306 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



a rushing mountain torrent, was completely frozen 

 over in many places, and where, owing to the swiftness 

 of the current, the water was still open, accumulations 

 of ice were usually to be seen under water on the 

 rocks and stones, looking like fungoid growths of a 

 whitish colour. I had to go some three hundred yards 

 down the river before I found a place where the ice 

 looked strong enough to bear me right across the 

 stream, and just before reaching this place I saw 

 another mule deer buck on the hillside opposite to me. 

 He was a fine big animal and carried a handsome 

 head; but although he was somewhat nearer to me 

 than the one I had just killed, I did not fire at him, as 

 I could have made no use of the meat and had already 

 got four good mule deer heads. 



These two fine stags, the last I was destined to see 

 on this trip, were both of them singularly tame and 

 unsuspicious of danger, a condition of mind possi- 

 bly induced by the coming on of the rutting season ; 

 a period during which the males of many species of 

 deer often become very bold and even aggressive. 

 The mule deer on the hillside above me stood watch- 

 ing curiously as I crossed the river on the ice, and 

 then walked slowly and unconcernedly into the shelter 

 of a cluster of spruce fir trees, after which I saw him 

 no more. I found the stag I had shot lying where 

 I had seen him fall, but, contrary to my expectation, 

 he was not dead. Not wanting to cut his throat or 

 fire another shot into him, I seized him by one horn, 



