The Columbia Blacktail 233 



The same is true of the water. Springs and 

 creeks are so common on most of this deer's 

 home that its movements are little affected by 

 watering, while the browse is so succulent on a 

 thousand shrubs that it often goes days or weeks 

 without drinking at all. For these, and other 

 reasons hereafter noticed, the hunting of the black- 

 tail lacks the attraction that the Virginia deer 

 affords in many parts of the East, and the mule- 

 deer in many parts of southern California. 

 There is too much ground on which there is 

 nothing to do but rove the woods and shoot 

 when you happen to see something. This is 

 tame beside working out the whereabouts of your 

 game by your knowledge of its habits, and match- 

 ing your skill against its wariness from morning 

 until night. 



The habits of the blacktail are much the same 

 as those of his family in general. Mainly a rover 

 of the night, he prefers a good moon, though 

 quite able to manage his legs in the deepest 

 darkness. During the ten or twelve days when 

 the moon is the brightest, you may find plenty of 

 fresh tracks in the morning as soon as it is light 

 enough to see. But the area you can traverse 

 without seeing one of the deer that made them 

 is quite as astonishing as it is elsewhere. Hav- 

 ing been induced by the moon to be on foot most 

 of the night, the game has a full stomach, all the 



