216 CALH'^ORNIA FISH AND GAME 



the rough, broken lava and rocky terrain which tliey frequently inhabit. 

 Secondly, the bounding gait gives the deer a vantfige point frf)iii wliicli 

 it is able to secure temporarily a better view of its pursuer. In short, 

 the bounding gait, although seemingly clumsy, is very effective. 



When walking at a normal gait, unalarmed and unafraid, the 

 average distance between tracks of an adnlt Rocky ^louiitain mnle deer 

 has been found to vary from fifteen to thirty inches. On October 7, 

 3924, five miles north of Fredonyer Peak, Lassen Count3^ I found the 

 fresh tracks of a large mule deer buck. As he leisurely walked along, 

 his tracks were almost in a straight line and were twenty-five inches 

 apart. When this buck was later surprised and "jumped," I found, 

 by actual mcasurenu^nt, that he covered tifteeu and sixteen feet at a 

 single bound. At Eagle Lake, Lassen County, on May 17, 1925, T 

 measured and photographed the tracks of a female mule deer tluit had 

 iMin at normal gait across a strip of wet sand along the lake shore, and 

 tound that the average distance covered by a single bound was nine feet. 



The greatest distances covered by mule deer at a single bound that 

 1 have been able to discover were made by two adult does that were 

 thoroughly frightened near Niagara Creek, Tuolumne County, on Sep- 

 tember 1, 192-t. In running on level ground these two does leap(Hl 

 across a little ditch. One cleared eighteen feet at a single bound and 

 the other cleared twenty feet, slightly uphill (both of these distances 

 by actual measurement). It is to be reasonably expected that a deer 

 can cover a greater distance leaping downhill than it can on the level 

 ground or uphill. However, out of all the instances where I have 

 actually observed deer running and have subsequently measured the 

 distance covered by a single bound, the two cases just reported repre- 

 sent the extreme observed and measured to date. 



With regard to the height to which a mule deer can jump, it 

 must be confessed that appearances are usually deceiving and that 

 the animal does not jump nearly so high as it appears. At Niagara 

 Creek, Tuolumne County, on September ], 1924, I "jumped" a large 

 California mule deer doe that went bounding off, hopping over the tops 

 of bushes, one of which, at a distance of fifty yards, I took to be at least 

 six feet high, but when I came to measure the bush with my steel tape, 

 I found its height to be forty-eight inches. The extreme high jump 

 made by a mule deer of which I have been able to obtain reliable data 

 was reported to me October 16, 1924, by William Horn, in eastern Lassen 

 County. For a number of years Hoi-ii kei)t a female Kocky IMountain 

 mule deer that had the run of the rancli but which came back to the 

 vicinity of the ranch house each year at fawning time, where she 

 remained until the beginning of the next breeding season. One day 

 the doe was pursued by a large buck, and, in her effort to escape him, 

 she ran into the cattle corral near the ranch house. This corral con- 

 sisted of split posts ten feet in length, buried two feet in the ground 

 and placed on end. When the deer ran into the corral, Horn slipped 

 up and closed the corral gate. As soon as the wild buck from the hills 

 saw that he w-as captured, he made a valiant effort to escape by jump- 

 ing over the top of the eight foot fence. His first attempt was unsuc- 

 cessful, but the second time he ran clear across the corral and succeeded 

 in making it over the top. I personally measured the height of the posts 



