260 Hunting the Mule -Deer in Colorado. 



fallen timber and rock, almost impassable to man. His coat is a rich, 

 warm gray or drab, shot with black shadows in the dorsal region, 

 where the hairs are heavy and erect, and each has a tip of yellow 

 and dead black. A gray to white space, from a downward angle 

 between the eyes, extends to the nose, from under the eyes to the ears, 

 and softening away at the sides of the neck, stops at an exact line a 

 hand's breadth beneath the jaw. The chin, with some irregular 

 touches along the inner portion of the ear usually, the flanks and 

 inside of thighs, are a pure white ; and an acorn-shaped patch of the 

 same surrounds the tail, which itself is thin and " switchy," entirely 

 bare beneath, white above, and having a black, pointed brush at the 

 tip of hairs two to three inches in length. The short, glossy coat 

 of the legs is of the same tawny color that gradually, during the 

 summer, covers the entire animal, till the new "blue" coat shows 

 itself in September. Otherwise this description applies in November, 

 when the deer, in local phrase, begin to "run," — i. e., to rut. Of 

 course, both sexes are then at their best. The females bring forth 

 their young some time in June ; during which month the males, hav- 

 ing shed their horns, seclude themselves as if ashamed, " tarrying at 

 Jericho," in fact, till the excrescence that distinguishes them be again 

 grown. 



While in the velvet, the horns are very tender. They are warm. 

 Wound them and they bleed. Their gelatinous substance in July is 

 a dainty tidbit to the fortunate coyotes. If you would save them, you 

 must hang them out of reach of your dogs. Gradually, lime is de- 

 posited, the tips harden, the blood ceases to circulate, the velvety 

 covering splits open and peels off, the animal hastening the process 

 and the sharpening and brightening of the points by industriously 

 rubbing them upon the bushes and trees, until, in the bright late 

 October days, armed and exulting in his strength and sleekness, he 

 is all ready to go a-courting ; and the does, as if aware, and owning 

 too the soft influence of the season, forsake their fawns and hide 

 away in brake and dell. Then may be heard from hill to hill the 

 challenge and the acceptance, and fierce battle be witnessed, in 

 which the eager contestants heed not whomsoever may approach, 

 till the victors retire to cool shadows and the rewards of valor, the 

 vanquished to fight another day ; or, if hopeless and superannuated, 

 to begin a life of sulky solitude. 



