40 Deer and Antelope of North America 



very bitter. On several occasions during my 

 stay the thermometer went down to twenty 

 degrees below zero. The hills, or low mountains, 

 for it was difficult to know which to call them, 

 were steep and broken, and separated by narrow 

 flats covered with sage brush. The ordinary 

 trees were the pinyon and cedar, which were 

 scattered in rather open groves over the moun- 

 tain sides and the spurs between the ravines. 

 There were also patches of quaking asp, scrub 

 oak, and brush. The entire country was thinly 

 covered with ranches, and there were huge pas- 

 tures enclosed by wire fences. I have never 

 seen the mule-deer so numerous anywhere as 

 they were in this country at this time ; although 

 in 1883, on the Little Missouri, they were almost 

 as plentiful. There was not a day we did not 

 see scores, and on some days we saw hundreds. 

 Frequently they were found in small parties of two 

 or three, or a dozen individuals, but on occasions 

 we saw bands of thirty or forty. Only rarely 

 were they found singly. The fawns were of course 

 well grown, being eight or nine months old. 

 They were still accompanying their mothers. 

 Ordinarily a herd would consist of does, fawns, 

 and yearlings, the latter carrying their first ant- 

 lers. But it was not possible to lay down a uni- 

 versal rule. Again and again I saw herds in 

 which there were one or two full-grown bucks 



