H2 The Black-Tail Deer. 



By all means the best coverings for the feet when still- 

 hunting are moccasins, as with them a man can go noise- 

 lessly through ground where hobnailed boots would clatter 

 like the hoofs of a horse ; but in hunting in winter over 

 the icy buttes and cliffs it is best to have stout shoes, with 

 nails in the soles, and if the main work is done on horse- 

 back it is best to wear high boots, as they keep the 

 trousers down. Indeed in the Bad Lands boots have other 

 advantages, for rattlesnakes abound, and against these 

 they afford perfect protection unless a man should happen 

 to stumble on a snake while crawling along on all fours. 

 But moccasins are beyond all comparison the best foot- 

 gear for hunting. In very cold weather a fur cap which 

 can be pulled down over the ears is a necessity ; but at other 

 times a brimmed felt hat offers better protection against 

 both sun and rain. The clothes should be of some neutral 

 tint buckskin is on this account excellent and very 

 strong. 



The still-hunter should be well acquainted with, at any 

 rate, certain of the habits of his quarry. There are seasons 

 when the black-tail is found in bands ; such is apt to be 

 the case when the rutting time is over. At this period, 

 too, the deer wander far and wide, making what may 

 almost be called a migration ; and in rutting time the bucks 

 follow the does at speed for miles at a stretch. But except 

 at these seasons each individual black-tail has a certain 

 limited tract of country to which he confines himself unless 

 disturbed or driven away, not, of course, keeping in the 

 same spot all the time, but working round among a par- 

 ticular set of ravines and coulies, where the feed is good, 



