OTHER BRANCHES OP HSDCTSTRY. 319 



may be approached with more ease than the Virginia deer, run 

 with a steady gait, and when disturbed do not run so far. 

 The deer east of the Mississippi go with a run and a jump; 

 the Pacific deer move with a steady run. Their meat is not 

 so sweet as that of their eastern congeners. The deer live 

 near the timber, and are found along the coast and in the 

 Sierra Nevada. They were at one time very abundant but 

 are now rapidly decreasing. The best place for hunting them 

 is in Mendocino county. There is no deer-hunting on horse- 

 back, nor by large parties. The hunters go out alone or in 

 small parties. Occasionally a deer is caught with the lasso, 

 but this requires an excellent horse, a first-rate vaquero, and 

 a good piece of open ground where the horse can have a fair 

 chase and the vaquero can swing his reata. 



The antelope lives in the open plain and in the desert. The 

 valley of the San Joaquin was once full of great herds of them, 

 but they, like other large game, have become rare now. They 

 are shy, but inquisitive also, and are easily enticed to approach 

 the hunter, who hides himself behind a rock, and fastening a 

 white handkerchief to his ramrod, waves it back and forth. 

 The antelope, like the deer, is occasionally caught with the 

 reata, but these occasions do not occur once in the year, and, 

 when they do occur, they establish the fame of the horse and 

 rider engaged in the exploit. 



There is one pack of hounds in the state, and they are some- 

 times, but rarely, used for hunting coyotes and foxes, as well 

 as deer. 



The wild geese and ducks are very abundant in California 

 from September to March. They spend the winter in the tules 

 of San Francisco Bay and tributary waters, and in the spring 

 they migrate to the north. While here, they afiEbrd profitable 

 employment to a number of hunters, who are of two classes — 

 the " boat-shooters" and the " ox-shooters." The boat-shooters 

 go in parties of two or three, each party having a sloop of its 

 own. The sloop goes to the slough where the game abounds, 

 and there every man starts in his skiff, with three double-bar- 



