WILD TURKEY AND DEER SHOOTING. 245 



to pass the heat of the day, as one might have 

 well supposed they would, but they spent some 

 hours before and after noonday lying in the long 

 grass of the prairie near sloughs, where it grows 

 particularly rank and tall. 



Deer have much decreased in number in that 

 part of Illinois of late years, though they may 

 still be met with occasionally, and shot by a man 

 who knows how to go about it. In the earlier 

 times of my residence in the State they used to 

 feed upon the young wheat, where fall wheat had 

 been sowed out upon the prairie. At about sun- 

 rise they might be seen feeding in these fields, 

 and looking like so many calves. When it was 

 broad daylight, they retired to the long grass near 

 the sloughs, or to thick brush in the woodland, 

 or to patches of high weeds, and there they would 

 lie until evening. There are some deer in Ford 

 County yet. Three or four were killed there 

 last winter two of them on Mr. Sullivant's farm. 

 Another was chased right through the town of 

 Gibson, and killed below it. At Oliver's Grove, 

 in Iroquois County, there used to be large numbers 

 of deer, and some may be found there yet. la 

 the southern part of Illinois, down toward and 

 in the district called Egypt, deer are found in 



