234 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



deer had spent the summer. The winter range, in which 

 I was at the time hunting cougars, is a region of com- 

 paratively light snowfall, though the cold is bitter. On 

 several occasions during my stay the thermometer went 

 down to twenty degrees below zero. The hills, or low 

 mountains, for it was difficult to know which to call 

 them, were steep and broken, and separated by narrow 

 flats covered with sage-brush. The ordinary trees were 

 the pinyon and cedar, which were scattered in rather 

 open groves over the mountain-sides and the spurs be- 

 tween the ravines. There were also patches of quaking 

 asp, scrub oak, and brush. The entire country was thinly 

 covered with ranches, and there were huge pastures en- 

 closed by wire fences. I have never seen the mule-deer 

 so numerous anywhere as they were in this country at 

 this time; although in 1883, on the Little Missouri, they 

 were almost as plentiful. There was not a day we did 

 not see scores, and on some days we saw hundreds. Fre- 

 quently they were found in small parties of two or three, 

 or a dozen individuals, but on occasions we saw bands 

 of thirty or forty. Only rarely were they found singly. 

 The fawns were of course well grown, being eight or 

 nine months old, and long out of the spotted coat. They 

 were still accompanying their mothers. Ordinarily a 

 herd would consist of does, fawns, and yearlings, the 

 latter carrying their first antlers. But it was not pos- 

 sible to lay down a universal rule. Again and again 

 I saw herds in which there were one or two full-grown 

 bucks associating with the females and younger deer. 

 At other times we came across small bands of full- 



