which was formed in the shape of a 
horse shoe ending in a series of sharp 
lava rock benches a hundred feet high 
each and covered with dense, but open 
timber. 
F RESH deer signs in “he snow were 
everywhere and my hopes were 
high; the tracks could not be many 
hours old. I followed several fresh 
buck tracks in the snow and as I 
stopped on the edge oz rim rock to look 
below I saw through the open trees 
what I took to be a deer. I watched 
and remained silent hoping it would 
present itself in an opening between 
two trees that I had picked out as an 
ideal location for a shot. I could see 
it moving in my direction toward the 
foot of the bench. I was on but the 
trees were just thick enough to spoil 
the shot. However, I waited and sure 
enough it paused a second between the 
two open trees, showing a head of 
antlers and a fore shoulder. I carried 
a .300 Savage and let drive just ahead 
of the shoulder as the animal faced me 
quartering. The deer jumped at the 
shot and disappeared in the timber in 
the direction of the edge of the bench 
below and had probably gone over. Of 
course my deduction was that I had 
missed him clean, possibly an over- 
shot, as I was shooting down on an 
angle of 45 degrees or more and pos- 
sibly better than seventy-five yards. 
Hurriedly I scrambled down off the 
ledge by way of an opening in the wall 
where the deer were accustomed to use 
back and forth and came out on the 
ledge below where I could examine the 
tracks and see if I had hit or missed. 
It did not take me long to find the two 
trees and the place where the buck 
stood as I fired and leading off from 
that spot was a wide red streak of 
fresh blood. I couldn’t see the deer so 
I sat down on a rock to await develop- 
ments, knowing that he was surely 
hard hit and would lie down in a few 
minutes, but my curiosity got the best 
of me and I followed the red streak. 
About thirty yards distant where the 
ledge broke over onto another below, 
the deer had jumped off and landed on 
a little flat place covered with snow ten 
feet below the edge. He was stone dead 
and with some difficulty I dragged him 
up on the ledge again and proceeded to 
remove the entrails and bleed him. The 
deer was the first killed and just losing 
the velvet. 
HE long red summer coat was 
nearly shed except for the hind 
quarters and a little on the belly. Ex- 
amination of the wound revealed that 
the bullet entered just ahead of the 
right shoulder passing through the 
heart and emerged behind the left 
shoulder through a hole which would 
just admit my little finger. The deer 
had gone thirty yards after receiving 
a heart shot. 
Every month some writer expresses 
himself upon his idea of a deer rifle 
and the reasons he thinks that gun 
best. So far nothing elaborate has 
been said about the new Savage .300. 
I have witnessed the killing of seven 
deer with the .300 using 150 gains in 
the bullet. Every one was a clean kill 
no matter in what part of the body 
they were hit. Very little meat is de- 
stroyed and where the bullet emerges 
it usually leaves a small hole; not one 
that you can run your arm into. It’s 
the shocking power that makes a deer 
stay down. 
While I was cleaning this buck I just 
chanced to glance off the ledge to an 
open spot below and two deer, both 
beautiful bucks, walked out into the 
clearing and looked right at me. I 
reached for my gun and discovered that 
in my haste I laid it on a rock ten feet 
away. 
EFORE I could cover that ten feet 
on my hands and knees they were 
off like a shot into the heavy timber. I 
returned to the business of warming 
my hands on the inside of the deer, 
when I heard a shot fired in the dis- 
tance toward the North where Grover 
and Hugh had gone. I concluded that 
there would be at least two bucks in 
camp that night anyway. Just ahead 
of me on the ridge another shot was 
fired and I concluded that Whitney had 
connected with one , 
also. By this time 
I had finished my 
work and stretched 
the deer over a 
large rock to wait 
until I investigated 
what “Fin” had 
done. 
Another shot, 
followed by a 
CD, LY dee aes | 
hastened along the 
ledge and through 
a patch of dense 
timber. Emerging 
on the other side into a clearing I found 
“Fin’s” hob nail tracks in the snow 
and followed. In fifty yards I found 
blood in the snow and more blood, some 
splotches as large as your hand with 
his foot prints right through it. I 
rounded the brow of the ridge above 
me and heard another shot somewhat 
in the distance and back along the 
South side of the ridge to the West. 
Hurrying along in the snow as fast 
as I could over the rocks, I followed 
Whitney’s tracks for a mile, the blood 
getting thinner every step. Finally I 

met “Fin” coming back along his trail 
without the buck. 
E had tracked him another half 
mile and lost the tracks entirely 
where they faded out in the snow— 
brush and bare ground, where the sun 
melted the snow. We both went back 
to where the trail quit and succeeded 
in following the deer into a very heavy 
growth of mountain laurel where we 
lost it completely, but not for good. 
Marking the place we returned by way 
of the top of the ridge, and as we were 
walking along talking out loud about 
having lost the deer we separated to 
go both ways around a small patch of 
young firs. I was still talking across 
the interval between us when “Fin” 
fired another shot. I thought he had 
shot an owl or something. He whistled 
for me to come over and there lay a 
five-point buck. “Fin” said he nearly 
walked over him and that he didn’t 
know which one was frightened the 
most. A quick, but lucky shot through 
the heart dispatched him. “Fin” was 
shooting a light calibre rifle which 
though of high power, in my estima- 
tion, accounted for the other buck 
carrying three shots in his body for 
several miles as we found out later, 
As we were four miles from camp and 
had to cross the canyon with two dead 
deer and another one down in the 
brush, we decided to return to camp 
for dinner and come back in the after- 
noon with the horses. 
We had a good fire going and the 
coffee made when the other boys came 
in one at a time. 
Both had covered 
miles of territory 
and had seen many 
does and fawns; 
Hugh was the only 
one who shot. That 
was the one that I 
heard while clean- 
ing the deer on the 
ledge, apparently 
aclean miss. After 
dinner the four of 
us rounded up the 
horses and re- 
turned to the patch 
of mountain laurel where we lost track 
of the buck. After a diligent search it 
was found under a bush stone dead. 
One shot through the neck; one through 
the abdomen and the third ruined a 
ham. With the three deer in camp we 
called it a day; the one that was badly 
shot we skinned and removed the best 
portions of the meat to a clean flour 
sack and hung it up by a string outside 
to keep cool. Venison steaks for sup- 
per were in order and such a feast 
we had. _ Boiled rice, prunes, beans, 
(Continued on page 632) 
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