TRACKS AND TRACKING 



tion. This always indicates the presence of at 

 least two old bucks in the same locality, and is 

 never done by does. 



About the first of September bucks begin to 

 cleanse their horns of the velvet and small trees 

 and bushes exhibit the signs of having been used 

 for that purpose. Where such signs are found 

 in roomy forests near dense thickets, the sports- 

 man can, with moderate certainty, count on get- 

 ting a trophy by stalking quietly or waiting from 

 sunrise to about 8 o'clock A.M., or from an hour 

 or so before sundown until dark. Of course it 

 is easier to get meat for the pot near streams and 

 feeding places, where there are plenty of tracks, 

 but as doe and fawn shooting aims at the base 

 of life, and as old bucks usually do not make 

 their appearance there as long as it is light enough 

 for a rifle shot, I would not advise one to stalk 

 or wait there at all. Stalking during rainy days 

 in open forests where bucks have left evidences, 

 such as blazed trees, will, as a rule, be rewarded. 

 At that time, game being comparatively undis- 

 turbed, most deer are shot at while standing, and 

 even a poor shot can hardly miss. However, as 



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