It was after four o'clock when he finally picked up the trailof the second group. The tracks seemed to follow a generaldirection toward a gap in the ridge. He followed for a whileand lost the trail. He hunted the ridge as he made his waytoward camp which he reached about an hour later.
When he reached camp, the first thing he saw was a nice,eight point buck hanging from the rack. Henry Archer hadbagged it early that morning. He got the full story fromHenry that evening.
Henry had, also, arrived two days before the season openedand had looked the country over carefully. He had spotteda field of buckwheat about two miles away, located on a bench,high on the ridge across the main creek that drained thearea. He had scanned the territory and visited the field; henoted deer had been feeding there recently. He was an ex-perienced hunter, having taken many deer with the rifle; heknew his way around. He had examined signs and tracks andhad noted some large tracks with rather rounded toes and hadcome to the conclusion that a big buck was with the herdthat fed there. This field was his objective when the seasonopened.
