ii4 The Wilderness Hunter 



of the rutting season. Prong-bucks, even more than 

 other game, seem fairly maddened by erotic excite- 

 ment. At the time of my former hunt they were in 

 ceaseless motion ; each master buck being incessantly 

 occupied in herding his harem, and fighting would- 

 be rivals, while single bucks chased single does as 

 greyhounds chase hares, or else, if no does were in 

 sight, from sheer excitement ran to and fro as if 

 crazy, racing at full speed in one direction, then halt- 

 ing, wheeling, and tearing back again just as hard 

 as they could go. 



At this time, however, the rut was still some 

 weeks off, and all the bucks had to do was to feed 

 and keep a lookout for enemies. Try my best, I 

 could not get within less than four or five hundred 

 yards, and though I took a number of shots at these, 

 or at even longer distances, I missed. If a man is 

 out merely for a day's hunt, and has all the time he 

 wishes, he will not scare the game and waste car- 

 tridges by shooting at such long ranges, preferring 

 to spend half a day or more in patient waiting and 

 careful stalking; but if he is traveling, and is there- 

 fore cramped for time, he must take his chances, even 

 at the cost of burning a good deal of powder. 



I was finally helped to success by a characteristic 

 freak of the game I was following. No other ani- 

 mals are as keen-sighted, or are normally as wary 

 as prong-horns ; but no others are so whimsical and 

 odd in their behavior at times, or so subject to fits 



