94 THE COMMON AMERICAN DEER. 



Several instances of this tenacity of life are on 

 record, one of which I can certify. 



On one occasion I was a member of a hunting 

 party in the thick forests which extend over nearly 



all Brazos country, when a friend, Col. A , shot 



a deer from his saddle. At that moment I was on 

 the ground, busily employed in dressing a deer I 

 had killed, and arranging it for transport behind 

 my saddle ; and as my hands and knife were bloody, 

 and the Colonel was close by me when he shot at 

 the deer, I volunteered to go and gralloch his deer 

 for him, if he would undertake to bring on my 

 rifle and horse when I had strapped the venison on 

 the saddle. Upon reaching the spot where Colonel 



A • had told me the deer was standing when he 



fired, I was unable to see it. It was very evident 

 that he had not dropped it dead in its tracks ; but 

 upon looking at those tracks I could see splashes 

 of blood, and, forcing my way through the tall 

 weeds, I soon became covered with blood, which 

 seemed to have poured in streams from each side 

 of the animal. After following the bloody trail of 

 the animal for about one hundred and eighty yards, 

 I found it dead. On examination, it appeared that 

 the bullet had entered just behind the left shoulder, 

 had passed right through the body, severely luounding 

 the heart in its passage, and had finally issued just 

 behind the right shoulder. I showed the wounded 



