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-V- 



PREFACE TO ILLUSTRATED 

 EDITION. 



" THE STILL-HUNTER " is written from experience ac- 

 quired in hunting deer made extremely wild from contin- 

 uous still-hunting by Indians, wolves, and a few white 

 hunters who paid no more attention to the law. At any 

 time of the year a deer was liable to be surprised. The 

 effect was to develop to the highest degree those senses 

 that are naturally acute enough to keep the novice won- 

 dering why he does not see a deer where tracks are 

 plenty. 



The very short open season and perfect freedom from 

 annoyance that mark the present age, with the increased 

 number of people camping on their range without harming 

 them, will make deer extremely tame in many cases so 

 absurdly so that they will not be worth hunting. For it 

 is not the number of the hunters, but the incessant nature 

 of the persecution, that most affects the watchfulness of 

 this game. To many the caution taught in this book will 

 therefore seem overdrawn. But if deer continue worth 

 hunting at all, the greater care will not only insure the 

 best results, but bring the greatest pleasure in securing 

 those results. You can afford to be careless only when 

 lack of time forbids care. 



