242 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



seen the doe and her fawn or fawns, and either one or two 

 young of the previous year, together. Often, however, 

 these young deer will be alone, or associated with an older 

 doe which is barren. The bucks at the same time go to 

 secluded places; sometimes singly, while sometimes an 

 old buck will be accompanied by a younger one, or a 

 couple of old bucks will lie together. They move about 

 as little as possible while their horns are growing, and 

 if a hunter comes by, they will lie far closer than at any 

 other time of the year, squatting in the dense thickets 

 as if they were whitetails. 



When in the Bad Lands of the Western Dakotas the 

 late September breezes grow cold, then the bucks, their 

 horns already clean of velvet which they have thrashed off 

 on the bushes and saplings, feel their necks begin to swell ; 

 and early in October sometimes not until November 

 they seek the does. The latter, especially the younger 

 ones, at first flee in frantic haste. As the rut goes on the 

 bucks become ever bolder and more ardent. Not only 

 do they chase the does by night, but also by day. I have 

 sat on the side of a ravine in the Bad Lands at noon 

 and seen a young doe race past me as if followed by a 

 wolf. When she was out of sight a big buck appeared 

 on her trail, following it by scent, also at speed. When 

 he had passed I got up, and the motion frightened a 

 younger buck which was following two or three hundred 

 yards in the rear of the big one. After a while the doe 

 yields, and the buck then accompanies her. If, however, 

 it is early in the season, he may leave her entirely in 

 order to run after another doe. Later in the season he 



