DEER TRACKING. 187 

a hide and a quarter each away with them. The balance 
they may bury in the snow, saying, we will come next 
Saturday and haul it home on the crust. Before’ the time 
comes round, the rain likely spoils the snow-shoeing and 
their sledding ; consequently it is left to rot in the spring sun- 
shine, or become food for the meat-eating wild animals. 
But thanks to the late better game laws, for a change; and 
thanks to nearly all the boys, too, for the most of them are 
honest sportsmen, and abhor such cruelty as this unmanly 
way of hunting. 
Two boys in midwinter found a deer yard within a half 
mile from camp. In it was the mother and two lambs. Four 
feet of snow and a crust would likely keep them there some 
time in their well-fed down paths. The deer ran to the end 
of their beat, and as the boys backed away from them, the 
deer stood with raised heads looking at them. The next day 
the boys visited them again, each with hunting axe, and this 
time the deer merely walked a little out of their way and 
were in sight during the time the boys were cutting them a 
good quantity of their favorite browse, enough to give them a 
good feast. This, they repeated every day or two, until a 
rain and soft snow liberated them; the deer in the mean 
time becoming almost tame. This was just no work to do, 
only a pleasure for the boys, and they would not at that time 
have shot one of them if paid the amount of the fine which 
they would be liable to, for so doing. 
Yarding up of deer, caribou and moose is only on account 
of deep snows and their crusty surfaces. They get along 
pretty well, wading about up to their knees, until some heavy 
storm comes upon them, lasting perhaps for days, ending 
with rain and a freeze, and then they find themselves confined 
