Whitetailed Deer 105 



But the females are of another mind. 



*'The pursuit of the doe by the buck commences before 

 her season has arrived, and hence for two or three weeks she 

 remains as secluded as possible. He follows her track with 

 his nose to the ground, and when started from her bed the race 

 is very spirited." (Caton.'"'*) 



An old hunter writes:'^" "Should anyone, hunting at this 

 time in a good Deer range, observe a doe by herself, galloping 

 along with her tail down, ever and anon looking back as if 

 looking for something in pursuit and acting as if she were en- 

 deavouring to secrete herself, he should lose no time in availing 

 himself of the situation." 



This advice Dr. Bachman seems to have followed many 

 years before it was given. He relates i"" *'We were one 

 autumnal morning seated on a log in the pine lands of Carolina 

 when a doe came running past us. In the course often minutes 

 we observed a buck in pursuit, wi'th his nose near the ground, 

 following in all the windings of her course. Half an hour 

 afterward came a second buck, and during another interval 

 a third small buck pursued the same trail." 



The buck does not gather around him a band of does 

 as does the successful bull Wapiti, and it is sometimes said that 

 he does not issue any sort of challenge. But the following 

 curious paragraph by "Bachelor""^ shows that he has both 

 the disposition and the voice to challenge at times: 



''Some years since, * * * I was still-hunting in Arkansas. 

 * * * I had been standing several minutes when I heard three 

 successive sounds, or noises, that were much louder and coarser 

 than the whistle or snort of any Deer I had previously heard. 

 At first I thought it some other animal, but presently he was 

 in sight, and when within about 200 yards of me he ran into 

 a flock of turkeys. He would single one out and chase it 

 away, then another, until he had chased off nine or ten, likely 

 all of the flock, when he returned to the line or track he was 



^Antelope and Deer of America, 1877, p. 307. 



"A. Y. Walton, Forest and Stream, June 15, 1895, p. 485. 



•oQuad. N. A., 1877, Vol, II, p. 227. 



•' Forest and Stream, October 5, 1895, P- 292. 



