84 



NOKTH AMERICAN FAUNA 



[No. 55 



above the middle of the metatarsal bone and 4 or 5 inches in length, conspicu- 

 ously marked by long, coarse hair ; skull long and large with deep lachrymal 

 pits; molar teeth light. Winter pelage: Body dark gray, with much black on 

 the breast, forehead, nose, mane, and tip of tail ; rest of tail, large rump patch, 

 and back part of 'belly whitish or buffy ; face usually dull gray, rarely whitish 

 (pi. 21, A). Summer coat: Yellowish or rusty brown instead of gray. Young: 

 Fawn color, thickly spotted, with white over back. 



Measurements. Of an adult male: Total length, 1,720 mm; tail, 130; hind 

 foot, 510; ear (dry), inside, 200, outside, from base to tip, 240. Skull: Basal 

 length, 290 ; orbital width, 142 ; length of upper molar series, 81. 



Weights of adult bucks are generally given as 200 to 300 pounds, but very 

 large, fat old bucks have been recorded as high as 400 to 450 pounds. Most of 

 these weights are based on dressed deer that have been brought home and 

 weighed bodily or in pieces and a correction of 20 percent of the dressed weight 

 added for the live weight, so that a slight factor of uncertainty is introduced. 

 A full or empty stomach may make a difference of 10 or 20 pounds. A large 



buck from the head of the 

 Grand Ronde River weighed 

 dressed 260 pounds (Amer. 

 Field 72 : 502, 1909). In Wai- 

 Iowa County 100 bucks were 

 reported killed in October 

 1913, of which several dressed 

 250 to 275 pounds (Oreg. 

 Sportsman 1 (4) : 17). One 

 large mule deer buck was 

 killed by George B. Marsden, 

 of Burns, that dressed 314 

 pounds (Oreg. Sportsman 1 

 (4) : 14). George Humphries 

 records a buck killed at Dog 

 Lake, Lake County, that 

 weighed 415 pounds, but this 

 was not given as dressed 

 weight and is assumed to 

 have been weighed entire 

 (Evening Herald, Klamath 

 Falls Aug. 26, 1916). The 

 California Fish and Game Com- 

 mission records a buck in Modoc County of 350 pounds dressed (Calif. Fish and 

 Game, January 1924, p. 19) and Seton records one vouched for by Dr. Tinsman, 

 of Adin, Calif, close to the Oregon line, that dressed 380 pounds (1927, v. 3, 

 p. 



FIGURE 11. Range of Columbian black-tailed and 

 Rocky Mountain mule deer in Oregon : l,Odocoil- 

 eus columManus columbianus ; 2 O. hemionus ma- 

 crotis. Type locality circled. 



Distribution and habitat. Mule deer originally occupied prac- 

 tically the whole of eastern Oregon, including the dry eastern slope 

 of the Cascade Mountains (fig. 11). At the present time they are 

 found throughout the rough, mountainous parts of this area, well 

 back from settlements and where they have received adequate pro- 

 tection. They are absent from most of the open country. They are 

 holding their own in the very rough parts of the Blue Mountains, 

 in the Steens Mountains, and in some of the desert ranges along the 

 eastern part of the State, and in recent years are showing remarkable 

 increases in some sections. 



Unlike the Columbian black-tailed and white-tailed deer, mule deer 

 are largely animals of the open country or open forests, and espe- 

 cially of the steepest, roughest slopes to be found. Generally they 

 do not depend on dense cover for protection from their enemies, 

 but more on their swift flight and the advantage in being able to 

 run rapidly up or down rough slopes. At one time they were com- 

 mon out over the sagebrush plains, where every little canyon draw 

 and rocky ridge afforded them shelter and protection. In these 



