CHAPTER III 



THE WHITETAIL DEER 



THE whitetail deer is now, as it always has been, 

 the most plentiful and most widely distributed of 

 American big game. It holds its own in the land 

 better than any other species, because it is by 

 choice a dweller in the thick forests and swamps, 

 the places around which the tide of civilization 

 flows, leaving them as islets of refuge for the wild 

 creatures which formerly haunted all the country. 

 The range of the whitetail is from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific, and from the Canadian to the Mex- 

 ican borders, and somewhat to the north and far 

 to the south of these limits. The animal shows 

 a wide variability, both individually and locally, 

 within these confines; from the hunter's stand- 

 point it is not necessary to try to determine ex- 

 actly the weight that attaches to these local 

 variations. 



There is also a very considerable variation in 

 habits. As compared with the mule-deer, the 

 whitetail is not a lover of the mountains. As 

 compared with the prongbuck, it is not a lover of 



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