84 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



your glance at once upon him, for a deer in such tim- 

 ber is very hard to see. And even if you had seen 

 him he would undoubtedly have seen you first, and 

 would probably have started before you could take a 

 shot. Now if at the first sound of hoofs you had run 

 at top speed for the edge of the hill you would have re- 

 versed all this. You would have come in sight of him 

 before he stopped running. If you had then stopped 

 instantly, you would have had either a running shot 

 or a good standing shot as soon as he stopped. For, 

 not seeing you if you were motionless, he would have 

 paused a moment or two before going on. In such a 

 case don't stop even to reload your rifle, as you can 

 run to the edge and then load with much more chance 

 of success than by loading first and then going. 



This is a principle that must never be forgotten. 

 The advantage that one of two persons or animals at 

 rest has over the other one moving, is immense. And 

 if a deer in any way gets this advantage you will 

 rarely get him, if very wild, except by a long running 

 shot. With antelope it is still more fatal to success. 

 And even to the tamest deer this advantage must 

 never be given, but should be always retained by the 

 hunter. There are many cases in which you cannot 

 prevent a deer from having it, and such constitute 

 a large part of what is known as the " luck against 

 you." 



It is now getting toward the middle of the after- 

 noon and is time to work toward the oak ridges again. 

 In hunting them observe the same rules that you ob- 

 served this morning. But remember that as night 

 approaches it becomes very hard to distinguish a deer 

 among the tree-trunks, even though other objects still 

 remain quite distinct. 



