9.4
On seeing this, let him loose the dogs, and taking the javelins approach the spot where he saw the nearest fawn laid, carefully observing the positions so as not to make a mistake, since they look quite different when approached from what they seemed to be at a distance.
9.5
As soon as he sees the fawn, let him go close up to it. It will keep still, squeezing its body tight against the ground, and will let itself be lifted, bleating loudly, unless it is wet through, in which case it will not stay, since the rapid condensation of the moisture in its body by the cold causes it to make off.
9.6
But it will be caught by the hounds if hotly pursued. Having taken it, let him give it to the net-keeper. It will cry out; and the sight and the sound between them will bring the hind running up to the holder, in her anxiety to rescue it.
9.7
That is the moment to set the hounds on her, and ply the javelms. Having settled this one, let him proceed to tackle the rest, hunting them in the same manner.
9.8
Young fawns are caught by this method; but big ones are difficult to catch. For they graze with their dams and other deer; and when pursued they make off in the midst of them, or sometimes in front, but rarely in the rear.
9.9
The hinds trample on the hounds in their efforts to defend their fawns; consequently it is not easy to catch them, unless a man gets amongst them at onceThe author has omitted to explain how this is to be done. and scatters them, so that one of the fawns is isolated.
9.10
The result of this strain on the hounds is that they are left behind in the first run; for the absence of the hinds fills the creature with terror, and the speed of fawns at that age is without parallel. But they are soon caught in the second or third run, since their bodies are still too young to stand the work.
9.11
Caltrops are set for deer in the mountains, about meadows and streams and glades, in alleys and cultivated lands that they frequent.
