I'hoto by George Shiras, 3rd 



A white:-taii, doe; 



Here a fallen tree narrowed the runway along the shore, so that the deer was sure to be in 



focus when the flash was fired 



My first photographic efforts, how- 

 ever, were directed toward big game ani- 

 mals and began many years ago (1887), 

 when quite satiated with the conquests 

 of the gun and the regrettable recollec- 

 tion that success meant a more or less 

 painful death of some timid animal, 

 whose body was usually unnecessary for 

 food and whose horns or hide had be- 

 come superfluous trophies no longer jus- 

 tifying deadly pursuit. 



That I should have begun by trying 

 to photograph such a wary creature as 

 the white-tail deer had an explanation 

 in the fact that this animal had been my 

 favorite quarry with the rifle, and hav- 

 ing hunted it from my youth I knew its 

 habits well, thereby appreciating its re- 

 sourcefulness in avoiding danger. No 

 member of the deer family is harder to 

 photograph in the daytime, although it 

 is the most abundant and widely dis- 

 tributed member of its kind. 



Naturally I was confronted with many 

 obstacles, mostly due to ignorance of 

 photography, and had I not been the 

 fortunate possessor of a good lens at 

 the beginning and one of the first hand 

 cameras made in this country, it is likely 

 this pastime would have lost an ardent 

 advocate. Persistent pursuit and the 

 trial of many methods finally suggested 

 ways of getting pictures with ease and 

 certainty, for in the end few wild ani- 

 mals can escape the gun, trap, or the 

 camera when hunted with care and 

 energy. 



The white-tail deer has a wonderfully 

 keen ear and an equally keen nose and its 

 eyesight, as with most of the deer tribe, is 

 not of a particularly discriminating kind, 

 yet the slightest sound or scent will re- 

 sult in an accurately directed glance to- 

 ward the source of danger, and then it is 

 useless to try for a picture, although the 

 animal may be within fair range of the 

 rifle. 



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