Fes., 1912. Mammats oF ILLtnors AND WISCONSIN — Cory. 63 
the unnecessary killing of harmless animals becomes repugnant to us, 
and I am glad to say that during the last dozen years I have killed very 
few and only when meat was needed in camp. Deer are usually hunted 
in three ways (fire hunting not included, and being rarely indulged in by 
true sportsmen). (1) Hunting them with hounds, the hunter stationing 
himself on a runway. (2) To “slow trail’? them, a method which is 
largely followed in southern countries. A hound is trained to follow a 
trail slowly and without barking. He must go slowly enough to enable 
the hunter to keep within a few yards of him. Sooner or later the Deer 
is “jumped,” usually within shooting distance. (3) The method known 
as still hunting. To be a successful ‘‘still hunter” requires keen eye- 
sight combined with a knowledge of wood craft and the habits and ways 
of Deer, which few white men possess. 
In a comparatively open country, where Deer have not been much 
hunted, one may often approach within a shooting distance by keeping 
to leeward of the animal and creeping forward while it has its head down 
feeding, and remaining motionless when it lifts its head, which it does 
every few minutes. For some reason a Deer usually shakes his tail 
before lifting his head. By bearing this in mind, on one occasion I 
approached within 100 yards of a buck feeding in an open prairie where 
the grass was not over 12 inches high. Once the Deer raised his head 
and looked directly at me before I had time to lie down in the grass. I 
remained perfectly still and after gazing at me for a moment he stamped 
once or twice, advanced a few steps and stamped again; but after ex- 
amining me for some time he apparently came to the conclusion that I 
was a part of the scenery, or at least some strange animal which was not 
dangerous, whereupon he commenced to feed again. Of course this was 
due to the fact that the wind was blowing from the Deer towards me; 
had it been the other way, the sense of smell is so acute in these animals 
that such a near approach would have been impossible. When fright- 
ened a Deer will usually utter a startled snort, which is almost invariably 
given preliminary to flight. When running a Deer usually holds its 
tail straight up in the air, at least for a short distance, the white under 
surface showing clearly as it bounds high over the bushes. If it goes off 
with its tail down, it is a pretty sure indication that it is badly wounded. 
The antlers of the Virginia Deer are usually dropped in March. The 
rutting season begins during the latter part of October and usually lasts 
until late in November and the majority of the young are born in May. 
For the first few days, until the fawn is strong enough to follow her 
about, the mother leaves it in some concealed spot while she seeks her 
food, returning from time to time to learn of its welfare and to suckle it. 
I have on several occasions found very young fawns in the woods and 
they always lay perfectly still and permitted themselves to be handled; 
