HOW TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 143 



sight. Whereas if you circle it you may come in 

 upon him from the side that he is not watching. Or 

 if you happen on the other side of the main trail you 

 will perhaps be so far off that he cannot see you, and 

 when you finally miss the trail you may swing around 

 the doubling point and come in upon him from be- 

 hind. At all events, if a deer does play this trick on 

 you, you are in no worse condition than if you were 

 on the trail. And you may be in a much better one. 



Where a trail runs toward a heavy windfall into 

 which you can see no better from one side than from 

 the other, you may feel an inclination to keep close to 

 the track because you feel that the deer, if inside the 

 windfall, cannot see you. This is in a measure true. 

 But he may have stopped just in the edge of it. If 

 he has, you will be quite certain to lose him by a 

 direct approach. Whereas if you circle around and 

 come along the edge he will be much less apt to see 

 you. And if he runs he will probably give you a 

 much better shot by running away from it instead 

 of plunging directly into it, as he would probably 

 otherwise do. 



A hunter may picket his horse with a "granny- 

 knot" on his neck and a slip-knot on the stake and 

 may find him fast there in the morning. If he use a 

 bowline-knot and a clove-hitch he will find him fast 

 if nothing breaks. Yet the two latter knots take no 

 more time or trouble to tie than the other. So there 

 are many cases where it is as easy to follow the very 

 tamest deer away off on one side as directly on the 

 track. On the track may do; but the other way is 

 vastly surer. 



How far this plan of side-tracking or circling will 

 avail with antelope I cannot say. But they are such 



