The Columbia Blacktail 237 



of what to do with your game. For you will 

 find many unsuspected rocks to dash your bullet 

 into leaden spray, and many a big log to absorb 

 it just about the time the game vanishes in grace- 

 ful curve over its top. 



Subject to these limitations, the hunting of the 

 blacktail is in many ways the finest now to be 

 found. On much of its range, such as the upper 

 tiers of the Cascade Range, the grass is so plenty 

 you can camp almost anywhere, while the woods 

 are generally so open that travel alone is a delight. 

 Here are meadows and open glades around which 

 in summer you may see many a pair of velvet 

 horns rise from the low brush when the sun- 

 light begins to gild the tips of the towering 

 pine, with plenty of ridges just right for walk- 

 ing and commanding a good view of the slopes 

 below. Mosquitoes, flies, and other torments are 

 almost unknown; cool nights and bright days 

 that are none too hot are generally a certainty ; 

 and while rain is a possibility, it is quite safe to 

 start on a long trip with no tent but the starry 

 sky, as in the greater part of California. 



The eyes of the blacktail seem fully as keen 

 as those of the Virginia deer, but, like the mule- 

 deer, he is not so easily started by noise. This 

 is not because his ears are at all inferior. He is 

 simply taking chances instead of leaving chances 

 well in the rear, as the Virginia deer generally 



