58 Deer and Antelope of North America 



buck, and whitetail, our ordinary game was the 

 mule-deer. Around my ranch it was not neces- 

 sary to go very far. A day's journey with the 

 wagon would usually take us to where a week's 

 hunting would enable us to return with a dozen 

 deer or over. If there was need of more, I would 

 repeat the hunt later on. I have several times 

 killed three of these deer in a day, but I do not 

 now recall ever killing a greater number. It is 

 perhaps unnecessary to say that every scrap of 

 flesh was used. 



These hunts were always made late in the fall, 

 usually after the close of the rut. The deer were 

 then banded, and were commonly found in parties 

 of from three or four to a score, although the big 

 bucks might be lying by themselves. The weather 

 was apt to be cold, and the deer evidently liked to 

 sun themselves, so that at midday they could be 

 found lying, sometimes in thin brush and some- 

 times boldly out on the face of a cliff or hill. If 

 they were unmolested, they would feed at intervals 

 throughout the day, and not until the bands had 

 been decimated by excessive hunting, did they 

 ever spend the hours of daylight in hiding. 



On such a hunt our proceedings were perfectly 

 simple. The nights were longer than the days, 

 and therefore we were away from camp at the first 

 streak of dawn, and might not return until long 

 after darkness. All the time between was spent 



