OTHER BRANCHES OF INLDUSIRY. 31a 
may be approached with more ease than the Virginia deer, run 
with a steady gait, and when disturbed do not run so far. 
The deer east of the Mississippi go with arun and a jump; 
the Pacific deer move with a steady run. Their meat is not 
so sweet as that of their eastern congeners. The deer live 
near the timber, and are found along the coast and in the 
Sierra Nevada. They were at. one time very abundant but 
are now rapidly decreasing. The best place for hunting them 
is in Mendocino county. There is no deer-huuting on horse- 
back, nor by large parties. The hunters go out alone or in 
small parties. Occasionally a deer is caught with the lasso, 
but this requires an excellent horse, a first-rate vaquero, and” 
a good piece of open ground where. the horse can have a fair 
chase and the vaquero can swing his reata. 
The antelope lives in the open plain and in the desert. The 
valley of the San Joaquin was once full of great herds of them, 
but they, like other large game, have become rarenow. They 
are shy, but inquisitive also, and are easily enticed to approach 
the hunter, who hides himself behind a rock, and fastening » 
white handkerchief to his ramrod, waves it back and forth. 
The antelope, like the deey, is occasionally caught with the 
reata, but these occasions do not occur once in the year, and, 
when they do occur, they establish the fame of the horse and 
rider engaged in the exploit. 
There is one pack of hounds in the state, and they are some- 
times, but rarely, used for hunting coyotes and foxes, as well 
as deer. 
The wild geese and ducks are very abundant in California 
from September to March. They spend the winter in the tules 
of San Francisco Bay and tributary waters, and in the spring 
they migrate to the north. While here, they afford profitable 
employment to a number of hunters, who are of two classes— 
the “ boat-shooters” and the “‘ox-shooters.” The boat-shooters 
go in parties of two or three, each party having a sloop of its 
uwn. ‘The sloop goes to the slough where the game abounds, 
and there every man starts in bis skiff, with three double-bar- 
