108 THE COMMON AMERICAN DEER, 



pleasant, tlie hunters will assemble beneath the shade 

 of a tree near a cool spring ; pipes and cigars will be 

 produced, the whisky flask will pass round, while the 

 morning's sport, the weight of the game, as well as the 

 short-comingfs of such as have been unsuccessful, will 

 form the subject of discussion for a time — the doings 

 of horses, dogs, and men, being thoroughly criticised. 

 After a short rest, the slaughtered deer are placed upon 

 the horses, and the refreshed hunters return to their 

 homes. 



The music of hounds and horn, cheerful companions, 

 together with the agreeable sensation of having a good 

 horse beneath you, all combine to render deer -driving 

 a very pleasant and agreeable sport ; so agreeable that 

 I have always been pleased to join it, even though it 

 involved a visit to some plantation forty or fifty miles 

 distant from my humble wigwam. When, however, 

 the sport was too near home, I was not so well pleased, 

 because, as I have before said, it spoils the still-hunting, 

 and I was often oblio-ed to kill deer for business as well 

 as for pleasure. 



Amongst other method of capturing deer, may be 

 mentioned a very objectionable one, which is practised 

 only by a few men who are unworthy the name of 

 hunters. Large steel traps are set in the waters of 

 streams where the deer are in the habit of crossing. 

 The animal, when thus captured, instead of tearing off 

 its leg in violent efforts to escape, is said to remain 



