52 Deer and Antelope of North America 



feeding all the time to put on fat before winter 

 arrives, and rapidly attaining a very high condi- 

 tion. 



Except in dire need no one would kill a deer 

 after the hard weather of winter begins or before 

 the antlers of the buck are full-grown and the 

 fawns are out of the spotted coat. Even in the 

 old days we, who lived in the ranch country, al- 

 ways tried to avoid killing deer in the spring or 

 early summer, though we often shot buck ante- 

 lope at those times. The close season for deer 

 varies in different states, and now there is gen- 

 erally a limit set to the number any one hunter 

 can kill ; for the old days of wasteful plenty are 

 gone forever. 



To my mind there is a peculiar fascination in 

 hunting the mule-deer. By the time the hunting 

 season has arrived, the buck is no longer the 

 slinking beast of the thicket, but a bold and yet 

 wary dweller in the uplands. Frequently he can 

 be found clear of all cover, often at midday, and 

 his habits at this season are, from the hunter's 

 standpoint, rather more like those of the wapiti 

 than of the whitetail ; but each band, though con- 

 tinually shifting its exact position, stays perma- 

 nently in the same tract of country, whereas 

 wapiti are more apt to wander. 



In the old days, when mule-deer were plentiful 

 in country through which a horse could go at a 



