This was the largest buck I ever killed, for he weighed, after he was skinned and dressed, two hundred and thirty pounds.  We found that four out of the five shots had hit him.  The last shot I fired, cut away the small end of his heart, though he actually managed to run thirty or forty paces afterwards.

Deer-hunting is a very exciting sport; but I prefer still-hunting (or deer-stalling, as it is called in the Highlands of Scotland) to driving them into the lakes and rivers with hounds.

The deer are not now nearly so numerous as they formerly were.  Civilization has driven them back into the unsurveyed lands or less populated townships.  To give my readers some idea how plentiful these wild denizens of the forest were, some years since, I need only mention that a Trapper with whom I was acquainted, and four of his companions, passed my house on a small raft, on which lay the carcasses of thirty-two deer—­the trophies of a fortnight’s chase near Stony Lake.  The greater number of these were fine bucks.

I once had seventeen deer hanging up in my barn at one time—­the produce of three days’ sport, out of which I had the good fortune to kill seven.  Parties are now made yearly every October to Stony Lake, Deer Bay, or the River Trent.  I do not know anything more pleasant than these excursions, especially if you have agreeable companions, a warm camp, and plenty to eat and drink.  Indeed, poor hunters must they be who cannot furnish their camp-larder with wild-ducks and venison.  This is one of the great charms of a Canadian life, particularly to young sportsmen from the mother-country, who require here neither license nor qualification to enable them to follow their game; but may rove about in chase of deer, or other game, at will.

The greatest enemy the deer has to contend with is the wolf.  In the spring of the year, when the snow is in the woods, and a crust is formed on the surface, the deer are unable to travel any distance, the snow not being sufficiently hard to bear their weight.  Consequently, great numbers of them are destroyed by their more nimble adversaries, who from their lighter make and rounder-shaped feet, are able to run on the top of the crust, which gives the deer but little chance of escape.

The wolves commonly hunt in packs, and generally at night.  The deer, when pursued, always make straight for the water, which, if they succeed in reaching it, saves them for that time.

When the wolves reach the shore and find their prey gone, they utter the most diabolical yells.  One night I was awakened by a pack of these rascals, who were in chase of a deer.  They ran through my wood-yard within sixty feet of the house in full chorus.  I think I never heard in the stillness of the night a more wild and unearthly din.