Photo by George Shiras, 3rd 



HAND FI^ASHUGHT MACHINE CONVI^RTED INTO AN AUTOMATIC ONE: 



The upper string runs to the shutter ; the lower one, connected with the trigger, is baited 

 at the other end or extends across the runway. The round pasteboard box contains the 

 powder. This apparatus was patented by author in 1893 and thereupon dedicated to public 

 use. 



or upper limbs. To photograph a deer 

 the line must be close to the ground, 

 where it may be often overstepped or be 

 in the way of a wandering porcupine 

 (see page 8i6). 



When, however, deer are in a playful 

 mood or rushing through the water or 

 along the shore to escape the flies, they, 

 are unable to check themselves on touch- 

 ing the thread and the result is a picture 

 full of action (see page 765). By throw- 

 ing a handful of salt on the beach and 

 running the thread across the spot, it is 

 easy to get pictures of the animals paw- 

 ing the earth in search of the salt (see 

 page 764). The need of sunlight and 

 the fact that a passing cloud or the shift- 

 ing light may throw the deer in heavy or 

 broken shadows is one reason why a 

 camera set out at night with the flash- 

 light is often preferable (see page 766). 



NIGHT PICTURES 01? DI:ER 



It now seems strange to recall the time 

 when it was considered sportsmanlike to 



kill big-game animals at night by means 

 of a jack-light in the bow of a canoe; 

 yet when I first began shooting deer in 

 the early 70's, ''fire-hunting," as it was 

 then called, was not only deemed en- 

 tirely proper, but a very agreeable diver- 

 sion, being the usual method resorted to 

 in getting a supply of venison when 

 camping near small lakes or sluggish 

 streams, and especially if still-hunting 

 during the day had proved unsuccessful. 

 Copying this method from the Chip- 

 pewa Indians, then the principal tribe 

 on Lake Superior, the light I first used 

 was a crude affair, made by burning 

 pine pitch in an old frying-pan, with 

 pieces of birch bark added when about 

 to shoot. As the rays of such a light 

 were not concentrated and affected 

 somewhat by smoke, the deer were usu- 

 ally shot within a circle of 50 feet or 

 less. Later I used a small lantern, with 

 a good reflector, and as experience soon 

 showed that a deer had little chance 

 of escaping a charge of buckshot, my 



772 



