38 DEER -STALKING. 



was reckoned a most unlucky feat. One severe winter, 

 when after water-fowl with another man, four hoopers 

 were discovered close to the shore. His companion eagerly 

 pointed them out, when the old forester, who had most 

 likely seen them first, coolly replied, " You see, John, 

 we'll just let them alone ! " The only thing not truly 

 national about him was substituting a pinch of snuff for a 

 quid of tobacco ; and when out on the hills he has often 

 expressed his belief, that the moss-water he was sometimes 

 obliged to drink would long ago have been the death of 

 him, had he not always followed it up by the antidote of 

 a pinch which " killed all the venom. " 



But the character of my old friend has beguiled me into 

 too long a digression. I must now return to the rifle. 



Every man before firing at deer must be thoroughly 

 acquainted with his own a 'point even more important 

 with a rifle than a shot-gun. Under eighty yards it will 

 most likely shoot a little high ; and if the wind is at all 

 strong, it will alter the direction of the ball fully a foot at 

 a hundred yards, for which allowance must be made. The 

 best place to hit a deer, unless he is lying down, and so 

 close as to tempt one to try the head, is just behind the 

 shoulder. If struck fair, he will most likely bound forward 

 ten or twenty yards, and then drop. One that I shot ran 

 fifty yards before it fell, although the lower part of the 

 heart was touched. When this occurs, you may be sure it 

 will never rise again. If, on the contrary, it falls instan- 

 taneously, unless shot through the head, neck, or spine, it 

 may very possibly spring up on a sudden, and perhaps 



