156 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 



MUCH of the best deer-hunting now to be found in 

 the western half of the United States is upon ground 

 either quite bare or entirely bare of timber. Not 

 only are many first-rate deer-ranges nearly or totally 

 destitute of timber, but even where there is plenty of 

 timber the deer will sometimes leave it and take the 

 open ground. In summer and early autumn they will 

 often be found on the prairie miles away from timber 

 (though they may go to the timber at night), lying 

 during the day in the long grass of the sloughs and 

 swales, feeding and standing at evening and in the 

 morning along the slopes, on the knolls, in the hol- 

 lows, or moving toward the timber or away from it. 

 The bluffy ground along Western rivers and streams; 

 the brushy ground that often lies between the timber 

 and the prairie ; open table-lands cut with ravines; 

 the brushy foot-hills of heavily timbered mountains; 

 barren rocky-looking hills studded with boulders; 

 even bare-looking hills on which you would think at 

 a distant glance nothing could live, all these often 

 afford excellent hunting. 



You must not forget that by " open country" I mean 

 country bare only of timber and not clean or clear 

 ground. On such clear ground as antelope gene- 

 rally love the deer will rarely be found. And when 



