THE CHASE. 3879 
where they station themselves listening for the coming of the 
pack to indicate who is to be favored with the presence of the 
deer which may be looked for far in advance of the hounds. 
When the watchers are warned by the hounds that the game 
is afoot, in those regions where both abound, to determine 
whether it is a black-tailed or a white-tailed deer is very desir- 
able. If the former is approaching, probably but one has been 
started ; if the latter, there may be two or more. If the former, 
he may run in a large circle, and if in the lowland forest and 
hard pressed, will make for the mountains or rocky broken 
ground, where he can the more readily throw the dogs off the 
scent and elude pursuit, and only when all other resources fail 
him will he make for the water if lake or river be in reach ; if the 
latter, they may be expected to scatter if there be more than one, 
but all will probably be found making their way to a river or 
lake if one can be found within any reasonable distance. To 
determine the course of the deer, therefore, it is important to 
know which species has been started. 
Some hunters claim to be able to determine this fact at an 
early stage of the run, from the course the hounds may pursue 
and from other sagacious observations. From the dense covert 
in which these deer are found in the lowlands, when their pursuit 
is practicable by the hounds, the shot is usually at very close 
range, and must be made on the instant or the deer is again lost 
to view, hence a heavy fowling-piece with buck-shot is gener- 
ally preferred to the rifle. 
When they are hunted with hounds in the vicinity of large 
bodies of water, as the Columbia River, or on islands in the Sound, 
when hard pressed they take to the water and swim with scarcely 
less dexterity than the other species, crossing the river to escape 
their pursuers or making for another island, but if the distance 
be too great for them to undertake, they return to shore sooner 
than the common deer. When they take to the water they may 
be pursued in a boat if one be convenient, with which they may 
be readily overtaken, seized by the antlers and drowned, if the 
pursuer chooses, or is obliged to despatch them in that way. 
The still hunt is quite practicable in the forest of the lowlands, 
and throughout the country; ten are killed in this way, where 
one is taken before the hounds. In the still hunt in the forests 
they are more generally jumped up, as the hunters express it, 
when they must be shot on the instant, or they will make good 
their escape. The hunter, therefore, must be ever on the alert, 
