LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 81 



which would be no small pleasure to one who has 

 never yet seen a wild deer in his native woods. 



And now we are in sight of the old "chopping" or 

 "slash," a clearing with an occasional tall dead, 

 burned or blasted tree standing amid a general soli- 

 tude of logs and brush. 



You must now study four things in the following 

 order of relative importance : 



ist. To avoid noise in walking. 



2d. To avoid going down the wind. 



3d. To keep on as high ground as is consistent 

 with quiet walking and the wind. 



4th. To keep the sun on your back. 



The first three of these we have already considered, 

 and you know their importance. For hunting open 

 ground the fourth often becomes of great importance; 

 and it is sometimes an advantage worth all the rest 

 together. In hunting ground as open as a " slash," it 

 is sometimes quite important, especially if there are 

 any deer in it still on foot, which is often the case, as 

 deer do not reserve a slash exclusively for siestas. And 

 on all kinds of ground it is an advantage that should 

 always be taken where it can be done without sacri- 

 fice of the others. 



Under the head of shooting with the rifle we shall 

 examine the difficulties of shooting toward the sun, 

 especially when it is near the horizon, the time when 

 you will be most apt to get shots at deer. Now to hunt 

 toward the sun is often to have to shoot toward the sun. 

 And the more you can avoid this the better. So much 

 is this the case that if you are hunting down a nar- 

 row shallow ravine or gulch from which you expect 

 to jump a deer and will have to take a running shot 

 along or up one side or across the ridge or open 



