126 Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 



for the capture of both the gray and the red fox. 

 If the dog is slow and noisy the deer will play round 

 in circles and can be cut off and shot from a stand. 



Any dog will soon put a deer out of a thicket, or 

 drive it down a valley ; but without a dog it is often 

 difficult to drive deer toward the runway or place 

 at which the guns are stationed, for the white-tail 

 will often skulk round and round a thicket instead of 

 putting out of it when a man enters ; and even when 

 started it may break back past the driver instead of 

 going toward the guns. 



In all these habits white-tail are the very reverse 

 of such game as antelope. Antelope care nothing 

 at all about being seen, and indeed rather court ob 

 servation, while the chief anxiety of a white-tail is 

 to go unobserved. In passing through a country 

 where there are antelope, it is almost impossible not 

 to see them ; while where there are an equal number 

 of white-tail, the odds are manifold against travel 

 ers catching a glimpse of a single individual. The 

 prong-horn is perfectly indifferent as to whether the 

 pursuer sees him, so long as in his turn he is able to 

 see the pursuer ; and he relies entirely upon his speed 

 and wariness for his safety; he never trusts for a 

 moment to eluding observation. White-tail on the 

 contrary rely almost exclusively either upon lying 

 perfectly still and letting the danger pass by, or else 

 upon skulking off so slyly as to be unobserved ; it is 

 only when hard pressed or suddenly startled that 

 they bound boldly and freely away. 



In many of the dense jungles without any opening 



