THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 103 
the north and toward the Columbia River and looked like it would 
afford more shelter than the dead snags in the burn, so we turned 
our steps that way. On reaching the timber we found good feed and 
shelter for the deer and also some fresh signs. 
We started down the ridge and I often remarked about the fine 
feeding grounds for the deer. The underbrush was scattering and one 
could travel without much trouble. As the fog was heavy we had 
to go slow and watch very careful lest we start our game without 
seeing it. 
We had gone but a short distance down this timbered ridge when 
I saw something jump. I throwed my rifle up and looked carefully, and 
at the second jump I saw it had horns. I said, “Deer,” to give Mr. Eyers 
a chance in case he did not see it, and as the buck came in sight on the 
third jump I had a good bead on him and fired. I did not see him jump 
again so I thought I had him down. We went to where we last saw 
him, but no buck could be found. On looking around we found that 
he had changed from a jump to a trot. His tracks were very plain 
in places, but we were not able to follow him very far by his tracks 
on account of the fallen leaves and sticks, and there was no blood to 
be found. We spent some time figuring on the way he turned and 
decided to separate and cover the ridge on our way down. About 
three hundred yards below and to my left I saw him walk out from 
behind a small fir tree. He was not far away and was walking with 
his head down. I planted a piece of hot lead in his shoulder and he was 
down to stay. 
He was a fine big buck, a three-point on a side, and a very heavy 
set of horns. “Here is to the buck,” we said with a smile. 
It was almost 12 o’clock, and while we were dressing the buck we 
heard the noon train on the O..W. R. R. & N. go east. It sounded 
very close and I suggested that we go out that way and find a downhill 
route to take the deer out and have some one meet us on the Columbia 
River Highway. This sounded very good to Mr. Hyers, so we put 
the deer in a good place for the night and started down the ridge. 
The fog was so heavy that we were not sure of just where we were 
or of the distance to the highway. We knew that the country we had 
traveled over was very hard to pack over and very much up hill for 
most of the way. The buck was more than we could pack and we 
were not going to leave a pound of meat or hide in the woods. It 
was now one o’clock and we started down the ridge we were on 
expecting to find the highway not far below. The ridge ran out 
to a point where two creeks ran together, so we crossed over to the 
next ridge. Looking through the fog I thought I saw the brow of 
the hill and suggested that it was the cliff above the highway. We 
traveled some distance when Mr. Eyers said that we must have 
passed that cliff, as we were still goqing down the ridge. This ridge 
ran out betwen two creeks and we had to cross over to the next one. 
We came to the cliff above the Columbia River Highway just at 
dusk and we lost no time in finding a way down, which was a steep 
climb. Neither of us could recognize the point we came down over, 
so we set out up the highway knowing we would come to a station 
before going far. After we had covered about three miles we came 
to Viento. We waited for the east-bound local on the O.-W. R. R. & 
N. and were soon back to Hood River. We had decided during the 
afternoon that we would not bring the deer out down hill, but would 
take another man in with us the next day and pack him to the top 
of the ridge and over the other side. 
