176 HUNTING TRIPS 



when weak and emaciated, the cattle must 

 be disturbed and driven as little as possible, 

 or the loss among them will be fearful. 



One afternoon, while most of us were 

 away from the ranch-house, one of the 

 cowboys, riding in from his day's outing 

 over the range, brought word that he had 

 seen two white-tail deer, a buck and a doe, 

 feeding with some cattle on the side of a 

 hill across the river, and not much more 

 than half a mile from the house. There 

 was about an hour of daylight left, and one 

 of the foremen, a tall, fine-looking fellow 

 named Ferris, the best rider on the ranch 

 but not an unusually good shot, started out 

 at once after the deer; for in the late fall 

 and early winter we generally kill a good 

 deal of game, as it then keeps well and 

 serves as a food supply throughout the cold 

 months ; after January we hunt as little as 

 possible. Ferris found the deer easily- 

 enough, but they started before he could 

 get a standing shot at them, and when he 

 fired as they ran, he only broke one of the 



