Some Deer That I Have Met...
A Deer's Sense of Smell — The Habits of Deer — A Deer's Sense of Hearing — A Deer's Reasoning 
Powers — Deer Yards — The Mating Season — The Food of Deer — The Feeding Time — Still Hunting 
Deer — A Yarn - The Real Still Hunter - When to Still Hunt - The Month for Still Hunting - Suggestions 
About Still Hunting - See the Deer First - Where Deer are Found - Deer Licks - When in Sight of a Deer - 
The Tonguing of a Deer - Where to Hit a Deer - When a Deer is Hit - When a Wounded Deer Runs - 
Paddling Toward a Deer - When You Lose a Deer - After the Killing - Carcass of a Deer - A Yarn.

THE ambition of most every sportsman is to have hanging in his hall the head of a deer with a good pair of antlers. 
This head, if he is a true sportsman, he always points to modestly, but it generally paves the way for a story of the
good shot he made. 

As deer have little fighting blood in their veins they are timid by nature and no match for the larger game of the 
forest, their swiftness in getting through the woods being their one protection against approaching danger. Against 
wolves, wild cats, lynx, and bobcats this swiftness is of no avail, and every year many a deer is killed by these 
animals, even a fox, if he can get a doe in deep snow, being more than a match for her. 

The bucks, during the mating season, however, have many a fierce battle among themselves, and one often comes
upon places where the ground has been torn up in these contests, bucks with only a single spike to their horns 
being generally more than a match for older bucks with spreading antlers. 

After a buck is three years old the horns do not in any way indicate his age. The first season there is a knob under 
the skin, the second year a small spike breaks through, the third year there is generally a single prong on the horn, 
and not until the beginning of his fourth year, or when he is three years old, does he have a full spread of antlers, 
this year having usually two spikes or points, the following year perhaps five, and the next year perhaps only two 
again, and occasionally you will find a buck without any horns and once in a while a doe with horns. After this third 
year the age can only be told by the general appearance of the head, the teeth, and the grayish color of the hair. 

From spring until September, and sometimes until November, these horns are covered with "velvet," which peels off
when the veins in the horns dry up and the horns get bony and hard. At this time the horns are often worn to a 
polish by being rubbed against limbs and trunks of trees, and in the latter part of November or early December, and
sometimes as late as January, they "ripen," as it is termed, and fall off.

The inability of a deer to put up a good fight, except when they are fighting among themselves, has made his sense 
of smell and hearing particularly acute. So sensitive is this sense of smell that if you are in his forests with the wind 
blowing toward him and the atmosphere is right he will know it although you may be a quarter of a mile away. He has
also a keen sense of hearing, and although you may steal through the forest so silently that you do not hear 
yourself move, he will hear you. Another characteristic which is more largely developed in a deer than in most 
animals is his inquisitiveness and curiosity, this being so great that he will often stand and watch you when, if he 
had only scented or heard you, he would have sought safety in flight.

This curiosity is not the result of stupidity, but because a deer, in his determination to know something about what 
he sees, acts as a person would under similar circumstances. In addition to these three characteristics, of which 
one must have a proper appreciation to be able to hunt them successfully, one must also keep in mind that a deer 
has more than the usual amount of intelligence and shrewdness. Like all other wild animals, they have many 
inherited instincts, but much which is supposed to be instinct is what they have learned, when fawns, from their 
mothers. If you have ever come suddenly upon a very young fawn you must have noticed how its innocent, 
questioning eyes did not fear you, for only when its forest mother has taught it that the scent of man is not a scent 
of the woods does it know that this means danger. If you have ever watched a doe with her growing fawns you have 
seen her, very likely, teaching them to jump dead wood with their wobbling feet. You may have watched her hide 
and then call them, or have heard her give the hoarse danger whistle, or have seen them following the white flag of 
her tail as she plunged through the bushes - things which had to be taught them, if they were to grow up to lead the
life of the woods.

Like men, all animals change with the conditions which surround them, and many a guide can tell you how easily a
young fawn can be domesticated, for it is only necessary to get into its head that it is not to be hurt, and it will follow 
you almost as soon as you have captured it. Where there is much still hunting, deer soon learn that danger lurks on 
every side, and, adapting themselves to the new conditions, are on the watch most of the time, lying down where 
they can see their back tracks, feeding less during the day and more at night, running beyond the point where you 
can head them off, hiding in thick brush and letting you pass, and when the open season comes, going farther back 
in the forests into higher, rougher, and more bushy ground. By swift reasoning which has come from experience 
they know as well as the sportsman when the open season begins and when it ends, just as cattle know when it is 
time to be pastured in the mowing and become restless, or the race horse knows when the circuit opens, or the 
pedigreed dog when the annual bench shows begin. 

Because of this reasoning power a deer not only knows when he can safely stand among the lily pads and watch a 
canoe go by, but also when he must keep out of range of the rifle among the mountains or foot hills in the denser 
parts of the forests, or must move about in his usual haunts with the greatest caution. It is because of this that the 
summer sportsman, when he returns from his vacation, tells of the many deer and moose he has seen, and that
those who have their outings during the open season tell of many a day's tramp with not a single shot at a flying 
white tail.

The Habits of Deer
Like most birds and animals, deer are not migratory, but confine themselves to special localities. Within these 
confines no other deer "dare go a-poaching" except during the mating season, when the bucks run wild. In their own
territory they have paths and runways through brush and over fallen dead wood to favorite feeding grounds and 
springs. If they are where food, water, and ground for lying down are near together, and it is timber land, their daily
range is seldom over half a mile in any direction, and if open ground, seldom over a mile. If their food, water, and 
lying down ground are far apart, they will often go three miles for food, a mile from there for water and another mile
in a different direction to lie down, sometimes changing this range every day, sometimes every few days, and 
sometimes spending a week on a few acres of ground, this change of range, however, being often less than a mile, 
and seldom over three miles. In following a deer, therefore, you will always be within a range of three miles from 
where you started. When they are not on favorite feeding grounds there is no place more certain of finding them
than burnt land. Why they go there has never been satisfactorily explained, for it is not because of the tender 
shoots which spring up, as they are often found there as soon as the ground has cooled.

During the fall and early winter they frequent hard-wood ridges in search of beechnuts and acorns, and when the 
snow is too deep to paw away or the crust breaks through and cuts their legs, they herd in cedar swamps, where 
they are protected from the storms and winds these deer yards, so called, being innumerable deer paths, 
sometimes two or three miles long, crossing and recrossing each other in every direction. Some of these paths go 
to favorite springs, as they never quench their thirst with snow, and others to feeding places where they browse 
upon cedar boughs, on the moss hanging from the branches of trees, on the twigs which are just above the snow, 
on the bark of various trees, particularly basswood and maple, and on the tops of the trees which have fallen in the 
tangle of the swamp. 

When the snow begins to disappear in the early spring they again make for the south side of the hard-wood ridges 
for nuts, and when new grass shows itself, they feed on this until the buds appear on the trees, when they gradually
work their way into the valleys nearer the streams and ponds, in summer time feeding where succulent roots of lily 
pads and other aquatic plants are. To these places they love to go at dusk to escape the flies, and to splash and 
paddle in the water, in the middle of the day resting in shady nooks in the forests. 

In the spring the doe generally gives birth to two fawns, with which she remains during the summer. In the early fall 
when the "running season" begins the bucks, early in the morning and late in the afternoon, begin to follow the 
does, at first on a walk with heads down, but as the season advances and their ardor increases, following them at 
all times of the day with a half-walk and a half-trot, varied at times with a clumsy gallop very different from their usual
graceful canter. During the height of the season it is no uncommon thing for a doe to be pursued by three or four 
bucks a short distance apart, the largest buck heading the procession. 

It is at these times that the bucks battle with each other, and then there is an elevation of hair and a clattering of 
horns which is interesting to watch if one can keep his finger off the trigger long enough to see it through. After the 
mating season, which begins in September or October and generally ends in the early part of December, the bucks 
and does forage by themselves, often two bucks being seen together, often two does and often the fawns of a doe. 
At this time they are found along tote roads and at abandoned lumber camps or in grassy openings among the 
trees, or farther back in the thicker woods nearer the foot hills, going only to the streams and ponds for water; 
sometimes, in the early winter before the snow gets deep, staying near a lumber camp, where they browse at night 
on the tree tops felled by the loggers during the day.

In rainy, snowy, or cold, blustering weather they spend the greater part of the day in some brush patch, windfall, 
sheltered ravine or gulch, where they stand most of the time with their heads down. When a storm is coming they 
seem to know it, sometimes a day ahead, by some sort of instinct or perhaps because of the sensitiveness of their 
sense of smell, and prepare for it by filling their stomachs with food. At these times they are uneasy and continually 
on the move and if it is a heavy storm they get into a thickly wooded swamp, where they lie down under a tree 
having low branches or under brush; and stay there until the storm is over or hunger drives them out, these places
being so small that only a practiced eye can detect them.

As they are browsing animals and live on buds, twigs, and the leaves of a variety of shrubs and trees, they care 
little for grass, although when it is young and tender and the browse is old and tough they eat it, but never sun-
dried grass the nuts which they care for being chestnuts, beech nuts, and acorns, which they begin to feed on as 
soon as they fall, often changing their ranges to be near them.

In many ways they are like domestic cattle. They chew their cuds in the same way, but unlike them they feed only for
a few minutes at a time, and then look around to see if anything is approaching. The sound of falling branches and 
other natural sounds of the forests they pay no attention to, but if they hear any unusual sound they twitch their 
ears nervously and hold them forward like trumpets. If a twig snaps they immediately look for danger, their eyes, 
ears, and nose at once questioning the sound; and if they begin to swing their heads you may be sure that they
have become suspicious and are ready to break for cover.

As a rule they feed in the early morning and again just before dusk, except during stormy weather, when they feed 
as soon as it clears away. Although they are often on the move at night they seldom feed at this time unless there is
a moon, and if they are in a section not frequented by sportsmen they feed during the night and day. If, however it 
is a country much shot over, they do little feeding during the day when there is a moon, but "follow the moon," 
beginning to feed soon after dusk when the moon rises early, and lie quietly in some grassy opening in the woods 
during the day.

Still Hunting Deer
Next to the fascination of hunting wild animals in which there is an element of danger, comes the fascination of still 
hunting deer. This is the most scientific of all hunting, as in this game of checkers the sportsman has to make 
moves on the checkerboard, which will checkmate an animal whose scent, sight, and hearing are far superior to his 
own. It is, therefore, no one-sided game, and the man who thinks that a deer is a creature of dense stupidity has 
only to try to get the best of one of these animals by some trick to find out that he can play the same trick only once.
As city folk, however, have few opportunities of learning the ways of the woods, still hunting is largely confined to 
backwoodsmen and frontiersmen.

Did you ever "drive" an island upon which you had just seen a deer land? You will remember you were stationed at 
the lower end ready for a shot as soon as the deer should jump into the water; that as you sat in your canoe hidden
among the bushes, the noise made by the guides coming down the island sounded like a hurricane, and that 
suddenly Mr. deer was seen quietly swimming for the mainland at the end of the island from which the guides had 
started, having watched from behind some boulder their maneuvers.

We know, too, that a deer does not lack in cunning. We know that when followed he will often circle back to the 
leeward of his trail, where he can scent or see approaching danger as it goes by, and that when we reach the place 
far ahead where he turned back, he will be miles away in the opposite direction. We also know that a deer surprised
in the open will keep a tree or a boulder in the line of fire until he is safe in a thick growth.

Perhaps you will not believe the story which one of my guides tells of his experience in still hunting, as you may not 
know Fred, but I have hunted with him for years, have never seen him under the influence of liquor, and have 
always found him truthful. As Fred tells it, he was following a deer on the snow along a hard-wood ridge, when he 
came to a place where the deer had circled back and gone down into the valley. Here Fred was able to get a shot at
him as he ran up the valley, but did not hit him.

Being a quick thinker and believing the deer would probably double on him again and make for the next hard-wood 
ridge, he stopped following the trail and cut across the valley to the other ridge. It is this part of the story which has 
a briny taste, for Fred will make an affidavit that, as he was going around a large boulder on the top of this second 
ridge, where he intended to hide, the deer was coming with a rush around the other side of the same boulder, 
apparently intending to hide there also. "He was coming fast and was on the jump just as I was," said Fred, "and as I
had already fired at him, when I saw him I'll swear to God I thought it was his ghost sure." When I asked Fred what 
happened he said the deer jumped over him, and made for a growth of pines in the valley beyond, and when I 
asked him why he didn't shoot him, he looked foolish and said, "For a minute I didn't know where I dropped my gun."
Of course, it was a careless thing to do. This story I believe, as Fred has long been a guide of mine, and I have 
summered and wintered with him.

Although deer stalking, as our English cousins call it, is fascinating sport, we know, when we come to analyze it, that 
it is not the game of checkers, after all, which makes us love the sport that the owner of a gun who cares nothing for 
the woods if he does not get all the game he wants is not a real sportsman, and never a still hunter. The man, 
however, who, when once in the solitude of the forests, finds that the time passes quickly while waiting on some
feeding ground, or who, because he is a nature student, lets his shooting get tucked away in a corner of his 
thoughts, is the one to whom still hunting is a pleasure, for the secret of this kind of hunting is not wholly hearing the 
sharp breaking of a twig which makes one quiver with restrained excitement, or the rush of a deer through the 
undergrowth which makes one's heart beat quicker, but the something about the woods which has added to his 
caliber as a man.

When to Still Hunt
Although you may know the habits of deer and when and where to look for them, you will find that there will be many 
a miss and many a spell of hating yourself before your vacation is over. The best tune for still hunting is in the early
morning, as deer are up and about at daybreak. If there is a moon it is also a good time for still hunting late in the 
afternoon, as the deer, having rested through the day, are then beginning to move toward their feeding grounds. 
Just after a rain is another good time, as they are then roaming about to get warm, especially does with their fawns, 
or just before a storm, as they are then restless and wandering from one place to another. During stormy weather it
makes no difference when you go, if you hunt for them in cedar swamps. Just after the first snowstorm is also a 
good time, as you can easily see their tracks; this kind of still hunting has a fascination peculiar to itself, as there is 
always the expectation of coming upon your deer at every turn you make, and every time you go over a ridge.

The best month for still hunting is November, and the best part of the month is during "the dark of the moon," for 
then they only feed during the day. During this month the bucks are roaming about and the does are trying to 
escape them, and as the leaves are now off the trees, one gets a better shot; the ideal time being just after a rain 
when the leaves have become so wet that you make little noise in moving about an especially good time being when
a strong wind is blowing and dead branches are falling, for at such times deer will not notice the twigs which you 
break under your feet.

Always wear moccasins when still hunting. Remember that weather conditions have much to do in carrying scent 
and sound; that during heavy, foggy, or muggy weather, or on a warm, cloudy day after a rain, there is little air 
stirring, and scent and sound are not carried far.

Remember that on a still, warm day in the autumn, when you can hear a squirrel scamper over dead leaves a 
hundred yards away, you might as well stay at home.

See the Deer First
Remember that the most important thing is seeing the deer before he sees you. This, more than anything else, is 
the secret of success, and. there is nothing so hard to do.
 
Remember that in a country much hunted over, a deer's sense of hearing becomes more acute than his other 
senses, and that this is what makes it so difficult to approach him. Even when the leaves and twigs have been 
softened by a long rain the faint, crushing sound of your moccasins will reach his ears for a longer distance than 
you think possible, especially if he happens to be lying down so that he gets the sound as it is carried along the 
ground.

Remember that a deer is not particularly quick in recognizing a motionless object, and, if not alarmed, will not 
distinguish a man from a stump if the man is seated and does not move. When, therefore, your guide is driving a 
deer toward you it is not necessary to conceal yourself if you keep quiet, but be careful not to change your position 
for a better shot. Remember that the direction from which a noise comes is often perplexing to a deer, and that his
curiosity to know its exact location often makes him stop after a few jumps and look back.

Remember that against the wind he cannot hear as well as down wind, but even up wind you should never relax in 
caution, especially as there is no need of haste.

Remember that a deer loves covert and will have it, that he loves browse and will have it, that he loves ground more 
or less rough, and will only be found away from it when there is better food and cover somewhere else.

Remember that the best territory to hunt over is where the ground is rolling enough for you to keep out of sight 
behind ridges and look down into hollows and valleys; where the timber is open enough for you to see a hundred 
and fifty yards in any direction; and where there is not so much underbrush that you cannot move about without 
touching too much of it. Such places are generally in hard-wood timber growths where there are acorns and 
beechnuts in abundance, plenty of windfalls, and brush enough for lying down coverts for the deer in the daytime.

Remember that there is a difference between the lying down places of deer at night and the lying down places 
during the day; that at night they will lie almost anywhere, but in the daytime, if they are being hunted, they seldom 
lie down near their feeding ground or watering places, or where there is not a good view of the surroundings.

As deer are fond of salt, sportsmen often make salt licks, by placing handfuls of salt on the ground or in the hollows 
of logs, and then make a circuit of these places.

It is always good judgment to keep the sun at your back, when it is possible, so that it will shine full on the deer's 
coat and catch your eye more quickly than if the sun were shining in your face. If you are in a clearing never sit on a
stump or a boulder, but lean against some tree, where a deer would not be so apt to see you.

If your guide is with you and you are behind him, carry your gun with the stock forward, and if you are ahead carry it 
with the muzzle forward. He will not then have to be wondering whether your gun is half-cocked or not.

Not only deer but all wild animals grow uneasy at the sound of the human voice. Do not, therefore, talk even in a 
whisper.

If you intend to hunt along a tote road go along that part of the road which has the wind blowing toward you. If the 
wind is blowing toward the deer he will know you are coming long before you can get within range. Be careful not to 
step on dry twigs or hit a rolling stone, as a deer will get out of the way if he hears anything unusual. Get your toes 
in between the twigs if they are thick, and keep your heel off the ground where there are stones. At each bend in 
the road and at every rise go cautiously. Keep your gun out of sight, and only let your head be exposed while you 
are looking the ground over.

In looking over the top of a ridge inspect the ground layer by layer, beginning with the ridge beyond, and running 
your eye gradually down into the valley.

As a deer does not pose for a sculptor or an animal painter, don't look for his outline but for spots and patches of 
light gray, dark gray, or brown. Never mind their shape.

As a deer, on account of the brush and undergrowth which surrounds him, does not stand half as high in the woods 
as in a park, look low for him. Glance at all open places among the trees, as deer like grassy spots. By stooping 
down and looking under the thick branches you will get a better view.

Don't look too far ahead, as deer are inquisitive creatures. They are apt to be much nearer than you imagine, and 
unless they scent you they will often stand and watch to see what is coming. See if the buds have been bitten from 
the lower branches of the trees, or if a buck has rubbed the bark off with his horns.

Don't make the mistake of covering too much ground during a day's tramp. You will be more apt to get a shot by 
going slowly and cautiously. Don't rush. Remember that the scent of your body comes through the pores of your 
skin, and that the more the pores are open the stronger the scent is. The less, therefore, that you perspire the less 
liability is there that a deer will scent you.

In brushing against twigs and bushes ease them off with your hand, so that they will not scrape on your clothing, 
snap, or make a switching noise in flying back.

When lying in wait for a deer at a favorite drinking place, don't watch the drinking place but the ground beyond, as a
deer always looks the ground over before he goes to drink.

Don't look for deer on hard-wood ridges after ten o'clock, as they will then be lying down in some bushy place, or 
among windfalls, or in some "slash" where lumbermen have left tree tops and branches, among which briers and 
bushes have grown up.

Never lie in wait for a deer on a runway. If they are so plenty that it is worth your while watching a runway it is better 
to keep in motion.

Never hunt in the same place two successive days. If you have started a deer the chances are that he will not go 
near the place again for several days.

If you are following a deer, you will find that after his first run he will stop every little while to see if you are still
following, or he will circle to the leeward of his tracks to scent you or to watch you from behind some bush or 
boulder.

If you cannot tell from a deer's track in which direction he has gone, try to make out the imprint of his dew claws, and
this will settle the question for you.

Remember that a deer will seldom whistle if he sees you. If he makes a short, quick whistle with every jump it means 
that he does not see you, but feels that he is in danger, and whistles to ease his feelings and warn other deer. If the 
whistle is husky and long drawn out, and at irregular intervals, it means that he has scented or heard something 
which he does not understand and cannot locate the direction. Remember that the blow or snort of a deer means
nothing, that sometimes he snorts when he is suspicious of danger, and sometimes because he feels particularly 
active. At other times under the same conditions he makes no noise.

Remember that a deer in the winter time is quite certain to lie in the sun, in the summer time in the shade, and in the 
autumn to lie in the sun in the cool part of the morning, and in the shade when it becomes warmer.

Remember that a deer is a creature of elegant leisure, that after feeding a while he generally lounges about with all 
the deliberate ease of an aristocrat; that he then surveys the landscape, then scratches his ear with one foot, then 
wiggles his tail, then stands still for a while, sometimes close to a succulent bush without touching it, and then moves
on by easy stages, nibbling a twig here and there.

When in Sight of a Deer
When you bring your rifle to your shoulder, don't get your eye on the sights until you know what you are shooting at.
Make up your mind that it is a man until you are sure that it is a deer. By making this a rule you may prevent the 
accidental shooting of some sportsman, who, unknown to you, is hunting over the same territory.

Remember that the scent of man makes a deer far more uneasy than if he sees or hears him. Therefore, always get
to the leeward of him. If you cannot tell in which direction the wind is blowing, moisten your finger hi your mouth, and 
when you hold it up, the cool side will be toward the wind.

Sometimes when a deer sees you he will not run until you stop moving, and sometimes when you stop walking he will
not run until you start again. In other words, it is doing something suddenly which often starts him off. For this 
reason many hunters bring their guns up to their shoulders slowly. If a deer appears uneasy, don't move, but give
him time to get over his suspicions.

If you see a deer pawing the ground it is probably a buck, as a doe seldom does this unless she is pawing for food.

If a deer keeps tonguing his nostrils, like a cow, you may be sure he has become suspicious and is moistening them 
to get a scent.

If his tail comes up and his head turns, make up your mind that he is getting ready to run, and that his eye is 
glancing in the direction in which he is going to make a break.

If his tail is down and wiggling nervously it is a sure sign that he scents danger.

If you start a deer don't stop to think it over, but send some lead after him, even if you think you are going to miss 
him. If you can see his white tail there is an opening through the branches for a rifle bullet.

If you are a novice at the sport you will be apt, when you get your first shot, to forget the breech sight and fire as 
soon as the muzzle-sight is on him.

If the deer is running through thick woods swing your gun ahead into an opening, and fire when he crosses the 
sights. Remember that if he is going at a forty clip, or is some distance away, you will be very apt to shoot behind 
him if you do not fire ahead of him.

Remember that a deer at full speed generally hugs the ground like a hare, and that you are liable to fire too high.

If you have to shoot at a deer when he is higher up than you are, keep in mind that you will be apt to shoot over him,
as the angle at which you hold your rifle gives the bullet an upward flight. Curiously enough, you are also apt to do 
the same thing on a downhill shot, because at this time you will catch too much of the front sight. With such shots
aim not more than a third of the way up from the lower part of the body.

If you have time to get a bead on a deer never aim for the middle of the body. A deer which is hit anywhere from 
three inches back of the shoulder to the hip, unless the backbone or kidneys are touched, will run for miles before 
he drops, and will often bleed internally and leave no track. The place to hit him is just back of the fore shoulder, 
where the heart is. If you cannot get a shot there, aim at the hip. If he is facing you and you only see the front of his 
body, aim just above the forelegs, where the "sticking point" is.

Don't aim too high up. If the deer is hit in the upper part of the body the blood will fill the lung cavity before it flows 
out, and the deer may run a long distance before there is any blood on the ground. Even when shot through the 
heart he will often run several hundred feet before he drops. Remember that the worst of all shots, and the one 
usually made when the deer is running crosswise, is a paunch shot, or a shot between the fifth rib and the hip joint. 
If the deer is hit there he will run for miles and you will probably lose him.

If, when you fire, you will watch the deer closely, you will notice if he is hit that he will shrug his shoulders and draw 
his body up before he starts to run. If he hugs his tail down when he runs you may be sure he is hit. If he does not 
do this, however, it is no sign that he is not hit, for a deer which is hit will often cock his tail up and go out of sight as 
if he were simply hurrying away on business. Most sportsmen and many guides will tell you that this is not so, but do 
not believe them.

Remember that as soon as a deer is shot he fills his lungs with air and runs until the air is exhausted, even if fatally 
wounded.

Pump a fresh cartridge into your rifle barrel while the report of your first shot is in the air, as the deer may not run 
far, and you may get another shot if he does not hear the click of the breech-block.

The first thing to do when a deer is wounded is to do nothing. After you have fired see if you can find any blood, and
if you do then sit down and have a smoke. If you do not follow him he will soon lie down, and the more the wound 
pains him the more careless he will be of your approach later. If you find no blood where the deer stood don't give it 
up as a miss, but look the ground over in a circle.

If a deer runs any distance and then falls, you may be pretty certain he is dead. But be sure he has fallen and not 
lain down, for if this is the case you may need all your skill to get him. If he falls and then gets up and runs it also 
means that you will have hard work to get him. If he falls and then struggles to rise, get to him as soon as you can, 
for even if mortally wounded he may get away. Do not, however, let him see you running toward him if you can avoid
it, as this will often revive him.

Remember that a deer seldom runs at race horse speed, but takes springing jumps. It is, however, a much faster 
gait than it looks and the bullet goes much slower than you suppose. If he is in the open, catch him as he strikes the 
ground at the end of a jump, and if you have time, keep the rifle on him during several bounds until you get the 
swing of the jumps, and then fire ahead where he will next strike the ground. To get the right distance ahead and to 
pull at the right time is a pretty operation. A miss is never to be laughed at and a hit will give you something to 
chuckle over later. If he is running low or running fast pay no attention to the jumps, but aim ahead and fire about 
the height his knees are when he is in the air. With such a shot you ought to be perfectly satisfied if you hit him at 
all, and although you may have a lofty calm, inside there will be quivers of self-satisfied excitement. Don't let a deer 
fool you by dropping his head behind a log. Although his back may look like a log, you will be able to see enough of 
his white tail to recognize it.

If a deer does not see you, and does not have the wind to give him a scent, he is often unable to locate the place 
from which you fired. If, therefore, you do not show yourself you can frequently get a second shot, as he is apt to 
get confused, not knowing in which direction to run.

Remember that a deer is marvelously quick in seeing a motion, and can detect a very slight one as well as a very 
slow one. He will see almost instantly the slow rising of your head above a ridge or the slow movement of your body 
across the trunk of a tree, unless the motion happens to be made while his head is down. Don't, therefore, even 
wink when a deer is looking toward you.

If you are paddling toward a deer, and he has scented you before you get within firing distance, let the canoe drift. If 
you do not move it will often happen that a deer, when he sees no motion, will not be able to locate the danger even 
after he has scented it.

Remember that sometimes, when the wind is apparently blowing toward a deer, the contour of the ground is such 
that there is an undercurrent of air blowing from the deer toward you, which prevents him scenting you, and that 
sometimes, too, there are cross currents of air which carry away the scent. It is because of such conditions that a 
sportsman is often puzzled to understand why a deer does not scent him.

If a deer is feeding on lily-pad roots and is deep in the mud, he will often take chances rather than move, as it is 
difficult for him to get his legs out of the mire. If he does start he will go slowly at first, but when he gets well out he 
will bolt for the woods as if fired from a catapult.

If you lose a deer make it a rule to study out how you lost him. It may take a little time at first, but in the end it will 
repay you. An analysis of your errors will be far more beneficial to you than an analysis of what you have done 
correctly. Don't forget that it only takes one deer to make a good many tracks when alive and a good many deer
stories after you have shot him.

After the Killing
Although it is considered good form to cut the throat of a deer with a hunting knife, the only hunting knife you really 
need is a good-sized jack-knife. If the deer is dead when you reach him there is no necessity of cutting his throat, as
animals bleed only a trifle from the throat after death, and a deer will bleed all that is necessary when you take out 
his entrails. If you are still following another deer, stick him in the chest and leave him with his head lower than his 
body until you return.

If the entrails are not drawn soon after the deer is killed the carcass will puff up on account of the gases which the 
entrails generate; as flies at once deposit their eggs in a decaying carcass, which begin to hatch within twelve hours
after being deposited, the carcass soon gets fly-blown and spoils.

To keep the carcass from being eaten by other animals cover it with brush or snow or put some article of clothing 
upon it, as this makes them suspect a trap. Another way is to blow up the bladder and hang it over the carcass.

If the deer is too large to pack back to camp, or you are too jolly lazy to try it, put a strong stick between the gambrel
joints of his hind legs, and after bending down a good-sized, springy sapling, by climbing into it, make it fast to the 
stick in the gambrels. When the sapling springs back lean a long, forked stick against it, and with another forked 
stick lift the sapling as far as you can, at the same time pressing against the first stick. When you have lifted the 
deer as far as you can in this way put one of the sticks on the other side of the carcass. You are now ready to go 
back to camp and report progress.

If you do not care for the skin and only want the deer meat, cut off the head and neck, then cut off the fore quarters,
and put them inside the carcass and fasten the ends together with twigs. You will find that you can now easily drag 
the carcass over the ground by the hind legs.

As you stand in front of the camp fire in the evening and rub your legs with your hands, you will be sure to touch up 
many of the incidents which went with the killing. This generally sets the ball rolling, and before it is time to turn in, 
the others will have yarns to tell of good shots which they have made. 

I remember a story which my guide, Sumner, once told. He was a sure shot, and one evening when we were yarning 
it he said, in his modest way: "The best shooting I ever done was when I shot the four legs off a buck with a 
forty-four carbine, one of the seventy-three models, you know. I had a parson with me and he'll tell you it's the 
gospel truth.

It happened this way. The parson and I had been out hunting all day long, and late in the afternoon he kind of 
intimated that I was working him for three dollars for guiding. If he hadn't been a parson I'd have told him to go to the 
devil and gone back to camp, but I says to myself, says I, 'This man doesn't know enough to break the Sabbath, and 
I'll git him tangled up in a cedar swamp, and when he's good and hungry and lets out the first cuss word, I'll tell him 
he's no better as a parson than I am as a guide.'

As luck would have it, as I was coming along, you know, heading for a swamp near there, I saw a deer hiding behind 
a big fallen pine. The tree was about two feet off the ground and all you could see was the deer's four legs, so I 
crouches down to git at him fair.

"'What are you firing at?' says the parson, for he was watching the outfit and didn't know enough not to talk.

"'Partridges,' says I, after I had sniped off one of the deer's hind legs and was throwing another cartridge in the 
barrel.

"'Did you hit him?' says the parson, just as if he was everybody.

"'No,' says I, and when the deer came down after his first jump I sniped off the other hind leg, for I had gauged the 
jump all right. With his two hind legs broken he wasn't very swift, and when he landed agin I had a bead on his front 
legs and made another good shot.

"'Why doesn't the bird fly?' says the parson. 

"'I've shot off his wings and he can't,' says I, and then off went the other front leg. Of course, I don't tell this to brag 
about it, but if I do say it, it was good shooting."

Then one of us asked, "What did the minister say when he saw it was a deer?"

"That's the funny part of it," Sumner answered, a little embarrassed, "for I'll be gosh-darned, when we gits up to the 
log there was no deer there. But the parson will tell you how I told him that the deer must have sprinted off on four 
stubs."

We asked Sumner how he knew it was a buck if only his legs showed, and Sumner, after looking at us as if we were 
crowding him, finally said, "I saw the horns when he jumped."

End of Excerpt.
This (complete) title is available in the SSRsi Survival Library

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