THE MULE DEER OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 175 



and rocks, when tlie trail finally entered some chaparral 

 higher than my head. In a few rods I came to the edge of 

 a deep ravine heavily clad with brush throughout. As it 

 was quite useless to enter it, and as it was getting late, I 

 turned about. 



At the same moment, a young dog I was training made a 

 bound at the very bush at which I turned about, and out of 

 it, not five feet from where I had turned, sprang the whole 

 three, with a tremendous smash of brush, and were out of 

 sight in a single jumx^ down the hill-side. As I had been 

 making plenty of noise for the last hundred yards, it being 

 impossible in such brush to help it, these Deer must have 

 heard me all the time, and they must certainh^ have seen 

 me; yet an examination of the ground showed that they 

 had lain still all the time, not even getting up until the dog 

 roused them. 



Time and again have I tracked Deer into a brush-patch 

 of only a few acres, yet found it impossible to start them. 

 At such places you may sometimes start them if you get 

 upon a commanding rock and sit there patiently. Some- 

 times, after live, ten, or fifteen minutes, a Deer can not resist 

 the temptation to take a better look at you, or move a little. 

 You may see a i^air of horns appear above the brush, or a 

 long ear or two; or, perhaps, one may be suddenly dis- 

 covered sneaking out on one side; or he may break cover 

 at last, with a snort and a smash of brush, and go bounding 

 away in long, surging springs; but if the cover is good, it 

 is more likely that he will let you sit on that rock until he 

 gets ready to move again, toward evening. 



This is tlie worst trick this Deer has, because you so 

 rarely know when it is being played on you; and it is so 

 hard to circumvent. Where the brush is not too dense and 

 high, a good bird-dog is the most effective ally. A good one 

 can be trained to point a Deer as well as a bird. But I 

 would advise keeping them strictly to pointing, and under 

 no circumstances allow one to run after a wounded Deer. 

 And it is generally best to keep them at heel, and let them 

 point there. There is not one dog in a dozen that can be 



