I don't like to go back to my poaching days, but three-legged deer brings back memories of a night when I was foolish. I spotted a deer unexpectedly and, instead of walking to it before killing it, I took a shot from a distance. While I don't want to tell any of the secrets of successful deer jacking, I think it is safe to tell you that the light distorts everything to a certain extent. Unless a jacker takes this sighting difficulty into consideration, he is apt to miss any but the closest of shots. I made a mistake in judgment and broke the deer's front leg. I am apt to undershoot with my gun.

The deer was in a big field and I was between it and the nearest woods. I expected to kill the deer with my first shot, or if wounded, it would come towards me in an effort to reach cover. Instead of doing this, the deer headed for the woods to our right. I knew there was a trail there which the deer would try to reach. We were about the same distance from the entrance to the trail and I decided to try to beat the deer to the woods rather than try to hit a running target after I had failed to kill the standing deer. We had about two hundred yards to go and if I had had a ten-foot handicap, the race would have ended in a dead heat. As it was, I killed the deer on the run at a distance of about fifteen feet.

Speaking of close shots, two years ago I had an experience that I would hesitate to mention if there had not been a witness to the occurrence. I was sitting flat on the ground with my feet extended in front of me and my back against a tree as I watched a crossing while two companions tried to drive a deer by me. Now my shooting position was all wrong (alibi) and I could not shoot anywhere except where I expected

the deer to cross.

After a while I saw two deer coming through the trees towards the crossing. They were not very big deer (another alibi). Before the deer reached the open area at the crossing, they turned and came along as though they were going to pass in the woods to my left at a distance of about a hundred feet. I tried to get a bead on them as they approached, but the trees and shaggy brush prevented a sure shot (alibi 3). They came nearly opposite me and turned directly towards me, presenting a narrow target (alibi 4). They ran directly towards me and at a distance of ten feet they separated and gave me two targets (alibi 5). One deer passed in front of me and his footprints were not over two feet from my feet as they extended out from the tree. The other went behind me and the tree, not over six feet away. I fired two shots and where the bullets went, nobody knows. I know and you know that it is impossible for any reasonably good shot to miss a deer that is three feet from his gun muzzle, but that is what happened on this occasion. This just goes to prove that a man with forty years' experience is no different from a rank amateur at times. It shows that we guides are human, just as you boys are, and don't let anyone tell you differently. How about passing the bottle, Fred?

Do you know how we guides get a reputation for being experienced in the matter of helping our clients bag their deer? This case is not typical but merely an example.

Even an expert and experience hunter of forty years can be no different than an amateur at times. Different situations can lead the hunters into un-expected situations.