268 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



buck drop in his tracks and lie there with the same 

 bullet-hole in the same place that another and smaller 

 deer has carried for miles without falling. And I 

 have seen an old buck antelope run ninety yards on 

 as beautiful and almost as swift a trot as St. Julien 

 ever made on the race-track, with both heart and lungs 

 cut into perfect pulp by a .65 expansive ball with two 

 hundred grains of powder behind it, and which would 

 probably make the next one wilt like a wet rag in its 

 tracks. Therefore if you happen to kill your first half- 

 dozen or even dozen deer in their tracks or in your 

 sight, do not delude yourself with the idea that there 

 is no danger of deer escaping your rifle, but always 

 use the same care above advised. 



If a deer runs any distance and then falls he is 

 pretty sure to be dead. But be sure that he /#//.$, for 

 if he runs and lies down it may need all your care to 

 get him. If he falls at the report of the gun and 

 then gets up and runs it generally means hard work 

 and care to bag him. Therefore it is best always 

 when a deer drops at once to run directly to him if 

 there are no other deer at hand. Especially do you 

 need to run if he struggles to get up, even though he 

 fails ; for a deer often recovers himself for a while, 

 even when mortally wounded, being badly stunned at 

 first, then getting over that and getting away to die 

 afterward. But do not let a deer see you running to 

 him if you can help it, and if near enough always give 

 a struggling one another shot without going up to it, 

 as the sight of you often revives one wonderfully. 



How to manage a deer when killed is a matter in 

 which your natural tact, as well as information from 

 any woodsman, hunter, or settler, will serve you suf- 

 ficiently well that for brevity I shall omit the most of 



