Whitetailed Deer 71 



County, N. Y. It weighed 318 pounds dressed, which means 

 a Hve weight of 400 pounds/ 



The most remarkable Adirondack buck, that I can find 

 authenticated, was killed by Henry Ordway near Mud Lake, 

 in 1890, and is described by James M. Patterson in Col. Fox's 

 Forestry Report, as follows:" "Weight, before being dressed, 

 388 pounds [bleeding and drying must have robbed it of fully 

 12 pounds, so that its live weight was about 400 pounds]; 

 height over withers, 4 feet 3 inches. There are 9 prongs 

 on one antler and 10 on the other. Length of antlers, 32 

 inches; distance between antlers, 26 J inches; length from tip 

 of nose to tip of tail, 9 feet 7 inches." To this A. N. 

 Cheney adds:^ *'I have talked with Mr. Patterson (who 

 is a brother of ex-District Attorney Patterson, of Warren 

 County) since his letter was printed, and he added to the 

 figures given, that the Deer measured i^"] inches around the 

 neck back of the head, and that the longest spike on one beam 

 was 13 inches. The buck had been seen on several occasions, 

 during two or more years, before it was secured, and a number 

 of sportsmen had made several efforts to kill it. It appeared 

 to have no fear of dogs that were put on its track, and on one 

 occasion attacked and drove off two." 



But these are the giants of their kind. The average 

 dressed weight of 562 Deer shipped out of the Adirondacks 

 by the express company in 1895 was only 109^ pounds, a live 

 weight of 136^ pounds each;* but this included many small 

 Deer and August specimens of all ages and sexes. An average 

 full-grown doe of the region weighs about 150 pounds (live 

 weight) and an average buck 200 pounds. Bucks of 300 

 pounds weight are killed every year. 



In its summer (or red) coat this Deer is a dull rusty red colour 

 or yellowish brown, paler around the eyes and much darker on 

 the upper side of tail, with a black spot on each side of the 



^Ibid., p. 201. ^Ihid., p. 200. '' Loc. cit., p. 201. 



nv. F. Fox, Rep. Supt. Forests N. Y., First Annual Report Com. F. G. & F., N. Y. S , 

 1896, p. 200. 



