224 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



thing move amongst the scattered timber below me ; 

 and the next instant made out three mule deer does, 

 following slowly on the tracks of the wapiti, and 

 feeding wherever these latter animals had scraped 

 away the snow. Then I saw what I took to be a 

 mule deer buck, as he came from behind the does, 

 and I saw that he had horns. I only got the barest 

 glimpse of these, however, as he immediately put his 

 head down behind a bush to feed. 



Looking across the ravine, I could see trails in 

 the snow leading round the opposite shoulder of 

 the mountain, and took them to be the tracks of the 

 wapiti I was following, which I judged were therefore 

 still a good way on ahead. What I thought was a 

 good mule deer buck was well within shot; and 

 though I could only see a small part of him, that 

 part was the vital portion of his body lying just at 

 the back of the shoulder. I wanted a few more good 

 deer-heads, and so quickly determined to fire just 

 one shot, and then go on after the wapiti ; but the 

 moment I fired, though the thud of the bullet assured 

 me it had found its billet, I realised the mistake I had 

 made. The mule deer does went off in a succession 

 of leaps, but the animal, only a portion of which I had 

 seen feeding amongst the bushes close to them, raising 

 its head rushed forwards through the snow, and to my 

 intense vexation revealed the form of a very young 

 wapiti bull with little spike-horns. Nor was this all, 

 for I immediately saw some dark forms passing rapidly 



