At4 
in those low bushes during the ten long 
hours I waited, not one hundred and fifty 
yards away. 
Later in the fall, when‘the forests are 
open and less obstructed, by foliage, or 
when a light tracking snow covers the 
ground, still-hunting for deer becomes 
much less difficult, although stealth and 
alertness are always required in a high 
degree. 
Although the whitetail, when sought 
legitimately by sull-hunting, is one of the 
most difficult animals to pursue, still it may 
be killed in other ways with greater ease, 
requiring less skill on the part of the 
hunter. than perhaps any other big game 
animal. Of these, summer hunting around 
the water and the barbarous practice of 
“crusting”? have already been mentioned. 
In many parts of the South hounds are 
used for the purpose of driving the deer 
from their hiding places in the swamps. 
Sometimes this is no easy matter, for a 
deer learns quickly by experience to hold 
stubbornly to the thick cover, doubling 
back and forth on its trail like a cotton- 
tail in a patch of blackberries. Along the 
east coast of Georgia, where I have hunted, 
three or four darkies generally go through 
the swamps with the dogs as beaters, shoot- 
ing off blank cartridges and emitting ear- 
piercing cat calls to dislodge the frightened 
game. ‘The sportsmen, generally four or 
five in number, meanwhile post themselves 
on runways in the woods, at intervals along 
a line which the game must cross when 
leaving the swamp. There is a certain 
fascination in listening to the dogs as they 
approach the stand, drawing nearer and 
still nearer, until all at once the foliage 
parts and the deer comes bounding grace- 
fully over the low bushes. Beyond a 
certain adroitness with the rifle, however, 
_ such shooting demands but little in the 
way of skill or knowledge of the craft on 
the part of the hunter, and hence cannot 
rank as a very high quality of sport. Should 
the country be sufficiently open to permit 
the use of horses the sport is then of a high 
order. To see a deer, followed by hounds, 
break from the woods and start off across 
the open country for a place of refuge—to 
ride madly through a succession of old 
fields overgrown with tall grass, in the 
RECREATION 
effort to head it off—to watch it scurry 
from cover to cover, and, finally, when it is 
about to enter the big swamp ahead, to 
bring it down perhaps by a chance shot at 
long range are conditions which combine 
to produce a singularly attractive and 
manly form of sport. 
Formerly hounding was much practised 
in the Northern woods, especially through- 
out the Adirondacks. Deer, when hard 
pressed, will always seek water as a means 
of throwing off their pursuers. Accord- 
ingly the hunter stationed himself on the 
shore of some favorable pond while his 
guide put out the dogs ona near-by ridge. 
As the deer entered the water it was 
followed in a canoe kept for the purpose 
and generally shot at close range while’ 
swimming across. In case the shooter 
wished to prove himself a thorough “‘sports- 
man,” he refrained from killing the deer 
while it was swimming; but literally drove 
it across, following closely in the canoe. 
When the thoroughly exhausted animal 
stumbled up the bank, he killed it in cold 
blood. I do not mean to say that all the 
deer-shooting in the Adirondacks was done 
in this way in the old days, but there was 
enough of it to cause the Legislature to 
forbid the use of hounds. 
Fire-lighting by night around a salt lick 
or along some old wood road, or, as termed 
in the North, “jacking” from a canoe, was 
long a popular method with those who 
failed to qualify as still-hunters. Any 
green hand from the city, crazy to shoot 
his first deer, could get him under a light, 
where little or no skill was required, except 
by the paddler. As the practice was best 
carried on during summer or early fall, 
many of the victims were certain to be 
nursing does. Furthermore, the ease with 
which a skilful hand could paddle up within 
a few yards of a deer rendered possible the 
use of that detestable weapon for shooting 
big game, the shotgun. For these reasons, 
and rightfully so, ‘“‘jacking’” has been 
generally prohibited by law. 
For one who has tried it in the early days, 
the use of a light at night will always possess 
a certain indescribable charm. He who 
has learned to love the silence, the hush, to 
know the strange, mysterious spell cast by 
one of those Northern lakes at night, may 
