1 82 Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 



mine having broken a hind leg. Immediately af 

 terward, another buck broke from the upper edge 

 of the cover, near the top of the plateau, and, though 

 I took a hurried shot at him, bounded over the crest, 

 and was lost to sight. 



We now determined to go down into the ravine 

 and look for the doe, and as there was a good deal 

 of snow in the bottom and under the trees, we knew 

 we could soon tell if she were wounded. After a 

 little search we found her track, and, walking along 

 it a few yards, came upon some drops and then a 

 splash of blood. There being no need to hurry, we 

 first dressed the dead buck a fine, fat fellow, but 

 with small, misshapen horns, and then took up the 

 trail of the wounded doe. Here, however, I again 

 committed an error, and paid too much heed to the 

 trail and too little to the country round about; and 

 while following it with my eyes down on the ground 

 in a place where it was faint, the doe got up some 

 distance ahead and to one side of me, and bounded 

 off round a corner of the ravine. The bed where 

 she had lain was not very bloody, but from the fact 

 of her having stopped so soon, I was sure she was 

 badly wounded. However, after she got out of the 

 snow the ground was as hard as flint, and it was im 

 possible to track her; the valley soon took a turn, 

 and branched into a tangle of coulies and ravines. 

 I deemed it probable that she would not go up hill, 

 but would run down the course of the main valley; 

 but as it was so uncertain, we thought it would pay 

 us best to look for a new deer. 



