240 Deer of the Pacific Coast 



Like other deer, this one is very stupid about 

 making out the figure of a man at perfect rest, 

 but amazingly quick to detect his slightest mo- 

 tion and know what it imports. There is no way 

 of avoiding this, and between deer and hunter 

 the advantage lies with the one at rest when 

 the other comes in sight. Not much can be 

 gained by wearing clothes of any special color. 

 Dull brown or gray are less striking colors than 

 others, though turkey-red or something no fool 

 can mistake for a deer are nowadays more desir- 

 able. In timber, even with plenty of snow, deer 

 can see you so plainly when moving across the 

 trunks of trees that there is no perceptible advan- 

 tage in white clothes. 



The most difficult trick of the blacktail to cir- 

 cumvent is his hiding or skulking in brush, and 

 letting you pass very close to him, well knowing 

 you do not see him. All deer seem to learn that 

 in very dense cover this is generally safer than 

 running. I have had the Virginia deer lie still 

 in the long slough grass of the prairie and in the 

 reeds of river bottoms until I was within a few 

 feet. But the deer of the Pacific coast escape in 

 this way more than deer elsewhere, especially in 

 the heavy chaparral which robes in eternal green 

 so much of the southern part of the range of the 

 blacktail. Nor does he require such dense cover 

 for this purpose as one would imagine from expe- 



