SLACK-TAILED DEER. 177 



bagged a black-tail ; and I take no shame in confessing 

 that I hunted them occasionally for many years before 

 arriving at the secret of success. He feeds a great deal 

 at night, but in the very early morning he may generally 

 be found feeding on the cedar-dotted slopes on his way 

 to his lair. He may then be stalked as a red deer ; with 

 more caution, however, as his senses are more delicate 

 and he is more ready to take alarm. By 7 A.M. he has 

 usually satisfied his appetite, and, after going to water, 

 lies down in some position where he is least likely to be 

 seen. The deep canons, in the neighbourhood of which 

 he makes his haunt, have generally the upper edges 

 rounded off by water, so that the plain or mesa above is 

 joined to the precipice below by an inclination longer or 

 shorter and more or less steep. The black-tail's favourite 

 position for rumination and siesta is on the lower edge of 

 this slope, just where it begins to be precipitous. From 

 this point he can see all that passes below, whilst he is 

 undistinguishable from the rocks, bushes, and grass around 

 him. He cannot be seen from the plain above, and 

 nothing can approach down the slope without starting 

 fragments or loose stones which give him warning. When 

 in this position the hunter can hope to bag him only by 

 the help of another man. When alarmed he will not 

 quit the slope unless forced to do so. The sportsman, 

 having discovered the game from below, must make an 

 ample detour, and station himself on the slope to the 

 leeward of the deer. When he is in position another man 

 must approach on the slope from the windward. As soon 

 as the deer scents the intruder he will get up and walk 

 quietly down the wind, and, of course, directly upon the 

 sportsman waiting for him. 



The black-tailed deer has one fatal quality curiosity. 

 He is never quite satisfied with the evidence of any one 

 sense, except his nose ; and if an enemy approach against 

 the wind, and yet close enough to be heard, he will spring 

 to his feet, make a few bounds away from the noise, then 



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