208 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



At Chuckwalla Well in eastern Riverside County, California, on 

 December 29, 1930, I measured the front foot tracks of a female burro 

 deer and found that they measured 21 inches in length and nearly 2 

 inches in width. This is about the size of tracks of average large female 

 Rocky Mountain mule deer. Tracks of California mule deer are about 

 one-third smaller than those of either the Rocky Mountain mule deer or 

 burro deer of comparable sex and age. 



Considerable ditference of opinion exists as to ^vhether tracks of a 

 buck can always be distinguished from those of a doe. My own experi- 

 ence, including a careful checking of tracks of both sexes, has led to the 

 following conclusions : 



1. In general, tracks made by bucks average larger than those made by does. 



2. Tracks made by old bucks are broader, proportionately, than those made 

 by young bucks and does. 



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Fig. 65. Track made by a Rocky Mountain mule deer running. Note spread 

 hoofs and imprints of "dew claws." Eagle Lake, Lassen County, May 17, 1925. 

 Mus. Vert. Zool. No. 4688. 



3. Tracks of equal size can not always, by themselves, bo positively identified 

 as having been made by a buck or doe. 



4. Antlered does may make decidedly buck-like tracks. Thus, an old doe with 

 antlers was mistaken for a buck and shot by W. D. Johnson, on September 11, 1025, 

 at a locality four miles east of Sierravillo, California. I examined, in the flesh, 

 the head and feet of this doe. The hoofs of the front feet were two inches in width 

 and were similar in shape to those of a buck of similar size. 



5. In the field it is often possible, by following tracks made by a deer, to 

 arrive at definite conclusions as to the sex of the animal that made them. For 

 instance a doe does not stop and "horn" bru.sh or saplings as bucks frequently do. A 

 positive identification of the sex of the animal may often be had by following tracks 

 and noting the relative position of urine deposits. In nearly every instance mule 

 deer stand still while urinating. If the deposit of urine is located well forivard of 

 the hind foot tracks the animal may safely be listed as a buck, whereas if the urine 

 deposit is located behind the hind foot tracks, the deer is a doe. 



