TRACKS AND TRACKING 



under which circumstances most tracking is 

 done the variance appears so slight that it can 

 be noticed only by examining minutely a perfect 

 track, which may be found along the trail under 

 some tree where not more than an inch of snow 

 has fallen or at a barren spot. 



The writer does not depend on the size of the 

 track in deciding whether it was made by a buck 

 or a doe, as he has seen many does which have 

 made as large tracks as the largest bucks; and 

 the common claim that rounded toes always indi- 

 cate a buck he has also found to be a fallacy. 

 Sometimes it is noticeable in the trail that the 

 hind feet lag, i. e., they do not quite reach the 

 forefeet tracks. This almost invariably means 

 an old buck which has become rather stiff with 

 age. The chance that the same mark is made by 

 an old sterile doe is remote, though, according to 

 observations, possible. 



Not infrequently, at least much oftener than 

 with black-tail and elk, a marked difference 

 between the two halves of the hoof may be ob- 

 served in the track of the Virginia deer, and the 

 tracks of the latter appear more slender than 



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