38 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



suing them is the early morning or late evening, as they rest 

 during the day. 



A good idea would be to carry a field-glass. I have found 

 it of great use in many cases, and have seen game with it 

 that otherwise would be lost to us. This is especially true 

 in hunting on the mountains and prairies, as many animals 

 look so much like their surroundings that, even when in 

 motion, they cannot be seen at any great distance. 



No person should start out in the morning without par- 

 taking of something to eat, even if it were only a biscuit or 

 a cup of tea or coffee, as any of these fortifies the stomach 

 against the chills of the morning, and prevents the nausea 

 of hunger. I have known several sturdy and enthusiastic 

 sportsmen to be injured by their habit of starting out at 

 daybreak to kill something before breakfast, not that it was 

 wanted, but that they wished to make their list large dur- 

 ing the trip or the season. They may be able to defy the 

 laws of nature for awhile, but I have found they were the 

 first to succumb in the long-run. 



To be a successful Nimrod, one must be patient, cautious, 

 and persevering ; mere dash is of little avail, except under 

 favorable circumstances, and they are not common in hunt- 

 ing large wild animals. The best hunters that I have known 

 were exceedingly keen in sight and hearing, and were close 

 observers of the ground and the haunts and habits of ani- 

 mals ; not that they possessed these qualities in any extraor- 

 dinary degree naturally, but that their constant exercise de- 

 veloped them to the fullest extent. These men were not by 

 any means the ideals of the novelist tall and thin, of an 

 iron frame, and with muscles like steel springs ; nor were 

 they so taciturn that one could not get a sentence out of 

 them except by a great deal of persuasion. Neither were 

 they always indulging in hyperbole when they did speak, or 

 execrating the whole red race ; many of them were, on the 

 contrary, simple and unpretentious men, who were as socia- 

 ble as men could be, and who bore no sort of resemblance, 

 either in form, manner, language, or expression, to Leather- 

 stockings or any of his ilk. They could not hit an acorn 



