Courtesy of www.WinslowHomer.org

There is a thematic trend in Homer's deer hunting series; his subjects shift over time from the start of the hunt to the kill. In A Good Shot, Adirondacks, we are in the presence of death. Removed spatially and emotionally from the hunter, we focus on the prey. Homer's only watercolor to show a deer being killed, this work captures the moment the stag is shot, just as he climbs to the top of a rock in a river of rushing water. On the right are the silhouettes of two hounds running in the direction of the deer. To the left, a puff of white smoke from the hunter's just-fired rifle wafts through the air.