HUNTING FROM THE RANCH. 45 



on the bear-skins, or sitting in the rocking 

 chair before the roaring fire, while the icy 

 wind moans outside. 



Earlier in the season, while the does are 

 still nursing the fawns, and until the bucks 

 have cleaned the last vestiges of velvet from 

 their antlers, the deer lie very close, and wan- 

 der round as little as may be. In the spring 

 and early summer, in the ranch country, we 

 hunt big game very little, and then only ante- 

 lope ; because in hunting antelope there is no 

 danger of killing aught but bucks. About the 

 first of August we begin to hunt blacktail, but 

 do not kill does until a month later and then 

 only when short of meat. In the early weeks 

 of the deer season we frequently do even the 

 actual hunting on horseback instead of on 

 foot; because the deer at this time rarely ap- 

 pear in view, so as to afford chance for a stalk, 

 and yet are reluctant to break cover until very 

 closely approached. In consequence we keep 

 on our horses, and so get over much more 

 ground than on foot, beating through or beside 

 all likely looking cover, with the object of 

 jumping the deer close by. Under such cir- 

 cumstances bucks sometimes lie until almost 

 trodden on. 



One afternoon in mid-August, when the 

 ranch was entirely out of meat, I started with 

 one of my cow-hands, Merrifield, to kill a 

 deer. We were on a couple of stout, quiet 

 ponies, accustomed to firing and to packing 

 game. After riding a mile or two down the 

 bottoms we left the river and struck off up a 

 winding valley, which led back among the hills. 

 In a short while we were in a blacktail coun- 



