236 Deer of the Pacific Coast 



may not be a butcher or care a cent for " heads " 

 or "trophies," which generally mean throwing 

 away a whole animal, you may still have a pardon- 

 able pride in shooting at a little more than you 

 can yourself consume. If so, you will probably 

 be unable to give the meat away, and find very 

 little fun in turning the camp into a butcher 

 shop to dry it. I have been in the Coast Range 

 of Oregon for three weeks at a time where I could 

 see from ten to twenty deer a day in merely rid- 

 ing through the woods. There was nothing to 

 do but look at them, however, for not a sign of 

 man or any of his works was there for many a 

 long league. All this is very pleasant, and, for 

 those who have had a surfeit of hunting, as good 

 as shooting, but it does not satisfy the majority of 

 hunters. 



In many other places the timber and brush 

 are so dense that, though deer are very plentiful, 

 there is nothing to do but wait around some 

 opening for a deer to come out. To one who 

 loves the chase solely for the opportunity to 

 play his wits against the shrewdness of the game, 

 this is intolerable. For such the remedy in either 

 case is to select big bucks and start them going. 

 When the Columbia blacktail starts on his rico- 

 chet course through fallen timber or rocks, or 

 even on quite open ground, you are in no immi- 

 nent danger of being troubled by the question 



