The Mule- deer 211 



nature's orchard. When acorns are falling, deer 

 go to the groves of live-oaks in the little valleys 

 and canyons along the base of the hills, where the 

 feed is concentrated, instead of spending time 

 with the scattered trees along the hills. But the 

 very same deer that would not go near the vine- 

 yard until after night, and went out before day- 

 light to lie down at once in the heaviest cover, 

 now stray from the hills into these groves as early 

 as four o'clock in the afternoon and sometimes an 

 hour earlier. And in the morning they lounge 

 about as late even as ten o'clock, and nearly 

 always as late as nine, nibbling acorns and stand- 

 ing around in the sunny spots before moving off 

 to the hills. Those deer that went into the hills 

 earlier went slowly, did not go very far, and 

 lingered long on foot before lying down for the 

 day. 



The hunting in some of these groves used to 

 be the easiest on earth. Many were like old Eng- 

 lish parks, filled with oaks that were old settlers 

 before the falling of the acorn that made the keel 

 of the Mayflower. In many places they covered 

 the ground with almost solid shade, with the 

 ground nearly always rolling enough to enable 

 one to keep out of sight, generally with a gully or 

 ravine winding through it just deep enough to 

 permit one to travel with ease on some old cattle 

 trail, and just low enough to hide, yet allow you 



