The Deer of the River Bottoms 115 



prairie in a blizzard, a herd will drift before it for 

 maybe more than a hundred miles, until it finds a 

 shelter capable of holding it. For this reason it 

 is best to keep more or less of a look-out over all 

 the bunches of beasts, riding about among them 

 every few days, and turning back any herd that 

 begins to straggle toward the open plains; though 

 in winter, when weak and emaciated, the cattle must 

 be disturbed and driven as little as possible, or the 

 loss among them will be fearful. 



One afternoon, while most of us were away from 

 the ranch house, one of the cowboys, riding in from 

 his day's outing over the range, brought word that 

 he had seen two white-tail deer, a buck and a doe, 

 feeding with some cattle on the side of a hill across 

 the river, and not much more than half a mile from 

 the house. There was about an hour of daylight 

 left, and one of the foremen, a tall, fine-looking 

 fellow named Ferris, the best rider on the ranch, 

 but not an unusually good shot, started out at once 

 after the deer; for in the late fall and early winter 

 we generally kill a good deal of game, as it then 

 keeps well and serves as a food supply throughout 

 the cold months; after January we hunt as little as 

 possible. Ferris found the deer easily enough, but 

 they started before he could get a standing shot 

 at them, and when he fired as they ran, he only 

 broke one of the buck's hind legs, just above the 

 ankle. He followed it in the snow for several miles, 

 across the river, and down near the house to the 

 end of the bottom, and then back toward the house. 



