CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



207 



is the largest mule deer track that I have been able personally to 

 measure and to photograph. I followed the tracks of this buck to a 

 heavy thicket of mountain mahogany, where he was found bedded down 

 in cool seclusion. When "jumped" at close quarters, this buck was 

 found to be of only fair size, and his antlers were of but medium size 

 with only three points on one antler and four points on the other. 



In the Yosemite region at 4500 feet elevation on the old Coulter- 

 ville road on November 24, 1915, I measured the tracks of a large Cali- 

 fornia mule deer buck made as I watched while the animal was standing 

 still on level ground, and found that they measured 2f inches in length 

 and 2^ inches in width. This has, in my experience, been the size 

 of track made by the average ''good" buck of this species. 



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. 1 1 J i J 1 1 1 p|t| 1 1 i^^r^ r| , PI . iJi i^f |i t i I • I « t*g|'t'i'l'|'<'i'4 11 * 1 • 



Fig. 64. Largest track of Rocky Mountain mule deer known to the author. 

 It measured 4 inches in length and 23 inches in width. Near Fredonyer Peak, 

 Lassen County, October 7, 1924. Mus. Vert. Zool. No. 4560. 



At Eagle Lake, Lassen County, on May 15, 1925, I watched a buck 

 of medium size with growing antlers between three and four inches in 

 length, feeding at mid-day within 150 yards of Eagle Lake. A large 

 doe was feeding near this buck so that I had an excellent opportunity 

 to measure and to compare their tracks. I found that the buck's track 

 measured 2f inches in length and 2 inches in width. I found that 

 the tracks of the large doe were of similar size and could not be dis- 

 tinguished from tracks of this medium-sized buck. Watching both ani- 

 mals as they made tracks was the only way that the tracks of the two 

 could be separated. These were Rocky Mountain mule deer. 



