240 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



On April 29, 1929, I found a group of five mature bucks that were 

 feeding liarmoniously together in a willow i)atch on the floor of Yosemite 

 Valley. These bucks were in much better flesh than they liad been when 

 seen the last of the previous January. At this season the bucks were 

 actually wilder than the does and fawns. Antler groAvth had begun in 

 all five bucks, and in each case the length of the new antler was recorded 

 in inches, as follows: \, 4, 1, 11 and 2i. In any given buck the two 

 antlers were of equal length and diameter. Tlie antlers had attained 

 their full diameter, from 1^ to If inches, from the start, so the growth 

 was all longitudinal (see Fig. 81). At this early stage of growth, 

 the antlers were dark bluish-black in color, turgid in texture, and 

 covered with a verj- short and fine growth of downy hair. The new 





Fig. si. By the la.st of April, California mule deer hurk.s 

 antler.s a.s jiiuch as 2i inches long, as here shown. Yosemite, 

 S. Dixon No. H. 



have new prowing 

 April 29, 1929. J. 



growing antlers were apparentl.y decidedly sensitive to the touch. 

 Although the bucks were quite playful at this season, care was taken not 

 to strike their antlers against those of another buck or against any other 

 hard object such as the limbs or trunk of a tree. Instead of selecting 

 a smooth willow sapling to rub his tender antlers on, one buck mas- 

 saged his antler by reaching around and gently rubbing its tender tip 

 against the skin of his belly or on the inside of his hind leg. Tliis 

 operation was repeated three times within a period of five minutes 

 and proved to be the regular "manicure" method employed. 



Oscar L. Barnum (in a letter of March 3, 1931) states that the 

 first sets of new antlers observed by him in Rocky Mountain mule deer 

 in the Modoc region have been as follows : On April 17 and April 23, 

 1927, two bucks were noted, each with new antlers about three inches 



