The Mule-deer 209 



about the time the sun blazes high through the 

 clear, dry air of autumn and before a particle of 

 the daily sea breeze has risen. And little more 

 does he see if he goes there in the evening to 

 await the deer's rising and coming out on the 

 open ground. Raisin grapes are very substantial, 

 being both food and drink, and after a night's 

 banquet on them, early rising for the deer the 

 next evening would be quite absurd. 



After returning from the hills a few times, hot, 

 hungry, and disgusted, without seeing a hair or 

 hearing the sound of a hoof, he concludes to 

 watch for them in the vineyard. The seven-foot 

 fence he has built around it they leap like birds, 

 or if there is an opening in it large enough to let 

 a decent dog through, the largest buck will go 

 through it or under it, antlers and all, especially if 

 it is of barbed wire. This is their especial delight, 

 and a deer will go several yards to find a good 

 place it can use as a backscratcher rather than 

 lose its advantage by jumping it. As nearly every 

 kind of trap, noose, or pitfall fails to stop the 

 marauder, the owner thinks he has a certainty in 

 the enclosure. 



But even on open ground game is very hard to 

 see at night and still harder to shoot, especially 

 by one not used to it, and deer see almost as well 

 as by day and can smell and hear even better. 

 While some will not enter the vineyard at all, 



