OF SHOOTING AND FISHING 53 
It rained and snowed all night and when the 
train arrived at Rifle several hours late, we found 
that the Meeker stage had departed.’ The country 
was covered with snow, which was deep on the 
mountains, but while this was good for the shoot- 
ing it added nothing to the comfort of the trip. 
Finding a livery stable I interviewed the pro- 
prietor, intending to hire a conveyance which 
would take us to Meeker. The man was very hon- 
est and said that with the heavy snow the deer 
would be ‘‘crossing”’ and that the shooting would 
be good much nearer. Heavy storms drive the 
game from the mountains to the low sheltered 
country and the sportsman just then would be 
reasonably sure of a shot within a few miles of 
Rifle. He suggested Dickinson’s Ranch on Pi-ci- 
ance Creek as a likely place, so a wagon was hired 
and with our effects loaded upon it, we departed. 
The country was hilly, but the road good. As 
we went along, the stage driver pointed out places 
where he had killed deer and gave us an interesting 
account of the game resources of the neighbour- 
hood. The day was nearly spent as we crossed 
a low divide and drove down to the ranch, which 
was near Pi-ci-ance Creek and at the upper end 
of a narrow valley. As we had made no arrange- 
ments in advance, we were surprised to find that 
we could get beds there and the proprietor soon 
made us comfortable in every way. Deer stalk- 
ing stories, sounding like exaggerations, were told 
by the many sportsmen assembled, as we sat around 
the stove and smoked; but as is usual in camp, we 
