292 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE MULE DEER. 



The Mule Deer.— Its Haunts and Habits.— General Characteristics.— Ori- 

 gin of Name. — Weight, Size, and Appearance. — Why it is called the 

 Jumping Deer.— Fire -hunting. —Herding of Bucks.— Hunting with 

 Hounds. — Stalking. — Migrations of the Animal. — Large Numbers kill- 

 ed by Hunters.— A Hunt in the Bitter Root Mountains.— Wailing of 

 Squaws. — A Visit to an Indian Cemetery. — Disappearance of the 

 Mourners.— A Retreat. — Wolves.— Sit up all Night.— Fear of Indians. 

 — A Visit from them in the Morning. — Our Preparations for their Re- 

 ception.— Mutual Recognition. — The Trapper's Story. — Visit the In- 

 dian Camp. — The Pipe of Peace. — Speeches. — A Buffalo Dance. — Revis- 

 it the Burial-ground. — Mode of Burying the Dead. — Mourning Songs 

 of Squaws. — Change Camp.— Number of Deer captured, and how we 

 Bagged them. — Wolves attacking a Stag. — Death of Five of them. — 

 Change Quarters. — Hunting Does and Fawns. — Why these keep to the 

 Foot-hills. — Our Success with them. — Another Visit to the Indian 

 Camp. — An Aged Couple deserted. — How Indians treat Old People.— 

 Their Fate. 



The mule deer (Cariacus macrotis : Gray) is a denizen 

 of the vast area lying between the bad lands of Dakota 

 and Nebraska, and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges. 

 It is virtually the deer of the mountains and plateaux, as 

 its congeners are of the forest and lowlands ; for it is sel- 

 dom found on the plains, unless they are closely surround- 

 ed by rugged hills or steep mountains, and even then only 

 rarely; for the lowest points to which it seems to descend 

 voluntarily are the foot-hills that jut out from the main 

 ranges. Its favorite haunts are near the summits of moun- 

 tains having an altitude of from one to five thousand feet; 

 and there, free from many foes, it leads a life of compara- 

 tive ease and security. It always seeks shelter in the tim- 

 ber during the day ; but in the morning and evening it fre- 

 quents the more open grounds near the mountain crests to 

 graze on the tender and dainty grass that is nurtured dur- 



