A Sportsman 83 



familiarity with the region marks, he advances upon 

 the proposed Une, which may include some miles of 

 circuit. There must be an object in all efforts to give 

 zest, whether we walk, drive, sail, bike, or shoot; 

 somewhere to go, something to realize. So with the 

 deer stalker, his primary object is to get deer, and it 

 matters little in one sense if he succeeds or not, and 

 the latter is generally the case. But if he is of an ap- 

 preciative cast, the surroundings are inhabited with 

 charming life and enjoyment. 



Most stalkers will concede that at no time of the 

 year are their rambles more agreeable than when the 

 ground is half carpeted with the yellow, brown, and 

 crimson leaves which announce the opening of the 

 hunting season. 



The deer are now found more in the open growth, 

 and with the cooler weather range about extensively. 

 It is the approach of the mating season, and frequent 

 are the saplings with scarred bark, caused by the 

 whetting of antlers preparatory to rival encounters. 

 Here and there are bare spots and scattered dead- 

 wood which have been pawed in the impatient spirit 

 of combat. 



The deer — timid as supposed — is possessed of an 

 indomitable and persistent courage in conflict with 

 its own kind, and will fight to the extremity of weak- 

 ness and even death before yielding. I have witnessed 

 a good many scenes of this character, where the 

 trampled ground and broken shrubs indicated des- 

 perate encounters. 



At one place, a few miles from the lake, I witnessed 

 in December a scene which indicated a meeting of 

 particular ferocity. I had tracked a large buck 



