he had a
hearty laugh of half an hour and said that I was lucky that I did not
die in a fit.

Now boys, you who have never had the buck fever can laugh at me all
you like, but those who are over fond of the chase and get the buck
fever will sympathize with me. Had I been expecting and looking for
this drove of deer at the time instead of only one deer I should not
have been attacked with this case of buck fever.

Now, I will tell you of another case of buck fever from a cause
entirely different from that just related. I was following the trail
and there was just enough snow on the ground to make the best of
still hunting. The wind was blowing just strong enough to make a
noise in the tree tops overhead to drown any noise that the hunter
might make by stepping on a dry limb, and every once in a while there
would come a snow squall that would be so dense that you could see
scarcely fifty feet.

I had trailed the doe along the side of the hill for some distance.
She was feeding alone and I was working along very carefully, keeping
along the ridge several yards above the trail, to always be on
advantage ground. I had not seen the trail of any other deer during
the morning although it was in the height of the mating season, or as
us common folks call it, the running season. I was trailing the doe
along through a small basin where the timber was nearly all hardwood,
beech and maple, and the woods were very open. I was quite positive
that the doe was not far in advance for she had just been feeding on
some moss from a limb that had blown down from a tree and the tracks
were very fresh. About this time one of those snow squalls had come
up. I was standing by a large maple tree waiting for the squall to
pass by so that I could look the ground over well before I went any
farther.

After the squall had passed I looked the ground over closely but
could see nothing of my deer. Forty or fifty yards farther along the
side of the hill and below me there was a very large maple tree which
had turned up by the roots. This tree hid from view a piece of ground
close to the log. I could see that the trail led directly up to the
tree. I could see a slight break in the snow on top of the log that I
took to be made by the leg of the deer in jumping the log. I could
see nothing of the trail beyond the tree so I worked very cautiously
along until I could see past the root of the tree and as I suspected,
there stood my game with head down,