244 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



bell on him, although belled cattle had been ranging 

 with him all summer. But with some deer this will 

 not work at all. I was staying once at a logging- 

 camp when a light sleet suddenly made the hunting 

 very bad for a few days. Having noticed that many 

 of the logging-teams wore small bells, and that deer 

 stood around, browsed, and even lay down within 

 sound of these, I got a bell and went after the deer. 

 Deer were quite plenty, and the first day I jumped 

 over a dozen single ones whose tracks I saw, and 

 doubtless more whose tracks I did not see. But 

 every one of these jumped out of sight. The next day 

 I muffled the clapper of the bell so that it would sound 

 as if very far off, and the result was the same as the 

 day before. I afterward tried it on soft snow with no 

 better success. The reason probably was because I 

 went away from the road. Had I kept in it at early 

 morning and late in the evening I might have done 

 better, though the main trouble undoubtedly was 

 that the moment they heard it they got up and 

 looked, and the difference between me and a logging- 

 team was too striking. The difference in the tread 

 had also something to do with it. They had not been 

 hunted with a bell before, but were exceedingly wild 

 from being still-hunted by Indians and market-shoot- 

 ers. I never tried the bell on California deer, but 

 should think it would be of little use, except where 

 cattle wear bells; though if the ground is such that 

 you must make a noise anyhow, it would be well to 

 try it anywhere. And it is sometimes a good plan 

 to put it on a horse in hunting very bushy or very 

 rough ground,- where deer cannot see far. Some deer 

 know the step of a man so perfectly, however, that 

 they cannot be deceived by anything, and nothing but 



