THE MULE DEER OP SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



BY T. S. VAN DYKE, 



Author of " The Still Hunter," " The Rifle, Hod, and Gun in Southern 

 California," etc. 



Deer of this region, though commonly called the 

 Black-tail, is, in reality, the Mule Deer. It is 

 found from the coast to the highest inland mountain- 

 top. There is a theory among many that it goes 

 to the coast in the summer and to the mountains in winter, 

 while many others think directly the contrary. I can see 

 but little evidence of either theory being correct. There 

 are migratory movements of the Deer here, but rarely any 

 of a nature so general as that. Once in a few years, Deer 

 will be unusually plentiful, coming, undoubtedly, from 

 Lower California, or from the high ranges that bound the 

 Desert; and, in occasional years, they will be very scarce. 

 There are also local movements Deer suddenly leaving a 

 considerable tract of country and becoming quite plentiful 

 in another, several miles away generally governed by the 

 question of acorns. 



The real explanation I think to be this: Both in the 

 mountains and on the coast, the Deer have a period of 

 retirement in the heavy brush, lasting from about the mid- 

 dle of April till the first of August, or even later. During 

 this time they move but little, and when they come outside 

 of the chaparral at all, it is mainly at night, and they 

 return to it before day-break. The leaves and twigs of the 

 brush are then young and succulent, so that they care little 

 for water, and therefore few or no tracks may be found 

 about a spring, although several Deer may be in the brush 

 near by. This period is longer in the mountains than it is 

 along the coast, and the Deer confine their movements still 

 more to the brush. 



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