136 HERDS OF DEER IN THE FOREST. 



United States, and who was quite an authority on 

 matters of woodcraft, and forest hunting, mentions a 

 case of this kind, which he happened to observe in 

 the Michigan forests, where he once saw " such an 

 aggregation of deer, as a man sees but once in a 

 lifetime." "It was (he says) a magnificent army, and 

 I shall never look upon its like again ; " indeed speak- 

 ing of his more recent experiences " Nessmuk " 

 expressly states * The largest drove of deer I have 

 seen in twenty years consisted of seven only." * 



It is probable that this great herd was therefore 

 a migratory band of deer travelling from one district 

 to another; and though his latter experiences may 

 have been somewhat unfortunate in the quantities of 

 game met with, they in the main bear out our con- 

 tention as to the infrequency of game consorting in 

 numerous herds in forests, though certain districts 

 will naturally be found to contain considerably larger 

 quantities of game than others, and there deer and 

 other animals may be quite numerous, and scattered 

 as they are over the wood, frequently afford capital 

 sport to a clever hunter. 



Most authorities on sporting matters are agreed 

 that the early hours of the morning are the best for 

 hunting, as all grass or tree feeding animals are 

 pretty certain to be on the feed at daybreak, and 

 occasionally for some hours afterwards. Exceptions to 

 this practice occur most usually in tropical lands, where 

 experience shows game generally retires to lie down 

 for the day, early, and before the sun gets hot, which 

 it does soon after eight o'clock; also where game is 

 much harrassed by pot hunters and others, animals 



* Woodcraft, by Nessmuk, published New York 1884, pp. 1256. 



