TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 263 



the blood ceases to flow and the cripple settles to a 

 walk on ground where tracking is hard. For the 

 tracking of a wounded deer is very different from that 

 of a well one. You can tell very nearly where a well 

 one will go, and without this knowledge tracking on 

 bare ground is often impracticable. But you cannot 

 count upon the movements of a wounded deer, except 

 that generally he will run to the roughest and most 

 brushy ground there is within reach. The number of 

 deer lost on bare ground by the best of trackers and 

 good shots is almost incredible to those who have not 

 hunted and associated much with them. And even 

 on snow many are lost. 



One means of remedying this loss of game the 

 use of a rifle-ball that will effectually stop anything 

 struck anywhere in the body I shall point out in a 

 subsequent chapter. But no rifle will kill a deer at 

 once by hitting a leg unless very high up; and there- 

 fore every hunter who can should have a good dog at 

 his heels. 



A really good dog to overtake and stop a wounded 

 deer is hard to get, and harder still to keep. There are 

 enough that can do it, but they will spoil more shots 

 for you than they save deer. Little or no training is 

 required, as a dog that is at all fit for the purpose will 

 take to it naturally. But he should be trained and 

 kept in absolute obedience about remaining behind 

 until sent out, even though a wounded deer be escap- 

 ing before his eyes. As such dogs have generally 

 more or less of some headstrong and intractable blood 

 in their composition this is no easy matter to do; and 

 as the average hunter is always in agony when he 

 sees anything toothsome escaping, and is always blind 

 to the fact that a dog can follow a trail in one or two 



