SPORT AND TRAVEL 



the creek pretty quickly, as it is much easier to get 

 down a steep hillside covered with snow than to climb 

 up it. 



I had not gone half a mile along the creek when I 

 suddenly saw a mule deer buck on the hillside above 

 me with, I thought, a fine head. He was standing 

 about one hundred yards away, half facing me, and 

 gazing steadily in my direction. I fired at him imme- 

 diately ; and though he turned, and dashing away was 

 lost to sight very quickly amongst the trees, I felt sure 

 I had hit him, and did not think he would go very far. 

 And so it proved, for I found him lying quite dead, 

 not far away, my bullet having struck him at the point 

 of the left shoulder, and torn a big hole through his 

 heart. He was a prime buck in splendid condition ; 

 but though one of his horns was quite handsome, the 

 other was malformed, and spoiled what would other- 

 wise have been a fine head. By the time I had 

 cleaned the carcass and laid it out on the snow, it 

 was getting dusk, and as I was still some miles from 

 camp, I did not get there till long after dark. This 

 was the best day I had in the Rocky Mountains, and 

 a very tiring one, too, owing to the depth of the snow 

 on the higher parts of the mountains, though I had 

 walked quite a small distance in mileage. 



On the following day Graham and I went and 

 fetched in the wapiti heads and the carcasses of the 

 mule deer with pack ponies. We had to leave the 

 ponies near the creek, and then climb the mountain 



