122 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XL 



HUNTING ON SNOW. 



THE climax of pleasure and generally of skill is 

 reached in tracking up your game so as to get a good 

 shot at it. Many of the best still-hunters will not 

 hunt at all until snow comes, and in the Eastern and 

 Northwestern States the season may be said to com- 

 mence only "when snow flies," as they say in the 

 woods. 



Tracking upon snow and upon bare ground are 

 generically the same, but specifically so different as to 

 require separate treatment. And tracking upon snow 

 being the easiest, we will consider it first. 



To follow a deer's track upon snow is so easy a 

 matter that almost any one of any tact at all can do it 

 with a trifling bit of practice in judging of the fresh- 

 ness of the marks and the snow thrown out ahead of 

 the footprints. As we go on we will notice the 

 prominent features of a fresh trail. 



Two very natural mistakes are, however, apt to be 

 made by the novice who hunts upon snow: 



ist. That a fresh trail is to be followed as a matter 

 of course. 



2d. That he is to follow directly upon it. 



The advantage of snow for still-hunting lies not 

 alone in enabling one to locate a deer and come up 

 with him. It lies quite as much in softening the 

 ground and deadening the sound of your steps; in 



