64 SHOOTING LARGE GAME. 



party of two or three take a boat on a dark night and proceed to 

 l^addle cautiously around the lake within a rod or two of the 

 shores. The huntsman who occupies the forward seats wears a 

 curious-lookiug head-dress upon which is fastened a dark lantern. 

 As the boat noiselessly proceeds, the occupants remaining like grim 

 statues, the light from the lantern throws a sudden gleam upon the 

 edge of the forest jungle. Deer take advantage of the darkness 

 to seek the water, and, as the boat comes upon them unawares, 

 tbe light suddenly shines in their faces, which they curiously watch 

 and wonder at, not being able to see the boat and the enemy. By 

 this means the hunters are enabled to get a good view of the deer, 

 and when one is seen in this manner he generally falls before the 

 unerring aim of the shot-gun, which is the favorite weapon for 

 this peculiar sport. 



Another favorite mode, as practiced by city hunters under the 

 tutorship of the old hunters and guides, is to shoot from stagings 

 erected in trees near deer salt-licks. An old rotten log in the near 

 vicinity of a deer trail is chosen for the purpose, and kept well 

 salted, and a sort of ladder is made in a convenient tree and at a 

 distar^ce of between thirty and forty feet a narrow seat is con- 

 structed. About sundown the hunter takes his position in the tree 

 and silently awaits the approach of the deer, on their way to the 

 lake. They always stop to lick the salt from the log, when the 

 hunter, who patiently waits through the long hours of the night, is 

 rewarded with a shot, and if he be at all proficient he is almost sure 

 of one or more deer. 



Stagings are also erected in trees close to narrow channels joining 

 two lakes, through which the deer must pass on their night rounds. 

 When two or more parties join for a hunt of this character, both of 

 the stagings indicated are manned, and if the night be not too light 

 and the hunters remain still as death, plenty of game is sure to be 

 encountered. 



Large Game. 



GUNNING FOR LARGE GAME is a sport that will soon only 

 be found in the mountains and on the far- western plains. Formerly 

 there roamed at will over this once wild region vast herds of buf- 

 falo, elk, aMtelope, moose and cariboo. There still may be found 



