516 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



to know something of the how, the wherefore and the when 

 of all these methods — for nothing is more certain than that 

 you can get this game, and an abundance of it, if you only 

 go at the right time, and seek it in the right way. 



The two favorite methods of taking deer are running them 

 into the lake, and hunting them on the crust — the first for 

 summer and fall, the other for winter, of course. 



The proper time for the first method is about the beginning 

 of September — when the down is off their horns, and they 

 are getting into the " blue coat." That is — the season may 

 be said to be then commenced, for, of course, the deer are 

 improving every day. In three weeks more they will be 

 " seal fat," and will take to the water almost as soon as you 

 start them. This sport continues until the lakes freeze over, 

 when hunting on the crust takes its place. 



Driving on the run-ways is not much practiced here, for 

 the run-ways are so numerous that it requires a large company 

 to man them all, which must be done in most instances to 

 insure sport, since it is next to impossible to tell through 

 which of them all the deer will pass a second time. 



But as I could at any time start a deer within half a mile 

 of where I then quartered, at a rude farm house near a small 

 lake, and that within the hour, too, by the help of the old 

 hound. Ring, it is not to be wondered at that I have several 

 times succeeded, with all the uncertainty, in getting a deer 

 on the run-way. None but a native, with his fly-proof skin, 

 can ever do much at "still hunting" here, so long as the 

 warm weather lasts, — for as the whole success of this hunt 

 depends upon your preserving the most perfect, and statue-like 

 stillness, it requires a test of heroism which I could never 

 bring myself up to meet. It is easy enough to find where 

 the deer are, and even to catch a glimpse of them or hear 

 them as they run off, but your hands must be going so 

 incessantly, for the protection of your excoriated face and 

 neck, that the wary and keen-sighted creatures are almost 



