254 HUNTING TRIPS 



generally stands or lies near some tree 

 trunks ; and the eye may pass over it once 

 or twice without recognizing its real na- 

 ture. In the brush it is still more difficult, 

 and there a deer's form is often absolutely 

 indistinguishable from the surroundings, as 

 one peers through the mass of interlacing 

 limbs and twigs. Once an old hunter and 

 myself in walking along the ridge of a 

 scoria butte passed by without seeing them, 

 three black-tail lying among the scattered 

 boulders of volcanic rock on the hillside, 

 not fifty yards from us. After a little prac- 

 tical experience a would-be hunter learns 

 not to expect deer always, or even gener- 

 ally, to appear as they do when near by or 

 suddenly startled; but on the contrary to 

 keep a sharp look-out on every dull-looking 

 red or yellow patch he sees in a thicket, and 

 to closely examine any grayish-looking ob- 

 ject observed on the hillsides, for it is just 

 such small patches or obscure-looking ob- 

 jects which are apt, if incautiously ap- 

 proached, to suddenly take to themselves 



