VIRGINIA DEER. 83 



ployed in the South and Southwest, and requires not only a quick 

 hand with the shot gun, but a firm seat in the saddle. The dogs 

 having started the deer, the hunters follow them on horseback, 

 striving by their knowledge of the animal's habits, to gain as much 

 as possible on him by cutting off corners and following short cuts 

 and thus coming within shot of the fleeing animal. The weapon 

 used in this description of hunting, is the double barrel, loaded 

 with buckshot, and in the hands of an experienced hunter it is a 

 deadly weapon up to one hundred yards. 



In jacking or floating the shooter sits in the bow of a canoe 

 just behind a lantern which throws a powerful light ahead, but is 

 shaded from the hunter so as not to interfere with his powers of 

 vision ; the deer raising their heads, stare at the light as it ap- 

 proaches, and when the boat is near enough the hunter shoots. 

 This method seems to us unfair and unsportsmanlike ; it gives the 

 deer no chance for their lives. Besides it sometimes proves an 

 expensive pleasure, for horses and cattle are not unfrequently shot 

 instead of deer. The greatest objection to it, however, is, that as 

 it is only employed during the warm weather, does are killed which 

 have fawns too young to take care of themselves and which must 

 perish soon after the death of the mother. The advocates of this 

 mode of hunting say that in no way can more exciting sport be 

 had than by this same night hunting. Your guide must under- 

 stand paddling and the habits of the deer thoroughly, or it is use- 

 less to hunt, and it requires something more than an ordinary shot 

 to take a correct aim at a couple of shining specks twenty-five or 

 thirty yards off in the darkness. Add to this the fact, that the 

 favorite feeding grounds of deer, particularly in the Adirondacks, 

 are where the lily-pads are thickest, often making it next to impos- 

 sible to shoot, and to jack a deer becomes as difficult a feat as to 

 stalk one. The sensation of sailing over the dark waters of the 

 lake or river, every nerve strained to catch the faintes,t sound which^ 

 may signal the approach of the game, is delightful, and the intense 

 stillness which prevails over everything, broken nove and then by 

 the sharp plunge of a muskrat, or the breaking of a twig in the 

 bush, by the step of some wild animal, or perhaps by strange 

 sounds, which even the trained ear of your guide cannot recognize, 

 all combine to make an experience as pleasant as it is novel. AU 



