MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 387 



substantial lunch, conduces more to that desirable 

 solidity of muscle and nerve essential to good shoot- 

 ing than anything else you can carry except beef, and, 

 to say the least, is quite as palatable as doughnuts and 

 similar " baby-feed," and takes up far less room. 



You may find your first half-dozen deer all standing 

 broadside in plain open sight and close by; may hit 

 every one at the first shot with a dirty rifle carelessly 

 loaded, and shoot every one dead in its tracks. I 

 have myself seen deer so plenty and tame that a 

 novice could do this. But beware how you conclude 

 from such success that I have been unnecessarily 

 particular in the advice I have given, or that deer- 

 hunting is a thing to which you were specially born. 

 Many of the most important principles of stalking 

 deer and antelope are obtainable only by a consider- 

 able amount of careful observation. You might hunt 

 a week by the side of a careless and bad hunter and 

 a week by the side of a careful and good one, and yet 

 notice no difference in their work if judged by its suc- 

 cess. The trouble is that neither one week nor two 

 weeks will suffice to test any important point in hunt- 

 ing of this kind. Follow sound principle whether you 

 see its immediate results or not. Especially should it 

 be followed where it costs nothing, such as raising 

 your head slowly over ridges and taking your gun 

 from your shoulder, etc. 



In no other branch of field-sports is there such an 

 array of exceptions to nearly every rule. Sometimes 

 these are so numerous as to require long observation 

 to determine which is the rule and which the excep- 

 tion. Often the exceptions are as important as the 

 rule itself. In such case I have given them. But 



