1 68 Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 



ness and a vague desire to offer some cheap con- 

 solation, that he supposed I had done my best; to 

 which I responded with asperity that I'd be damned 

 if I had ; and we finished our journey homeward in 

 silence. A man is likely to overshoot at any dis- 

 tance; but at from twenty-five to seventy-five yards 

 he is certain to do so if he is at all careless. 



Moreover, besides not missing, a man must learn 

 to hit his deer in the right place; the first two or 

 three times he shoots he will probably see the whole 

 deer in the rifle sights, instead of just the particular 

 spot he wishes to strike; that is, he will aim in a 

 general way at the deer's whole body which will 

 probably result in a wound not disabling the ani- 

 mal in the least for the time, although ensuring its 

 finally dying a lingering and painful death. The 

 most instantaneously fatal places are the brain and 

 any part of the spinal column; but these offer such 

 small marks that it is usually only by accident they 

 are hit. The mark at any part of which one can 

 fire with safety is a patch about eight inches or a 

 foot square, including the shoulder-blades, lungs, 

 and heart. A kidney-shot is very fatal ; but a black- 

 tail will go all day with a bullet through his entrails, 

 and in cold weather I have known one to run sev- 

 eral miles with a portion of its entrails sticking out 

 of a wound and frozen solid. To break both 

 shoulders by a shot as the deer stands sideways to 

 the hunter, brings the buck down in its tracks ; but 

 perhaps the best place at which to aim is the point 

 in the body right behind the shoulder-blade. On 



