IN THE FAR WEST. 251 



vain, for none came near me, as they kept a straight course 

 and led the pursuers a merry race among rocky pinnacles, 

 where the line was soon lost. I heard the hounds giving 

 tongue at intervals among the peaks, but as they seemed to 

 remain in one spot I sounded the recall, and they came back 

 with an evident air of being nicely outwitted that time. 



Thinking I might be able to capture one after all, I made a 

 cast on a new line, but before the dogs had run what I should 

 imagine to be a mile they became silent. I followed their 

 tracks as well as I could for three or four miles, and found 

 them pottering about, in the most indecisive manner, amid 

 ledges of trap rock and a grassless soil that would scarcely 

 retain the odour of a polecat. I then learned that their apparent 

 proximity was due to the resonant echoes of the mountain and 

 forest, and that I had had a hard tramp for nothing. On 

 looking for the slot or seal of the deer they had been pursuing, 

 I saw that it led into a ravine, and on entering this I detected 

 the wily character of the animal immediately, for when it 

 entered the rivulet it did not emerge on the other side, but 

 waded downward with the current. Not caring to go on a 

 wild goose chase, I retraced my footsteps, and went back to 

 town without a trophy. That was my first and last attempt 

 at hunting the macrotian creature with hounds ; though I 

 would not presume to infer from this failure that it cannot be 

 pursued to good advantage with dogs in a less difficult region 

 than the one I was in. 



The best time for hunting it is when the early snows of 

 winter force it to descend to the foot-hills in order to secure 

 food and shelter. One may stalk it then rather easily, if it lias 

 not been hunted mueh, as it seems loth to leave its coverts, 

 and is not so liable to head for the steep summits on the first 

 alarm. If one can secure a good position in a frequented run- 

 way, during this annual migration, he may reap a large deer 

 harvest, for the animals come trooping down rapidly in single 

 file, and seem more anxious to reaeh their destination than to 

 avoid danger. It' the hunter should have a rifle that carries a 

 small charge of powder and a heavy ball, he is more likely to 

 be successful than if he were armed with the usual hunting 

 weapons, as the report is not so great as that of thr latter, 



