The Mule- deer 117 



hill or down is all the same to him, here clatter- 

 ing down the rocky bottom of a steep wash, there 

 skipping gayly from side to side of a steep gully 

 up which the dog can hardly scramble, thrown 

 back by the brush in the bottom and on the sides. 

 You may run the same deer off the same hill a 

 dozen times, and he will take a different course 

 every time. It is, therefore, too difficult to estab- 

 lish runways even by trial. The dryness of the 

 air and the heat which impair the scent of a dog 

 after a short run are also greater than in the 

 North, while water to refresh the dogs is much 

 more scarce. A two-mile run, which sets the 

 average dog thinking, is nothing for the deer 

 even with the lofty leaps that are so tiresome. 

 At three miles the yelp of the dog becomes a 

 wail of despair, and the longest run I ever knew 

 was but four miles when the dog gave up. This 

 buck slipped away in fine style, though very fat, 

 but a few weeks afterward I found him miserably 

 emaciated, probably from the run in the heat. 

 Had the dog been as fat as the deer, he would 

 not have lasted half a mile. 



Still there are places where dogs may be used 

 to advantage, such as a hill that is a mere spur 

 of a larger hill from which it is separated by " a 

 saddle." It may have a top like a table covered 

 with several acres of brush with open flanks. If 

 this stood off alone it would be too small to have 



