A hunter's life. 393 



of the water, making a great splashing, and rush through 

 the bushes and weeds along the banks. 



Hunting by eandle or torchlight furnishes great amuse- 

 ment, as during the night all wild animals seek their food. 

 In moving along the stream, the canoe will glide into the 

 midst of a family of otters, which, being blinded by the 

 glare of the candle, have no fears till they find themselves 

 80 near a hunter, whom they are exceedingly afraid of. 

 Then they will flounce about and dive under the water, 

 though it seems as if they could not leave the place until 

 it again becomes dark. 



Perhaps you will next encounter a flock of ducks, which 

 will take the same kind of frolic until the light passes 

 beyond their position. They are all perfectly crazy as 

 long as their eyes are blinded by the glare of the candle, 

 which affords much amusement for the night-hunter en- 

 gaged in shooting deer. 



Shooting deer at a lick diS'ers but little from the mode 

 just related, if the lick be a natural one. The plan is to 

 climb a tree, to the distance of thirty or forty feet, and 

 there make a nest of limbs to shade the hunter. Then 

 either a few coals of fire and some fine splinters, or a large 

 candle, is tied to a pole like those used in fishing, and a 

 place is fixed to lay the pole on after the candle is lighted. 

 When the deer come to the lick, the candle is laid as neai 

 over it as the length of the pole will admit, when the light 

 will display the entire body of the deer and the sights of 

 of the gun as plain as they could be seen by daylight. 

 The deer will sometimes stand until they receive a second 

 and a third shot ; so perfectly astonished are they at the 

 blaze of the candle and the thunder of the heavily-loaded 

 rifle. They become confused, and seem to lose their senses 

 for a time. 



The way to make a deer-lick with common salt, is to 

 lielecl a place where the deer have found a crossing, and 



