TRACKS AND TRACKING 



quarry of my presence. It will not require long 

 for the game to take the hint and get up often 

 affording a shot by this means alone to leave 

 the premises. Very few are the instances that 

 an old buck goes straight away and gives me no 

 chance to see him, because in that case he would 

 have to cross my trail, and to do that the wind, 

 or rather my scent, does not frighten him enough ; 

 and if he goes out at the side which is untainted 

 by any scent of man, he is usually my meat if 

 he is up to my standard. If the thicket is too 

 big, the smoke of a pipe will often do wonders. 

 The biggest buck I ever shot, became my victim 

 through the assistance of a smudge the thicket 

 in that instance being about ten acres in extent. 

 The diagram (p. 130) will illustrate the method 

 better than words could. I have used it with suc- 

 cess on many animals, and even on a wounded 

 bear. 



During snowless times no one can know with 

 certainty if a deer is in a certain thicket, and 

 the method has to be employed at random where 

 there are enough signs to make it likely that a 

 buck is near. 



128 



