At Close Range 



about the edges of the cleared fields all summer. I 

 recall one such farm in Maine, where the owner 

 had fifteen acres of green oats waving over virgin 

 soil a glorious crop for me, but for him an occasion 

 of lamentation. You could go through that field 

 at any hour before six in the morning or after six 

 at night and find a dozen deer with a moose or 

 two making themselves at home. The owner's 

 cattle were kept out by a rail fence; but the 

 moose simply leaned against the fence and went 

 through, while the nimble deer sailed over the ob- 

 struction like grasshoppers. On all such farms the 

 deer have the scent of man almost constantly in 

 their nostrils, and they are simply watchful, run- 

 ning when you approach too near, but turning 

 after a short flight to have a look at you. At 

 times you may see them feeding when the scent of 

 laborers or fishermen blows fairly over them. But 

 when October comes, and the law is "off," and 

 wild-eyed hunters appear with guns in their hands 

 and death in their thoughts, then the same deer 

 quickly become as other and wilder creatures, 

 rushing off in alarm at the first sniff of an enemy. 

 The fact and the changed action are evident 

 enough ; the only interesting question is, To what 

 extent does the smell of man change when he 

 changes his peaceable ways ? 



Two or three times I have had opportunity to 

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