THE WHITE TAIL DEER. 57 



in the use of dogs is that they enable one 

 almost always to recover wounded game. 



If the animal is running at full speed a 

 long distance off, the difficulty of hitting is of 

 course very much increased ; and if the 

 country is open the value of a repeating rifle 

 is then felt. If the game is bounding over 

 logs or dodging through underbrush, the 

 difficulty is again increased. Moreover, the 

 natural gait of the different kinds of game 

 must be taken into account. Of course the 

 larger kinds, such as elk and moose, are the 

 easiest to hit; then comes the antelope, in 

 spite of its swiftness, and the sheep, because 

 of the evenness of their running; then the 

 whitetail, with its rolling gallop ; and last and 

 hardest of all, the blacktail, because of its 

 extraordinary stiff-legged bounds. 



Sometimes on a runway the difficulty is not 

 that the game is too far, but that it is too 

 close ; for a deer may actually almost jump 

 on the hunter, surprising him out of all 

 accuracy of aim. Once something of the sort 

 happened to me. 



Winter was just beginning. I had been off 

 uith the ranch wagon on a last round-up of 

 the beef steers; and had suffered a good 

 deal, as one always does on these cold 

 weather round-ups, sleeping out in tiie snow, 

 wrapped up in blankets and tarpaulin, with 

 no tent and generally no fire. Aloreover, I 

 became so weary of the interminable length 

 of the nights, tliat I almost ceased to mind 

 the freezing misery of standing night guard 

 round the restless cattle; while roping, 

 saddling, and mastering the rough horses 



