THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 45 



watching my companion nearly a mile away, whose 

 motions I could hardly make out myself. It is doubt- 

 ful, though, if a deer can distinguish a man at any 

 such distance, or even at half of it. 



But a deer's eyes are marvelously quick to catch a 

 motion. And the fact that deer are generally at rest 

 while you are in motion gives them an immense ad- 

 vantage over you. So keen are their eyes to detect a 

 motion that if you once get within their eye-range and 

 they suspect you, it is almost useless to try to get a 

 single step closer to them. From this arises the com- 

 mon hunter's maxim, "When you see a deer, shoot;" 

 a maxim demanding great qualification, however. A 

 deer not alarmed may often be approached after you 

 come within his sight; as we shall see hereafter. 



Not only are they quick to detect a motion, but 

 they can detect a very slight one or a very slow one, 

 and do it, too, at quite a distance. The slow rising 

 of your head over a ridge, the slow movement of your 

 body across the trunks of trees, the slow motion of a 

 creeping body along the ground they see almost in- 

 stantly, unless the motion happens to be made while 

 they have their heads down feeding or walking, etc. 

 A deer once started watches back with an acuteness 

 that in the woods is quite certain to baffle the keenest- 

 eyed pursuer, and is likely to do so on open ground. 

 And when much hunted by tracking they learn to 

 watch their back track without waiting to be started. 



The senses of antelope are about the same as those 

 of deer. Their great bulging eyes like old-fashioned 

 watch-crystals will catch a far slighter motion than 

 those of a deer, will catch it three or four times as far 

 away, and catch it, too, in almost any quarter of the 

 horizon. My experience with them at close ranges 



