CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 231 



22,214 deer were slaughtered (Charles Keane, ''The Epizootic of Foot 

 and Mouth Disease in California," State of California Department of 

 Agriculture, Special Publication, No. 65, 1926, p. 51). 



Since these 22,214 deer were killed on 1000 square miles of range, 

 it has been argued that the deer population was "22 deer per square 

 mile," which hardly represents the facts in the case, because it must 

 be remembered that at least three armies of deer crossed this area on 

 spring and fall migrations from the foothills to the uplands during the 

 foot-and-mouth disaster, so that the 22,000 deer killed represented the 

 deer population on more than 1000 square miles. In the early days of 

 California, it was customary for meat hunters to lie in wait and to 

 shoot many deer at certain passes through which the deer traveled in 

 migration, but the number of deer so killed in such areas should not 

 be cited as representing the normal deer population of these limited 

 areas. 



It is interesting to note that ten years after the deer had been 

 wiped out in the campaign to control the foot-and-mouth disease, 

 through a voluntary cessation of hunting, infiltration, and breeding up 

 of the deer, good hunting was again to be had in the Stanislaus National 

 Forest. 



It is the writer's experience that five mule deer per square mile is 

 a fairly good deer population on average range in California. 



WINTER RANGE 



On the south-facing slope of Pilot Ridge, Mariposa County, which 

 at 4,000 feet elevation is covered with bluebrush and scattered clumps 

 of golden oak trees, on January 21, 1921, we found mule deer numerous, 

 fourteen being in sight at one time and over fifty being encountered 

 in a distance of one mile. The average depth of snow at this time 

 was eighteen inches, although it reached a measured depth of two feet 

 in several places. The deer were found to stay under the golden oak 

 trees where they were sheltered and where we found that they pawed 

 out beds in the snow, which there was only about eight inches deep, 

 so that they could lie down on the thick carpet of dead leaves beneath. 

 This tendency of deer to seek beds of dead leaves rather than snow to 

 rest on, is graphically shown by a photograph (see Fig. 68), and has 

 been noted by the writer many times. 



This area on the south side of Pilot Ridge is one of the most impor- 

 tant wintering grounds of deer in the State, since many of the deer 

 which spend the summer in the central portion, winter just outside the 

 Park in this area. 



On January 8, 1922, at the writer's request, John McCauley took a 

 census of deer observed by him on a day's horseback trip through this 

 important winter range. " The route covered included Deer Flat, Bull 

 Creek, and Anderson Valley. The distance traveled was 18 miles, which 

 was covered in six hours. During this time, 37 deer, consisting of 22 

 does, 13 bucks (nearly all 2-point or larger) and 2 fawns were seen, 

 singly and in bunches, as follows: 10 a.m., 1 doe; 10.30 a.m., 2 bucks, 1 

 doe; 11.35 a.m., 1 doe, 2 fawns; 12.30 p.m., 5 bucks, 6 does; 2.40 p.m., 



1 doe ; 3.45 p.m., 1 large buck ; 4.15 p.m., 3 bucks, 4 does ; 4.20 p.m., 



2 does; 4.30 p.m., 2 does; 4.35 p.m., 2 does, 2 bucks; 4.40 p.m., 2 does. 



