CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 209 



Tracks of a very young mule deer fawn are rarely seen, for the 

 reason that the mother usually keeps her fawns carefully hidden in 

 thickets of grass or brush during the first ten days of their lives. By 

 the time the fawns are old enough to follow their mothers about and to 

 run by their sides, their tracks usually measure 1 inch in length and 

 I of an inch in width. In early summer, smaller tracks, made by very 

 young fawns, may sometimes be found. 



In measuring tracks made by deer, it has been my experience that 

 tracks made in snow are often unreliable as to size, since actual measure- 

 ments have shown that such tracks, during a thaw, may increase as 

 much as a quarter of an inch in size, through melting of the snow, in 

 twenty-four hours. 



Tracks made by running deer show hoofs spread (see Fig. 65) 

 and such tracks are appreciably larger than would be the case if the 

 same animal were standing or walking quietly along on firm ground. 



BEDS 



There is considerable variation in the location of beds among mule 

 deer. The site chosen varies not only with the season but also with the 

 age and sex of the animal. Bucks usually choose a different type of 

 bedding ground than do does and fawns. 



Mule deer of both sexes normally do most of their feeding in the 

 early morning before sunrise or in late afternoon and evening after 

 sundown. They spend the middle of the day bedded down in cool 

 secluded nooks, chewing their cuds and digesting the food hurriedlj^ 

 gathered during the early morning hours. 



; In summer the bucks retire as soon as the sunshine strikes where 

 they are feeding (see Pig. 66). On July 15, 1929, I watched a number 

 of California mule deer feeding on an open meadow. The bucks seemed 

 to be more sensitive to sunlight than were the does and fawns. Fifteen 

 minutes after the sun's rays first struck the meadow, the three bucks 

 (see Fig. 66), as if by some mutual understanding, lined up and left 

 the meadow, going over to the dense shade of a grove of young yellow 

 pines, where they bedded down for their daily rest. On July 13, 1928, 

 I likewise found a large buck bedded down in the dense shade of a 

 wild plum thicket near a meadow. In general, I have found that 

 mature bucks prefer rocky ridges for bedding grounds. In such a 

 retreat, the big buck (see Fig. 67) has a double advantage, being able 

 to hear the approach of most human hunters, while the rising currents 

 of air which sweep up both slopes of the ridge often carry to him the 

 telltale scent of any silent-footed cougar or coyote that may attempt 

 to capture him through stealth and hidden approach. 



During the hunting season the wise old bucks often elude the sports- 

 man by bedding down in dense secluded thickets where they remain 

 throughout the day. On September 16, 1923, near the head of Hat 

 Creek on the eastern flank of Lassen Peak, I found such a buck bedded 

 down in a thick clump of mountain hemlocks. The experienced deer 

 hunter learns to look for big mule deer bucks on the higher ridges. A 

 certain large buck was found in Yosemite to bed down in the same 

 thicket day after day, but he usually occupied a different bed each day. 



In times of necessity, as in midwinter, mule deer will bed down in 

 snow. This was demonstrated in Yosemite on April 6, 1929, when with 



