3852 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
survivors of the innumerable multitudes which formerly 
roamed unmolested from ocean to ocean; there are no 
rules, positive, which can be laid down, no instructions 
which can be of much use to the young sportsman. 
Where the rifle, or the double gun with buck-shot is 
the implement, beyond the mere directions how to take 
aim, load, and fire to the best advantage, nothing can be 
taught. 
Of all things wholly unteachable by writing or oral 
instruction, unless upon the spot, with practice and exam- 
ple to illustrate precept, the most impracticable is wood- 
craft. 
How to find or follow the trail of an animal, itself not 
discernible to the sharpest unpractised eyes, in the seem- 
ingly untrodden grass, or on the leaf-strewn surface of the 
pathless soil of the wilderness, cannot be taught by words 
written or spoken. 
How to judge by the foot-prints, half seen, of bear or 
deer, as 2 woodman will do at a glance, whether the ani- 
mal which left the sign was young or old, fat or lean, going 
to or returning from his lair, how long he has gone by, and 
whether it avails to follow him or not, can only be learned 
by long experience, attentive observation, and a course of 
pupilage, on the ground, under thorough and competent 
teachers. 
In the same way it is evident that one cannot give 
directions how one shall steal up, unseen and unheard, 
within rifle shot of a herd of deer, a gang of elk, or a 
watchful moose or cariboo. This may be told, and this 
is about all, that you must invariably advance on all wild 
