154 The Black-Tail Deer. 



When he has learned to see a deer, the novice then 

 has to learn to hit it, and this again is not the easy feat it 

 seems. That he can do well with a shot-gun proves very 

 little as to a man's skill with the rifle, for the latter carries 

 but one bullet, and can therefore hit in but one place, while 

 with a shot-gun, if you hold a foot off your mark you will 

 be nearly as apt to hit as if you held plumb centre. Nor 

 does mere practice at a mark avail, though excellent in its 

 way ; for a deer is never seen at a fixed and ascertained 

 distance, nor is its outline often clearly and sharply defined 

 as with a target. Even if a man keeps cool and for the 

 first shot or two he will probably be flurried he may miss 

 an absurdly easy shot by not taking pains. I remember 

 on one occasion missing two shots in succession where 

 it seemed really impossible for a man to help hitting. I 

 was out hunting on horseback with one of my men, and 

 on loping round the corner of a brushy valley came sud- 

 denly in sight of a buck with certainly more than a dozen 

 points on his great spreading antlers. I jumped off my 

 horse instantly, and fired as he stood facing me not over 

 forty yards off; fired, as I supposed, perfectly coolly, 

 though without dropping on my knee as I should have 

 done. The shot must have gone high, for the buck 

 bounded away unharmed, heedless of a second ball ; and 

 immediately his place was taken by another, somewhat 

 smaller, who sprang out of a thicket into almost the iden- 

 tical place where the big buck had stood. Again I fired 

 and missed ; again the buck ran off, and was shot at and 

 missed while running all four shots being taken within 

 fifty yards. I clambered on to the horse without looking 



