HUNTING FROM THE RANCH. 43 



grow in the canyon-like ravines and among 

 the high steep hills ; there are also basins 

 and winding coulies, filled with brush and 

 shrubbery and small elm or ash. In all such 

 places the blacktail loves to make its home. 



I have not often hunted blacktail in the 

 mountains, because while there I was gener- 

 ally after larger game ; but round my ranch I 

 have killed more of them than of any other 

 game, and for me their chase has always pos- 

 sessed a peculiar charm. We hunt them in 

 the loveliest season of the year, the fall and 

 early winter, when it is keen pleasure merely 

 to live out-of-doors. Sometimes we make a 

 regular trip, of several days' duration, taking 

 the ranch wagon, with or without a tent, to 

 some rugged and little disturbed spot where the 

 deer are plenty ; perhaps returning with eight or 

 ten carcasses, or even more enough to last 

 a long while in cold weather. We often make 

 such trips while laying in our winter supply of 

 meat. 



At other times we hunt directly from the 

 ranch house. We catch our horses overnight, 

 and are in the saddle for an all-day's hunt 

 long before the first streak of dawn, possibly 

 not returning until some hours after nightfall 

 The early morning and late evening are the 

 best time for hunting game, except in regions 

 where it is hardly ever molested, and where in 

 consequence it moves about more or less 

 throughout the day. 



During the rut, which begins in September, 

 the deer are in constant motion, and are often 

 found in bands. The necks of the bucks 

 swell and their sides grow gaunt ; they chase 



