The White-Tailed Deer 9 



more than 200 pounds live weight. Many have been 

 killed which weighed over 300 pounds and there are 

 some apparently reliable records of bucks weighing 

 as much as 400 pounds. The does are smaller, weigh- 

 ing perhaps 150 pounds for the average. The small 

 Florida Deer weighs scarcely more than half as much 

 as its northern relative and 100 pounds is a good weight 

 for a full grown buck. The maximum for bucks is 

 scarcely more than 125 pounds and does, of course, are 

 much smaller. The Virginia variety is intermediate 

 in size between the northern and the Florida varieties. 



The Whitetail has always been a favorite object 

 of the chase. The Indian pursued it before the coming 

 of the white man and made good use of its hide, its 

 horns, and its flesh. The pioneer settler did the same, 

 and buckskin breeches, horn implements, and venison 

 steaks meant almost as much to him as they did to the 

 aborigines. In later years, deer-hunting has furnished 

 fascinating sport for thousands of Americans of all 

 classes in practically every state in the Union. To- 

 day it still has innumerable devotees and although the 

 season for shooting is now limited to a few weeks or, in 

 some states, to a few days, there is never any lack of 

 hunters. The methods of deer-hunting vary in differ- 

 ent parts of the country, but the most sportsmanlike 

 and at the same time the most difficult type of hunting 

 can be practiced anywhere. This is the so-called still 

 hunting in which the hunter pursues his game by day- 

 light, following its track and using his wits against 

 those of the alert and often crafty wild animal until he 

 is able to approach within shooting distance of it. 

 Such hunting requires great skill in woodcraft, much 

 physical strength, and inexhaustible patience. It is 

 practiced principally when there is light snow on the 

 ground, making the tracks easier to follow, but it can 

 be done by experienced men when there is no snow. 



£9] 



