shields] a sixth sense IN BIRDS AND MAMMALS 369 



As the boy said, "They jest knowed where home was and they 

 went." 



They have a sixth sense; one that we have not. 



What kind of a stagger would a man make at finding his way 

 home under similar circumstances. An experienced woodsman 

 can always get home, even when far away and totally "lost," but 

 he will inquire of every homesteader along the way, if there are 

 any, and if not, he is likely to do a lot of rambling and guessing 

 before he finds his way out. 



The men who follow the fox chase on horseback have an easier 

 task; for they are up where they can see over the coimtry and 

 have much less difficulty in finding the way. 



I know an old mountain man in Northwestern Washington, who 

 hunts deer on horseback. We were discussing these topics by the 

 campfire one night, and I asked him if he ever got lost. 



"Oh, yes," he said, "I get lost every time I go in the woods; 

 but after I get through hunting and am ready to go home, I just 

 give old buckskin his head and he takes me to camp." 



I said, "Does he never make a mistake?" 



"You bet he don't. He knows these woods just as well as any 

 deer in them." 



A party of Spokane business men were hunting deer on Spirit 

 Lake, 20 miles north of that place. They were camping with 

 a homesteader who had several hoimds that were trained to run 

 deer. Each morning he would station the men on certain so-called 

 runways, then he would take the dogs in leash far into the forest 

 and put them out. They would range far and wide, and some one 

 of them would invariably jimip a deer. The deer would attempt 

 to escape on one of the runways, and the man on that trail was 

 supposed to stop him; but it did not always happen that way. 

 In one case, a lawyer, standing on the bank of a certain creek 

 where the deer was to cross, got a shot. The deer showed by his 

 irregular jumps that it was hit. The man went to the spot and 

 found blood. By this time the owner of the dogs and two or three 

 of the sportsmen came up. The lawyer pointed out to them tliat 

 the blood on the trail was fight colored and that this indicated a 

 lung shot. The master of the hounds disputed this. lie said it 

 was not lung blood, but blood from a merely ficsh wound. 'I'lic 

 dogs took the trail of the wounded animal, baying livc>ly and soon 

 went out of hearing. They were gone all day and did not rctnrn 



