176 GAME. 



does, but his love-making is beset with innumerable 

 difficulties. One moment he is charging a buck that 

 he can thrash ; the next, getting promptly out of the 

 way of one that can thrash him. He sees a young 

 Lothario making love to a doe, and ' goes for ' him 

 straightway, but has hardly time to congratulate himself 

 on his acquisition before he in his turn has to get away 

 as fast as his legs will carry him. The herd is a scene 

 of turmoil and confusion. The does are jostled and 

 driven without ceasing. 



There is no ' selection ' allowed her, and so that she 

 gets a lover she seems perfectly indifferent as to the in- 

 dividual. This season lasts but a short time ; and soon 

 after it is over, the bucks, their animosity having departed 

 with their love, separate from the does, and again set up 

 their bachelor establishments. They are terribly run 

 down, are poor and unfit for food ; but they very soon 

 recuperate, and I have seen almost as fine fat black-tailed 

 bucks in December as in September, when, however, they 

 are at their very best. In August and September the 

 black-tails come down from their mountain fastnesses, 

 and spread themselves over the country, wherever they 

 find a locality suited to their tastes. This is the migratory 

 season, and these animals not unfrequently make journeys 

 of more than a hundred miles. The places selected are 

 to be their homes until the next April or May, and they 

 are very choice in the selection. 



The ground must be broken by deep and crooked 

 chasms, the tops and sides of which must be covered with 

 thickets of cedar or pine. The black-tail must have long 

 slopes dotted with cedar and covered with rich grass for his 

 feeding grounds, and, if possible, a contiguous pine forest 

 in whose sombre depths he can hide himself from enemies 

 or the too ardent rays of the sun. He is exceedingly 

 wary and difficult to bag, anless his habits are thoroughly 

 understood; so much so, indeed, that I have known 

 sportsmen, excellent at other game, who had never 



