THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 41 



open country deer will often stand and watch a dis- 

 tant man when they know perfectly well what he is. 

 The brush-deer often cares little for noise, and will let 

 a man come tearing through the brush quite close to 

 his skulking form. But let such a deer catch your 

 scent and he tarries no longer. 



Still there are times when the scent of a man does 

 not alarm deer. But this is probably due more to the 

 casual existence of cross-currents of air that carry 

 away the scent than to any indifference on the part of 

 the deer. Also when running, and even when walk- 

 ing, they will often pass to leeward of a man, and 

 may come very close to him if the man keeps perfectly 

 still. Where they seldom see a man on a horse or in 

 a wagon, deer will frequently stand quite unconcerned 

 within plain sight and scent of both. And where 

 men travel much on horseback they will often do the 

 same thing if they are not much hunted. But upon 

 these exceptions no dependence must be placed, as 

 where one thus stands probably two slip away unob- 

 served. 



Where much hunted the ears of a deer become the 

 most acute and practiced of his senses. And in many 

 sections it is his hearing that makes the most difficulty 

 in approaching him. And often it is the hardest of 

 all his senses to avoid. I have often seen a deer 

 spring from his bed at a bound and run away at a 

 racer's speed before I was within two hundred yards 

 of him, when I was positive that a man could not at 

 twenty yards' distance have heard the soft tread of my 

 moccasins on the light snow, and when I touched not 

 a single bush or twig in a way that could make a 

 noise. Yet the fact that the breeze was coining from 

 the deer to me showed that he could not have smelt 



