SHOOTING LARGE GAME. 65 



upon the shores of our northern lakes by the practiced hunter a 

 stray specimen of the elk, cariboo, or perhaps the moose, but the 

 common deer and black bear are now about the only large game to 

 be found in any quantity. 



All animals should be approached from the leeward side, that 

 your presence may not be scented. If mounted upon a horse lie 

 down close upon his back, a practice that will often deceive the 

 game. A horse alone does not disturb a fellow animal. Always 

 shoot for the heart. The ball should be aimed just back of the fore 

 leg, a fe"w inches above the brisket. 



An Old'Tifne Badger Hunt, 



A favorite mode of taking the badger is by the use of 

 hounds. A moonlight night — such as the negroes of Virginia 

 and Alabama delight in for a 'possum or 'coon hunt— is selected for 

 the f)urpose, and about 11 o'clock all the badger- earths within a 

 radius of a dozen miles are stopped, and the master sallies forthwith 

 his eager and expectant dogs. 



Upon arriving at the first earth the dogs are laid on, and, al- 

 though hours may have elapsed since " the varmint " set forth upon 

 his nightly prowl, the scent remains so strong that the hounds have 

 rarely any difficulty in picking it up and answering to it. Presently 

 a crash of music rings through the dark woods, tipped upon their 

 edges with dashes of silver falling from the moonbeams, and the 

 meditative badger, engaged, perhaps, two or three miles away in 

 digging out a rabbit's nest or climbing a tree in pursuit of honey, 

 pricks up his listening ears and recognizes the sounds proclaiming 

 that his enemies are abroad. With a shambling run he makes off 

 without more ado toward the nearest earth, and finds, to his con- 

 sternation, that it is barred against his entrance. A few sharp 

 scratches with his powerful claws convince him that the earth is too 

 securely stopped for him to be able to force his way into it within 

 the time at his disposal, and again he darts off into the forest with 

 his senses preternaturally quickened by the rapidly approaching 

 notes of his pursuers. Another earth is tried in vain, and the hotly- 

 hunted beast now takes in despair to the wood. His stumpy legs 

 are j)lied with a will, and, like the wild hog of Central India, he 

 shuffles along at a speed with which inexperienced sportsmen would 



