THE WHITETAIL DEER 



2OI 



and distended. From that time on bucks and does alike 

 put on flesh very rapidly in preparation for the winter. 

 Where there is no snow, or not enough to interfere with 

 their travelling, they continue to roam anywhere through 

 the woods and across the natural pastures and meadows, 

 eating twigs, buds, nuts, and the natural hay which is 

 cured on the stalk. 



In the Northern woods they form yards during the 

 winter. These yards are generally found in a hardwood 

 growth which offers a supply of winter food, and consist 

 simply of a tangle of winding trails beaten out through 

 the snow by the incessant passing and repassing of the 

 animal. The yard merely enables the deer to move along 

 the various paths in order to obtain food. If there are 

 many deer together, the yards may connect by interlacing 

 paths, so that a deer can run a considerable distance 

 through them. Often, however, each deer will yard by 

 itself, as food is the prime consideration, and a given 

 locality may only have enough to support a single animal. 

 When the snows grow deep the deer is wholly unable to 

 move, once the yard is left, and hence it is absolutely at 

 the mercy of a man on snow-shoes, or of a cougar or a 

 wolf, if found at such times. The man on snow-shoes 

 can move very comfortably; and the cougar and the wolf, 

 although hampered by the snow, are not rendered help- 

 less like the deer. I have myself scared a deer out of a 

 yard, and seen it flounder helplessly in a great drift be- 

 fore it had gone thirty rods. When I came up close it 

 ploughed its way a very short distance through the drifts, 

 making tremendous leaps. But as the snow was over six 



