OF A RANCHMAN 



2 55 



legs, and go bounding off at a rate which 

 takes them out of danger before the aston- 

 ished tyro has really waked up to the fact 

 that they are deer. The first lesson to be 

 learned in still-hunting is the knowledge of 

 how to tell what objects are and what are 

 not deer ; and to learn it is by no means as 

 easy a task as those who have never tried 

 it would think. 



When he has learned to see a deer, the 

 novice then has to learn to hit it, and this 

 again is not the easy feat it seems. That 

 he can do well with a shot-gun proves very 

 little as to a man's skill with the rifle, for 

 the latter carries but one bullet, and can 

 therefore hit in but one place, while with a 

 shot-gun, if you hold a foot off your mark 

 you will be nearly as apt to hit as if you 

 held plumb centre. Nor does mere prac- 

 tice at a mark avail, though excellent in its 

 way ; for a deer is never seen at a fixed and 

 ascertained distance, nor is its outline often 

 y and sharply defined as with a target. 

 Even if a man keeps cool and for the first 



