Photographing Wild Game 



423 



At this point, if the hunting were with 

 the firearm, more largely employed, there 

 would he a red spurt of fire from under 

 the jack-light, and the deer would be 

 struggling and plunging toward the 

 brush ; but there is no sound or sign of 

 life, only the slowly gaining light. 

 Twenty-live yards now, and the question 

 is, Will he stand a moment longer? The 

 flash-light apparatus has been raised well 

 above any obstructions in the front of the 

 boat, the powder lies in the pan ready to 

 ignite at the pull of a trigger ; everything 

 is in readiness for immediate action. 

 Closer comes the boat, and still the blue, 

 translucent eyeballs watch it. What a 

 strange phenomenon this pretty light is ! 

 Nothing like it has ever been seen on the 

 lake during the days of his deerhood. 

 Fifteen yards now, and the tension is be- 

 coming great. Suddenly there is a click, 

 and a white wave of light breaks out from 

 the bow of the boat — deer, hills, trees, 

 everything stands out for a moment in 

 the white glare of noonday. A dull re- 

 port, and then a veil of inky darkness 

 descends. Just a twenty-fifth of a second 

 has elapsed, but it has been long enough 

 to trace the picture of the deer on the 

 plates of the cameras, and long enough to 

 blind for the moment the eyes of both 

 deer and men. Some place out in the 

 darkness the deer makes a mighty leap ; 

 he has sprung toward the boat and a 

 wave of water splashes over its occu- 

 pants ; again he springs, this time toward 

 the bank ; he is beginning to see a little 

 now, and soon he is heard running, as 

 only a frightened deer can, away from 



the light that looked so beautiful, but was 

 in fact so terrifying. What an account 

 he will have for his brothers and sisters 

 of the forest of a thing which he himself 

 would not have believed if he had not 

 seen it with his own eyes. In the boat, 

 as it slips away from the bank, plates 

 are being changed and the cameras pre- 

 pared again for another mimic battle. 



Sometimes the pursuit is varied by let- 

 ting the deer take its own picture. 



A string is passed across a runway, or 

 other point where the deer are likely to 

 pass, which, when touched, sets off the 

 trigger and ignites the magnesium pow- 

 der. The same method can be used for 

 daylight pictures, except that here a slen- 

 der black thread is laid across the path, 

 one end of which is attached to the shut- 

 ter of the camera. The shutter revolves 

 as soon as there is any pressure upon the 

 thread, and a picture of any passing ob- 

 ject is taken instantaneously. Not the 

 least interesting part of this species of 

 photography is that the operator does not 

 know until he develops his plates what 

 manner of beast, bird, or reptile has 

 caused the shutter to open. 



So the days pass on and the nights, 

 with all the scents of the woods and the 

 thousand charms of nature and of wild 

 life ; all the zest of pursuit, all the setting 

 of the wit of man against the wit of wild 

 beast, all the preparation for the chase, 

 and all the cunning of pursuit, to be re- 

 warded with tangible evidences of human 

 skill and patience which will long outlast 

 the details of the scene as caught by the 

 most powerful memory. 



