380 THE DJ^ER OF AMERICA. 



and has no business to be studying mathematics when he is still- 

 huntino- the Cohimbia Black-tailed Deer. 



THE COMMO]Sr DEER. 



The Virginia Deer is not only the most abundant, and hence 

 the most useful of all the American species, but its capture af- 

 fords the most varied and the most exciting exercise to the 

 sportsman. Its sight is fully equal if not superior to that of any 

 of the other species, while its senses of hearing and smell are 

 only inferior to those of the moose. It has an intelligence which 

 enables it to resort to expedients to baffle its pursuer, and it pos- 

 sesses a vitality which enables it to escape with wounds, which 

 would prostrate some other species at once. If its actual endur- 

 ance is inferior to some others, in fleetness it surpasses all of 

 them. 



In all the territory now occupied by the United States and 

 Northern Mexico at least, the Common Deer was a large resource 

 for food to the aborigines, and hence the pursuit of them was a 

 life study with the Indian. His princij)al Aveapon of destruction 

 was the bow and arrow ; to make this effective, it was necessary 

 to approach the game within very short range, and to accomplish 

 this his ingenuity was taxed to the utmost. To be successful he 

 must be familiar with the habits, the tastes, the instincts, and the 

 capabilities of the animal. Taking advantage of the wind he 

 waylaid him on his known routes from one place to another, he 

 secreted himself in trees near the salt licks, to which the deer 

 paid nocturnal visits. At other times he would assume the skin 

 with the head and antlers of the deer, and thus disguised, cau- 

 tiously approach his game to within shooting distance. He 

 would sometimes imitate the call of the young fawn, and thus 

 allure the mother within his reach. In deep snows, he pursued 

 the deer on snow-shoes, and soon exhausted the strength of the 

 latter in the unequal chase, or followed him on the crust, through 

 which the struggling animal would sink and lacerate his legs in 

 his efforts to escape. 



The early settlers of this country, depended largely upon this 

 deer for their provisions, and their mode of pursuing it was gen- 

 erally the still-hunt. When the deer were abundant in all the 

 forests the new comers had little trouble in securing an abundant 

 supply of venison, without even much effort or the loss of much 

 time. In the winter, when they cut down trees to browse their 



