256 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



bettered by leaving the game undisturbed until day- 

 light. 



When hunting you may often be puzzled in high 

 mountains by finding on top of the ridges plenty of 

 tracks and trails running in all directions, with plenty 

 of beds, droppings, etc. Yet with your utmost care 

 you will not discover a deer. This is quite apt to be 

 the case where the ridge is much less than five hun- 

 dred yards or so in width, and often so when it is even 

 wider than that. The reason is that the deer are on 

 the ridge only at night, using it mainly to cross from 

 side to side, spending nearly all the daylight down the 

 slopes and ravines far below the top. Where these 

 slopes and the sides of the ravines are very steep such 

 ground is hardly worth hunting, as it is too much 

 work to get a dead deer out of them. The best moun- 

 tain-hunting is in the valleys or basins or along gentle 

 slopes and ridges. 



The noises made by a deer are of little importance. 

 The bleat is much like that of a sheep, but generally 

 shorter. The snort is a hollow whistling " phew" 

 often long drawn. You will quickly enough know 

 either one the first time you hear it. The cry of the 

 fawns and their mothers' call the hunter has no busi- 

 ness to know anything about. 



Of slight importance are the distinctive colors of 

 the deer's coat, " the red coat," "the blue," "the 

 gray," etc. You must watch all colors at all times, 

 for a deer may show any one of these shades at almost 

 any time according to the part you see of him and the 

 way the light strikes it, etc. etc. The blue and gray 

 coat are always the same as far as hunting is con- 

 cerned; for nothing from light gray to black can be 

 neglected. Red is the summer coat; the others the 



