At Close Range 



and a moose came swinging along without noticing 

 me, I have risen to my feet or thrown my hat at 

 the big brute when he was as near as I cared to 

 have him. And more than once, after a tremen- 

 dous start of surprise, he has come nearer with his 

 hackles up as soon as he got over the first effect of 

 my demonstration. Yet when I am roaming the 

 woods that same brute will catch my scent at 

 from two to five hundred yards, and rush away 

 before I can get even a glimpse of him. 



That the same surprising sense-limitation is upon 

 deer and other game animals may be inferred from 

 the following experience, which is typical of many 

 others. I was perched among some cedar roots 

 on the shore of a pond, one September day, watch- 

 ing a buck with the largest antlers I have ever seen 

 on one of his kind. I had been some time quiet 

 when he glided out to feed in a little bay, on my 

 right; and my heart was with him in the wish 

 that he might keep his noble crown through the 

 hunting season, for his own pleasure and the adorn- 

 ment of the woods and the confusion of all head- 

 hunters. There was no breeze; but a moistened 

 finger told of a faint drift of air from the lake to 

 the woods. 



As I watched the buck, there came to my cars a 

 crunching of gravel from the opposite direction, 

 and two deer appeared on the point at my left, 



[225] 



