CHAPTER VII 



THE MULE-DEER, OR ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLACKTAIL 



THIS is the largest and finest of our three smaller deer. 

 Throughout its range it is known as the blacktail deer, 

 and it has as good a historic claim to the title as its Pacific 

 coast kinsman, the coast or true blacktail. In writing 

 purely of this species, it seems like pedantry to call it 

 by its book name of mule-deer, a name which conveys 

 little or no meaning to the people who live in its haunts 

 and who hunt it; but it is certainly very confusing to 

 know two distinct types of deer by one name, and as both 

 the Rocky Mountain blacktail and Coast blacktail are 

 thus known, and as the former is occasionally known as 

 mule-deer, I shall, for convenience' sake, speak of it un- 

 der this name a name given it because of its great ears, 

 which rather detract from its otherwise very handsome 

 appearance. 



The mule-deer is a striking and beautiful animal. As 

 is the case with our other species, it varies greatly in 

 size, but is on the average heavier than either the white- 

 tail or the true blacktail. The horns also average longer 

 and heavier, and in exceptional heads are really note- 

 worthy trophies. Ordinarily a full-grown buck has a 

 head of ten distinct and well-developed points, eight of 

 which consist of the bifurcations of the two main prongs 



into which each antler divides, while in addition there 



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