METHODS OF HUNTING DEER 81 



and permitted to blow its head to pieces at short range. Pot- 

 hunters have even been known to catch swimming deer and 

 cut their throats. 



In forests like the Adirondacks, frequented by a great 

 many people, hounding deer should never be permitted; and 

 in the wilderness mentioned it is now prohibited by law. In 

 the West Virginia mountains the hunters are posted on the 

 runways of the deer and are obliged to kill them on the run. 

 This requires good judgment and excellent marksmanship, 

 and is legitimate sport. 



Jacking or fire-lighting is a very picturesque and romantic 

 method of hunting deer, but inasmuch as it gives the game 

 no chance, and calls for very little skill or exertion on the 

 part of the hunter, it is by some considered unsportsmanlike. 

 In the prosecution of this plan the hunter requires a canoe, 

 a skilful paddler, and a good light. With a flaring jack- 

 light held aloft in the bow, the paddler, or guide, sits in the 

 stern of the boat, and noiselessly paddles it through the dark- 

 ness, around the shores of the lake or river. The hunter 

 sits under the light, and waits for its beams to emblazon the 

 eyeballs of deer standing on the shore, or feeding in shallow 

 water. Often the boat approaches so near a wonder-struck 

 deer that to miss it is almost impossible. 



Still-hunting is the true sportsman's method of outwitting 

 deer which for genuine keenness of eye, ear and nose, have, 

 I believe, no superior in the whole Family. One fine old 

 White-Tailed buck killed by fair and square trailing and 

 stalking is equal to two mule deer or three elk. When first 

 alarmed, the mule deer and elk are prone to halt from curi- 



