248 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 



AT all times of the year and in all countries deer 

 are found often in companies. Two yearlings run- 

 ning together, a doe and fawns, two or three does 

 and a buck, or sometimes two or three bucks together 

 are quite as often met with as is a single deer. At 

 certain times of the year, however, deer often gather 

 into bands of from six to fifteen or twenty-five, and 

 in some parts of the country into much larger bands. 

 When this occurs and where it is most apt to occur 

 is of no consequence even if it were possible to give 

 any general rule upon the subject. You will know 

 a band quickly enough by the tracks, and one or two 

 days' hunting will tell you far better than any rule 

 could do it whether they are in bands or not. 



Hunting a band of deer requires, however, some 

 special care. When banded, deer range farther than 

 when single or in small companies, and shift oftener 

 from place to place. They will have perhaps eight or 

 ten points of radiation from the general center of 

 their range, a basin here, a valley there, in another 

 place a meadow, surrounded with brush perhaps, here 

 another basin, there a rocky ridge, etc. Each one of 

 these may be half a mile or even much more from the 

 next one, and from half a mile to two or three miles 

 from the general center. All are certain to contain 

 food and probably water. Each one of these places 



