TRACKS AND TRACKING 



ing autumn, we can pass them over. A buck 

 always has the tendency to drag his legs, a fea- 

 ture which reaches the climax during rutting 

 season, while any doe, even the sterile, steps clean 

 if the snow is less than one foot deep. This fact 

 makes it possible to tell a buck's track with cer- 

 tainty, even if tracking conditions are not favor- 

 able, because there is always some displacement 

 behind and in front of the tracks which is readily 

 observed in sand or dry snow. 



There is one other feature by which the trail 

 of a white-tail buck can be distinguished from 

 that of a doe, and even that of the buck of black- 

 tails, and that is the animal's habit of scanning 

 the surroundings while standing near trees, wind- 

 falls, and the like. An old buck at leisure will 

 take careful observations two or three times in- 

 side of a hundred yards, except during the rut- 

 ting season, when he is too busy to spend so much 

 time for safety's sake, and he always does this 

 from what he evidently considers cover. 



In open forests are often seen places where the 

 ground has been pawed up, and the ground cov- 

 ering, moss, leaves or sod, thrown in eveiy direc- 



18 



