TRACKS AND TRACKING 



The track of a mule deer, roaming in rocky 

 hills or out in the arid breaks of the Bad Lands, 

 is of course a very different thing from that of 

 a white-tail, but let the animals make their per- 

 manent stand in white-tail country proper, and 

 almost all difference in their track soon disap- 

 pears. It is evident that the sole of their hoof 

 undergoes the same change as that of a horse, 

 which can be ridden daily without shoes in dry 

 regions, but which will get footsore within a day 

 or two if it is transferred into a district where 

 rain and dew moisten the grass and keep the 

 ground damp. 



Considering the individual track, the hoof of 

 the Virginia deer evidently spreads easier than 

 that of any other member of the family, except 

 moose and caribou. It is because of this that, 

 during the season when they are in good condi- 

 tion and in hunting time, the ridge of dirt or 

 snow that is made between the two halves of the 

 hoof, and left in the track, is much more con- 

 spicuous than that left by any other deer. How- 

 ever, if the conditions are not ideal and they 

 most certainly are not if snow is on the ground, 



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