96 THE DEER FAMILY 



a winter coat and for a short time appears to be nearly 

 black, but later its color is a dark gray. There is a 

 patch of white on the rump and the head and body are 

 effectively marked with black. Compared with the 

 common deer, the mule-deer may be said to be more 

 stockily built or heavier in body, but his legs are slen- 

 der and graceful, and he is altogether a very handsome 

 animal. The antlers of an old buck are large and sym- 

 metrical ; the first antler on a young buck is usually a 

 spike from six to nine inches long. 



The mule-deer is not so graceful when running and 

 not so fast as the Virginia deer. Caton says a good 

 dog can overtake a mule-deer on open ground much 

 more quickly than the white-tail. He jumps too high 

 for speed. Van Dyke refers to the mule-deer's bounc- 

 ing gait as being pretty but tiresome, and says: "All 

 four hoofs strike the ground with one far-sounding 

 thump." In the brush this deer goes smashing 

 through bushes at a rapid gait and easily leaves the 

 dog far behind. 



Upon one occasion, when shooting mule-deer in the 

 the Rosebud Valley, Montana, a large, fat, white bull- 

 dog, which belonged to our cook, followed me out 

 of camp without my observing him, and declined to 

 go back. As I rode quietly around the edge of a 

 grove of small trees I came face to face with a very 

 large buck, which instantly turned and went off, bound- 

 ing over the ground with the bull-dog at his heels. 

 They went over a ridge before I had time to shoot, 

 and while I sat upon m)'^ pony, thinking of the ludicrous 

 sight, the deer came bouncing back over the ridge and 

 passed me within easy range. He was not going very 



