AMERICAN DEER. 101 



snow at every stride, bounds away at headlong speed. 

 If the tail is down — always a sign that the wound is 

 mortal — the blood-stained tracks are followed up with 

 all haste, and more than likely with many a fall over 

 the stumps and trunks of snow-hidden trees; a chase 

 which, according to the nature of the wound, and the 

 age and strength of the animal, may either be very 

 short, or so protracted that the hunter may consider 

 the loss of his prize a minor consideration in comparison 

 with the chance of losing himself in the forest. Sooner 

 or later, however, he will find it, either stone dead or 

 stretched before him in its last struggles. Let him not 

 approach incautiously in the latter case, or he may 

 chance to receive a kick that will lay him up for 

 days : a fact which personal experience gives me cause 

 to remember. 



The Indian's usual method of temporarily securing 

 the carcase is by attaching it to the top of a young 

 tree, which, by climbing, he has bent to the ground, 

 this being let go, springs back with its lighter load 

 to its upright position, the flesh safe, not only from 

 prowling wolves, but even from the tree-climbing bear, 

 which has a mortal antipathy to venture up anything 

 unequal to its weight. The Canada-jay, however, will 

 not fail to attack the flesh at the earliest opportunity. 



The backwoodsman, to whom the difficulty of obtain- 



