Whitetailed Deer 87 



went up the Gatlneau, in the Province of Quebec, for a few 

 days' hunting, and in discussing the hunt with our host, whose 

 experience of Deer had been confined to his immediate sur- 

 roundings, I was struck by his remark that he 'heard the Deer 

 bleat as they came up through the valley ahead of the dog.' I 

 asked him to explain, as this was new to me, and he informed 

 me that nearly all Deer in his country did this when chased 

 by dogs, as well as when disturbed by hunters. During my 

 stay I saw Deer, both chased by dogs and started by hunters, 

 that did not bleat; but I also had the good luck to hear and 

 see some that did. 



***** One of my friends shot at a Deer down in the 

 valley, and started a bunch of 5 that went up over a smooth 

 top hill about 800 yards from me. I should not have noticed 

 them had it not been for the loud and continuous bleat they 

 emitted as they went. The word * bleat' does not quite de- 

 scribe the sound, as it was as much a bellow as a bleat, being 

 a deep, throaty, continuous noise that seemed to fill all sur- 

 rounding space for, I should judge, at least 1,000 yards; 

 and to make the thing more peculiar, they went in single file 

 and trotted with flags down, as Moose might have done. I 

 had a good view of them, and they were ordinary Whitetailed 

 Deer. But to remove any doubts of that, my friend managed 

 to get a second shot and dropped one of them (a 160-pound 

 buck), which did not differ in any way from others of his kind. 



** Whether this phenomenon is peculiar to the district 

 referred to or not, I cannot say, but my friend stated that both 

 bucks and does had this habit." 



The greatest enemy of the Whitetail is the buckshot gun, enemies 

 with its unholy confederates, the jacklight and canoe. I hope 

 and believe that a very few years will see them totally done 

 away with in deer sport — classed with and scorned like the 

 dynamite of the shameless *' fish-hog." 



Next comes the repeating rifle of the poacher and pot- 

 hunter. 



The third enemy is deep snow. It is deep snow that hides 



