The Mule- deer 203 



certain you are out of sight behind some ridge, 

 and just when you are sure you have the game 

 in your hand, you find the tracks of its speedy 

 disappearance. No matter how softly you have 

 lowered your moccasined foot through the snow, 

 or how carefully you have eased off every twig 

 along your course that could scrape on the softest 

 cloth, or how carefully you have kept the wind in 

 your face, out of sight and even off the trail most 

 of the time to avoid the danger of the deer's 

 watching that track, you find it suddenly gone ; 

 jumped, too, so far away that you could not even 

 hear its bounding feet on the frozen ground or 

 catch the slightest glimpse of its rapid flight. 

 Such disappointments make one love deer-hunt- 

 ing more than any other kind, and the mule-deer 

 of this coast has a goodly store of them in hand 

 for any one who will follow him long enough. 

 One who has been out only a few times may 

 stumble over a blockhead, of which the propor- 

 tion is much greater than among Virginia deer. 

 But one who hunts on the same ground long 

 enough to know almost every individual deer, and 

 notes to-day the tracks of yesterday and the day 

 before, as well as those of the last hour, will be 

 much surprised to learn how many deer have 

 slipped away from him without his suspect- 

 ing it. 



In addition to this mysterious sense, their ears 



