OF SHOOTING AND FISHING 5d 
the dense scrub with difficulty, I got down and 
proceeded along the crest. The valley on my right 
was too tame-looking for game, but on the left at 
the foot of the hills a little creek ran, and immedi- 
ately beyond it a very steep timber-clad country 
which looked attractive. I had not gone very far 
when, four or five hundred yards in front of me, 
about twenty deer appeared. They had been dis- 
turbed in some of the side gullies and had bolted. 
I saw some of them carrying horns and [I fired 
several times at one of these but without success. 
Deciding that the horse was a nuisance when 
still-hunting, and that the top of the ridge was a 
bad place, I descended towards the creek. When 
about half way down, I stopped, and with glasses 
looked over the side of the hill opposite. At least 
twenty deer were in sight among the scattered 
pines. The long white hair on either side of the 
black tail was very easily seen; in fact, it was the 
white spot on the hillside which attracted the eye. 
Finding a grove of cedars, I tied up the horse, and 
following a game-path along the hillside, tried to 
get opposite a buck, but probably he could see me 
on the comparatively bare slope more distinctly 
than I could see him among the pines; so although 
I spent a good deal of time stalking him and fired 
at long range, I had nothing to show for it. 
Hitherto the shooting had been bad, not a single 
animal having been killed by any man at the ranch 
before our arrival, so my seeing such numbers of 
deer was due. beyond a doubt, to the snow of the 
