238 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



we killed were very fat, and evidently had no difficulty 

 in getting as much venison as they needed. The wolves 

 were not as well off, and now and then made forays on 

 the young stock of the ranchmen, which at this season 

 the cougar let alone, reserving his attention to them for 

 the summer season when the deer had vanished. 



In the Big Horn Mountains, where I also saw a good 

 deal of the mule-deer, their habits were intermediate 

 between those of the species that dwell on the plains and 

 those that dwell in the densely timbered regions of the 

 Rockies farther to the northwest. In the summer time 

 they lived high up on the plateaus of the Big Horn, some- 

 times feeding in the open glades and sometimes in the 

 pine forests. In the fall they browsed on certain of the 

 bushes almost exclusively. In winter they came down 

 into the low country. South of the Yellowstone Park, 

 where the wapiti swarmed, the mule-deer were not nu- 

 merous. I believe that by choice they prefer rugged, open 

 country, and they certainly care comparatively little for 

 bad weather, as they will often visit bleak, wind-swept 

 ridges in midwinter, as being places where they can best 

 get food at that season, when the snow lies deep in the 

 sheltered places. Nevertheless, many of the species pass 

 their whole life in thick timber. 



My chief opportunities for observing the mule-deer 

 were in the eighties, when I spent much of my time on 

 my ranch on the Little Missouri. Mule-deer were then 

 very plentiful, and I killed more of them than of all 

 other game put together. At that time in the cattle coun- 

 try no ranchman ever thought of killing beef, and if 



