deer is observed crossing a road, a field, or a small stream. 

 When this has been noticed twice, the deer may be shot from 

 the places called stands, by the sportsman who is stationed there, 

 and waits for it, a line of stands being generally formed so as to 

 cross the path which the game will follow. The person who 

 ascertains the usual pass of the game, or discovers the parts 

 where the animal feeds or lies down during the day, gives inti- 

 mation to his friends, who then prepare for the chase. The 

 servants start the deer with the hounds, and, by good manage- 

 ment, generally succeed in making it run the course that will 

 soonest bring it to its death. But, should the deer be cautious, 

 and take another course, the hunters, mounted on swift horses, 

 gallop through the woods to intercept it, guided by the sound of 

 the horns and the cry of the dogs, and frequently succeed in 

 shooting it. This sport is extremely agreeable, and proves 

 successful on almost every occasion. 



Hoping that this account will be sufficient to induce you, 

 kind reader, to go driving in our western and southern woods. 



