160 Deer and Antelope of 'North America 



much excited at the new bull having approached. 

 There were two or three yearlings and two-year- 

 old bulls on the outskirts of the herd, and the 

 master bull, whose temper had evidently not been 

 improved by the coming of the stranger, charged 

 these and sent them rattling off through the 

 bushes. The ground was so open between me 

 and them that I dared not venture across it, and 

 I was forced to lie still and await developments. 

 The bull I had been following and the herd 

 bull kept challenging vigorously, but the former 

 probably recognized in the latter a heavier 

 animal, and could not rouse his courage to the 

 point of actually approaching and doing battle. 

 It by no means follows that the animal with 

 the heaviest body has the best antlers, but the 

 hesitation thus shown by the bull I was follow- 

 ing made me feel that the other would probably 

 yield the most valuable trophies, and after a 

 couple of hours I made up my mind to try to 

 get near the herd, abandoning the animal I had 

 been after. 



The herd showed but little symptoms of mov- 

 ing, the cows when let alone scattering out to 

 graze, and some of them even lying down. Ac- 

 cordingly, I did not hurry myself, and spent con- 

 siderably over an hour in slipping off to the right 

 and approaching through a belt of small firs. 

 Unfortunately, however, the wind had slightly 



