STALKING THE BIG HOKN. 135 



for the sun will have commenced to tint with gold the 

 eastern sides of the hills ere the prey you seek will reach, 

 from the feeding grounds below, the elevation of your 

 position. 



It is strange these children of the mountain only dread 

 danger from beneath : thus it is that to successfully hunt 

 them you must ascend into the heights they would fly for 

 if alarmed ; to follow them from beneath would simply be 

 needless waste of time, to stalk them from above almost 

 certain to produce success. At length the desired -for 

 time is come : silently and well-secreted, search with keen 

 eye every ridge that will command a view of the valleys 

 beneath. 



Your careful survey of the country is at length rewarded, 

 for far beneath you, so far off that their outline it is almost 

 impossible to define, you perceive a family party, probably 

 a buck, doe, and pair of kids, ascending leisurely to more 

 elevated ground. 



Slowly plucking the tender grass at each step, they 

 graze upwards ; but, ever on guard against danger, the 

 male or female pause to watch, or not unfrequently post 

 themselves on some rocky excrescence to note what may 

 be occurring in the lower world. At length their slow 

 approach has brought them within range of your rifle; 

 but be not impatient, rest a little longer if you wish to 

 make certain work, for the bullet must be well and strongly 

 placed, or else your labour will be fruitless, for few animals 

 possess greater vitality, and unless, in Yankee parlance, 

 you tumble the quarry in his track, the wounded game 

 will struggle upwards with speed lent by fear, or fall head- 



