88 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 



[No. 55 



TABLE 12. Black-tailed deer on national forests in Oregon 

 [Data from estimates by U. S. Forest Service] 



Santiam and Cascade Forests now consolidated in Willamette National Forest. 



Formerly Crater. 



No estimate available. 



NOTE. No estimates available for 1927 or 1928. 



The number of deer legally killed each year, if known, would be 

 of great importance as an index to numbers maintained on the range, 

 but only meager data are available. In 1916 Deputy Game Warden 

 J. M. Thomas reported 318 deer killed in Coos County, and esti- 

 mated 7,500 remaining (Oreg. Sportsman 5 (1) : 43, 1917). In 1916 

 Joe L. Skelton, of Klamath Falls, estimated 5,000 black-tailed deer 

 in the western part of Klamath County west of Klamath Lakes 

 (Oreg. Sportsman 5 (1) : 17, 1917). Deputy Game Warden Orrin 

 Thompson, of Roseburg, the previous year estimated 2,000 deer 

 killed in Douglas County (Oreg. Sportsman 4 (1) : 47, 1916). The 

 same year Curry County, with a human population of only 2,628, was 

 estimated to contain 20,000 deer (Oreg. Sportsman 4 (4) :242, 1916). 

 It is evident that the available range and food supply would in 

 many localities support a far greater number of deer than at present 

 occupy western Oregon. 



General habits. Unlike the mule deer, which depend upon watch- 

 fulness and rapid flight, these timber-loving deer hide in the thickest 

 parts of the forest, coming cautiously out at evening to feed, and 

 depending largely on stealth and caution for protection, in which 

 their dark colors aid them in avoiding observation. Usually they 

 are resident wherever they occur, but in some parts of their mountain 

 range they are driven down by deep snows of winter to the lower 

 slopes, and in summer work their way back to the upper slopes and 

 wind-swept crests where the flies and mosquitoes are less troublesome. 

 Like other species of deer they become very tame and unsuspicious 

 when not hunted or chased by dogs, but when much hunted quickly 

 become wary and difficult to nnd. 



Breeding habits. The mating season is usually in October or 

 November, and the fawns are born in May or June, although there 

 are many records of earlier breeding and of fawns born in March 

 and April, indicating a prolonged and irregular mating season. 

 The spotted coat of the fawns (pi. 22) changes to the gray coat of 

 the adult in autumn, and even before the change the fawns are 

 sometimes found running with their mothers. The horns of the 

 bucks are shed in January or February and renewed during the 

 spring and summer months. By the first of September the velvet has 



