HUNTING FROM THE RANCH, 47 



another buck promptly jumped up from the 

 same place ; evidently the two had lain secure 

 in their day-beds, shielded by the dense cover, 

 while the cowboy rode by them, and had only 

 risen when he halted and began to call to me 

 across them. This second buck, a fine fel- 

 low with big antlers not yet clear of velvet, 

 luckily ran up the opposite bank and I got a 

 fair shot at him as he galloped broadside to 

 me along the open hillside. When I fired he 

 rolled over with a broken back. As we came 

 up he bleated loudly, an unusual thing for a 

 buck to do. 



Now these two bucks must have heard us 

 coming, but reckoned on our passing them by 

 without seeing them ; which we would have 

 done had they not been startled when the 

 cowboy halted and spoke. Later in the sea- 

 son they would probably not have let us ap- 

 proach them, but would have run as soon as 

 they knew of our presence. Of course, how- 

 ever, even later in the season, a man may by 

 chance stumble across a deer close by. I 

 remember one occasion when my ranch 

 partner, Robert Munro Ferguson, and I al- 

 most corralled an unlucky deer in a small 

 washout. 



It was October, and our meat supply un- 

 expectedly gave out ; on our ranch, as on 

 most ranches, an occasional meat famine of 

 three or four days intervenes between the 

 periods of plenty. So Ferguson and I started 

 together, to get venison ; and at the end of 

 two days' hard work, leaving the ranch by 

 sunrise, riding to the hunting grounds and 

 tramping steadily until dark, we succeeded. 



