y of the big blue grouse, and I saw
numerous coyotes, a fox, and a large brown beast which moved swiftly
into a thicket. It was enough to make my heart rise in my throat. To
dream of hunting bears was something vastly different from meeting one
in a lonely canyon.

Just after this I saw a herd of deer. They were a good way off. I began
to slip from tree to tree, and drew closer. Presently I came to a little
hollow with a thick, short patch of underbrush growing on the opposite
side. Something crashed in the thicket. Then two beautiful deer ran out.
One bounded leisurely up the slope; the other, with long ears erect,
stopped to look at me. It was no more than fifty yards away. Trembling
with eagerness, I leveled my rifle. I could not get the sight to stay
steady on the deer. Even then, with the rifle wobbling in my intense
excitement, I thought of how beautiful that wild creature was. Straining
every nerve, I drew the sight till it was in line with the gray shape,
then fired. The deer leaped down the slope, staggered, and crumpled down
in a heap.

I tore through the bushes, and had almost reached the bottom of the
hollow when I remembered that a wounded deer was dangerous. So I halted.
The gray form was as still as stone. I ventured closer. The deer was
dead. My bullet had entered high above the shoulder at the juncture of
the neck. Though I had only aimed at him generally, I took a good deal
of pride in my first shot at a deer.

Fortunately my pen-knife had a fair-sized blade. With it I decided to
cut out part of the deer and carry it back to my camp. Then it occurred
to me that I might as well camp where I was. There were several jumbles
of rock and a cliff within a stone's-throw of where I stood. Besides, I
must get used to making camp wherever I happened to be. Accordingly, I
took hold of the deer, and dragged him down the hollow till I came to a
leaning slab of rock.

Skinning a deer was, of course, new to me. I haggled the flesh somewhat
and cut through the skin often, my knife-blade being much too small for
such work. Finally I thought it would be enough for me to cut out the
haunches, and then I got down to one haunch. It had bothered me how I
was going to sever the joint, but to my great surprise I found there
did not seem to be any connection between the bones. The haunch came out
easily, and I hung it up on a branch while making a fire.

Herky-Jerky's method of broiling a piece of venison at the end of a