THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 105 



With hand quite firm you raise the rifle; your eye 

 glances along the sights and sees they are in line with 

 the beamy pelt ; with a thrill of delight you press 

 the trigger. 



At the crack of the rifle the doe rolls away in bil- 

 lowy flight, her white flag riding like a white-cap 

 each wave of her course, until in a moment it sinks 

 into the sea of timber and brush around you. 



Too close. That's all. 



How can a thing be too close ? Well, a deer nearly 

 always is for the first few shots. It looks too big, 

 makes you feel too sure of it, and prevents your sight- 

 ing as carefully as you should do. Even an experi- 

 enced shot occasionally misses a deer in this way. A 

 trifling amount of overconfidence is enough to do it. 

 You did not take a fine enough sight. You flattered 

 yourself that you were cool and saw the sights of the 

 rifle plainly. So you did, after a certain fashion. But 

 you still aimed very much as you would have aimed 

 with a shot-gun at a rabbit, whereas you should have 

 aimed precisely as you would aim to hit a two-inch 

 bull's-eye on a target at that distance. So take this 

 as your first lesson in shooting; namely, a deer at a 

 distance where one can almost hit it with a stone may be 

 missed with a rifle in perfectly cool hands by a very trifling 

 lack of care in aiming. 



But after shooting at a deer you should always 

 examine the ground where it stood for blood or hair, 

 and should follow its tracks for some distance, look- 

 ing for blood or indications of staggering or unsteadi- 

 ness in its gait. It will generally suffice to follow them 

 to the first place where the deer stops to look back. 

 If no blood shows itself here, you may feel quite cer- 

 tain it is not hurt enough for you to secure unless 



