SPECIAL MODES OF HUNTING. 243 



autumn leaves are dry and crackly, or the snow is 

 stiff and noisy, or the brush is thick and high, it is well 

 to try the cow-bell. 



Hang the bell over your shoulder so that it will 

 sound as if on a cow, and walk along fast, never 

 minding the noise of your feet, but keeping a very 

 keen eye ahead. Two companions, one on each side, 

 about one hundred to three hundred yards from you 

 and forty to a hundred and fifty yards ahead, may often 

 work well in brush or on snow, but on snow they must 

 be farther out from you than on bare ground, unless 

 it is very brushy. It is well to have a set of signals 

 with the bell so as to tell them if you see a deer, or, 

 if on a trail, which way it turns, etc. Deer act very 

 differently before the bell, and it is always liable to 

 fail, though it will often give you great success. In 

 thick brush deer that are accustomed to belled cattle 

 will be apt to play along before the bell about a 

 hundred yards or so ahead, stopping to look back at 

 it, and watching its direction so closely that they do 

 not notice your companions on the sides. Sometimes 

 they will stand quite unconcerned, looking at you un- 

 til you get in plain open sight, so that you can get a 

 good shot. And sometimes they will run at the first 

 sound of it, and not let you even get sight of them. I 

 have seen an old buck so bothered by the bell that it 

 seemed impossible to make him run, although for five 

 minutes I did my very best to miss him; and my fin- 

 gers were so numb with cold that I could hardly load 

 the rifle, while he stood looking at me in the utmost 

 amazement, at only fifty yards. Every time he start- 

 ed to run a single jingle of the bell would make him 

 halt and look all around. This buck was celebrated 

 for his wildness, but no one had thought of trying a 



