THE CHASE. 391 



He must never expect the deer to stop after a few bounds, as 

 he usually will when aroused by some object which he does not 

 see. Here he sees you at a glance, and has no occasion to stop 

 for a more minute survey. Indeed, he is likely to lie quiet for 

 some time after he hears your approach, in the hope, probably, 

 that you will pass him unperceived, and many deer are thus 

 passed unnoticed in broad swales. If the dog is well up to his 

 work he may scent the deer as you pass him, and by a low 

 whining noise he may arrest your attention, and by his actions 

 indicate the direction of the game. 



After the shot is fired it is a question to be decided on the 

 instant, whether to send off the dog or not. If the deer is badly 

 wounded, and is not hotly pui'sued, he is sure to lie down soon, 

 where he can conceal himself ; while if pressed by the dog or 

 horse, he would run for miles. If the ground is such as to give 

 you a good view, it may be best to let him go off quietly and 

 lay himself down where you can readily find him, and settle 

 matters by another shot, though you must not expect him to lay 

 as close the second time as he did at the first. The wounded 

 deer is not so readily brought to bay in the prairie by the dog, 

 as he is in timber ; probably because he can see the mounted 

 hunter at a greater distance ; so he will keep on until he is actu- 

 ally in danger of being pulled down by the dog, before he will 

 stop to fight him. 



When the game has been secured and bled, and the viscera re- 

 moved, the hunter rides away to the high ground to signal the 

 wagon to come and take it on board. To accomplish this he 

 may have to go several miles, and unless he is well up to prairie 

 craft, he may never be able to find his deer again. He must not 

 fail to mark well the immediate surroundings, and all landmarks 

 which he passes on the way. This the experienced hunter does 

 almost involuntarily, and will return to the same place without 

 an effort ; v/hile a stranger to the prairies must give his undivided 

 attention to marking the localities, and as objects look very dif- 

 ferently when passing one way from what they do when going the 

 other, he must frequently look back and mark the general topog- 

 raphy of the prairie as well as the minuter objects. By consult- 

 ing his pocket compass he will find his task very much simplified, 

 though the old hunter rarely has occasion to do this, unless a 

 dense fog comes on, which sometimes happens late in the fall, 

 when the compass is indispensable. I was once caught in such a 

 fog without a compass. I went six miles with unerring certainty 



