214 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER COMBINED. 



THERE is still another kind of ground, quite com- 

 mon in those countries where the greater number of 

 deer are now to be found. It is a combination of 

 open ground and timber, and when deer and acorns 

 are plenty often affords shooting so easy and abun- 

 dant that any tyro who has strength enough to stroll a 

 mile or two on gently rolling ground and can hit any- 

 thing at all can often have success enough to make 

 him think he is a wonderful hunter. But, on the other 

 hand, when deer are scarce and wild on such ground, 

 it is in some respects more difficult to hunt than any 

 we have yet seen except the heavy timber. We will, 

 however, consider deer tolerably wild and not so 

 abundant as to make care needless. 



It is autumn now, and the acorns are pattering to the 

 ground. Between rugged mountains robed in chap- 

 paral of dark, velvet green runs a long low valley 

 which breaks on every side in smaller valleys and 

 gulches into the adjacent mountains, and forms along 

 the sides benches, basins, and pockets of various sizes. 

 These are partly open and partly filled with a low 

 chapparal of brush live-oaks, to the acorns of which 

 the deer are very partial. The bottom and lower sides of 

 the valley are well covered with vast live-oaks that have 

 stood shoulder to shoulder through centuries of time. 

 With their ever-living leaves of dark shining green 



