Hunting from the Ranch 43 



sides grow gaunt; they chase the does all night, 

 and their flesh becomes strong and stringy far 

 inferior to that of the barren does and yearlings. 

 The old bucks then wage desperate conflicts with 

 one another, and bully their smaller brethren un- 

 mercifully. Unlike the elk, the blacktail, like the 

 whitetail, are generally silent in the rutting season. 

 They occasionally grunt when fighting; and once, 

 on a fall evening, I heard two young bucks barking 

 in a ravine back of my ranch house, and crept up and 

 shot them; but this was a wholly exceptional in- 

 stance. 



At this time I hunt on foot, only using the horse 

 to carry me to and from the hunting-ground; for 

 while rutting, the deer, being restless, do not try 

 to escape observation by lying still, and on the 

 other hand are apt to wander about and so are 

 easily seen from a distance. When I have reached a 

 favorable place I picket my horse and go from van- 

 tage point to vantage point, carefully scanning the 

 hillsides, ravines, and brush coulies from every spot 

 that affords a wide outlook. The quarry once seen 

 it may be a matter of hours, or only of minutes, to 

 approach it, according as the wind and cover are 

 or are not favorable. The walks for many miles 

 over the hills, the exercise of constant watchfulness, 

 the excitement of the actual stalk, and the still 

 greater excitement of the shot, combine to make 

 still-hunting the blacktail, in the sharp fall weather, 



