220 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



very fond of following up a herd of wapiti, in order to 

 take advantage of the clearances made by the more 

 powerful animals in search of food. 



I had followed the mule deer very cautiously for 

 about an hour, never moving without first carefully 

 scanning the ground in front of me, when I suddenly 

 saw a telltale white rump move amongst the pines, 

 about a hundred yards ahead. Sinking down in the 

 snow I crept forwards to the prostrate trunk of a 

 fallen tree, and then looked cautiously over it. I 

 could see five deer, all does and fawns, but I knew 

 there were others on ahead, and perhaps a buck 

 amongst them ; so I crept back again until well 

 out of sight, and then ascended the hill to my left 

 and came down on the deer from above. I just 

 met them as they had apparently done feeding and 

 were going up the mountain to take up a position 

 for the day in the deep snow. I soon saw there 

 was no buck amongst them, and as I did not care 

 whether they saw me or not, I stood quite still be- 

 tween two trees, holding my rifle under my arm. 

 One by one the unsuspecting creatures passed me in 

 single file at a distance of not more than twenty yards. 

 Each one in turn looked at me curiously, but without 

 the slightest trace of alarm, and I have no doubt they 

 took me for a tree, as there was no wind and I re- 

 mained absolutely motionless. There were ten of 

 them all together, all does and fawns. An old doe 

 brought up the rear, and as she passed she looked full 



