Nov. 5, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
729 
I watched N.’s course closely until I saw him 
stop, but I could not discern his position very 
well for the bushes. Dogs were now running 
deer both to south and north, but for a while 
my staring eyes saw nothing, and no shot was 
heard from the other stands. By and by a flash 
of white showed faintly for an instant to the 
southward—and disappeared. Again it showed, 
and' soon I saw the deer itself loping easily and 
comfortably over*the low bushes and tangle of 
tough vines. It was heading toward N., but was 
lost to my sight when within a hundred yards 
or so of his stand. It is needless to say that I 
was ready for him should he turn my way, but 
it was not to be. In a few seconds came the 
sharp crack of N.’s rifle, quickly followed by 
two more reports, and I thought I saw the flash 
bushes with total unconcern. When 300 yards 
away, the deer either scented the dead buck or 
heard or saw N. with never a chance for me 
to see enough of him clearly to shoot at. 
Presently a single shot rang through the woods, 
and a little later the two dogs that had been 
running the second deer came up to where he 
had turned and swerved off on the back trail 
which they carried through the woods and out 
into the lake, until their ringing voices faded 
away in the distance. And then it appeared cer¬ 
tain what we had suspected before, that the first 
of the two deer was not being run by the dogs 
at all, but had just happened along. In this 
locality one coming to a hunter on a stand like 
this, with no dogs trailing it, is known as a 
sneak deer. 
standing alongside a tree, but right to my hand. 
I had set it there while trying to infuse a little 
warmth into the tips of my trigger and other 
fingers. Slowly — oh, so slowly, I grasped it and 
carefully and most deliberately worked it up 
into my hands. Then I had to turn, too. Every 
moment I expected the head to disappear, but 
it stayed on. If ever there was an excuse for 
buck fever, this was the time; but, strange to 
say, I did not have it in the least. At last I was 
in a position where shooting was possible — and 
then I had to get my rifle up. It was simply the 
careful deliberation in the preliminaries that se¬ 
cured that deer with no credit due for marks¬ 
manship. The object was not fifty yards away 
and I let my foresight drop just below the head. 
Not being able to see whether the deer was fac- 
of the deer’s white flag several times out be¬ 
yond where N. stood. Then I did see N. wav¬ 
ing his hat, so I climbed down and made my 
way over. 
He was standing beside a large buck, the 
fattest and heaviest I have ever seen there. The 
first shot was well placed, but just a shade too 
high; the next missed and the third did the 
work. 
After admiring the quarry for a few minutes 
N. went back to my stand while I took his. That 
is to say, I forced my way a hundred yards to 
leeward of the dead buck and took a stand on 
a slightly elevated tussock. The dogs could be' 
heard faintly in the distance and I had hardly 
yet decided as to whether I should stay where 
I was or move out further when, from the direc¬ 
tion the first had come from, I saw a second 
buck covering the gallberry bushes with long, 
graceful leaps. I knew that N. had not yet 
reached his stand, but I could not see him nor 
attract his attention to give him warning. He 
was not, of course, expecting another deer so 
soon and was rustling through the briers and 
CAMP COMFORT. 
It is not unusual in these wide stretches of 
wild swamps and woods for a deer to appear 
unexpectedly to a hunter when on a stand. Per¬ 
sonally, I have had only one experience of this 
kind. I was on a slight elevation at the lower 
side of the pocosin later described in an account 
of the north drive. The day was very cold and 
my fingers were almost too numb to properly 
feel the trigger. The dogs were running away 
off to the south, but apparently not yet bringing 
the game our way. The only other man on a 
stand was N., who was in a small pine on the 
upper ridge of the pocosin from which he com¬ 
manded a range of several hundred yards on 
the side away from me as well as Jiis half of 
the pocosin between us. We were a quarter of 
a mile apart, and should certainly have been 
able to account for any deer crossing the pocosin 
between us within rifle shot. While waiting and 
listening a slight rustling in the bushes behind 
me attracted my attention. Turning my head 
slowly and carefully I saw above the tops of 
the thick bushes behind my stand the head of a 
deer looking me right in the face. My gun was 
ing me with his body or standing broadside, I 
dared not try a body shot, so aimed for where 
the neck ought to be, no matter the position of 
the body. At the crack of the rifle the head dis¬ 
appeared. Jerking in another cartridge I went 
over to the place and parted the bushes, and 
there he lay, a small buck, with the .25 bullet 
clean through the center of the neck from front 
to back. On examination I found that he had 
just shed his horns—the earliest date of which 
I have record—one of the scars being several 
days old and healed over; the other quite fresh. 
On turning him over I found the recently shed 
horn lying beneath his body, it having evidently 
been ready for shedding and jerked off as the 
deer fell. 
The dogs were coming nearer, but not alto¬ 
gether in my direction, heading more toward 
N.’s stand. I had about concluded that my deer 
was not the one the dogs were running, when 
I saw theirs break out of the woods and head 
across the pocosin in long, ground-covering leaps. 
Then it stopped, and a moment later came the 
report of N.’s rifle—and his deer was down, too. 
