HUNTING ON SNOW. 125 



ally is; and a rifle is used instead of a shot-gun. In 

 all else they are par excellence rabbit-hunts. Where 

 deer are very tame, one may sometimes be tracked 

 and bagged almost as easily as a rabbit. But even 

 then it is the rare exception. And where they are 

 wild, the exception is so very rare that it may be 

 thrown entirely out of consideration. In no way can 

 you get so good an idea of what tracking very wild 

 deer is as by seeing what it is not. And in accord- 

 ance with our plan we will see first what mistakes you 

 will naturally fall into, and how to avoid them. 



A light feathery snow of about two inches in depth 

 which fell last evening now covers the ground. And 

 again we tread the woods by the time it is light 

 enough to distinguish a deer. For the earlier we get 

 upon a track the less the distance we shall have to 

 follow it, and the more likely we shall be to find our 

 game on feot instead of lying down where we may 

 have to depend upon a running shot. 



Here is a track already. But it will not be best to 

 follow it, as it was made last night soon after the 

 snow ceased falling. Compare it with your own 

 track and see how the snow thrown out ahead of the 

 hole lacks the sparkle of that thrown from your track. 

 You see, too, that the edges of the hole made by the 

 deer's foot do not glisten like the edges of the one 

 you have made. All this is because the crystals of 

 snow have lost their keenness of edge by evaporation 

 a process that takes place in the very driest snow 

 and coldest air. Stoop low and examine the deer's 

 tracks closely, and notice a little fallen snow and a 

 few faint particles of fine dust from the trees in them. 

 This dust is always falling even in the very stillest 

 weather. But you need nothing more reliable than 



