92 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



found anywhere but when hunted much they become very 

 watchful and exceedingly difficult to approach. It is sport 

 to hunt them even when not very successful, because they 

 live where there is wood, water, shelter, grass and every- 

 thing necessary to a good camping ground. Half the pleas- 

 ure in hunting comes from camping out in just the right 

 kind of a place, one quarter comes from rambling over the 

 country, seeing something new every day, breathing the 

 fresh air and enjoying the bright sunshine and one quarter 

 comes from looking for game and shooting it if you can. 

 There is no animal that I have ever hunted that affords 

 more real enjoyment than the black-tail deer. The black- 

 tail deer does not seek to secrete itself by hiding in thickets 

 of brush or in patches of big weeds nearly so much as does 

 the white-tail. It is very apt to lie down near the top of 

 a steep hill, or sometimes on the very top, where it can see 

 in most directions and hear and smell in others, and where 

 its color so harmonizes with the surroundings that it is not 

 readily observed . It is almost sure to lie down where two 

 or three bounds will take it behind some object that will 

 protect it from the sight of the hunter. They are cunning 

 and know how to take care of themselves all right. Their 

 mode of running is different from that of the white-tail. 

 They bound to their feet in an instant and spring away with 

 quick, rapid bounds, raising all four feet from the ground 

 at once, suggesting that they are jumping stiff-legged. They 

 make rapid progress, however, and one has to shoot quickly 

 or lose his chance. 



The white-tail deer are found on level lands where 

 there is tall grass in which they can hide — along the edges 

 of the swamps where there are willows, cat-tail flags and 

 coarse grass — in hilly or rolling lands where there are ra- 

 vines filled with big weeds, and along all streams where 

 there is timber and brush or big grass. They were found 

 all over Antelope county more or less, but more especially 



