hV THE FAR WEST. 287 



considered legitimate sport, but the latter is tabooed by all 

 true lovers of the gun, as it does not give the animals any 

 chance for their life, and they are shot as easily as a cow tied 

 up in a barn. When the poor creatures see the light they 

 stare at it in stupid amazement, if the person carrying it is to 

 the leeward, and keep staring until a bullet, fired at a distance 

 of a few feet or yards, goes crashing through their brains. 

 This is, literally speaking, cold-blooded assassination, and is 

 only fit for hungry men or starving Indians ; it is certainly 

 unworthy of sportsmen ; yet I am sorry to say that many 

 persons who call themselves by that name resort to it, and 

 actually boast of the number they have slain in a night. 



I heard of a band of Indians in Washington Territory who 

 killed forty in one night by using torches of pines, and I 

 knew two market hunters who said they had averaged eight 

 a night for several nights in succession. The deer were of 

 course very abundant to permit such slaughter ; but as they 

 are considered too numerous to be agreeable, in some of the 

 wooded portions of that country, no persons objected to this 

 seemingly wanton destruction. 



In still-hunting, patience and perseverance are two essential 

 qualities to ensure success. It is tedious work though, and 

 one which galls on a restless, sanguine nature. Practice 

 dispels the ennui, however, and the most impulsive person may 

 become the most skilful hunter after awhile. One thing every 

 person ought to practise, and that is to keep the eyes on the 

 alert, and to step high when walking, so that the foot, when 

 it comes to the earth, should not make much noise, and that 

 the ball might touch it first. 



Novices, as a rule, walk too rapidly, cover too much 

 ground, and use their legs instead of their eyes, so the result- 

 is too often a failure, and they return home comparatively 

 dispirited. Experience corrects such mistakes, and they soon 

 learn that the less they walk in a country where deer abound 

 the more successful they will be. The stalker would find a 

 deer-hound of great use in the forests of the West to bring 

 wounded animals to bay, otherwise he is liable to lose several, 

 or to tramp after them for miles when he is so weary that he 

 can hardly move. If over there was a country where that 



