16 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER II. 



TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 



MUCH has been written about the essential quali- 

 ties of a good deer-hunter, the only effect of which is 

 to deter from attempting it many a man who might 

 easily enjoy still-hunting, or " deer-stalking" as our 

 English cousins call it. To make a good professional 

 hunter who shall kill a large number of deer in a 

 season, and do it on all kinds of ground and in all 

 kinds of weather, does undoubtedly require such 

 physical and other qualities as are mentioned by Stone- 

 henge, Forrester, and others. But on the other hand 

 any man of sufficient saroir faire, strength, and energy 

 to make a respectable bag of quail or woodcock in 

 any of the Eastern States, whether he be bred in the 

 backwoods or in Fifth Avenue, whether a knight of 

 the trigger or only a carpet-knight, can by study and 

 practice make a fair amateur still-hunter ; that is, one 

 who can go where deer or antelope are moderately 

 plenty and kill, not great quantities, but enough for 

 good sport and quite as much as any man has any 

 business to kill. 



We will leave the equipment for hunting for future 

 consideration ; and, supposing you already prepared, 

 let us see where we are to find our game. 



To find ground where deer are plenty enough for 

 good sport is still an easy matter even at the present 

 rate of destruction. And there need be no fear that 



