TRACKERS AND TRACKING 171 



twenty-four hours old, in nine cases out of ten 

 you will come to the animal's first resting-place 

 before you have been two hours on his trail, and 

 from here will either strike tracks of the previous 

 evening or quite fresh ones. 



Under normal circumstances, with good 

 trackers, the writer has, when following tracks 

 of the previous day, generally come up with 

 his beast in five or six hours at the longest, and 

 often much earlier. Just consider for a moment. 

 The animal, whether bison or tsaing, is on his 

 ground. He suspects no danger, and has no 

 intention of marching off to the next county 

 just to stretch his legs. After wandering over 

 his feeding-grounds he heads back to one of his 

 favourite lying-up places, which is, perhaps, three 

 or four miles from the spot where the tracks 

 were struck. In the evening, or the late after- 

 noon, he wanders forth again; probably in the 

 opposite direction, but not necessarily straight 

 ahead. He makes for some favourite ' quin,' 

 and puts in some hours there after nightfall, 

 feeding heartily, afterwards lying down until 

 the early hours of the morning (3 a.m., or there- 

 abouts), when he commences to feed again, 

 perhaps in the same place; or he may wander 

 off to another feeding-ground, moving very 

 leisurely and feeding as he goes. During the 

 hours of darkness he knows he is perfectly safe, 

 and it is then that he feeds right out in the open, 



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